future shock

I am in a terrible purgatory.

Montreal slowly emerges from its winter-y cocoon, occasionally regressing but generally moving forward, and people seem happier. Last night, all over town, hopeful youths tested out their spring clothing (read: short skirts and striped shirts) and blessed the warmth that is 8 degrees Celsius.

I'll admit that I fell into the trap: after a delightful final four beer tasting championship at Dieu du Ciel I convinced the group to head to Casa de Popolo in the hope that the patio would already be open. It wasn't. It is still cold. We are fools.

Fucking Squirrels. Ate my bike seat. That is what long winters lead to: Desperation. I should blame winter. I should blame me - we could have fed those squirrels and they wouldn't have needed to resort to faux leather. I am sure there is a lesson here somewhere.

Back to purgatory. First, an introduction:

I have finished my med school interviews. Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Here are my thoughts:

Halifax:

First interview so I was nervous. Stayed with Ian and saw Halifax though him and his girlfriend. The school seemed nice and the medical students, like all the students, seemed to like their school. Still, it lacked some energy. The city was damp and slushy. Ian was a little bitter. Lael and Sean bad mouth the city all the time.

I'll be honest: the city is important. I know that medicine will be pretty encompassing but still, I want to enjoy my city. I am not sure that I would enjoy Halifax.

But Dalhousie does have some interesting ideas about combining medicine and the arts/music and they are devoted to global medicine.

Calgary:

This place was surprisingly great. The school is only 3 years which I appreciate and they really pushed the PhD/MD route as an option and were not opposed to my suggestion of mixing the MD with a humanities PhD. The students were the best of any school that I had been to.

This city is maybe not that great but again, the only cities I really, really want to be in are Toronto or Montreal and that is not in the cards, at least for the next 4 years. Calgary is close to Banff and the Rockies and the students seemed to bond over hockey with is my new favorite sport so it would probably be fine.

Hung out with Grant and Sara and went to bars that I didn't really enjoy (though I loved the company). I think that my life in Calgary would certainly involve avoiding the bar scene and that cannot be bad. I would spend a lot of time skiing and heading to the mountains.

Vancouver:

I do love Vancouver but I am afraid of it now. I don't know why. This confusing fear is warping my feelings on the medical school. I didn't go on the tour nor meet many students but I feel like I know that UBC is good. It is a big class and I may have to be at UVic but still, it would be a great place to be at school.

Winnipeg:

I had a great time in Winnipeg but that may not be representative of Winnipeg in general. That said, the people who love Winnipeg love it a lot. But I am reading a Miriam Toews book that speaks on a sign on the outskirts of the city that cheers the mosquito bite rate decreasing from 48 bites per minute to 2 at the end of the rainy season. I hate bugs. I may hate bugs more than anything. Plus, can you imagine how rural the rural component would be at Manitoba. Jeebus.

The medical students were, for the most part, in Cuba so I couldn't interact with them all that much but the education centre was amazing. New next year and incredible. And I guess that the fact that all the students were together in Cuba means that it is a close knit group. I understand that there is a lot of drinking ... and I like drinking.

Those are my four options. McGill and Toronto rejected me and I hate them. I could reapply next year to McGill as an in province student (with the concurrent increase in likelihood of acceptance) but it is risky and the application process sucks.

So, here I am. I have 4 potential schools but I will not know anything until May 15th. Until then, I know nothing and I can decide nothing. I feel like I am in purgatory.