Gotcha with that title, huh. I just spent the last month or so studying EMT-Basic at the College of the Siskiyous in Weed, California. However, even though the CoS was home for the month, I was taking my class through the NOLS Wilderness Medicine program. Interestingly, this program took 200 hours of EMT instruction, and a good chunk more of Wilderness instruction, and slammed it all into a scant 18 days of instruction.
Damn, Shasta, you pretty.
This class was a huge adjustment for me. In addition to being easily the least-outdoorsy person in the whole class, surrounded by park rangers and wilderness firefighters, I was also unused to being a full-time student. I'm no stranger to continued education, but it was mindnumbing how much we were expected to cover in such a short time.
Good friends made fast.
One thing they don't really tell you about this class is how tightly connected you become with your peers. While they start out as 29 strangers, shared experience (and sometimes suffering) quickly binds. In just four weeks, I got to know my classmates better than some friends I've had for years. Between palpating one anothers' faces during our practice scenarios, or trading life stories while driving to our very distant clinicals, it's incredible how much you can get to know people.
The breathtaking backdrop of the class.
On the last day, there were actual tears shed, as most of us parted ways. Not knowing if we'd ever see one another in person again, it's difficult to say goodbye to people that you're now so close to. Thanks to social media and a hastily passed-around contact info sheet, I can count on following along to see what my new best friends get up to in the coming years.