From June-August of 2025, I was on my first physical therapy clinical rotation in Cape May, NJ. I was working in an outpatient physical therapy clinic treating orthopedic conditions (think joint replacements, strains, broken bones, etc.).
I had a really mixed experience at this clinic. I enjoyed my patients, the location, and the autonomy I was allowed as a student. On the other hand, I was lacking in mentorship, had an extremely busy schedule, and was frustrated with the experience I was having with my advisor.
In an outpatient clinic you see each patient 2-3 times per week. I was only there for 8 weeks, so most of these patients I had been seeing the entire summer and developed great relationships with. I don’t know what it is about goodbyes, but for some reason I always cry. This day was not excluded from this pattern as I was given thoughtful gifts and said farewell to patients.
I think I may have even been loud enough about wanting a grand farewell that a patient I didn’t even see that often brought me an ice cream cake. I was gifted books, gift cards, and very sweet notes of appreciation. I was having a really great day and looking froward to an even more fun evening. As my farewell gift, the staff were going on a booze cruise in Wildwood, NJ together at sunset.
I was on top of the world and feeling so proud of my time here. One of my last requirements to finish clinical is reviewing the rubric students are graded on by their clinic advisor that is sent to their school, which determines if we pass or fail.
We sit down in this meeting and my ego is instantly popped. I see the words “decreased in competence and initiative” in the very first box. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!? I felt every single human emotion in the span of 5 seconds, but landed on rage as the winner. You’re meaning to tell me, after a summer of teaching myself, this is how you’re summing up my experience to my school? BUT, you still like me enough to pay for a booze cruise to send me off?? Honestly none of it makes sense to me to this day.
I held it back as best as I could and stayed professional. I let it roll off my back and knew that the patient’s didn’t share his opinion and that was what mattered to me. I also knew there was no way I could fail this clinical. I finished the day quietly and let a single tear creep out as I headed to my booze cruise.
Flash forward about an hour as I watch this same man shotgun a White Claw on the side of a boat in a mildly-offensive golf shirt with a lei on. We only booked an hour, so he wasted no time pouring drinks. I just kept asking myself what the hell was going on. But hey, I will never say no to a free boat.
As we finished our trip, I promised I would come back the next week before officially leaving NJ (I didn’t…) and Irish goodbyed that man and my strange strange experience.
Leaving confused, tipsy, and with really mixed emotions about the experience, I found myself in Stone Harbor. Something about everything going on told me I needed to take myself out to dinner and specifically for a margarita.
Some people have a really hard time asking for a table for 1 at a restaurant. I don’t have whatever gene that is. I would take myself out to dinner every single day if I was rich. This night, I had a coconut margarita, chips & guac, elote corn, and fish tacos at Agave. YUMMMM.
Once I finished my meal and reset my vibe, I was ready to celebrate. I texted my friend living in Philadelphia and asked how soon she could be here. I was DETERMINED to have a damn good last day. Once she said 2 hours, I knew I had just enough time to run into the ocean in the dark, get home, shower, and be ready to party.
So anyways, that was the weird story of my weirdest last day of work. The moral of this one is that it really doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of you, so you should probably just do whatever you want all the time. You’re the only one that can fix your own vibe!
