First week of NS. Any misconceptions?

I've had a very positive first week too. I know it will be demanding, but I have positive instructors who have made us aware of all the resources we have to succeed, and who make us comfortable and excited about nursing. The other Nursing 1 students are very friendly, and I think we'll work together well. Maybe it helps that my ADN program seems to skew a little older- lots of people in their 30s with work, families, etc. so I don't think there will be a lot of drama. All in all, I feel less scared of nursing school now than this time last week. :)

You have to be careful when listening to peoples' stories about NS, because they will get you all kinds of freaked out for no reason. I remember in my first semester that I listened to all these people talking about how hard the exam we were taking that day was, and I literally made myself sick because I was so worried about it. I took it and it was no big deal, but I was still sick for hours after that.

I wouldn't say to ignore people, but just take it with a grain of salt. I have been pleasantly surprised at how NS has not been NEAR as bad as I had been lead to believe.

I'll admit that I was scared to start. My lesson? Don't read too much into what is posted here. I know it'll be HARD and there is a ton of work, but our instructors really want to see us succeed. We were all told up front to take school VERY seriously, but not so seriously that we scare ourselves into failure.

After our first two weeks, I've learned that my program must be extremely different from most of those on here. Our instructors have been wonderful and they seem like they genuinely care about us and not just as students, but as people. My classmates have all been pretty great. We had our first exam last Friday, and we were all told that it would be hard and scary, etc. It wasn't nearly as bad as the second year students had made it out to be.

I'm sure the tests will get harder and classmates will have their fusses, teachers may lose their cool, however, I don't think this is going to be NEARLY as bad as a lot of stories I've heard!