Week 5: Halfway Through and I Just Got the Wi-Fi Password

True story, the other high school intern (from BASIS Peoria) and I were always too shy and awkward to actually ask for the Wi-Fi password, until the endless hours of free time we got from all the last minute cancellations practically forced us to get up and ask one of the therapists for it. But hey, the five seconds of awkward silence where the therapist just stared at us incredulously was totally worth it.

Now, jokes aside, I can't honestly say that this past week has been the most... productive. For some reasons that I don't feel I'm in the position to be explaining, my on-site mentor will not be present at the clinic for the next few weeks. Luckily, there are other staff able and willing to watch over me and help me with the project, and finding someone to act as my mentor for the next few weeks was relatively easy. Unfortunately, because my original mentor is also a therapist, there have been some issues with scheduling her patients, some of which I had planned to use for my case studies, around to other therapists.

So this past week, between sick leaves, scheduling mix-ups, and spring break, I've been faced with quite a few cancellations. Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly did see some patients, and got quite a bit of work done in the time I didn't, but it was still a slow week nonetheless. I've also had a few moments of freaking out when I realized I wouldn't be able to see quite a few patients I was planning to study for the next several weeks. Fortunately, at the clinic, I'm surrounded by understanding therapists, and we've been able to make a lot work by rescheduling things and figuring out solutions this past week, so even if things don't work out exactly as I had planned before, I'm sure everything will happen for the better in the end.

What I've Learned
Since I don't have nearly as many anecdotes to share this week, I hope I'll at least be able to give a little window into my past week with this segment here.

So, without further ado, here are five things I've learned.

1. Never underestimate how valuable being an "upperclassman," so to speak, can be to a person, even if that person is an NMT patient who has another possible NMT patient observing him to see what happens during sessions.
2. If you have a question, ask it. Better to possibly face some embarrassment than living with never knowing.
3. Same thing goes with any concerns or worries. Things can't always just be solved by yourself-- a lot of the time, you need that extra voice for advice.
4. It doesn't matter if you're just a temporary research intern-- once you've joined a field, you'll connect to that group of people more than you've ever expected you could. Case in point: I may or may not have shed a couple tears reading this article.
5. It may make sense to you to do mouth exercises because you've started mumbling again, but other people may find it be a bit... disturbing. Just wait until you're alone to go at it again.