Thursday, December 03, 2009

Pushing Ahead

We're about halfway through third year in medical school and do you know what that means? Well neither do I when it comes to the actual schooling aspect of medical school. I guess my question should have been, do you know what that means for me? because honestly, that's way more interesting than say plugged sweat glands. Which, by the way, if Daniel ever starts to talk about those you should plug your ears and run away. At first you might think it could be one of those gross but oddly captivating stories. Then you realize that you just wish you didn't know what you now know. Trust me on this one. Saddly I know what I'm talking about.

Back to the point. Half way through third year. What happens now is that everyone starts seriously thinking and talking about where they want to apply for residency, where they want to realistically live for residency, where they'd be OK with living for residency, where they would rather poke their eyes out, but would live anyway if that's where they got matched to in residency. You know why all our friends are talking about this? Because next year they do away rotations, which is basically a month long interview where the program gets to see you at your very worst because you're still learning this stuff, but you want to make a good impression. Good luck with that one Sweetie.

Anyway, the point here is that we're talking and thinking and looking forward to moving, but we're still not done with our projects here! Or maybe that's not the point I was meaning to make, but it doesn't matter because it certainly is true. Maybe I'm seeing all these projects and getting a little panicky because I got home from vacation last night to realize that I have literally two weeks to get all our holiday stuff done before going back on vacation. Aaaaahhh!

I remember what my point was supposed to be now. My point was that I was thinking about all these places to live and realized that it doesn't really matter to me where we live as much as I previously thought it would. I think I can say with pretty good confidence now that I have lived in a variety of places in the US. Corvallis, OR-small college town filled with big-store hating, tree loving outdoorspeople. Clarkston, UT-filled with, well I don't think you can say that any place that has a population of 750 is "filled" but mostly you've got farmers. Spokane, WA- good sized city in the northwest, pretty average America I'd say. St. Louis, MO- big city. Lots of people. Lots of differences.

Anyway, I can pretty much say that I have loved every place I've lived in. Truly loved them all. Mostly people who know me can't believe that I spent a year living in a single wide in the middle of nowhere, but I loved that too. The middle of nowhere has great people living in it. So does St. Louis. I love the sights and sounds of the city. I love the sights and sounds of the country. I love it all. So I guess it doesn't really matter where we end up for residency.

PS. But just for the curious. As of right now the tops of our list for away rotation applications are:
  • Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN
  • University of Colorado in Denver, CO
  • University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT

8 comments:

TRS said...

I'd vote for Denver!
I'm sure Katie would love to have you in the same city!!

TRS said...

Oh... and you would love it here... Denver is awesome.

Mindy said...

I vote wherever Spiff and I end up. I'm getting all teary thinking about us all moving away from each other. :(

Dan's mom said...

Things Dan has going for him: his work ethic & competent demeanor - both great things in this situation.
Glad to know you all made it home. Is Spiff coming over to watch the "Civil War" game so that he & Dan can cheer against each other?

Janelle Dobson said...

Make sure Dan talk's to his advisor about it. For some places it really helps getting a foot in if you do an away rotation there- others they honestly could care less. We liked a lot about Mayo and I've heard good things about some of the Denver program. (what field is Dan going into anyway?) Be careful with Utah- the administration there has issue with good active mormons- I'm not joking- we've heard from many sources, including those who went there for med school and residency, that they turn their noses up to clean cut mormons. Sad but true.

Jenny said...

Since "the middle of nowhere - filled with mostly farmers" isn't an option, I would totally vote for the U of U.

Katie said...

What can we do to get that second bullet bumped to the top?

dad said...

Denver sure would save us alot of money. One stop shoping with both our girls in one place. Minnesota has great golf.