Back to school

For anyone who wasn't aware, I am beginning my third, and hopefully, final year of a master's of counseling program at ASU. This semester is a little different for us. In the past I have taken just two classes a semester and worked as close to full-time as I could get. However I now have an internship that requires 20 hours a week, and I decided that I just want to get school over with. So I left my job and am taking five classes on top of my internship.
Fortunately one of those classes is a seminar focused on helping everyone doing an internship, so the class hours count toward our internship hours, and there is a minimum of outside work. I am also taking a class on evaluating psychological research, a class on psychological tests, a group counseling class, and a multicultural counseling class. At the moment I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the work I'm going to be doing, but I am determined to get this degree over with.
My internship looks to be really enjoyable. I am working at a hospital as a medical counselor. The majority of our work is done with oncology patients. There are support groups for living with cancer, one for adults and one for children and their families. We spend our days visiting patients who are in the hospital, and spend a lot of time with those who have just received their diagnosis.
I am really enjoying it so far(I started on August 13th). I have learned a lot about how cancer can effect the body, and about the vast amount of treatment options that are now available. So far I have only been following my supervisor around. I'm excited to be able to go it on my own soon.
Even though most of the work is with the oncology patients there are other patients that we see from time to time. There are those people who are dealing with so many medical problems that they spend a lot of time in the hospital. One person my supervisor has been visiting has been in the same bed for 45 days now. It is wonderful to be able to go in and let them express their frustrations, and also just give them someone to talk to about whatever else is going on in their lives.
It is a little unique in that I don't sit in an office and have set appointments all day long. Most of the people that we see individually are only around for a about a week, so it is rare to have extended relationships with them, but I know that the work we do is very important to them. Often we are able to help them plan out the questions they want to ask the doctor, or how to present the wishes they have for treatment. We help them talk through the stuff their families are still having a problem thinking about. Our services are also available to the family and friends of the patient, but my supervisor says that they rarely take advantage.
Anyway, I just thought I would get everyone caught up on what I'm up to.
-Mat