A couple weeks ago, I flew out to attend my fiancé’s Match Day celebration. It was kind of fancy- it took place in a nice hotel, with a brunch-like spread of mini quiches and smoked salmon on little toasts. Even as an outsider, I could sense how incredibly tense people were. Everyone started off with catching up with their classmates and meeting their families. Once things settled down, the Dean and some faculty members of the school gave a few speeches about how proud they were of the class and that in a matter of minutes- everyone in that room was going to know where they were going for residency training. Once it started getting close to the official envelope opening time, the students all gathered together with their academic groups alongside their faculty mentor. One by one, each student’s name was called and they were handed their respective envelope. They were instructed not to open it until specifically told to. After a couple minutes, everyone chanted and counted down from 10…9…8…7…
My fiancé completely destroyed his envelope trying to get it opened. The result: he matched back home, in Southern California! Although this means we’ll be doing long distance again, we’re both super grateful to have matched at our top training programs. Now I’ve got my own list of To-Do’s for the next month:
- Find a place to live/sign a leasing contract
- Find a mover (my program will pay for part of my move! Yay!)
- Order my long white coat. It’s nice that they actually have a women’s fit option with an adjustable two-button back belt…Pretty sure I’m the only person excited for this.
- Acquire dog. Yes, I am finally getting a dog. I could never justify getting one during medical school- board exams, class exams, other school obligations, rotations, interview season- I could never find the right time to get puppy and raise it. But now, I actually have the time! Moreover since my fiancé is going to be far away from where I’ll be doing my residency, not to mention my close friends and family, I think it will be nice to have some company. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll have a new pup around the second week of June!
- Start selling things. I have so much…crap. Anatomy flashcards, embryology and biochemistry books, old class notes, shelf exam study materials, the list goes on and on. I feel like it would be a huge waste to just toss everything, and I really want to make some more room on my self, so I’m thinking of selling them to other students. If you’re an incoming M1 or a current student, please subscribe for updates as I’ll be publishing a post with a list of things I’ll be selling!
For those curious, Nova also had a Match Day celebration. Although much less formal than other schools, everyone who RSVPed was able to receive their envelopes and open them with friends and family. I heard it was a lot of fun!
Congrats to my classmates! We’re almost done!
-NB