My First Year of Pharmacy School

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Starting pharmacy school has been the highlight of my life so far! I was so excited to start the training for my career finally. But, like so many others, this was not how I thought I would be experiencing my first year of pharmacy school. To complete my first year of pharmacy school journey, I wanted to share my experience of starting pharmacy school during a pandemic so others may see that anything is truly possible if you put your mind to it. If you want to read about the beginning of this journey, you can find those posts here.

The Learning Situation

The way our classes were conducted changed throughout the school year, changing with the conditions we found ourselves in. Classes started with some mandatory in-person classes, but most of my classes were a hybrid model. We could choose if we attended in-person or virtually. I learn best when I am in the classroom, so I went to the in-person classes. Having the opportunity to go to class was great, and I put some faces (or eyes?) to the names in the class group chat. I met new people I would have otherwise not met for another year. It felt almost normal to be in classes again, but this didn’t last long.

My school took our health and safety very seriously, but they also didn’t want to prevent anyone from seeing their loved ones during this unusually stressful year. As a result, the two weeks after any break, we were expected to quarantine while attending online classes. For me, this made it harder to concentrate after a long break, like winter break. I live at home, so I didn’t have a separate space for school and the rest of my life. Having a hard time transitioning into school mode played into my decision to move to campus next year.

Making New Friends

I’ve always had issues with making good friends. I have a couple of friends from undergrad that I still keep in touch with, but I haven’t seen them in years because of the pandemic. At the beginning of the school year, I knew I needed to make new friends at pharmacy school. In fact, some people I talked to even said their cohorts became like a second family to them. I was excited to meet new people and learn more about them, but virtual learning made it extremely difficult. There are less than 100 people in my graduating class, and I haven’t met them all yet. I met someone in my class for the first time the weekend before spring semester finals!

Even though it was hard to meet everyone in my class by the end of the school year, I did make some friends through the student organizations I joined. These are friends I’ll probably have for the rest of my life. They will also bring many great connections once we all graduate and are looking for jobs. I hope next year, as we get closer to normal, I will meet even more great people and make more life-long friendships.

My Overall Thoughts

Starting pharmacy school in the middle of a pandemic has definitely been challenging but life-changing all the same. I was so excited to start learning about my future career that the obstacles placed in front of me just seemed to make it even more worth the fight.

Wrapping Things Up

As always, if you like this post and want to stay up to date, follow me on Instagram (@averylivinglife) and Pinterest (username: averylivinglife) for news and updates on my adventures!