MATCH DAY

This weekend was FANTASTIC. I intended to spend a decent chunk of today writing an epic blog post about all the fun - but life happened. You all understand that, right? Instead of spending time isolated in my office composing the perfect post (what I would consider a good activity)  I chose what I would consider better activities and enjoyed quality time with friends and spent my evening volunteering/helping friends in my neighborhood who are going through tough stuff. I love that I've had this blog as a journal of the roller coaster called Medical School but I never want to miss out on experiences because of it.

Let's chat about MATCH DAY! First, to summarize, the day was fabulous. Being in an untraditional program, I wasn't sure how it would feel. I couldn't relate to my classmates who truly were surprised to see what program was tucked in their envelope. I'm getting ahead of myself.. let me explain the day..

The ceremony started with refreshments at 10am. There are four of us in my class that are especially close - so we made sure to arrive early enough that we could grab seats together. The ceremony started with a few words from the important people of our medical school. Then, we were all invited to come up to the stage to get our envelopes -- but we weren't to open them yet. Many schools have their ceremonies with each student opening their envelope onstage in front of the audience, but at ours, we had a few minutes to open our envelopes in our seats before heading up on stage to share with everyone where we were headed.

(Our families were like paparazzi.. so excuse the lack of camera coordination)

Three of us opened our envelopes and celebrated staying together in Omaha a little while longer (though in different specialties: Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Psychiatry). The fourth friend peeked at her residency but made her husband, family, and us friends wait until she was onstage to announce her program.

My name was called probably about half-way through the ceremony. T and I walked up to the stage to the chorus of Michael Bublé's "It's a Beautiful Day" (this song from 1:19-1:45ish). Then I announced to the audience something like: "I'm Krista Stoecker and this is my husband Travis. I am in the Primary Care program and we are very excited to complete my Family Medicine training in Grand Island, NE". 

Photo credit: UNMC photographer

There were a variety of announcements from simple, serious explanations to athletic references like "I'm taking my talents to ____" (then they put on that schools hat). A few students (like my friend I mentioned before) waited until the were onstage to open their envelope. Others turned around a took a selfie with the crowd in the background or brought a family member onstage via Skype.  After you made your announcement, you placed a dollar in the basket (the last person announced gets the cash as traditionally that meant they were the last person to find out where they were headed next year), placed your pin on the map, and were given a glass of bubbly.  It was really fun to hear all the different specialties and training sites! If you want to see pictures of the other students in my class, you can see the school's pictures from the day here.

I think my favorite part of the day was simply the time I spent with my parents before the ceremony and afterwards at lunch. Time just the three of us is so rare and so wonderful!

After lunch, my mom and I snuck over to the outlet malls to shop for some clothes we've both been thinking about for our trip to Europe! Then Friday night our class had a party at 1316 with drinks/appetizers/photobooth/DJ.. but my favorite part was spending time out on the deck chillin' with our good friends:

That was all Friday -- I haven't told you about all the fun from Saturday and Sunday! But I have to get to bed.. so I'm forced to just leave you with a photo collage:

(1) can you believe that beautiful woman turned 92?!
(2) the cabin is extra beautiful this time of year with no mosquitos or humidity!

This week I am going to try to do it all.. I have another long shift on Tuesday and Saturday so I'm going to make the most of the hours when I am away from the hospital. Life is beautiful :) Love you all and hope you have a fabulous week! Thanks for you all your love and support on Match Day!

xo,

Krista