The Apartment

I have officially moved into my first apartment.

To celebrate, I made four boxes of Jello, using up every vaguely bowl-like item I have, and essentially filling my half-sized refrigerator.  When I moved, my parents gave me a bunch of Jello and pudding mixes they found in the back of the pantry.  I haven't really had a chance to do any grocery shopping yet, so the gesture was much appreciated.  Though I don't think they intended for me to make half of the boxes at once.

The apartment is a studio, in which all utilities but electric are included in rent, bringing me in a little bit under my school's estimated student housing costs.  Student housing did get back to me and offered me a dorm room, but I just can't do dorm living anymore.  I can't share a bathroom with twenty other people.  So I found my own apartment.  Today, the day after I signed the lease, student housing contacted me again, offering me a one-bedroom apartment (even though they said I'd be taken off the housing list when I turned down the dorm).  Thanks so much.  It actually worked out for the better, though, as my studio is just as nice and much cheaper.  And my various plants seem to like it.

Wow, I start med school really soon.  Really, really soon.

Housing and Money

I’m still waiting to hear back from housing.  Because it would be really great to know exactly where I live now.

I did get my financial aid package, though.  It’s really depressing to see an impressive number like $40,000+ as your total loan and then realize that you still need another $25,000.  So now I’m applying for a Grad PLUS loan.  Which I guess is typical these days.

Deposit

I have made the deposit on my tuition, filled out my housing forms, submitted all the many forms for my financial aid, had a final transcript sent, and now I just need to graduate.  Which I will do very shortly.


My dorm room feels very hollow and empty with so much of my stuff packed up.  My posters are down, my curtains are down, most of my pillows are packed away...my typing really echoes right now.  It's surreal.

Logistics

Since I'm done with my undergrad work, I spent the day filling out financial aid and housing applications.  Oh!  I meant to return my thesis books today.  I need to do that tomorrow.  (Thesis books, thesis books, thesis books...)  I also had to look into storage options, because I go to college in the same city where I'll be attending med school, but I need to spend the first part of the summer at my parents' house.  Doesn't really make sense to take all my stuff back home for just a month or two.  It's kind of strange to be handling all of this logistical stuff myself.  When I applied to college, my parents were there to handle all the financial issues.  Now they're just on the sidelines.  Which is where I want them to be, honestly.  I want to do this myself.  I am getting a little sick of being such a dependent.  Except when it comes to health insurance.  I'd be a dependent on my parents' awesome health insurance for the rest of my life if I could.

The Awkward First Post

I recently enrolled in medical school.  Which is pretty awesome, because I want nothing more than to be a doctor, and pretty terrifying, because now I have to actually learn how to be one.  I have to act like an adult and buy groceries and pay bills.  I only just figured out credit cards.

I'm starting this blog, because if I hadn't decided to go into medicine, I would have been a writer.  And I'm writing in it now, several months before I'll actually start medical school, because I want to begin at the absolute beginning, and today is the day I sent in the card to hold my place in next year's class.  Also, I really don't want to study for finals right now.  I am sure that the day I send in the deposit on my tuition will be an epic entry indeed.

But I'll use today's entry to fill in some of the exposition to my story.  I was not one of those kids who wanted to be a doctor since forever.  I was going to be a novelist, until I found out how much money the typical novelist makes.  Then I was going to go into biological research, until I learned what grad school is like.  (Props to you grad students, I could never do what you kids do...)  So then I was going to...presumably graduate college and get some sort of job that paid money.  Then one summer, almost on a whim, I decided to become an EMT.  If you're looking for a job that takes only a few months of training, and yet is exciting, rewarding, and impressive-sounding, consider becoming an EMT, because we need more of them in this country.  If you like it, become a paramedic.  And if you like it and you are an academic masochist and a little power-hungry, consider med school.