philadelphia and the end of an all too short vacation

Last week was my first vacation since I started clinics, and I still can't believe it is over already. It was fun, I guess. I had a doctor's appointment and spent much of the first 4 days getting paperwork, etc. done, working on research projects, studying for boards, etc. Luckily Mark and I did take a mini vacation. He took Friday off from work, and we left for Philly a little after 7am on Friday. We got to the zoo, our first stop, at around 1:30. It was a fun zoo, and althoguh expensive, I think it was worth the 3 hours visit.

Then we went downtown and checked in to our hotel. I had bid for a $100 room on priceline in downtown, and was surprised I got it at the Crowne Plaza. The hotel normally goes for $200-240 a night. Plus it was literally three blocks down from city hall, on the exact road with a great view too! We relaxed a bit before heading out for dinner at 8ish. We found lots of great places, but all with lines, so we ended up at the marathon grill where I got a delicious mushroom and eggplant sandwich. Then we went in search of a club to dance, which was also an experience. We found a place with cheap, good beer and no cover. There were an ok amount of people, but the DJ was not that great, and then to top it off hardly anyone was dancing, and those who were were so awkward. Mark suddenly pointed out "this city is full of black people, but did you notice there are NO black people here, and that no one can dance?" He was right, and I think that might of been contributing to the deficiency in decent dancing. We called it a night around 1am.

Mark was shocked (and pleased I think) that I slept in the next morning. Of course when I woke up at 10am I started panicking and acting like the world was ending since we had not gotten up yet, which also made Mark amused. We finally got going at noon and got some lunch. Sadly it was a yucky, cold, and rainy day. We did as much sight seeing as we could, checking out city hall, independence hall, the constitution center, reading market, etc. while we were cold and wet. We finished around 4pm and hit the road back home. It was a short and sweet trip. I was glad I did it since I have not seen Philly since I was 4. And I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear when we were driving home discussing how great the short trip was and Mark asks me "So what city is next?" I say London.

Sadly we did not get home until around midnight, and I had to get up at 6am to go in to school for an elective day of surgery at a feral cat clinic. I had a great time though, I did 3 cat neuters and 2 cat spays in 5 hours, more then doubling my surgical experience thus far.

target

I believe I am like many women in this matter, but target seems to be my weakness. I don't think I can go to the store and NOT buy something. Even if I go to find something else, if it is not there, I always spot something I don't particularly need that I want to buy. And do you ever get the surveys on the receipts that enter you to win $5000 shopping spree at the store? I swear, I have filled out dozens, and I keep clinging to this hope that one day I will win it.

irony...

This just makes me laugh a bit...this week is my vacation week. Here is how it goes:
Granted, Monday started like a vacation should, being that I slept in late with Mark, then we went to lunch and then he left for work at 1pm and my day started. I began downloading all the internship applications, wrote my letter of intent, wrote more emails to professors, wrote a letter with Ryan to our landlords, and worked on that application process most of the day.

Yesterday I got up at 6am. I walked to the T at 7:30, caught the train to grafton at 8:30, and got to school at 10am. I had an appointment with Dr. Rush to talk about cardiology residencies at 10:30. Then I met with Dr. Jakowski to go over the biopsy viewer software on campus, and then proceeded to look up and compile a list of every ferret biopsy that has come back positive for lymphoma since 1994 (I scanned about 480 records to make this list of 90 animals). I then went to the wildlife clinic and helped out with medical procedures until 2pm for fun and then caught the train back home, getting home at 5pm, having to meet with our landlords after that (only to have them reschedule for today), and read my book for 3 hours before bed.

Today Ryan woke up at 6am, and being a light morning sleeper I woke up then too. I went to the Tufts Medford gym, did an hour on the elliptical. Came back home, cleaned the entire apartment and did the dishes. I took out the trash and recycling. I baked Pumpkin bread for dinner with Mark tonight. I went shopping at target and got some stuff for the apartment and I stopped off at shaws and deposited our 30+ bottles from our party that were still in the kitchen. I stopped at the post office to buy stamps and mail some thank you letters. Heather called and we worked A LOT on revising my letter of intent. I continued emailing profs stuff they needed for my letters of recommendations, and revised my letter further after Dr. Cotter reviewed it. I completed my application sheets for all 7 internship positions I am applying for. I wrote stamped envelopes for all 7 places, 3 copies each, one for each of the people who are writing me recommendations. I printed and reviewed 4 pages on spaying cats and dogs for my upcoming spay elective. I spent 2 hours on vetprep.com doing practice board exam questions. In 20 minutes I leave to meet christina for a drink, then coming back at 6pm to meet the landlords and start cooking dinner, and then at 8pm I am going to mark's with dinner all made for us (apple, sweet potatoe and butternut squash soup with pumpkin bread).

