Placement...

Well, today was the first day of my placement, and it was...so so. Rhonda, a current placement student (from Alabama!) said that it will be "what you make it", and it seems that that's going to be the rule of the day, or year (and two weeks) to follow. As it's not a placement within the I.T. industry as such, and as the placement students seem so "out on a limb" (a good and bad thing) within the hospital, geographically and organizationally - our little room is a good 5 minutes walk from the main hospital buildings, and hence the hospital staff (are distant also)- it seems that my self-motivation and creativity hats will have to come out from the back of the cupboard.

I want to be able to have something to "sign my name to" as Michael (the other placement student) put it - I want something to show for my year. From what the students have said, I'll get little help or ideas on "projects" from staff - and finding myself learning how to use the photocopier today, my first impressions are very mixed. It's OK if you know what an employer expects, then you can (try to) deliver that, but what if you don't know? Rhonda asked me "what do you want to do (this placement)?" - when I was expecting to be TOLD as much! Very strange. Some people would relish the freedom, I'm going to have to cultivate a taste for it.

The best part about today was, you guessed it, the traveling and lunch hours, when I continued my reading of "Facing the extreme". Such a marvelous book that shows morality doesn't go "out the window" when horrendous events come through our doors. I'll sum up all the good bits in a later blog (hopefully).