Oooh, my dad's an RN. He worked for 19 years in an ICU, now he works in a Level 1 Trauma Center. He works 7am-3pm Monday-Friday, every other weekend and every other holiday. Weeks that he works weekends, he gets a Wednesday off. So it's surprisingly regular schedule. He's even got to fly in the helicopter (they call it CareFlight here) a few times to go pick up injured people. Very cool.

He always has crazy stories. Hosing people with chemical burns off in the parking lot...nasty impalements...the stupid ways people break bones....hunters that shoot themselves while hunting in the woods and crawl for miles to get help. He loves it. He has always been very good at leaving the emotions out of it....I've never seen him get sad at home about a patient. I think for me, that would be very difficult. People at his work are always telling me how funny he is, and how he makes his patients and co-workers laugh.

If he had to give you advice, I know (I've had friends ask him for advice on nursing before), he'd say:

laugh a lot - having fun is important to let off steam
leave emotions at the door (leave work at work)
don't smart off to doctors, they can get you fired

Anyway, good luck in school! When do you finish?