Mostly Academic Detour

Hey, I said "mostly" academic. The "mostly" part may or may not have included kite flying...

It took about two days worth of driving and more than a week off the trail, but I finally have two medical school interviews under my belt. I knew that medical school interviews would coincide with the last few months of our AT adventure, but I must admit I was surprised/pleased/excited to get interviews this early in the process. We headed out from Shenandoah on the 29th after hiking a few miles that morning. We drove late into the night, slept at a rest stop for a few hours, and made it to Louisville the next day. We settled the RV into the Louisville Metro campground (who knew there were RV parks in downtown Louisville?) and spent the rest of the day exploring and trying to find me something decent to wear for the medical school powers that be. Much to my great, great happiness, I rendezvoused with one of my dearest friends from high school for dinner. He's currently a first year med student at Louisville himself, and originally from Beijing, so we'll just call him Dr. Chinaman.

Good Friend Reunited.

I spent all of the next day on the Louisville Medical School campus. After three interviews, one with a biochemistry professor, one with a psychiatrist, and one with the coordinator of the MD/PhD program, several informational sessions, lunch, a tour and a total of 7 hours in 3 inch heels later, I was finished with my first interview experience. Overall, it went well. Everyone was friendly, the facilities were great, and I truly enjoyed myself.

Power Suit, Power Day

We packed up fairly quickly after that and drove south. After another late night of driving, we made it to Virginia Beach on the afternoon of September 1st. Trail Sister, UJ and Trail Grandma were there to meet us, and it was so good to have so much of my family together all at once. We spent a few days together (one of which included sitting through Hurricane Earl...that was lots of fun) before UJ and Trail Grandma left to take Abby back to college. I was so glad to have a little family get together. I admit that I miss home sometimes when I'm out here, and seeing everyone helped.

Family Reunion

Daddy, Trail Angel Mamma and I spent a couple more days at the beach after everyone else left. After the hurricane blew through, everything was beautiful. Wouldn't you know though, I've walked 950 miles with barely a blister, and the second I take a day off to relax, I crack my nose when a big ocean wave drags me to the bottom while I'm trying to play. Just my luck, really. But, cracked nose or not, it was a glorious break, and it was nice to rest my legs.

Detours are nice, even for trail-hardened wanderers.

On our way to interview #2, we spent a night in Richmond, stopped by my alma mater and saw Doc, my undergraduate research advisor. I miss that campus like crazy already, and again, it was nice to say hi to my second home. We were in DC by the afternoon of September 6th, and I was up before dawn on the 7th to beat the DC traffic to Georgetown Medical School. Another full day of interviews, tours, meetings and high heels later, I was truly excited about become a doctor. Now I've seen both a public and a private medical school, and have even more to think about as I go through the selection process. Here's knocking on wood and hoping things turn out well.

Chasing dreams of all sorts...one step at a time...