View from the top of the Residential Complex
I had a friend ask me the other day why I would want to write this blog. I’ve had no previous experience blogging, English was never my strongest subject, and why add more to my ever-growing work load? Although he had some valid points, they never crossed my mind when I signed up to do this.
I came to ICO with almost zero experience with optometry and no idea of what lie ahead in school. I put countless hours into researching the field, trying to glimpse what my path forward would look like, but all I found were stats and figures. Few things are difficult to find on the World Wide Web, but a real-life representation of an optometry student is definitely one of them. You can read all the statistics in the world about how great a career it is or how many job openings there will be in five years, yet neither of these will tell you what being a student here is truly like. I hope that by sharing my stories and experiences here at ICO, others can grasp a unique insight into the life of an optometry student and what it is that we do.
What a ride my first four months have been. I’ve met so many new and wonderful people from all across the nation. I’ve been lost downtown amidst the sea of skyscrapers, seen the White Sox play in their stadium a few blocks away, and even caught a musical at the Cadillac Pallace Theatre. Although I’ve had my share of fun and enjoyed my limited free time, the curriculum here at ICO isn’t easy.  There are times when you have to buckle down and really work hard for those grades. It can be a difficult choice, studying instead of hanging out with friends, but it helps that everyone here is in the same boat. We study together, party together, and most of us even live together in the Residential Complex. All of this makes the class of 2016 a very tight knit group, and it’s just one of the reasons why I now refer to ICO as home.