There'snow Place Like Home

...and nothing better than having the ability to build a GIANT SNOWMAN.

Hard at work

You look familiar...

A well-built snowman

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Flashback to September 24, 2008. After being so sick that I passed out on the airplane the night before, I made it to my Einstein interview in the morning, shaky and lightheaded from illness and lack of food but less nervous than I thought I would have been, probably because I was too busy thinking about not passing out again. I sat down in the second floor conference room with Dr. Dannis, who paged through my application, squinted, looked up at me and said, "You're from Minnesota. What the hell are you doing here?" I can't think of a less expected opening question for an interview, much less a medical school interview, much less my first medical school interview. Despite my surprise, I apparently answered this and all of the remaining questions satisfactorily, because here I sit in my apartment in the student housing at Einstein, procrastinating from my anatomy studying.

Fast forward to this afternoon. I had an appointment with Dr. Wollowitz, an orthopedist. He recognized my address as the Einstein student housing and asked what year I am. I told him that I'm a first year, and that we're gearing up for our anatomy final in a week. He made a disapproving grunt and said that anatomy is "useless; they make you remember all those useless pancreaticoduodenal arteries and the like." I laughed and said that all those arteries were exactly what I was having trouble with. I suppose you don't need to know which arteries supply the stomach when your primary concern is bones. Then he asked where I'm from. I told him Rochester, Minnesota, after which he asked, "What the hell are you doing here?" This time, I can't say I was expecting it, and I can't say I wasn't surprised, but I wasn't quite as shocked as last time.

What is it with these New Yorkers? I thought they were proud to death of their city, and that any location not touching an ocean was too worthless to even be able to recognize on a map. Maybe it's the Bronx. Maybe it's self-preservation. Maybe they just think all of us Midwesterners are sheltered, that we shudder at the thought of lights and crowds and traffic and endless motion. To them, the Midwest is a blob of homogeneity; how can we even break out of our shell? Maybe, though, I'm not giving them enough credit. Maybe they recognize the virtues of honest Midwest living and, despite their love of their city, simply cannot understand how we could adapt to a place like this. Either way, they sure have a funny way of showing it!

A Madman's Dash of a Summer

The time since graduation has flown by. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. A quick summary of June:

I spent eight days in glorious Hawaii with my family. It was a bizarre feeling of knowing that we were in America (as evidenced by road signs, Walmart, and McDonald's) but not believing that it was actually America (islands, volcanoes, and flowers, oh my!).

Am I in America, or is this a ridiculously realistic dream?

Less than 24 hours after arriving home, I set out for Chicago. Bernadette rode with me, and we spent a wonderful weekend with Becca, Kate, and Kate's family. Between Rose's pickled beans, coffee cake made with rhubarb the size of my arm, and authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza, we were well fed and blessed with the Sullivans' perfect hospitality. We had several excursions into the big city, and we even saw part of the Chicago Gospel Music Festival. I also had the unfortunate luck to run into Jake; I was forced to have lunch with him. What a moron.

The Chicago Gospel Music Festival in Millennium Park

Since then, I've had a few weeks of fun with friends here in Rochester. One of our most frequent activities has been sailing on Lake Pepin. Unfortunately, the wind always dies down by the evening time when we get there; we've been lucky some nights to even hit 2 knots. Fortunately, the sunsets over Lake Pepin more than make up for the slow sailing. In between, we find other ways to amuse ourselves. For example, throwing small pieces of food at one another can be fun, especially knowing that the ones that go overboard might just lure Peppy, the ferocious monster that inhabits those parts, to rear her ugly head.

Sunset on the Mississippi can be surprisingly peaceful.

Of course, everything gets shaken up when we have visitors. Hugh came to visit, so we wanted to make sure we entertained him while he was here. Essentially, he was just a great excuse to go to a Twins game, go camping, go to Rochesterfest, and go sailing yet again.

Matt is a creeper, and Hugh is not amused.

Now I am realizing that my summer is essentially over -- and I'm pretty darn pumped about what comes next. On Monday, I will begin my Commissioned Officer Training at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. I will try to update the blog when I get a chance, so hopefully I can give a taste of what training is like. Until then...

Peace out from the Midwest.