Chapter 2 | Practical Nursing School Part 10 | The 'Sutra Copying' That Awaited Before Clinicals | Even the Long Way Around, I Became a Nurse.

It was around the time I had finally started to get used to nursing processes and care maps.

"I think I'm finally getting used to school life."

Just as I started thinking that, the teacher handed out a new assignment.

I looked at the materials I was handed and froze.

"…Huh?"

"This is about as long as an entire nursing skills textbook."

It wasn't just a few dozen pages.

And what's more, it all had to be handwritten.

No photocopying, no typing on a computer.

We had to copy it out by hand, character by character, onto the specified loose-leaf paper.

Furthermore,

The loose-leaf paper had to be the specific kind.

We had to put reinforcement stickers on the holes.

We had to organize it with tags for each section.

Even the smallest details were strictly regulated.

I couldn't help but scream in my heart.

"Oh, come on..."

"My hand is going to break."

And there was one more thing I thought.

"Why couldn't they have given this to us before winter break...?"

There wasn't much time left before clinicals.

I didn't feel like I would ever finish.

The whole school felt tense.

"Will I make it in time...?"

I heard voices saying things like that.

After school, I would head to a family restaurant with my friends.

We'd order from the drink bar and each silently move our pens.

No one made small talk.

All you could hear was the sound of paper turning and pens scratching.

We only whispered to each other to confirm things we didn't understand.

Days like that continued for a long time.

Even looking back now, I have never written that many characters in my life.

That's why everyone among the students called this assignment "Sutra Copying."

It wasn't an exaggeration at all.

It really was just like copying sutras.

I will never forget the sense of accomplishment when I finally finished the last page.

"It's finally over."

I submitted it thinking that, but...

Of course, this wasn't the kind of school where it would end there.

The assignment came back covered in red ink from the teacher's corrections.

"This is wrong."

"Write the rationale."

"Please revise the phrasing."

It was truly a storm of corrections.

I remember smiling bitterly and whispering to myself,

"You really don't go easy on us..."

But thinking back now, it was precisely because of that strictness that I was able to learn and understand each nursing skill.

At the time, it was nothing but difficult, but I think that massive assignment became the foundation for heading into clinicals.

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Finally, our first hospital visit.

The atmosphere of the workplace that you can't learn from textbooks.

With nerves and expectations in my heart, I take my first step toward clinicals.

Chapter 2 | Practical Nursing School Part 11 | Hospital Visit Before Clinicals | Even the Long Way Around, I Became a Nurse.