After a 6 month-or-so hiatus, I’ve decided to start making blog posts again. A little over a month ago, I left Michigan for my first travel OT contract in New Mexico. I had a wonderful summer with my parents in MI, but I was ready to go. New Mexico (especially where I am in the high plains) is not where I anticipated being, but I guess my current motto is to go “wherever the wind blows”. I decided to do travel OT because I’m just another millennial who hates working 9 hours a day and living for the weekends. Travel OT gives me the chance to take up to 26 days off in between contracts, which usually last 3-4 months. Now logistically that won’t happen every time, but at least I have flexibility to take more than the normal 10-15 days per year. I’m missing Ecuador and South America every day after leaving in April, but unfortunately my student loans are holding me back from returning and working there. Perhaps one day I’ll have saved enough money to get back semi-permanently or permanently… we’ll see!
My trip down to NM turned into a mini 12 day road trip.. because I made it that way. I left home, visited my uncle and family in Youngstown for a few days, then went to Columbus to see my sister and OSU friends and drank tea for hours at Zen Cha. The next day I headed to Memphis to visit my soulmate from undergrad Shriya, who is in her final year of optometry school there. Turns out, she was heading to San Antonio, TX that weekend, as was I! Corri (from this very blog in Ecuador!!!!) moved to San Antonio, and I missed her so much I had to visit her. It was so good to be back with Corri on 24/7 status- we ate a lot of food, explored her area of San Antonio, spent time with her family, met up with Shriya downtown for a night out, and also did a whole lot of magnificent nothing. I ended up staying for 6 days- definitely more than I planned. Corri started work the day I left, so we were very lucky for all that time together.
Since being here, I’ve been able to explore some places on the weekend. I went over to Palo Duro Canyon (sort of near Amarillo)- and it was beautiful. I was told to wait until the weather cooled down, but at 90deg, there weren’t a whole lot of people hiking- so I was glad I went when I did. I headed up to Amarillo afterwards just to check it out and look at the historic area for Route 66- tons of shops and restaurants to explore over there. I also met my roommate out in Lubbock one weekend to check out Texas Tech and binge eat things that we don’t have- insomnia cookies, smoothies, and good pizza. Texas Tech was way bigger than I expected with ~35k students, but it made me wish I was back in the glory days at Ohio State still!!
A following weekend my roommate and I ventured to Santa Fe. At 3.5 hours away, it’s a shorter weekend trip. We woke up early Saturday, went to the HUGE farmer’s market downtown, and then we headed up to Ski Santa Fe where we began a hike. It was only 6 miles round trip, but it felt much longer. The leaves were just starting to change colors at that high elevation, and we were able to see the vastness of the Sangre de Cristos mountains. We got above the treeline and could see all the big peaks- I was in heaven. If I could do something like that every weekend, I’d be one happy woman. We explored the historic downtown, got dinner, and watched OSU as they nearly gave me a heart attack playing Penn State. In the morning, we got a great breakfast, went to the Mexican supermarket so I could get some La Rosa candies, and started the drive home on a different route through Las Vegas, NM. This small town had some serious charm just driving through it and getting coffee. Las Vegas and Santa Fe have adobe style downtowns centered around a plaza.. very similar to South America. After visiting Santa Fe, I told myself that I must go back before my time is over. Maybe a contract there??
Last weekend was a 10/10 as I keep telling my patients. At the crack of dawn Saturday morning, I left for the Trinity Site- which is about 4 hours away toward west-central. On the way, I stopped to see Billy the Kid’s grave in Ft Sumner (an old west outlaw: Billy the Kid). The Trinity Site is ground zero for the first denoted nuclear weapon/atomic bomb. It is only open for the public 2 days per year, so this was the fall option. It is in the middle of the Chihuahua desert- 17 miles in from the nearest public road. The site has a monument of the location where the bomb exploded, a shelter protecting the original crater and Trinitite (green glass from the reaction), and tours of the Ranch house where the scientists created the Plutonium core. All the photos and stories from the men made it seem like a very casual project- something that was humbling to me. The bomb disintegrated the 100ft stand it was perched on instantly, and windows shattered civilian houses up to 120 miles away. If you’re interested in reading more about, here’s a starter link. I could write a lot about it; I was unsure of going at first, but I am thoroughly glad I did. This weekend was also the ABQ international balloon fiesta, but the weather was iffy and so I changed my plans.
I’ve written heaps on all the things I’ve been lucky enough to do- but I guess I have to also say that working has also been good so far. A lot of unexpected things happened days 1-3, so I was left to be pretty independent right off the bat- but hey I survived and am still here. I get to do a 60/40 mix of outpatient / acute care mix- I’m grateful for that because it gives me a change of pace every day.
The other therapists are very welcoming and especially the OTs that have been practicing for a while- they have provided me great mentorship. Travel OT as a new grad doesn’t get a lot of good press, but I’m here only to say positive things about my experience so far! That’s not to say I haven’t been stressed or overwhelmed at points, but that’s pretty typical for someone just starting out.
Hope to keep logging some roadtrip miles in the upcoming weekends!
Commentaires