Phew! What a weekend!

I have returned from my quick tour of Wisconsin. It's actually a little surprising how little time I've spent in Wisconsin for how close it is. This trip marked my first trip to Madison and my second trip to Milwaukee. It was a bit of a whirlwind. Thursday morning I had med school stuff (or to say stuff at the med school). I left there, ran errands, came home, packed up, and I hit the road around 1pm. Poor Wriggles wanted to come with me. She ran out and jumped in the car and when i reached in to get her out she jumped into the back seat - determined to go with me. I got her safely barricaded in the kitchen and headed on my way.

When I stopped for gas a little bit into my trip, I once again pulled a move that is pretty classic Andrea - I forgot to put the gas tank cap back on. I just have a problem with this. I don't know why, but I just pull out the pump, get back in, and drive off. If you've ever done this, you know there is no way you can ever find the cap back. Even if you realize it right after pulling out of the gas station (which I did this time). After a loop back through the parking lot, I confirmed what I already knew, once again the cap had defied physics, flown off into some parallel universe, and was nowhere to be found. When I say this is classic Andrea, it's because I have done this more times than probably the rest of you combined. From my recollection this is AT LEAST the 5th time, and those are just the times I can remember. Anyway, thanks to my father, I know that going too long without a gas tank cap can be hard on the fuel pump, so I planned to find an auto store once I hit Madison. About 5:00 I made it into Madison, and low and behold, there was an AutoZone, right there. I pulled in there and bought a new cap (they luckily only cost $8-10), then continued on to the hotel. Got checked in, cleaned up, and walked to the pre-interview applicant dinner. It was a pretty good time. Friday the interview day started at 7.

Typical order of a residency interview day:

Breakfast/Introduction to the program

Interviews (anywhere from 3-6 interviews lasting 15-30min or longer)

Lunch (w/residents and faculty)

Tour of the hospital (sometimes this is optional bc seriously, once you've seen one L&D floor, you've sorta seen them all)

Usually they get done around 1:30-2:00.

I headed (in my suit still) from Madison to Milwaukee. About 1.5hrs to the east. Got into Milwaukee just in time to beat the worst of rush hour traffic. Was pretty exhausted when I got to the hotel, but I didn't have enough time for a nap, so I grabbed a can of pringles, dried fruit, and a gatorade at walgreens. This helped perk me up a bit. Got myself changed and cleaned up and headed to the next residency dinner. This one was held at a resident's house, which was a little more laid back. Thank goodness - that's what I needed. Really enjoyed the residents, and, as always, it was fun to hang out with the other applicants. Honestly, the best part of the residency interviews is meeting the other applicants and talking to them. Headed back to the hotel fairly early (9:30/10ish). Then to bed for the interview at Medical College of Wisconsin the next day. This time the day didn't start until 7:45. Was also nice to be on a saturday, so I didn't have to figure in rush hour traffic! The day went about the same with 6 interviews again, then lunch, then I skipped out on the tour to get home. Got back to Iowa City about 6PM (Drive from Milwaukee to IC is about 4.5hrs). Made it just in time to see Brendan for a minute before he went to work for the night. Then I cleaned up and headed to my friend, Kelsey's for our "Friendsgiving" dinner. Had a great time eating turkey, etc, with a bunch of good friends. It was so nice to just hang out and not be "on"! Finally got home around 12:30AM and only made it to the couch before crashing until 6am! Got outta bed just as Brendan was getting home Sunday morning at 8. PHEW!! That was my weekend! Sunday we were mostly lazy (except for a walk downtown to Sbux with Kels and Wriggles). Sunday night B and I went to the movie Ides of March and made some homemade soup for dinner.

Today I'm trying to finally unpack and clean up some, so on that note I should probably get back to it. Hope everyone had a great weekend (hopefully it was a bit more relaxing than mine)!