Thursday, May 28, 2009

My day trip from hell.

I was invited to interview for a pretty sweet CDC Fellowship position on Tuesday. The fellowship is designed to train future epidemiologists at the state and local level during a two year program. It is a great honor to be interviewed and considered for this position so I was really excited about it.

Especially when I found out yesterday that I was accepted!!!!

After being accepted into the program you go through a matching process to find out where you will end up for the next two years. Places include (but are not limited to) Madison; New York; California; Vancouver, WA; Chicago; New Hampshire; Columbia, SC, etc. There are also areas of focus to choose from which include environmental health, infectious disease, chronic disease, maternal and child health and injury.

Though the actual fellowship position can be anywhere in the U.S. the interview was at headquarters in Atlanta, GA.

I left Madison at 8:35am and arrived back in Madison at 10:55pm that night. What happened in between made these 14 hours seem like 14 days.

Ok I just said 14 days because it sounded good next to 14 hours, in reality it felt more like 3 very long days.

I arrived in Atlanta pretty smoothly, the flight was a little delayed so I called the office where I was interviewing to let them know. They said no problem, they were running late anyway. So I hopped on the Marta train and headed north through downtown Hotlanta and after about 45 minutes got off at the correct station.

From there I was to take a cab to the office. I had the address to the office. I got in the first cab I saw (normal). The cab driver had his 5 year old daughter with him (not so normal). The cab driver had NO idea where we were going, had no maps and did not seem to be in radio contact with anyone (definitely not normal). I also couldn't understand anything he said because he had such a thick accent (probably normal).

He asked me if it was near some University that I had never heard of.

I said "I have no idea, I have never been there before, but it is on *2872 Peacock Street." At the cabbies persuasion I called the office and they said yes, it is near that University. (Why he could not call dispatch or a friend with Mapquest I have no idea).

We arrived in the general location of the office. It was a very large office park with dozens of buildings with different names.

"There is building 2871, yours must be right next door"

There wasn't really a "next door" and we were NOT on Peacock Street.

"Um...we are NOT on Peacock Street", I said.

After kind of staring around and at each other for a while I said, "Ok, whatever, here is your money, I will find it somehow." I called the office again to let them know and ask if they knew where I was, they had no idea. The receptionist told me how we should have gotten there from the train station and I remembered seeing one of the street names. I realized we were way past where we should have turned.

The taxi driver was still kind of standing around with his daughter who was offering me magnets she said were made in China and telling me that Mexico is now under two different governments. "It is?" I said. "You didn't know that???" She said mockingly. I still have no idea if she was messing with me or not.

I got back in the cab and blindly told him where I thought we had to go. Out of some kind of luck I didn't know I had I saw one of the streets the receptionist had mentioned and told the incompetent driver to turn left.

"No I think we turn right." He said.

Oh no, not this time buddy.

I said "Just turn left." So he did. I saw Peacock Street and said "Ok, here we are (finally), let me out."

"Oh yes, here it is", he said as though he knew it all along.

Needless to say, I was in a really horrible, angry and frustrated mood when I arrived at my interview (half an hour late). An interview I had just flown all the way from Madison to Atlanta to attend. The only hour that mattered was the next one, so I pulled myself together, smiled and went inside.

It went really great and less than 24 hours later I found out I was accepted into the program and invited to match.

On the way back to Madison the Chicago airport closed down for 2 hours due to weather, I was stuck on the runway in Atlanta for that entire time. I did, however, make it back to Madison on time.


*Names of streets have been changed for no good reason.

Monday, May 25, 2009

BRATFEST!!!!!


I have lived in Madison almost 3 years now and have never been to Bratfest! WHHHAAATT???

So in the midst of all the wonderful Memorial weekend festivities which included a kick-ass graduation party thrown by my friends Mali and Sean, losing horribly but having a great time at a 10pm game of sand volleyball, hitting up a "four birthday-party" on Saturday and then spending all day Sunday at Vilas park in the sun playing kickball, seeing a polar bear at the zoo, and watching (aka cringing at) little blindfolded children swing dangerous metal bats at a pinata and each other, my friend Laura and I decided to attend this grand Wisconsin tradition.

