Ahh, the holidays. A time to relax, reflect, and decompress after another busy semester of medical school. For me, the weeks before winter break were especially busy. As a fourth-year, I spent most of my November and December crisscrossing the country on residency interviews. My days were largely a blur of TSA security lines, airport fast food, and countless take-offs and landings. Intermingled between them were my interview days, were I worked hard to do my best and make a good impression. Though honored and excited to have the opportunity to visit so many wonderful programs, it was nonetheless a stressful travel season. At one point, I flew to the east coast for an interview, only to go straight back to the airport afterwards to fly back to the west coast for two more successive interviews. This schedule was grueling, and didn’t give me much time to really experience the cities that I was visiting.
Dozens of flights, interview days, and hotel stays later, I’m definitely glad to be done with the interview trail. It has been nice to reconnect with family and friends, as well as stay in one place for more than a few days. Now to put together my rank list and decide where I want to spend the next few years of training…
