First Week of CRNA School

Study Study Study...my brain is exhausted and its only been one week. What a week it was! "You will be slammed with stuff and be ready to catch it as it goes over your head", I laughed when the Anatomy professor said that. But man was he right! If you have heard that CRNA school becomes your life, believe it. My schedule for this past week has been school, eat and sleep. I leave for school at 6:30 am and usually come home around 7pm (not to relax, just to continue all at home) and not reviewing stuff but just trying to catch up. Remember when you are having a busy day at work and you have so much to do that you for once wish time goes just a little slower. I have felt that everyday this past week. Anatomy is straightforward but it doesn't take too long for the Latin words to mix in. Biochem is another major stressor that never leaves your head while you trying to catch on anatomy. Biophysics is ok so far as long as your math is up to mark. I have been greatly motivated to try to keep up with my routine of going to school early and figuring out things for the this week before the next load hits...well...these are all the negative in short.
Although its too early to figure out, I did notice already that poor planning and flustered process of studying will definitely eliminate you in this game...and that too in the first stage. Organization of time, choosing your study partners carefully and sacrificing things you used to love is crucial. I was told to forget being an ICU nurse and NOT use techniques that I used in nursing school to pass like memorizing etc. You ll HAVE to know the muscles, nerves and vessels as it will be the bases of everything anesthesia. And that too not just from books but more so from being in the lab. At least 2-3 hours outside assigned lab per week (thats minimum. I did approx, 10 hours extra so far during the last week.)
Don't worry about what other people think and change your plan just to make them feel better or be nice. You can still tell em that you want to follow a certain plan without being harsh. Then once you are comfortable with the subject, teach em. Make flash cards for anatomy, writing em, reading em back to you and reciting them is greatly helpful as well.

I have a lot more to say but my brain is fried and have to continue my fight against tackling latin and chemical reactions. Hopefully will have things arranged better next week. So far, its day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.