Match Madness

Phew! It's been quite the last couple of weeks, I tell ya! I think I'm still tired. I can't believe Match Day was just a week ago, it already feels like an eternity. It felt like it took forever to get here and then just like that it's over! But o-m-g was it fun.

So just a quick week re-cap... Monday we had a class meeting that ended around 10:45. Everyone dispersed to wait for the email. I was driving home when I heard my phone ding at 10:59. I'll admit, I broke the law and looked at it while stopped at a stoplight. So I found out right there at the corner by Carver Hawkeye arena. As soon as I got home I got a call from Brendan and told him I had matched, then I had to cut him off because I got a call from my friend, Becky. She was worried about matching into derm (which is pretty competitive), and she matched! So I didn't even get out of the car, I just drove over there to celebrate with her for a bit! Unfortunately, while we were hanging out we found out one of our other friends hadn't matched, which put a damper on the mood, but we were still pretty excited, texting anyone and everyone to let them know the good news! After that I had to go meet up with my realtor because Brendan and I had decided to put an offer on a house. I went downtown to meet up with her to sign the offer, then went home and changed clothes, got Wriggles, and went back to Becky's to head out on a walk. We took a super, duper long walk (almost 7 miles). Then were dead for the rest of the afternoon! That night we went downtown with a bunch of our guy friends to celebrate matching. We had a TON of fun - a little too much fun, as Tuesday was rough. Tues morning I woke up early and had a text from my friend who didn't match asking if I'd come hang out with her at the med school (she was busy re-applying and doing phone interviews with programs that had open spots), so I walked downtown to get my car - got lucky and was able to hop a bus for part of the trip (I won't lie, it's not the most glamorous thing at 29 to be hungover and on a bus at 7:30AM on a Tuesday going downtown to get the car you were too drunk to drive home the night before, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm not ashamed of it! Got my car, hit the gas station to buy very large Fuji water, Brueggers for breakfast sandwiches, dropped the car at home, and walked to the med school. Spent all day there with my friend and another friend and then we came over to our house that night to hang out and have dinner, etc. In the interim Brendan and I got a counter offer back which we decided to reject (the house needed a lot of work and we decided it wasn't going to be worth it). Wednesday was more of the same, but we did find out that my friend had MATCHED, so she was ecstatic! We all went downtown Wednesday night to celebrate and did a little more drinking. Kept it more under control this time ;) By Thurs I was EXHAUSTED, so I slept pretty well. That brings us to FRIDAY!!!

MATCH DAY
Woke up fairly early, got up and got ready, headed to Becky's for breakfast and some pre-match mimosa's with some other friends, headed to the med school around 10:15-30. Got there and walked around saying hi to some classmates we hadn't seen in awhile, then one of the deans said a few things, couldn't hear bc the sound system they were using sucked, so we all gathered in close. They started reading off the names at 11, rapid fire. Turns out there are 3 Andrea's in my class now. Each time your heart jumps, then it wouldn't be me. My friends started to get their envelopes and go off to little pockets to open them. I didn't really see any of it, I did see enough to know Becky matched to derm in Chicago. We kept inching our way towards the podium, partially out of anticipation, partially bc it was getting louder in the atrium and therefore harder to hear. Finally about 3/4 of the way through the class it was my turn! I made my way up, took my envelope, dropped my dollar in the basket (the dollar pot went to the last person to get their envelope drawn), was given a pin, then made my way back to Brendan. I didn't want to open the envelope right away. We made our way back towards my friends, who had looks of panic on their faces (turns out they were alittle worried when they didn't see excitement on my face bc they figured I'd already opened my envelope), then my friend Kelsey, was like so?? And I told her I hadn't opened it yet, and in true Kelsey style she was like "Well open it already!!", so I turned and faced brendan, and did. I literally was opening it with my eyes looked straight to the bottom to look for the word Iowa. Low and behold it was there!! That was all I needed to see, as soon as I saw the Iow I let out a little shriek and gave Brendan a huge hug - the newspaper cameras happened to be around and started snapping away. Then Brendan said, "Babe, I don't want to end up in the newspapers". Well lucky for him, that wasn't my best reaction. After turning back towards my friends, my friend, Whitney (also going into Ob/Gyn), came over to ask where I was heading. After I told her, I asked her and rather than tell me, she re-opened her letter (with her hands still shaking) to show me - well, when I saw Iowa on her letter, I SHRIEKED, like really shrieked, and gave her a HUGE hug!!! It's a pretty big deal to have a good residency class bc if these people suck, you're left picking up the slack, and when you're already working 80hrs a week, you sure as hell don't wanna pick up any slack!! Plus you spend more time with your co-residents than anyone in your life by FAR, so it was a huge deal to find out she was in my class!! Well, the newspapers loved this, so in the end it was Whitney and I who ended up in the papers. After finding out I tried to find a quiet corner to call my mom. Then I sent a LOT of texts, called a few more people, sent more texts, walked with Brendan back towards home, he headed home, I walked to Becky's, we went out to eat with her parents, Brendan went to Chicago for his fantasy baseball draft, Becky's parents left, we had a few more martinis, then headed to meet up with other friends, drank more, went to another bar, met up with a TON of classmates, drank more, went to another bar - even more classmates, went to grab pizza at Mesa, went to OUR bar with ALL of our friends, drank even more, had an absolute freaking BLAST. I don't remember the last time I had that much fun. Eventually we shoved the tables out of the way and turned it into a dance floor (um, we were at dc's. It's a sports bar). We didn't care, we danced, scared other patrons away, drank and danced some more. Finally decided it would be wise to head home, got a gyro, headed home, zonked out on the couch, woke up, moved to bed, woke up around 6:30AM, HUNGOVER and seriously nauseous. Sucked down a bunch of gatorade and water, packed up Wrigs, dropped her at Becky's, got a bagel, ate that, showered and got ready, took a break to almost throw up, finished getting ready, packed up, Ashley came to get me, we drove to Chicago, got to the hotel, had like 15min to get dressed and ready for the wedding, headed to the wedding, came back to the hotel bar, met our good friends' baby girl for the first time. Hogged her for quite awhile. Started drinking again, headed to the reception, had a great time, back to hotel, slept some, got up, drove B to O'Hare, drove home. PHEW!!!

Been spending all this week catching up on homework I didn't do last week. Brendan is down in Texas at a conference, so it's been easier to spend all evening doing homework. It's been a long time since I've worked on stuff all day and then well into the night!! Glad to know I can still do it when necessary. Ok, well this is already SUPER DUPER DUPER LONG, and I don't even have any good photos to spruce it up, so I better go!! Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, congrats, support, etc. We could NOT be more excited!! Truly a great, great week!

The long awaited letter (worth the wait)

Lovin' life!

Still goin' strong!

Happiness is a new bone