For those of you who aren't acquainted with the medical residency match process (and how could you be, if you've hung out with us for any length of time?), all medical students learn where they'll be living for the next 3-4 years on March 15 at a midday envelope-opening ceremony.
We and the Axners tried to recreate a similarly formal atmosphere by wearing clean(er) clothes and underwear. AS we were twelve hours ahead, this meant recreating the event around midnight.
Our official match evening commenced with a late dinner, a trip to the Haagen-Dazs cafe, and hopping three Thai pubs.
On our way to the third pub (around 11 PM) we received the call from Minnesota - one whole hour before we expected it!
Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois!
Throw the confetti - the future has been spoken, and it is good! We spent the next two hours celebrating and, well, breathing.
If you're looking for us this Summer, we'll be in Chicago (Sara: medical residency program at Northwestern / Scott: computer science PhD and research at Northwestern). Anybody on the North Side want two clean houseguests for the next four years?
After completing our international "Midnight Match," we believe our system to be superior than that put on by American medical schools. Our system may be more perfect - informal, colorful, celebratory, and with the optional assistance of dirt-cheap alcohol. (Of course, we have no basis for comparison.)
We have some gentle planning and sighs of relief ahead of us - we'll have plenty of time for the former (probably not the latter) on our next endeavor... A six-day climb to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro! (dum, dum, dum!)
We leave for Nairobi today - we'll try to be in touch before we start our ascent.
To all of our Minnesota med-friends: congratulations on your excellent matches. We wish we could be there with you, as long as we could return here without any time elapsing. Due to the physical implausibility of this, we send you an electronic high-five.
Hot damn.