So what makes me laugh through all of this? Ryan came home from work at 1:30pm, took a 2 hour nap on the futon. He then got up to go back to work for a 30 minute fitting, which he should be home from by 5pm. He walked by my bedroom before leaving again while I was on vetprep.com, and says "See you, I hope you keep enjoying your lazy day off!"

feeling a little less blue...

I was starting to feel quite down on myself yesterday, with australia conflict, etc. Plus I got my class rank. I have a 3.15 GPA, with a rank of 57/77. Not very good. But today Dr. Rush made me feel better when he was glad I sent my clinical rotations GPA too (3.75) because that says a lot. And Dr. Cotter was impressed with my organizational skills and tackling all of these applications so early. Plus on the NCState website it said that their competitive internship program only accepts "strong academic records (>3.0/4.0), which manes I still make that classification! And thanks to Heather's help I am feeling much more confident about my letter of intent! : )

I hate big decisions, and this is quite a predicament

Decisions decisions, should I go to australia and possibly decrease my shots at a great career in cardiology, or should I cancel, stay home, and always wonder what if I had gone.

OK, so I planned a trip to Australia for 6 weeks my first year in vet school. I have been planning it for ages, but things keep making it seem difficult. First of all, I was strung along by an organization at school and led to believe I would easily land this $12,000 scholarship for women, only to later find out that only 1/11 women applying get it. I was planning on that $ to off set the cost to australia, but now that it is not there I need to foot the bill for a $4000 trip. That is doable, but hard, making me more poor then usual and unable to splurge at all from Dec. to Feb.

Then there is the issue with my cat, my car, etc. All of which are annoying hassles, but can be arranged.

Then there is planning the trip itself. My cousin is supposed to go with me for the first 2 weeks of vacation, then I am on my own for 4 weeks at the wildlife sanctuary. Evan asked me to plan all the stuff, from hostels to trains to ferries, etc. which is quite a burden, and I am only about 1/3 of the way done with it, and the trip is less then two months away.

Then there is scheduling everything else I need to do with my limited free time, like seeing family, friends, taking boards exams, which can all be arranged, just another hassle.

There is the stress that my return flight gets delayed and I am late for my last core rotation...something I should not have to worry about but I do cause I have seen it happen to classmates, and your grade is definitely affected if something like that happens.

Arranging with all my credit card companies, etc., for online payments and notifying them that I will be in australia.

Being away from my boyfriend for 6 weeks, doable, but again, not something I look forward to.

Ok, all no big deal, all things I can handle and force myself not to think about and to say "It will all be ok once I am in australia and am enjoying myself there".

Then my email today.

Many of you know I am in the process of applying to internships. I ahve changed my mind since starting vet school. I have realized that as much as I enjoy zoo and wildlife medicine, I have almost no chance of landing a career in it. However, I have also found I LOVE cardiology, and after speaking with Dr. Rush today about it, he thinks while it is very competitive, with the right letters of recommendations and possibly another cardiology related publication (with his help in the spring) I have a decent shot at one of those residencies. Of course, the internships I am applying for I picked ones that have cardio residencies. And today I find out that the normal three week window to either phone interview or in person interview are smack in the middle of my trip to Australia. Basically, by sacrificing them, I still have a chance at an internship, but much less of a chance at the ones I want. I would probably be sacrificing a chance at angell since they want an in person interview from tufts students. And I might be sacrificing other internships since I might not be able to arrange a phone interview easily either.

So the predicament, do I spend $4000 and possibly sacrifice a better shot at a career in cardiology? Or do I say fuck it and go anyways to enjoy the field that I have already realized I don't have a shot at anymore?

