Back in the States - Match Day, Surprises, and Bittersweet Goodbyes.

After my anesthesia rotation, I had two weeks were I spend doing research into emergency medicine. But after that I had something special planned. Since January, I booked a ticket home to be there for my classmates on Match Day. Match Day is the day when 4th year medical students receive the results regarding which program they matched to. At my university, all the students first obtain their match envelope and then open them at the same time. Its an amazing occasion, because thats when all the hard work of medical school finally translates into a pay-off. Only two friends from medical school knew that I was coming. I did not tell my parents, siblings, or any other friends and relatives. On a few occasions I had to directly lie to my folks as they asked me if I was coming in March, as I had previously told them that I would consider going back around this time. They were in for a total surprise. But that is for later.

I left Heidelberg around 10am, rode the ICE train to Frankfurt Airport, and flew into JFK. After a 4 hour layover helped out by the free Ipads in the Delta section of the airport, I hopped on the flight to Boston. One of those two friends I had previously mentioned picked me up. By the time I got to bed I had been up for almost 23 hours. The next morning we went to the school for the Match Day breakfast for seniors. I hadn't seen many of my classmates in over a year! Everyone was truly excited and happy. The day was going to be special, I knew it. Another great aspect was everyone's complete surprise of me being back. They were all touched by the fact that I would come back to celebrate them, but it also touched me how much people cared about me as well. Being away from everybody that I've come to know in the past 4 years makes you disillusioned to the fact that people still acknowledge your existence. Its something that I've come to learn both from moving away for school, as well as moving to a different country. If you're not in the area, then you don't see the person, and don't get reminded by them. Even if you see their statuses on Facebook, you just realize that the person exists but it makes it hard to develop a further relationship. Either way, this entire aspect of being back to say goodbye to everyone, for some maybe forever, was needed for me.

I barely even noticed how fast the time went by when I heard the loudspeaker kick in with the Chancellor's voice.  The time to open envelopes had come.  One by one they were called, all being cheered by family and friends. Almost everyone's name I recognized. A few of the extended 5th years were also called. Finally the last name was read. The student making her way forward was greeted with a tremendous applause as she was handed the basket of cash. This basket contained $1 from every student that had gone before her to collect their envelopes. It was a small gesture to help alleviate the anxiety of being the last one.  As soon as that was done, the dean started a countdown. A quick shout of "No!! Not yet!" rang out. People were still preparing themselves to open their letters. Then a few moments letter, came the countdown again. First like a deep breath, silence invoked the room.  Then a scream; a shout. Like a dam breaking, came the thunderous yells, applauses, and sounds of exuberance! The excitement was all around, palpable. Everyone was hugging, crying, and just happy! For the next hour, "where are you going?"was the only question on peoples mind. Of course I had to remind them I was extending, but it barely phased me. I was there for them.

The last envelope

After all the congratulations I had some time to do meetings with school administrators regarding 4th year planning as well as coming back to the US. We went home and grabbed some food at Five Guys; food that I had missed so much in Germany. Later on, my friend with his girlfriend picked me up and we went out to celebrate with the Class of 2014 at a local bar. The night was just wonderful! Everyone was excited, shouting, and happy. With dancing, chatting, and just plain old fun. I saw almost everyone I wanted to. Said my goodbyes and congratulations. I was so happy for them. Although I was a little sad to not be with them, my heart was still with the class.  I was never a bar scene type of person. Never liked being around drunk people. But today it felt different. No one was getting completely wasted just because. We were all celebrating our momentous achievement. So we toasted, to our futures, as physicians. But today, we were just med school students to finished that race.

A night of happiness and fun!