Last week in review: A Victory, An Interview, and A Birthday

The week kicked off (no pun intended) with the Gators winning the national championship... Not only is this a great moment in Florida football history, but it provided an excellent setting for my first medical school interview in Gainesville.

Got to Miami on Wednesday evening. My flight was short, and I consumed a few glasses of wine. First class is sweeeet! I studied a bit, finished the sudokus in American Way Magazine, and took a little nap. It was nice to come home for the third time in a two month period.

Thursday I drove to Gainesville with my pal Al(do). It’s quite a drive, but we made plenty of pit stops which really helps.

The night before the interview I was pretty darn nervous, but I tried not to think about the interview. The morning of the interview I woke up at 6 and enjoyed a hearty breakfast. I put on my suit, jewelry, make-up, and shoes and at the moment when I was ready to go, it hit me. This is it. This is what determines whether or not the wonderful institution, the University of Florida, will accept me as a student in their medical school. And so, in a moment of nervousness, anxiety, excitement, and fear, I cried a little. Just a little! It was a 30 second outburst, at most. After running to the mirror to find that my make up was still perfect (yay for waterproof make-up!), I felt a heck of a lot better. I must say it’s nice to wear a suit. I felt like an adult; a woman with power and strength and I wanted to roar. But not without crying a little bit first…(followed by a helpful "its gonna be okay/you're gonna do great" hug from the very supportive Aldo).

Tangent: some people count to ten, some people punch a wall, some people hyperventilate, and others just hold it in… when faced with an emotionally charged moment, I invariably cry. It’s annoying sometimes and even embarrassing. For example, while watching a movie with friends, the last thing I want them to see is me crying over one small semi-cheesy scene. I’m just a big baby!!!

Moving right along, the interview day was long and tiring. The school is awesome! Gainesville is a quaint little town with friendly people (pretty much the exact opposite of Miami). I wouldn’t mind living there for 4 years!!! The interviews (there were two) were nerve-wracking but the interviewers were nice. And now, there’s nothing else to do but wait. And write thank-you letters. And update the school with how wonderfully I’m doing at Georgetown (hopefully). My fingers and toes are crossed.

After the interview, we celebrated at a wonderful restaurant called Ballyhoos. If you’re ever in Gainesville for some odd reason, you absolutely MUST eat there. The food was incredible. It was cool too, because the Gators’ coaches and coordinators were eating at a table 3 feet away, with some new recruits. Aldo nearly wet his pantaloons in excitement.

The next day we attended a pep rally at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (AKA The Swamp) to honor the Gators. What a nice stadium! Gainesville has THE BEST college football fans. Period.

We drove back to Miami after doing some memorabilia shopping and just relaxed for the rest of the evening. The road trip always feels shorter on the way back for some odd reason. We stopped a billion times, too!

Sunday (yesterday) I woke up with hopes of going to the beach, but the sky was cloudy (boooo). I purchased a new cell phone, because I misplaced the old one somewhere in Gainesville. The old one was really really old, with its buttons worn off. But it withstood so much of my abuse. I will miss that little phone!

I was ready to get a new one anyway. I chose the tiniest phone I could find, and it sure is tiny. It looks like a toy. Like the phone Derek Zoolander carries around, only in silver. I love it! It is actually the smallest camera phone in North America. Can you tell which is the new phone, and which is the old??? I think that the phones are represented to scale (sort of?) to give the idea of how small this tiny little phone really is. Let's see how long it takes me to lose this one. Chances are it'll happen soon, since I dished out the extra cash to buy it instead of getting the phone that came free with upgrade.

Anyway, I proceeded to have lunch with the lovely and talented Monica. There is never a dull moment with her.

In the evening, after a devastating two hour nap, I threw together a last-minute birthday celebration for the honorable Aldo, whose birthday is today.

Happy Birthday Aldo!!! This post is for YOU, in orange and blue. (Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, also… today is his actual birthday).

Last night was a lot of fun. I really enjoy spending time with my friends, and I’m sad to leave. I know I won’t be back for a while, and I’ve been in Miami 3 times in the past 2 months or so (I’ve been spoiled!) I’m kind of thinking it wouldn’t be terrible to come back to Miami for med school. Then again, I know I’d be incredibly distracted, not to mention miserable living at home.

Whatever, that’s not even something to be thinking about right now…For now, it’s back to life, back to reality. Time to buckle down and buckle up, ‘cause this semester is gonna be tough. I know I’ve probably written that in every post for the last month… but now I really really really mean it. The fear of not getting into medical school this year is a huge motivating factor. Another motivating factor is that I know that putting in the hard work now will help me have the easiest first year of medical school later.

Stress!

Yikes!

Pow!

And so now, I’m sitting here at the airport, mentally preparing myself to get home and get busy. I have to do groceries and laundry, cook, go to the gym, and study. Of this list, I’m sure I’ll do groceries. That’s about the only thing I’m sure about.

And now, we have to switch gates. I hope the flight isn’t going to be delayed, because then FOR SURE I won’t do most of the things on the aforementioned list.

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It's 9:47 pm. I did groceries, and I cooked. I'm going to study a bit then go to bed. See? I did almost everything on the list! YAY ME!