69 days. 14 cities. 20,000 miles. Most definitely not a million dollars.
Regular livejournal service will resume shortly. In the meantime, I bring you the story of my interviews in numbers, because I am odd that way.
Interviewing for: medical residency programs
Days since first interview: 89
Number of programs interviewed with: 14
Cities visited: 12
Miles flown: 17,508
(Yes, on airplanes. No, they didn't let me fly any of them.)
Miles driven: 1610
Miles ridden on trains: 790+
Airports visited: 11
Airlines flown: 7
Hotels stayed at: 6
Cars rented: 5
Number of times:
- Interviewer began interview by asking about my birthplace (conveniently, first field of application file, suggesting s/he did not read further than that): 4
- Cell phone died: 2
- Was sent for special security screening at airport: 2
- Was on bus with passenger who had epileptic seizure, necessitating ambulance: 1
- Got off bus and found unconscious passerby in need of CPR: 1
- Got stuck in elevator full of nervous applicants until elevator repaired: 1
Lost track of:
- Times I got lost, either driving or walking
- Times I was asked if I had any more questions
- Number of packets of peanuts I ate
Favorite:
- Airport: Pittsburgh International
- Airline to fly: Frontier, for Sun Chips and DirectTV
- Airline for price/flexibility: Southwest, for ability to cancel tickets and all the peanuts you can eat
- City to visit: San Francisco
- New city I'd never visited before: Seattle
- Hotel: any with free internet
I am thankful that:
- The airlines never lost my luggage, because I brought it all as carry-ons.
- When the TSA made off with my cell phone at a security checkpoint, my brother gave me his old one.
- That one office, on learning I was quite ill, not only excused me from a dinner but took me to the ER to check my ears
- That Sudafed, Afrin, and Robitussin exist.
- That I made it through this whole process without being robbed, assaulted, swindled, or grilled, except in the metaphorical sense.
Final tally:
Cost of plane tickets, hotels, cars, taxis, and trains: $2200+
Finally being done with interviewing: PRICELESS
We now return to your regularly scheduled livejournal. Ideally, I would promise to be more interesting, but I think I shall settle for talking less incessantly about travel. Really.
Interviewing for: medical residency programs
Days since first interview: 89
Number of programs interviewed with: 14
Cities visited: 12
Miles flown: 17,508
(Yes, on airplanes. No, they didn't let me fly any of them.)
Miles driven: 1610
Miles ridden on trains: 790+
Airports visited: 11
Airlines flown: 7
Hotels stayed at: 6
Cars rented: 5
Number of times:
- Interviewer began interview by asking about my birthplace (conveniently, first field of application file, suggesting s/he did not read further than that): 4
- Cell phone died: 2
- Was sent for special security screening at airport: 2
- Was on bus with passenger who had epileptic seizure, necessitating ambulance: 1
- Got off bus and found unconscious passerby in need of CPR: 1
- Got stuck in elevator full of nervous applicants until elevator repaired: 1
Lost track of:
- Times I got lost, either driving or walking
- Times I was asked if I had any more questions
- Number of packets of peanuts I ate
Favorite:
- Airport: Pittsburgh International
- Airline to fly: Frontier, for Sun Chips and DirectTV
- Airline for price/flexibility: Southwest, for ability to cancel tickets and all the peanuts you can eat
- City to visit: San Francisco
- New city I'd never visited before: Seattle
- Hotel: any with free internet
I am thankful that:
- The airlines never lost my luggage, because I brought it all as carry-ons.
- When the TSA made off with my cell phone at a security checkpoint, my brother gave me his old one.
- That one office, on learning I was quite ill, not only excused me from a dinner but took me to the ER to check my ears
- That Sudafed, Afrin, and Robitussin exist.
- That I made it through this whole process without being robbed, assaulted, swindled, or grilled, except in the metaphorical sense.
Final tally:
Cost of plane tickets, hotels, cars, taxis, and trains: $2200+
Finally being done with interviewing: PRICELESS
We now return to your regularly scheduled livejournal. Ideally, I would promise to be more interesting, but I think I shall settle for talking less incessantly about travel. Really.