Every year in March, type A personalities all over the country find out where they are going to be spending the next 3-7 years of their lives. To say that this month is filled with tension, anxiety, and excitement is not quite wrong, but incomplete. It is more accurate to say that this month is all of the excitement from an entire year bottled up and being shaken to Coke+Mentos proportions.

 

This is the story of my experience.

 

On Monday, March 13, we found out if we even matched with a residency program. I was having breakfast with a friend for the first time and we spent the entire morning avoiding the topic that was undoubtedly on our minds- Did we match??? I found myself having the word vomit I always have when I am trying to distract or fill silence unnecessarily. She was forgiving and we are still friends because we have been through tough times like these together.

We got the email, which, cruelly had “Did I Match?” in the subject line.

Thankfully, we both matched.

 

Then ensued a weeklong celebration designed to distract us from the looming results of WHERE we matched, which were to be revealed on Friday.

First up was Karaoke night at Fenians Pub. We revisited 1^st year memories of Med School Mondays, when we used to hang out after Monday exams. Monday night is a strange night for partying for normal people, hence, our #medschoolmondays tag. Our classmates crooned and swayed to the sweet melodies of “Thong Song” and “Hit Me Baby One More Time” this time around.

 

Next up was High Heaven, a trampoline park. My classmates insisted that this was a dangerous event, but most of them showed up anyway because the champions all walk across the Match Stage with a limp. Although most of us were careful, one poor guy did injure his toe.

 

After the bounce at High Heaven came the Crawfish Boil where we got to practice our “barbaric” eating techniques. My friend K, on eating crawfish, “You must rip the animal in half. Look it in the eye and throw its head into the garbage. Peel the exoskeleton off the tail for this small amount of tail meat. Then repeat x 50 at least because it takes forever to get full.” Love that K girl and her antics. She was totally eating the crawfish, in case you wondered.

 

Moving on, we attended a Happy Hour at Hal and Mal’s, a popular haunt for many of our medical school parties and a Jackson staple, to be honest. This one was full of tense giggles and encouraging elbow squeezes about the day that lay ahead.

 

Match Day started with a beautiful breakfast with our classmates and some family members. My stomach was in knots but I made myself eat because passing out on stage is embarrassing.

Walking up the many stairs of Thalia Mara Hall  in downton Jackson was surreal. I kept telling myself that this was just another lecture or random medical school event to keep myself calm. Before I knew it, someone called my name and I walked across the stage.

I read where I matched.

I matched in Internal Medicine in New Jersey.

I. Was. Thrilled.

I was so happy to be starting residency somewhere. Also, going somewhere my husband and I would both flourish was the cherry on top of my proverbial cupcake.

 

Match week was full of events trying to help us ignore the fact that it was match week. I had a great time participating in every single one of them and getting to be that young fun girl I imagine myself to be. I now get to be young and fun in New Jersey.

 

Adventures await.

 

Lise

 

Some friends and I at Fenians on Monday Night after learning that we all matched!

 

Rome and I pointing in the general area of New Jersey, where we will be moving!