Eric's Year and a Half in Review

This is a PDF taken from a Christmas letter that I designed and wrote, but never sent out in January due to morning sickness. This summary of Eric's major life events is pretty accurate (though it only shows medical school life events). YES, he does have a life outside of medical school, it just mainly involves wife and kids.

White Coat Ceremony

  

My handsome hubby before the ceremony started.

                                    

                                        Eric was one of 344 students accepted into IU Medical School. Big class.

I barely got a picture of Eric getting his White Coat put on, since this lady stood up.

Proud wife of an overwhelmed husband. Class started on Monday, Aug. 12th

The Waiting

As hard as it may be for medical student applicants to wait for a response from medical schools, I believe it must be harder for those standing by...and waiting...waiting (checking the calendar)...and waiting.

I probably check my husband's email more than he does for a response from medical schools.
We've heard from some, so we know where we are not going now:
- Denver, CO
- Chicago, IL

This endless waiting is like having a deadline on a story assignment and not hearing back from sources that I've contacted twice already. Biting my nails, and hoping for a phone call,

Journalist

The Application Process

I never realized the long process of applying to medical schools until I was married to a medical school applicant.
First, prerequisite classes take a year or more to complete. We were engaged at the time, maybe that made it a slower process.
Second, the MCAT takes hours of studying away from life.
Once that hurdle is overcome there is the initial application which includes: letters of recommendation, essays, a resume and class grades from every college course ever taken.

We sent off the application for M.D. and D.O. schools a few months ago.
Being a list maker, I had made this paper to keep me sane (my dear husband used it to humor me).

Journalism Meets Medicine...

....and the rest is our story.

My husband of 18 months was a family friend to me, and I was his good friend's little sister. But when we had our first heart-to-heart talk, little did I know that the aspiring medical student would fall for this dreamy journalist.

The conversation at Starbucks in Fall of 2009 went something like this:

Med Student: So, what do you want to be when you're a journalist?
Journalist: I want to do international reporting.
Med Student: What specifically would you do?
Journalist: (a slight smile) Well...parachute into third world countries, meet the people, talk to them, get a story and tell it to the world. (wondering if this guy would think I was a completely crazy person)
Med Student: (laughed and thought this is one crazy girl...I think I like her.)

So that is how journalism met medicine. It was a simple start to a fantastic future together.
The rest will be a crazy journey.