I think is the part of that I hate the most–the planning.

I was online all day (and boy is my shoulder telling me so!) looking up tickets to South Africa to see if it’s feasible to visit shirerain and claidheamhmor while I’m in Kenya (I finally emailed the secretary–after all of my looking around, she said that she’ll arrange it all with the travel agency, so I think I’m set…. South Africa here I come!), looking for car rentals, trying to figure out if it’d be best if I drove the car from Iowa to Minnesota and back or if I just drive to Minnesota and then fly out from there, checking email every 5 minutes in hopes that I would hear from Wisconsin (I haven’t–it’s really making me worried that I haven’t heard anything) so that I could finalize my plans, discovering that I had applied to the wrong school in Iowa for internal medicine, applying to the right school (I hope. Or did I apply to the wrong neurology department to begin with?), etc, etc, etc.

And then Chris reminds me that I need to buy tickets to his wedding in May, because it’s a tourist destination and things fill up quickly. *sigh*

So as it stands, I have a plan ticket to Iowa on the 1st. No return ticket. No rental car yet because I’m not quite sure where I’m returning much less when. Minnesota wrote, and unlike the other programs, they don’t pay for motels, so I now I have to call and make reservations – rather than just telling the place I was at that I wanted to extend.

*sigh* It’s just getting to be overwhelming. I want it all figured out NOW. *stomps foot like Veruka Salt*

So I told my parents tonight of my plans to extend out my trip to Kenya by a week. My dad got a little quiet when I told him that I had met my friend from the internet. 😀 (and here he was worried about my younger sister moving to DC for a year!) But I did explain that we had met because of my Tolkien group, which I think calmed him down a little, and he’ll get over it. Visiting Donna (donnazita) and having her come out here relieved them of the worry that it was internet lunatics I was talking with. Actually my parents biggest concern is the 3 extra days that I’ll be spending in London. By myself. Which if I think about too much will freak me out too. Any tips for surviving on your own, Ali?

Well, I have to get off now. My shoulder has quite honestly taken me hostage and if I don’t behave, it’ll figure out a way to ruin everything for me.

It didn’t take me very long to completely convert back to my night owl routine. 🙂

So I have news.

I’m going to Kenya for a month in January!

I applied for this international rotation months ago, and didn’t it. There were 4 students picked, all of whom had had fantastic international experiences, and I was rather crushed when I didn’t get selected. I’ve been considering doing another international rotation, but that would have cost much much more money, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about going all by my lonesome to some random, 3rd world country.

Well, a couple of days ago, I got a call from the secretary organizing everything, stating that someone dropped out and there was a spot available and did I want it.

Suffice to say, I jumped on it.

I’m a little freaked out by the idea. I’ve been taking an international health class for the last eight (er, I only made it to six) weeks, where we’ve done nothing but talk about the nasty parasites, worms, fungi, viruses, etc. that you can contract at these foreign places. Almost made me swear off the idea entirely. *shudders* But I’m going to be brave and get all of my shots and bring lots of Cipro and just do it!

Ellie–I don’t know if you’ll be on at all today, but how would you feel about flying up to Kenya and maybe doing a safari type of thing for a few days? I’d be done with my stuff around the 11th of February and since we’d be on the same continent, it would be a fantastic time to meet. I have no idea how much it would cost or anything. I’m supposed to let the secretary know my plans by tomorrow night (she told me this afternoon. Sheesh), so that they can arrange tickets and everything. Will you be around to chat today? 2ish my time?

I start my interviews next week. I have been feeling nervous about them–more so about the dinner with the residents the next before, where I have to make charming, small talk with people I’ve never met before–until Chris’s comment today of “Everybody loves you, you’ll charm everybody.” Sometimes I forget why I keep him around–and then he reminds me. Why he has so much faith in me, I have no idea. Of course, this feeling of calm will probably only last until this weekend, but I’m enjoying it while I can. I have to go shopping for a suit tomorrow/Friday. Have completely outgrown (and not in the good way) the one I bought for medical school. Hopefully, this time, I’ll manage to remove all of the tags before the interview.

And I think that’s the quick and dirty update.

I just checked my phone for the first time today.

The University of Minnesota wants to interview me. On Oct. 21.

I was told it would take 3 weeks to process my application. I haven’t even sent in my Internal Med one because I was counting on having more time.

I’m freaking out. I’m not ready. That’s um, next week, people. Next freaking week.

So I finally got to see Serenity today.

Having never watched an episode of Firefly, the little bit that I knew about the movie/show came from my lovely flist. LOL! I toyed with the idea of renting the videos this past week, but I’ve been so busy, and so maybe it’ll turn into another X-Files thing where I’ve gotten completely devoted to a show after watching the movie on which it was based.

My short review: Loved it. There were some parts that were the tiniest bit confusing, but overall I really enjoyed it. Joss has the amazing ability to even make violence look pretty. It really was my type of movie–the sci-fi like adventures, the “Han Solo” type captain and relationship with his ship (Georgie so should have hired Joss to write his screenplay) and beyond funny. I do feel the need to see it again, but it’ll probably have to wait until the dollar theaters, because have you seen the number of good movies coming out?? I was compiling a list of movies that I want to see and I think I’m in double digits. Double digits. And that’s just until Christmas!

I’m going to be so poor. 🙂

My little baby application has stretched her wings and flown away to Oakland California. Soon, she will be visiting programs in Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Arizona, California, New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Arizona, and New Hampshire before she returns home to roost in Utah. And as any mother, I am fearful and nervous as she makes this solo adventure–mostly that she will reflect well of me. 🙂 I do hope that she tells all the good stories about me.

Special big thanks to claidheamhmor, I couldn’t have done it without your help!

I still have more applications to go–this was just the neurology aspect, I still have internal medicine to do–but the next part is computerized (and fast–the processing time of the neuro app is three weeks. The IM one? About 12 hours) and completely transferable from everything that I’ve already done. So I’ll get it done this weekend and it’ll all be good.

Oh and I have to email all of these programs to let them know that I’m crazy and want to do two programs. Okay, still going to be busy. But less. And less is good.

Well, my personal statement is finished. Mostly. I’m stuck (of course) on the last unifying sentence. I’ve emailed those who volunteered before to read/edit it, but if anybody out there in friendland has some time tonight/early tomorrow and would be willing to look over it/correct grammar mistakes/give ideas on how to conclude without sounding like I’m repeating myself, please comment with your email address and I’ll send it on. Believe me, I’ll love you forever. If you need my first born as compensation–consider it yours.

Now all I have to do is transfer my CV to the application, get my photo taken, and track down the letter of application that the Student Affairs office lost (yes, you read that right–they lost ANOTHER letter. I’m so pissed I’m seeing red. Every day, I find more of the incompetence to amaze me), and bug letter writer #3 to finish his by midafternoon and I’ll be set. I think.

The best part? This is only one of the two applications that I have to do. I really wish I hadn’t gotten so far behind, but there wasn’t much that I could do (then or now). *sigh* Maybe by this weekend, I’ll have my life again.