So here we are about to start week six of the semester. Time is flying by so quickly. Why does it seem that there is not enough time in the day? Between classes, homework, part – time jobs, research papers, family, friends and Field placement – how is a person to manage? To many the answer seems simple – Organization, organization, organization! Basically you have to organize every part of your day and week down to the last minute.

MONDAY
• Wake up/Shower
• Grab my lunch that I packed the night before (because as a graduate student, I am POOR and spending money outside for lunch is not the smart thing to do)
• Get in my car and fight traffic up 270 (Why there is traffic on 270 that early is a mystery Sherlock Holmes himself will never be able to solve) to get to my field placement.

� SIDE NOTE – LOVE my field placement at JSSA – the Jewish Social Service Agency. I am a case manager in the Aging and Disability department. I have about 3 – 5 clients that I am working with, ranging in ages 75 - 97. I am amazed by their strength and resilience. I hope to be as strong as they are when I get to that age. My instructor is very patient and understanding. She takes the time to answer all the MANY questions I have – TRUST my there are a lot.

TUESDAY
• REPLAY from Monday, but this time I try and leave the house early so I do not hit traffic on 270 and do not curse out the person in the car in front of me who is driving 45 miles per hour on the beltway (Do they NOT understand I have somewhere important to go).

WEDNESDAY
• Wake up/Shower
• Grab my lunch that I packed the night before, (AGAIN Still on a fixed POVERTY ONLY INCOME) water and several snacks. Today I will have two three hour classes
• Get in my car and fight traffic up 270 to get to Universities at Shady grove.
• Attend first class, Social Work Practice – Great opportunity to talk about my field placement, learn useful tips and tools and get answers to more questions I have about my clients and my agency. I don’t have an exam in this class, but I have several papers and assignments in the Social Work Practice workbook relating to my agency and clients
• Lunch time – Race down the stairs to get to one of the two microwaves to warm up my food. Must eat quickly before next class.
• Attend second class, Human Behavior – This class is very interesting. I will have three quizzes this semester and one final. My professor relates EVERYTHING to sex – lol. I guess it is just part of Human Behavior.
• GO HOME! – this has been a long day

THURSDAY
• Free day, but not really – I am off to my part-time job. Hey I have to live and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is just not the answer

FRIDAY
• REPLAY from Wednesday, but this time my two classes are Social Work Policy and Social Work Research. Both classes really great and very useful. Will learn a lot this semester. My Social Work Policy professor is very straight forward. He tells you what he expects you to know for the exams. My Research class is very useful and fun. The professor is great. He is very honest with us. He is teaching us how to be very critical of all the evidence based information that is out there in the Social Work field.

So I guess right now this is my life in a nut shell as best as I can organize it. Somewhere in that schedule I try and make time for the important little things (e.g. friends and family, most especially beating my brother at scrabble). Otherwise I am living the Full-time Foundation student’s life style and loving every challenging minute of it. I think Emily Dickinson said it best when she said “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else�.

Until next time my friends – Stella