We arrived at the festival grounds and parked the car. Then headed into a Wisconsin fairytale.
SOooo excited!!
Trying on some "brat gear"
There were hundreds of grills fired up for the sole purpose of brat cooking, beer stands and the Oscar Meyer Mobile!
We first grabbed a couple beers each in anticipation of the long brat line.

However that line moved faster than expected and we were soon juggling food for four (2 beers and 2 brats each). We barely made it through the condiment tent (yes, it had it's own tent), before sitting down and watching children try to kayak and the awesome highschool cover bands shout their heads off.
Mali and I later that day at the zoo:

Friday, May 22, 2009

Graduation number seven.

After succesfully graduating from preschool in 1989, kindergarden in 1990, elementary school in 1995, middle school in 1998, highschool in 2002 and college in 2006 who thought I could possibly achieve any more???

I had surpassed all the dreams my family had ever had for me. Well I am here to say that I didn't stop. I am graduating from graduate school in 2009. After 21 years of school I am done (unless I decide to go to more school or something, I mean after 21 years of doing something how can I quit now?)
Though I am not yet officially graduated until mid-June, I did celebrate graduation weekend. My mom came up to visit me and we had a lot of fun. I got her hooked on old-fashioneds, she met all my friends, we celebrated my achievements at the Population Health Sciences graduate luncheon, she finally saw one of my improv shows, we skipped the graduation ceremony to drink and visit my grandparents, we saw Zac Efron heat up the screen in 17 Again, we visited Spring Green to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's house, did some shopping and stopped by the dentist (no cavities)! What more could I ask for?
Drinking instead of attending my ceremony:

Posing for pics outside the capital (just because I didn't go to the ceremony doesn't mean I can't take advantage of my $50 rented outfit, all I got to keep was the tassle.):It got a little bit windy and the zipper for the front of my gown was completly broken:

The perfect shot, I think it sums up my experience here in Madison:

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

After two years of graduate school....

I HAVE TURNED IN MY THESIS! It is now out of my hands until my committee meets for my defense next week. This is the best feeling ever!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Sand volleyball

I joined a summer volleyball league. "One of those drinking leagues?" a friend asked.

Yea.

But we do also play volleyball. Sand volleyball!

Our first game was last night. We knew we were in trouble when after asking everyone on the team "hey, are YOU any good?" the consensus was a resounding NO.

The trouble we were in was amplified further when I caught a glimpse of the team we were playing. "Oh no." I said. "The girls are wearing those spandex volleyball shorts." Of course this means that they are serious players. Any girl who would willingingly put on shorts so short and so tight it looks like her leg's circulation is being seriously restricted must be "good".

I was right. The three 21 point games were over in a flash. Within half an hour, and we were alloted an hour to play. At one point me and another guy made a pretty great (probably average) play. We were so busy congratulating each other:

me: OMG great job!
him: no YOU did a great job!
me: no YOU!

That we didn't see it until it was too late. It landed right in between us.

So we had a (few) drink(s), at least we are good at hydrating. After becoming accostumed to such good beer here in Wisconsin I had forgotten how Miller Lite tastes like (and goes down like) water.

I think we will get better. But only time will tell. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Real life

Currently I am in the library. I was making a brave attempt to focus on my thesis when I glanced over and saw a girl near me watching Grey's Anatomy on her laptop. This made me smile because it reminded me of a year ago when I spent a solid weekend in this very library studying for a stats final. The only way to keep myself from going insane was by watching two entire seasons of the Hills (a horrible, trashy, reality television show filmed in L.A. which makes you stupider by the second). However it actually worked and relieved my brain of some pressure. (Surprisinginly I did end up with an A).

I have since learned my lesson about cramming too much statisitics into my head in a short period of time, but I am still addicted to horrible, trashy, reality television.