Today we visited the Florence Nightingale Museum to start our first full day in London. I learned a lot about Florence Nightingale that I never knew before. One thing that really surprised me was that Florence had a sister. I had always heard so much about Florence herself, but I never knew much about her…

Today was such an interesting and educational day, and I learned so much about global health, cardiovascular disease, and ECGs. We started the morning by having a discussion about diseases that are commonly associated with Africa. A lot of people immediately think about diseases such as malaria, Ebola, water-borne illnesses, sickle cell anemia, and liver…

This morning we took a train from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon. This was my very first time ever riding on a train, so I was really excited for the experience. I had always imagined train rides in Europe looking peaceful and relaxing, with beautiful countryside views outside the windows. The ride itself, though, honestly, was not…

Today was a very full and exciting day. We started our morning by doing the anatomage. The other Pitt nursing students were able to use this during their anatomy labs, but the Greensburg campus does not have one available. Instead of using the anatomage, we learned the organs of the body through pig dissections back home. Even…

Today we started our day by visiting Blenheim Palace. This palace is one of the most famous homes in England and has a very interesting history behind it. It was built in the early 1700s as a gift from Queen Anne to John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, after his victory at the Battle of Blenheim…

Today we went to the Black Country Living Museum and it was such a fun experience. There were so many different things to see and do, and it really felt like we were stepping back in time. One of the funniest parts of the day was when we went into the old-fashioned schoolhouse and got…

This morning we started our day off at Birmingham City University where we learned about female genital mutilation (FGM). As crazy as this sounds, I had actually never heard of this before. It has never been mentioned in any conversation that I have ever had, so this was completely new to me. I learned that…

Today was my favorite day of the trip so far because we finally got to learn and practice skills that we will definitely use as nurses in the future. Throughout my freshman year, most of our classes focused on learning the sciences and understanding the human body before moving into more hands-on clinical experiences. We…

Today we visited Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College and got to observe some of the classes there. In one of the math classes, the students were learning how to read a clock, subtract, and round numbers. They also had their GCSE tests coming up, so they were doing exam preparation similar to how we take…

Today we had a lot of lectures to sit through. Our first lecture was about public health. It was really interesting learning about this because it indirectly has a huge impact on the working lives of nurses. The goal of public health is to prevent disease and prolong life. There are many factors that go…

Today we got to go to the classroom for the first time during our trip to Birmingham. We first visited the main campus, where we took a tour of the buildings and facilities. I was very impressed by how modern everything looked. The buildings were very open with lots of natural light coming in, which…

We have finally arrived in Birmingham. Last night our plane departed from Pittsburgh at 9:45, and it still feels weird that we are actually here after talking about this trip for so long. During the flight they served us dinner, which was honestly a lot better than I expected for airplane food. I chose the…