"You're going to have nightmares of files!"

That's what the nurse supervisor said to me this afternoon after I had been in the medical records room for 8 hours today. I spent the entire day filing the medication records from June. I was so exhausted from being on my feet that day that it probably took me five minutes to walk from the gatehouse to my car. And when I got home my roommate said I looked so tired.

Thankfully, I wasn't by myself all day though. Ms. Artis is a pharmacy technician whose office is in the medical records room and she is always making me smile. We don't even have many conversations but she's always making comments that make me smile. She completely speaks her mind. And today was very busy for her and she was constantly saying "Help me Lord" and "If they call me one more time...." She reminds me a lot of Madea, the Tyler Perry character, and not in a bad way, she just speaks her mind. The first time I met her she was telling me about inmates coming to the medical window to pick up medicines and she said, "Yeah they learned real quick how I do things. They tuck their shirts in and make sure their hair looks okay. I don't need anyone coming to the window looking like they just put their finger in an electrical socket!" There's also C/O Albertson who is posted at the door and checks the inmates that come in and out of medical. He is constantly giving Ms. Artis a hard time. They remind me of a brother and sister. And today Mr. Albertson kept calling Ms. Branam, and I didn't know how to correct him so I just went with it. I mean, how do you tell someone what your name is without really making it awkward? I don't think there is a way. Then, there is Ms. King one of the full-time nurses. I've had conversations with her when she's not too busy, which doesn't happen a lot, but if she is finished seeing a patient or is just looking for a file she'll come back and talk to me. She's working on her bachelor's degree and has a big family. I enjoy talking to her.

So with all that said, I think one of the biggest things I've learned from this job is that even if a job isn't exactly what you love to do, it can still really be great if you're surrounded by people. I love learning about people (spoken like a true psychology major, I know.) Everybody has a story and I've enjoyed getting to know the stories of some of the staff at Eastern. Sometimes it will begin with me just asking someone about what kind of responsibilities fall under his/her position, and I'll end up finding about families, schooling, hobbies, etc. It's been really cool too, because while I'm having these conversation it's hard for me not to bring up God. He is a central part of my life, so faith usually always comes up, even if it's just me saying "yeah, that's the plan for now, but it's really up to what God wants." or mentioning church. And some people just continue talking about other things, but a few people have continued to talk about faith. One woman told me about her faith and her involvement in the church. She was surprised to see a young person with faith and asked if there were people at college like that. I was glad that I could say yes, there are young people out there who really love Jesus. Another guy and I talked about the importance of church in the life of a person, and even though we disagreed on the subject, he didn't get upset, but instead said, "With as religious as you are I would have thought you'd gone to Campbell." Another man opened up to his doubts about God and how he didn't understand why God had let certain things happen in his life.

So even though this internship isn't exactly what I've expected it to be, it reminded me that I am most definitely a people-person and that everybody has a story and many people are willing to talk if you just listen.