Oriented!

Hi guys!

I've been here officially since Wednesday, and I'm starting to settle in slowly. Our condo is still semi-bare, but my closet is nice and organized :) Priorities!

I've been trying to upload a video that I made for Andy that gives a tour of the condo, but I'm kind of a technology cripple and couldn't get it to load, so that sucks.

Orientation was on Friday-- started at 7:30am (yuck) and didn't end until 4:00pm. I didn't have time to grab coffee before, so you can imagine I was just sort of blah all day.

On the way to school in the morning, I ran into some SCCO students walking over at the same time who live in my complex, Hieu and Allison. They're roommates and their condo is a 30 second walk from ours! I smell study-buddies :)

After taking an embarrassing picture that will follow me for the next four years on my badge (and in our yearbook... we have a yearbook!), we proceeded to sit through several hours of speeches and introductions, followed by lunch and more speeches!

That night, almost our whole class went out to Branagan's, and Irish pub in downtown Fullerton, to hang out and get to know each other. Some shenanigans followed at Allison's and Hieu's condo before I walked home at 4am.

Saturday's event was a BBQ hosted by the second-years, and included the typical 'get to know each other' games, that were actually surprisingly fun and hilarious. My classmates are fun and diverse and I'm so excited to get to know everybody.

Anyway, I'm at Starbucks now snooching the free wifi-- getting my own set up on Wednesday at the condo, and meeting up with a fellow co2014, Harissa.

Tomorrow is the first official day of school, so I'll update sometime later this week about the happenings!

What Does An Optometrist DO?

In less than a week, I am embarking on one of the most important journeys of my life thus far.

I am starting optometry school at Southern California College of Optometry.

This is a four-year graduate program that trains and prepares students to become 'eye doctors'. A lot of people wonder what it is that an optometrist does-- Wikipedia states succinctly that,

"In the United States, optometrists function as primary eye care physicians, but will refer patients to ophthalmologists for necessary invasive treatments (surgery). Optometric services while focused on prescribing spectacles and contact lenses, also involves infectious disease, as well as other ocular illnesses including dermatological... The scope of practice in optometry varies as it is regulated by each state. Optometrists are not trained in surgical techniques as a general rule, other than minor foreign body removals"

So there you have it, the practice of optometry in a nutshell!