So...Where Are You Going to Medical School???

Lately everyone has been asking me this question and I honestly don't have an answer for them. Over the past few months I've almost stopped thinking about it because I simply don't have all the facts yet to make the right decision. I've only heard a final decision back from three out of the five schools I was interviewed at and don't yet know what kind of financial aid packages any of them will offer. Rather than perseverate over where I'm going to end up, I'm doing everything in my power to make sure that I'll be ready for the grueling reality of first year. This basically means that I'm taking it pretty easy. I have a few trips planned for the spring/summer and am really looking forward to getting out of the country and exploring parts of the world I've never been to before. More than that, I'm excited to see friends, eat new/strange food, enjoy the sunshine, jump in puddles, tramp through valleys and up mountains, lie on beaches and read as many books as I can possibly devour. I want to make this a summer to remember and that's what I'm focusing on right now. So to all of those who are curious about where I'll be for school next year - join the club! I promise I will let you know as soon as I do but until then take a page out of my book and chill out, go do something fun, bake a cake, kiss your significant other or watch a good movie. It's important to enjoy the ride :)

Interview Season

It's finally feeling truly like Fall in Chicago and I'm really missing the warm, sunny days I spent at the beach as I hurry into work bundled up in my coat and boots. Normally I would be feeling rather melancholy, faced with the prospect of a long winter indoors but as it is I'm much too busy to spend any time brooding over the death of summer. It's Fall and that means that interview season has begun in earnest! So far I have received interview invitations from Hofstra, Boston University, UVM and, just last week, UIC. On Tuesday, September 31, I flew back to the East Coast (which was a nightmare of cancelled flights and rescheduled interviews) to attend interview day at BU and then Hofstra and it was an amazing, exhausting, wonderful experience. I stayed on in New York City for the weekend following a Friday interview at Hofstra and met up with some college friends for a fun mini-reunion. I ended up flying back to Chicago Monday morning on the red-eye and making it to work, bleary-eyed on roughly 5 hours of sleep (half of which was on the plane so it barely even counts). I then had to go class after work so I didn't actually make it home until almost 10 PM!
It's been a very long and tiring week but I wouldn't trade it for anything and being away made me really appreciate coming home to my cozy apartment and adorable kittens. Oh yes, I have two kittens now. I decided that Rufus (kitten #1) needed a tiny friend to grow up with and keep him company so I adopted Lizzie Bennet, a beautiful gray tabby who keeps Rufus on his toes. She's a feisty little lady and her and Rufus are so adorable together it's incredibly distracting, I'm shocked I ever get anything done when they're around to cuddle with me on the couch.
Another reason I've been incredibly busy lately is that I've started volunteering at Lurie Children's Hospital. I want to save talking about it for another post but suffice it to say that I look forward to my shift all week and have really enjoyed it so far. On top of that I have a new class (physiology!) which has a hefty amount of required reading per week so I'm planning on shutting myself in with some tea and snacks this weekend and studying extra hard to get up to speed.
With everything going on (all exciting things!) it's been difficult to keep up with writing on this blog but I'm always happy when I get a chance to sit down and update you all. If anyone is interested in specific interview day posts for any of the above four schools I'm glad to oblige, just let me know in the comments!

Rufus & Lizzie being friends

New job, new apartment, NEW KITTEN!

I've been pretty busy over the past few weeks with oh so many things but I am happy to say that life is finally beginning to settle down (at least, enough for me to be able to get a quick post in!). Despite the absolutely cutthroat rental market in Chicago, I was able to find a wonderful apartment in the perfect area and finally moved in this weekend. Of course, as usual, there are a few maintenance things that I've already noticed need to be taken care of but I am thrilled to be in a new spot. Adding to that is my excitement and happiness over adopting a tiny ball of fluff otherwise known as Rufus O'Reilly, ginger orphan kitten (please see portrait below). On top of that I just started a new position at Northwestern that I didn't want to post about too early in advance (last Monday was my first day) AND I've been working hard on applications and sending in updates to schools. So basically I've been crazy busy! As everything has started to wind down though I've been thinking a lot about some topics that I really want to open up a discussion about and I have some serious issues on my mind regarding the application cycle and medical school in general so I hope you will all be on the lookout for my next post because I would love some feedback on what I have to say. Oh and please prepare yourselves for future pictures of tiny Rufus because I've already taken about 100 on my phone and I can't fight the need to share them his adorable face with the whole world!