OB GYN is officially over. I arrived back in Philly (after a miraculous traffic free drive from NYC) Wednesday. Exam was yesterday, and now I have the weekend free before I start my family med rotation in south Jersey. I'll be staying at a friend's apartment while she's away for her OBGYN rotation. She lives close to Penn. I'm kinda nervous about having to park my huge car in the city, but she says that it really shouldn't be a problem for me.

Also, I graduate in less than three months. It's scary! I have my family med rotation, then I have to present my senior thesis. We have a week long review course/skills exam/comprehensive exam, then our elective. I'm doing my elective in internal med site in Delaware, and I'll be staying at a school paid-for townhouse with three of my classmates...I'm very excited about that. It should be a great way to end the program. After grad I plan on giving myself either 3 or 4 weeks to study for my board exam. I'll probably take the first week off and just do nothing and vacation and relax for a bit.

I also found out recently that it'll be 2-4 months after I graduate before I'll be allowed to work, due to licensing issues. I hadn't thought of that before now...all that time off with nothing to do, no money, and loans to pay? Yikes. I'm going to have to get a temp job! I might move back in with my parents and substitute teach again while I wait. I told myself that I'll worry about that after I get through this rotation.

In the meantime, I'm writing my CV this weekend and sending it to our career services lady to look over. As soon as that is done, I'll start sending it out and applying for jobs. My plan is to do loan repayment by working at a rural site through the NHSC. They'll give me either 20 or 30 grand a year (depending on how rural I go) towards my loans, and it's tax free. I could essentially pay off 150 grand in student loans in 5 years by going that route, assuming I still live a modest lifestyle. Not only that, a lot of these sites pay higher than avg for due to the fact that not a lot of people want to work there because of their rural location. Currently there are a couple spots open in Maine in fishing villages right on the coast, which would be ideal. I'll be applying all over the country though (well, the northeast, northwest, and northern states...I can't see myself in the South at all). I'm fairly interested in living/working in Washington/Oregon for a while.

I just can't believe that an end is in sight. I feel like I've been doing school forever, and I also can't imagine having a normal lifestyle. Working 40 hours/week instead of 70-90?? Not having to spend 80% of my non-work time studying?? Being able to work out/play guitar on a regular basis/get involved in church activities? I don't know what I'm going to do with myself ;)