I am so not sure...both Heather and my mom had good advice, and I was a little shocked that my mom actually leaned towards not going, but I still need to wait and see. I will wait and see if these internships I just wrote to today get back to me soon and if I can arrange interviews in the week before I leave fir Australia.

another week of wildlife and another 26.2 mile race under my belt

This past week I spent on a wildlife elective on the Grafton campus, and as expected I absolutely LOVED it. Everyone was so glad to have me back in the clinic. I finally met Erica, the new wildlife intern. I volunteered for two on call shifts (so I crashed at friend's places in grafton those nights) and only got called in once for a sad euthanasia of a gull with two broken wings. A ton of people there asked me if I would apply for the internship at the wildlife clinic there, and while that is a dream of mine, I explained no cause they traditionally don't take tufts alumni and since it would be better for me to branch out. A ton of people (including erica and the wildlife technician Karen) told me I should still apply for the wildlife internship at Tufts since if they were going to make an exception for a tufts alumni it would be me, and Erica said taht she had not even met me yet but I already had a reputation and she had heard a lot about me from others about how I was such a great student. I was flattered, but I still don't think I will apply for that internship.

Speaking of internships, I officially opened my account today for my internship applications. I have asked for three letters from various professors, two already happily accepted, one I have not heard back from yet but I just wrote her today. I have changed my ranking since I first made it a week ago, I am including more internships at universities since I have heard that an academic internship increases your chances of a residency so applying to more veterinary schools will increase my chances at a cardiology residency. I am meeting with Dr. Rush tomorrow too (which I am quite nervous about) to talk about cardio residencies (he was excited that I was interested in cardio).

Yesterday I ran my fifth marathon. I ran the Baystate marathon in Lowell. I hate saying this, but it was my worst race yet. Not my worst time, actually it was my second best time, but I was severely disappointed in my time and I didn't really enjoy the race.

Mark got up early with me and drove me to the start. It was cold, and I am grateful Mark convinced me to wear my jacket. I wore shorts though, which might of been a bad choice. I had checked the weather friday night and it said it would be in the 50-60 range for the day, chilly, but good and easy running weather, the type of temp you should warm up nicely in. Boy was I wrong. It was freezing. I started pacing behind these lean younger women thinking they were running the marathon, but then at mile 3 they split off from me on to the half marathon course and I continued on the marathon course.

I had started out behind the 3:40 pace setter, thinking I was at a good steady pace for me. It was cold and windy, and my legs ached from the cold. I kept waiting for them to warm up, but they didn't. Somewhere around mile 8 I was suddenly passed by the 3:40 pace setter, which was not a good sign. I had thought I started behind him, but I must of passed him and was running at a pace faster them him for the beginning (not good, I am not that fast).

However, I was keeping my pace, even though it was not that enjoyable of a race. There were only handfuls of 15-10 spectators every 2 miles at the water stops, as opposed to Boston's thousands along the course. In between water stops I was lonely and bored. And my legs continued to ache. I hit mile 20 and was hurting, but was shocked by my time...I was at 3:01, an awesome pace that if I had kept up I would finish under 4 hours (my goal). And then I fell apart. I had been hurting a lot before taht point, but had pushed through it. Suddenly, my knees (esp. the right) really hurt. Everytime I pushed my pace my right knee had an excruciating sharp pain that brought tears to my eyes and made me limp. For the first marathon in the last 3, I had to walk. I called Mark at mile 22 to tell him I was going to be later then expected at the finish. I felt really bad.

So I chugged along to the finish, and walked a total of .6 miles (.2 mile intervals three times from mile 22 to the end). My pace slowed, and I finished in what I felt was a pathetic 4:17. I have been so used to finishing quicker every race this one was so disappointing for me, but I had to remind myself that all runners have bad races and get hurt at some point, so I just need to try harder for the next race.
And I guess all in all it was not that bad of a time.
So far my races are:
1. Adirondack Marathon, Sept. 2006. Finishing time: 5:10
2. Boston Marathon, April 2007. Finishing time: 4:36
3. Mohawk Hudson Marathon, Oct. 2007. Finishing time: 4:28
4. Boston Marathon, April 2008. Finishing time: 4:09
5. Baystate Marathon, Oct. 2008. Finishing time: 4:17

coffee or gum

I successfully put my foot in my mouth at dinner with Mark's friends on Friday night. I was talking about the internship at Angell and how you work 6 days a week for 14 hour shifts. Somehow the fact that I don't drink coffee came up, and I told them all a story about Angell and how 90% of the interns and residents chew gum ALL the time, and I think it is SO unprofessional. I started going off about how stupid doctors look while they take a history from owners and chomp like a cow chewing cud in between answers, but I figured out that the interns at Angell must do it since it probably helps them stay awake. After I got done with my grotesque acting out of obnoxious chewing gum Josh's girlfriend said "Yeah, I chew gum all day at my job". (she is a teacher). Open mouth, insert foot.

