Interview Trail: Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic)

After a week at home following our three-week-long trip, we really hadn't given our future plans much thought. So, on Monday when we realized that Friday was quickly approaching, and Erik was scheduled for an interview at Mayo in Rochester, we decided that we better try to find a babysitter really fast if I was going to go with him. Luckily, my mom is retired and doesn't mind dropping everything for her grandchildren, and driving three hours! With just a quick call to her, she was in the car the next day, and on her way to watch our kiddos.

It was nice to leave the two older ones at home... not as much packing to do, not as much entertaining to do in the car, not as much work figuring out where every one was going to sleep, no making beds on the floor, no fights, no whining, no temper tantrums or car sickness, and the biggest plus of them staying home, was that I was able to attend the night before dinner with Erik! This was only the second time, out of all of the interviews, that I was able to go with him.

We had a great time getting to know some of the residents and other applicants over a really nice (and very yummy!) dinner. I enjoyed talking to a couple of the spouses of the residents and learning more about the program and the city. They were super good at selling their program to me, and by the time we left Rochester the next day, I was almost convinced that we were meant to be there for the next three years. However, I also realized that, (1) if would have been able to attend the other programs' night-before dinners, I probably would have been just as convinced that their program was my favorite, and (2) no matter how much I like a program, there are a lot of other (and more important) factors involved in this process. Drowning in a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts about our life and just how up-in-the-air it is right now, I sincerely welcomed yet another snow storm on the way home. Keeping the car on the road was just enough to keep my mind off of the emotions surrounding the unknown of residency.