I'm baaaaaaack

Well, guess I had a pretty busy last week in Sevilla, cuz I didn't have time to write, and now, I'm back! Back in the homeland, home of the red, white, and blue. I was telling my friends over there about how everyone in school does the pledge of allegiance every day before class. They don't do anything of the sort in Germany or England or Spain...and thought it sounded kind of like some excessive patriotism...

Anyways, its great to be back, finally getting to see Nicole again after 3 weeks. I missed her like crazy! All the comforts of home are nice as well. I will miss the tapas, the simple life, the small and winding streets, and my new friends at the school. But I am excited for whats ahead - the wedding! graduation! becoming a doctor (umm...am I mature enough?) honeymoon! moving!

Speaking of which...today is a very big day. Today we find out of we matched to a residency, or not.

Monday (today): "See if you match" Day
Thursday: The one and only "Match Day".

I found out today that I matched!!! Very cool, so now I know I have a residency spot somewhere.

On Thursday, at noon, every medical student in the nation finds out where they match. It's a huge deal. At Emory, all our letters are put on a table in envelopes, and at 12 we rush in together and grab our letter and open it! I think some people are more stressed about it than others. If I were going into a very competitive field, like dermatology or radiology, today would be a much bigger deal because I'd just be happy getting into a program somewhere. Medicine is not as hard to match, so I'm not as worried, but we'll see what happens!

It's crazy that all these cool events are coming up.

This weekend: Sarah and Alex are getting married
April 16: Bachelor/Bachelorette parties, and Nicole's birthday!
May 6: Nicole and I are getting married
May 15: I'm graduating
May 16-23: Honeymoon in St. Lucia!
May 25: Amy graduates from high school
May 28: Mark and Jen are getting married
June: Probably moving to our new city...though Nicole has to stay in Atlanta until December to finish PA school
July 1: Start my residency!

Well, I'm hoping for the best come Match Day! For me, and for everyone else!

Alan