Terms of Service Agreement

A few friends told me they wanted me to write about all of my summer's adventures so they could live vicariously through me while I gallivant around. So I set this up to give them a place to check in and see how things are going. I have no idea how much I'll be able to blog, especially as the summer progresses, but I will make an effort to keep things semi-up-to-date.

Just to fill everyone in, in case you don't already know the 411, this summer is all about traveling and having fun. I got into the Northwestern MD/PhD program for the fall and am very excited to return to school and continue on my path to a career in medical research. But the program is a minimum of 7 fairly intense years, with a strong possibility of an additional year or two needed to finish up, and then I'll likely have to continue on into a residency and possibly other training/education related activities. The standing joke around the house is that I'll get a "real" job when I'm 40, which isn't too far from the truth. So this summer I've decided to have as much fun as possible before I start school.

Here's the basic plan: Quit job on the 4th of May. Fly to Hawai'i on the 5th, stay until the 11th with a childhood friend and his fiancee in Honolulu. Fly back to Indy to be with Mom on Mother's Day, then leave Indy on the 15th for a three-week road trip. Drive to see the following people/places: St. Louis (Kerrie and Jesse, maybe Dulle and other Wancas), Evansville (Danger and MacGyver), Louisville (Carson), Atlanta (Lem), Florida (Erin K, Eryn Y, Christina), Hilton Head Island (Adam), Hayes, VA (Candi), Washington, DC (Marge, Ayn, Gretchen), Philly (Holly and Mike), New York (Sean), Hanover, NH (Suzanne), Boston (Dave, Nancy, maybe Jeni and Thade), New York, again (Gerold, Debbie, Elizabeth, Brian, maybe Sean again), Cleveland (Michael), and back to Indy on June 4th. The first weekend in June, though, I'll interrupt the trip to fly from NYC with my brother down to Houston for two days for my cousin's wedding.

Once I'm back from the road trip, I'll take a day to decompress, then I'll head up to Chicago on June 6th to look for an apartment, coming back to Indy on Saturday. Indy for a few days, then I'll leave on Tuesday for Colorado with Summer Field Study. For those not in the know, it's a two-week outdoor adventure trip for high school students and it's amazing. SFS gets back Sunday of the last week of June and then on Tuesday, the 26th I fly to Europe. I'll spend the first five days in Madrid, Spain visiting my friends Kim and Rodrigo (and probably Pili, too) and then head to Strasbourg, France on July 1. I'll be in France for three weeks as a part of a study abroad program run through IUPUI, learning French and experiencing the culture. I come home on July 24th, and will hopefully have a few days to move in to the place in Chicago that I found back in June. Then it's off to Camp Miniwanca in Michigan on July 30th until August 10th. Once camp ends, there's a two-day retreat for the students and staff of the MD/PhD program somewhere outside of Chicago on the 13th-14th, and then classes will start on the 20th. Woot!

That's the plan, at least. We'll see how well it actually goes as the summer progresses. I'll post again about traveling to and getting to Hawai'i later today, I hope. Right now I want some breakfast. Toodles!