Greetings and Salutations! I'm Andrea. (Pleased to meet you!).
I'm in the Doctorate of Chiropractic program at
NUHS. I started in January 2012 and am now a
4th trimester student. (WOW! I'm happy and a
little sad to almost be done with Basic Sciences!!!) Admittedly, I
had absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into. I had high
hopes and aspirations when I came to NUHS. I've been very pleased
with my experiences here.
To tell you how I came to NUHS would probably require a tasty
beverage of some sort, a couple of LONG nights, and maybe a set of
chopsticks (for the sushi). I came to Florida via North Carolina,
Missouri, and Central Illinois with a couple of jaunts to Mexico,
Ireland and Germany. I am, above all, a refugee from the Midwest
(Jacksonville, IL), and from cubical land. I spent the first 10 or
so years of my working life in graphic design/web
design-development. I always knew that "office" life wasn't going
to be my final destination. (For anyone that has actually wondered,
it's EXACTLY like "Office Space"). It wasn't until 2004 (with a lot
of Life in between) that I graduated from North Carolina State
University in Raleigh, NC.
When I'm not actually at school or studying for school, I'm
hanging out with my boys (I have 2 boys - Grey [15] and Forest
[13]), watching movies, talking with friends and loved ones, and
being crafty. I'm also a bit of a gluten-free cook, and can
occasionally be persuaded to make a batch of something. I
occasionally find time to make it to the beach for some meditation
(usually late afternoon or evening). It's one of my favorite places
to be "still."
I am one of those odd characters that actually does study,
research, and read for pleasure. I'm a huge proponent of Holistic
Medicine and strive to acquire as many tools as I can for my
toolbox. The more that I learn, the more likely I am to be able to
help those that need it. I've studied several different approaches
to manual medicine, ethnobotany, natural, functional and mind-body
medicine. I'm constantly exploring these topics as well as
experimenting with different formularies and concoctions in
botanical medicine.
I love the fact that I've found a lot of my interests supported
here at NUHS. Even though I'm a bit of a "hippie" when it comes to
my approach to people and medicine, I'm deeply rooted in the
sciences (BS in Biology and Life Sciences). I spend a good portion
of my time simply trying to figure out how things work. So far in
my studies here, I've learned structure, function, and more (as
well as discovered infinite more topics to learn about).
I am the self-professed "keeper of notes and maker of study
guides", so if you need any notes (or study guides), please don't
hesitate to shoot me an email. Any questions? Ask away. If you want
to discuss philosophy or wax rhapsodic, I'm happy to oblige,
although I can nearly promise, we'll have a lively discussion.
I hope you find my ramblings at least moderately entertaining. I
hope to speak to, email, or see each and every one of you.
Andrea
andreaotken@student.nuhs.edu