But Mark thinks I need to learn how to like coffee. So when we were at the mall on Sunday we stopped at starbucks and I got a soy milk pumpkin latte with no whip cream...I have to say, it was quite good, only a slight after taste of coffee from the espressos, and now I am craving another!

housewarming in Medford

I am really settling in to this new place, and I love it (granted I also haven't had to drive back to Tufts for rotations yet, but we'll see how that goes this week).
I think if any fourth year vet student wanted to move out here to be closer to Boston, I was a great one to do it. I think unlike many of my classmates I will actually take advantage of being so close to the city. And hanging out with my boyfriend multiple times a week is so nice as well.

Friday night Mark and I went to dinner at this mediterranian restaurant next to his apartment. I dressed up a lot in this new dress I recently got for myself, and we randomly ran in to his co-worker Josh and his girlfriend Miriam. We joined them for dinner, which was pretty tasty but a little too pricey (I had a polenta, portabella, eggplant, and squash tower in a sweet sauce).

Saturday was party day. After sleeping in until 11am (still not sure if Mark is a good or a bad influence on me, but I do think I need to sleep in from time to time so I will say good) I bought booze and cleaned the house. I think the only hard part of my current living situation is as much as I love dogs, I hate dog hair and dirtiness...I have been sweeping and vacuuming the place 2-3 times a week and can barely keep up with the dog hair everywhere.

People started arriving at 7ish. Of course, the big party mistake we made was the red sox were in the play offs, and we don't have cable. I didn't care too much, but Ryan was obviously very hurt when about a dozen of his friends arrived at 7:30 and then left at 9pm to go watch the sox somewhere in Boston.

The party was def. smaller then anticipated, we had over 30 yes replies, but probably only saw 20 people, and a ton left for the sox, but I still had an awesome time. Ryan's friend Jeremy came up from NYC for the party, and he is so much fun. People wanted to play guitar hero a bunch, which I always enjoy (and kick ass at).

Things came to a halt around 1am. And clean up on Sunday didn't take that long either. Sunday was a super lazy day, went to the mall and laid around doing practically nothing all day, but everyone needs a day like that.

Tomorrow I go back to Grafton for a week elective in Wildlife, yippee!!!

neuro at angell

I expected my last week at angell,on neurology, to be my least favorite since I didn't like the speciality that much at Tufts. Luckily, so far, it has been my favorite. It has just been me and the resident since the two neurologists are on vacation, and no other interns or externs are on with us. So I have been doing and seeing A LOT. And right off the bat the doctor started jokingly referring to me as his padwan learner. I have done overall well, not known all the answers, but made some suggestions that the doctor hadn't thought of that helped. After 3 weeks at angell I finally feel like I am starting to understabd how things work and how to stay afloat, and of course now my time is up and I need to move on. I will be glad to be back at Tufts, but I wish I could of spent more time at Angell getting to know how things work. Maybe that time will come next year if I end up there on an internship.

new crib

I know this blog is way overdue, but I have not had internet for the last week! Last weekend Ryan and I moved in to the new place in Medford. It was quite an experience. We got everything done in two trips. The first night there i stayed in and unpacked all my stuff, which only lead to a little tension between ryan and I since he went out drinking and felt a little left out in the move in when he got home the next day.
But things worked out, and the place looks great!
Sunday night was the ratatat concert, Mark agreed to go with me since I had no friends who like ratatat available to go...and it was so much fun. We ran in to Tony and Jill there. And even though Mark is not a big fan of ratatat, we still had a blast on the dance floor.
I've been at Angell the last two weeks on elective, and it has been a little rough. I hate to admit it, but I am having second thoughts about an internship there. I love the area, the name has such reputation, and they say you can handle anything after an angell internship, but you work 16 hour shifts, 6 days a week, and only get one week vacation in the entire 54 week program. I still have not decided what to do, but I will probably have a better idea in a couple weeks. I will apply there, but am not sure where to rank it yet...I keep vasilating between wanting to go there since it has such a rep, and wanting to have a life and not work 80+ hours a week.
I have been able to take the T in to work a couple times last week though, that was nice.
And my mom came to visit yesterday, Mark finally met her, as well as Ryan, and that was quite an interesting afternoon, but I guess it all went well. My mom really doesn't have any inhibitions though.
Well, back to the apartment now, but I just want to comment on one other thing: I swear I have the most amazing boyfriend ever. : )