So it begins...

Where do I even begin this?!

First of all, thank you to my loving family who has supported me on this wild journey of travel nursing. It's not always going to be easy to be away from family but the experiences will make it worth it!!

As a traveling nurse I will be doing three month stents in the city I choose. This first assignment, my friend Jillian and I will be at Presby Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA. Why LA? Obviously nothing beats the weather in California (especially in the winter) and my brother (Craig) has lived here for three years so it will be fun spending some time with him.

So, my dad and I set off cross country from Indiana to California on a two and a half day adventure. If I had to see one more day of the desert I thought I might poke my eyes out. Although it was a long journey, it was fun to see parts of the country that I hadn't before (and won't again). Who knew Oklahoma had so many cows, or that Northern Arizona doesn't have tall cactus like you see in movies? On our journey, Route 66 (famous two lane highway) became the running joke. It followed us from St. Louis to somewhere in California. Even going to lunch once we got here, Craig picked the restaurant decorated in Route 66 everything, even though he had no idea of the meaning!!

My dad was here through the weekend and able to spend time with Craig and I. We went on a few hikes and enjoyed the Cali lifestyle. Unfortunately for him, he had to help me unload my carful (literally) of things and put my apartment together. I am so thankful to have had him help me along the way!

Things have all gone pretty smoothly. The trip out was a breeze, we're settling into the apartment, and slowly finding our way around this big city of LA. However, last Friday I got a phone call saying I couldn't start my position due to my California nursing license not being processed. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do at this point considering I couldn't start my job and I was literally three hours from LA. I had sent my paperwork off in October and had been calling every day for three weeks with no response. Long story short, I had a few heated conversations with people at the board of nursing and found out yesterday I am officially licensed in the state of California, the day before I would need to push back my start date.

Now that things are good to go, Jillian and I are really looking forward to this adventure!! I am hoping to keep this updated on our adventures and experiences at the hospital.

Love y'all!!
Hadley