Wednesday, November 5, 2008

journal entry from my interview days 11-3/5-08



He was one of my hosts when I was on the interview trail. Well, I wish. But my host looked exactly like him. After I landed in Seattle...the elevation unsettled me a little bit. I am used to completely flat land, no surprises anywhere. However, I really like how it rains/drizzles a lot- it reminds me of Scotland, one of my favorite places in the world. Also, the lights dotting the mountains and the soothing expanse of lake surrounding the school is breathtaking.

So Mr. Krasinski, we'll call him, had the coolest apartment I've seen so far. He and his down-to-earth girlfriend shared a lofted space; again I grew up in one place my whole life and only recently started to travel, so the little things are wondrous to me.

After some small talk about the school, my host presented to me a flyer about the I-1000 proposition up for vote election day tomorrow, and gave me a key to his house and told me to make myself at home. Wow. I could only hope to be as hospitable as these people were if I could become a med student.




The next morning, we took the bus to school. COLORS! The fall here is so beautiful!


The bus is actually really really good. We arrived at school, the 2nd largest federal building after the pentagon. I didn’t believe it at first until I was actually inside. It’s a maze. Seriously.

So the admissions office has a freaking lounge just for applicants. This touch blew me away at first, but when I realized UWSOM didn’t interview batches of 60 once a week like some other schools, it made more sense. There was only 7 of us total that day. I loved it! I got to know all the other applicants who were just really fun, and our tour guide was great and showed us some great views and was pretty chatty as well.

The presentation was alright, so was lunch, and the med students as usual were great. The staff were superb, and walked us around themselves. Now the interview sucked. Role playing? Three interviewers on one interviewee? What the heck? They even played good cop, bad cop, and pissed off cop. Let’s say I have had better interviews. I left the room feeling like the whole trip had been fun so far but was a waste of money. The second interview was so much better. It was just one on one and we had a great time chatting in her office. Good thing my host let me look at the proposition up for the vote.

After that I had time to burn, so I sat in a neuro-ethics class. It was alright, big lecture of second years reminded me of my high school all over again. Next I just wandered around the undergrad campus. It is gorgeous, and I would have a ton of fun running these trails.



Near the end, I met a couple of retired professors, of dentistry and forestry. They actually gave me some good tips on photography, and we walked the trails, talking. I am so lucky. From the slums nearly dealing drugs to the hallowed halls of academia…it is a dream come true. Here I was in a suit, strolling with men who had risen to the top of their fields about photography composition and healthcare, when some of my childhood friends are in jail. This election day so many dreams are coming true.




The above pic was from a house party that my next host brought me to. It was possible to most fun I’ve had all semester. She drives a transformer:



Seriously! She wrecked her car, but her husband who was a surgery resident welded a new back end on. It’s hilarious! Anyway, we showed up at the house full of med students and just had a great time relaxing. Homemade brownies, pizza, drinks. I had to add that the yes, the rumor is true. The hotter the med student, the more likely they are married already. Hahahaha.

So my second host actually had an entire bed and room ready for me. Wow. This is just amazing! A huge window overlooking the lights of Seattle, chocolate on my pillow, what more could I ask for? All too soon it’s time to fly back home.