Where Did I Match?

UNITY HOSPITAL, ROCHESTER NEW YORK IT IS!!

And the suspense ends. Rather, it ended about 5 days back. I'll be flying into a beautiful city with some really friendly citizens and I shall look forward to about 6 months of 3 feet of snow :-)

Now that I have had 5 days to breath through and make myself believe that this is actually happening, I'm delighted. I'm a part of a distinguished and delighted group of to-be interns who matched this year. I am one of the few who can look back at Match Week with a fond smile and pat myself on my back and say," Mission Accomplished". I can look at the past two years and say, "Successful Journey". Whoever said that its the journey that matters and not the destination basically never reached the destination. I can't imagine feeling so at peace and satisfied about this journey if I hadn't matched.

But, back to where I matched. Rochester. have I mentioned that I have a thing for everything British except their cricket team? I love their accent, I love the names that they give places, I love their authors, I love their Royalty but I can't imagine wanting to live in England. Eureka!! I get to go to Rochester! Where every name is British, where the houses are so far apart, I get a good rural English feel, where I can stay in a place called Carriage Glenn and behave like I'm so English Royal myself and still get my dose of the USA :-)

I probably chose the worst month to go to Rochester during my interview season - January. But I had to see how bad the snow can get! They say the city blooms in the summer. Guess it is my turn to find out. I'm already excited, nervous, scared, happy, confident yet not so much....it's a myriad of emotions and feelings. One thing I know for certain, I'm actually glad I did not match into a Prelim position. I know I probably would not have said this 2 months ago when I was so intent on wanting Surgery. But the peace I'm getting by knowing that I am in this wonderful program for 3 years and will get out with an Internal Medicine degree under my belt, makes me sleep well at night and makes me calm. Really really calm :-)

I've actually been going through all my interview conversations with the faculty in my head since Friday. I'm glad i had the chance to tell them everything about myself - academics, personal, professional....everything! I can proudly say that they liked me enough to consider me for their program :-) what a confidence boost!!

I'm doubly excited because I even have a friend who matched at Unity. I mean, how cool is that? On Saturday, I just got this message saying,"So guess we have Unity in common, huh?" and I couldn't stop hoping against hope that it really meant what I thought it did.

And it did :-) ha ha!!! I think these three years are going to change me for the better. I can already see myself become more sure about myself. Being in a place like that, not too much city, not too much village, is going to be so great. And I'm so going to become an outdoorsy person. I promise. I'll only be able to utilise 3-4 months for that, so I'm going to make the best of it. No more lazying around :-)

Whew!! Lots of documentation to do, a family trip to be scheduled, packing to begin, house-hunting to start and an international drivers' licence to be applied for. USA baby, here I come!!

I'm Back !!

It has been over a year since I made my last entry. Things got very busy after I came back from rural posting in Shirur. We then started with all the heavy postings - Medicine, Surgery, Ob-Gyn. That was followed by a nerve-racking USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 2 CS preparation. Amidst all of that, I had the opportunity to complete 2 elective rotations at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. I visited my Uncle in California, saw a little bit of LA for the one day that I was there for my CS examination, made a return to New York (this time with my best friend) to fall in love with it AGAIN (why do you do this to me New York?!), met some wonderful people, made some brilliant and funny friends, learnt from smashing residents and Professors, grew up a little (not so much though :-P ), carried all my baggage alone everywhere (trust me, that is my greatest achievement - you know why, because only today morning I dreamt that I left my check-in bag at the security counter at the airport. I was running across the entire length 10 mins before my flight took off, just to get my bag. Such a relief to get up and realise I was in bed, at home and that my airport story ended 3 months back!), gained weight (that was second achievement. a whole 2.5 kg!! in 2 months!) and basically wanted to come back home, but so did not at the same time!!

People do many more things in the time that I spent in the USA, than I did. But, then, looking back, I loved the relaxed life I lived there. Yes, I worked. In New Haven, I was in the hospital from 9 am to 5 pm. In Boston, I was there from 6 am to 6 pm. But, I roamed about, I read, I studied, I watched FRIENDS all over again, I developed newfound love for The Big Bang Theory, I found Chipotle (oh holy God! I loved their barbacoa so much, it hurts to remember it now. Please please take me back there now!!), I loved Boston (that's saying a lot because, frankly, I dreaded being alone in a city without any new friends) Yet my first weekend out in the city, I knew I was going to love it, with all its rain, sunshine, snow and wind. Oh yes, I experienced my first ever snow fall :-) As beautiful as it looked from inside the house, it was tough to walk out there. People may laugh saying, "So excited about snowfall of all things?!" But, hey, I live in a tropical country. The day I left for the US, the temperature here was a whopping 40 degree Celsius. If I see snowfall, I'm going to enjoy it and call it beautiful.

After my posting in Shirur, I'd realised that I don't go beserk with new surroundings. I adapt, without any complains. In fact, it takes me months to realise that I actually enjoyed the change. During my time in Shirur, I never once thought of the stay as wonderful, enjoyable or easy. I just did what I had to do. I had lots of time to ponder (oh yeah, I did, lots and lots of it. My best friends will attest to that.) It was only maybe months down the line that I looked back at that month and classified it as 'Good. I managed to live on my own.' It was the same with my US trip. During that time, I didn't really believe it was amazing or bad. I just went along with the flow, week by week, ticking things off my list. It is only now, 3 months down the line, that I look back and say "wow, I really did it. And I enjoyed every moment." That probably gives me most hope about the kind of person I shall be when I fly out of my homestead.

So what is next up for me? I have decided to go the US way. I'm currently compiling applications, putting together Personal Statements, looking up programs to apply for. If things all work out, next year, at this time, I shall be working my ass off at some wonderful hospital. If things don't, well, I think that is a story for another post. I get the feeling that I'm sounding happy and optimistic in this one. Let's keep it that way :-)

It feels so good to be back. I'm sure I'm going to spend an hour or two going through my old posts, reliving some memories, good and bad. I've missed writing so much. I'm glad I forced myself to take some time off and do this. Now, of course, I shall be itching to write my next post.

p.s. the title of this blog finally makes complete sense!! I've officially become Dr. Pranjali. I'm still not used to it. My parents have to keep reminding me to add that 'Dr.' before my name :-P


Adding a picture of my Italian Brunch In New York. A tribute to the love I developed for eating. The white stuff is the best ever cheese I've had in a long long time :-)