I matched!

So it's almost a week after the fact but well anyway.....


I MATCHED!!!!!!

Not only did I match, I matched at my first choice, Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Talk about a nerve wracking day....and I was sick....which made me an emotional basketcase.

So I got to the classroom where matchday was held....I found a seat....and then I waited, and waited, and waited. One person matched at Children's and then 2....holy cow how many will they take. 3 people at Children's....I can't take it anymore! Then at 12:29, almost one hour after match day ceremonies began, my name was called. OMG I can't breathe!! I forgot the money for the fish bowl, have to go back to my seat and then I get my envelope....afraid to open it....approach the microphone....lift the flap and tears in my eyes announce Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital. I felt such incredible relief and tears came to my eyes. What an amazing feeling! When I started medical school I never expected to match into a top program. I couldn't be happier and I am so excited to be entering this next stage in my life!

My terrible, terrible cold put a serious damper on my match day festivities. I missed the Dean's dinner the evening before because I couldn't breathe. I did manage to go out to dinner with my friends on Match evening but then the decongestant wore off and I couldn't breathe again....and we are not talking mildly congested, we are talking there is no air passing through the nostrils...so I spent my anti-climatic evening going to bed early after an unhealthy dose of Afrin so that air could pass through my nose.

I'm finishing up my outpatient general peds rotation now (whch I love love love). Then I have 2 weeks of Developmental peds, followed by 2 weeks of vacation and finally 19 days of adult medicine (blech). Then I'm DONE! And I get a PAYCHECK for the first time in 4 years!

Til next time!

Rain, rain go away

Day 4

We awoke on Monday to rain, rain and more rain as we set off on another long day on the bus. The only plan for today is to stop at La Venta, an outdoor museum in Villahermosa. The museum is located in the middle of the rainforest and if it were not for the miserable rain would have been truly beautiful. We were only able to see about 1/3 of the monuments in this park due to flooding conditions on the paths in the park. We were able to see the hallmark of the park, the giant Olmec heads. I confess I don't know the significance of these heads at all....but they were very impressive.

This is the hallmark piece in the park. Not much is known about their significance but as you can see they are huge (see the person walking next to it?)

Typical for me, I was more impressed with the nature around me. I had never been to a rain forest....and yes it was raining. The leaves on the plants were HUGE.

I also saw some monkeys in the trees and had a great picture if someone had not stepped right in front of my camera....grrrrrrr.

My favorite picture from this park is of the river that it is on. I don't know the name of the river but it certainly was beautiful!

We then proceeded to Palenque in hopes that the pouring down rain would end. This was definitely the low point of the trip after much bus riding, lots of rain, and no warm weather in sight. As a tribute to the rain gods, my brother bought an umbrella from the hotel gift store in hopes that we would never need to use it.

Travelling days

Back to my adventures in Mexico....


Days 3 and 4 of my vacation were mostly day for travelling. It was actually well timed becasue all it did was rain and rain and rain.


Day 3

We set out about 7:00 am for the LONG drive to Veracruz which was our overnight stop. We stopped for lunch in a little town called Puebla. The rain let up enough for us to walk around town a bit. There was a beautiful cathedral in the town but well it was Sunday so church services prevented us from entering. Some people went with the tour director to look at some pottery that is well known in the area called Talavera. Since I knew that I was not going to buy anything (too difficult to travel with pottery), I didn't go. Here is a picture of some of the pottery.

The town was nice but we really didn't have enough time to truly enjoy it. I only got 2 pictures of the town.







This was a fountain in the plaza in the middle of town. You can see how wet the ground is.

















These are some of the flowers in the plaza. I was intrigued by the poinsettias planted. I've never seen one planted outside!











After about an hour and a half, we got back on the bus and continued our drive to Veracruz.....in the rain.....and the fog. We arrived in Veracruz just as the Super Bowl was about to begin. We turned on the TV hoping to watch the game. We found it on 3 different stations....woo-hoo go COLTS.....in Spanish. Well the word "Touchdown" is universal anyway :-)

I only took one picture in Veracruz because it was so wet and dreary.

This is the lighthouse in Veracruz surrounded by their city building. Note the dark grey clouds surrounding it. The rain stopped enough that we were able to walk around the town that evening. We saw some entertainers in the plaza complete with a clown that decided to pick on my brother. We went to bed hoping for a better day tomorrow.