The beginning of the end

So two weeks ago it was match day over at the medical school.  That's the day when all of the fourth-year medical students find out where they've been matched for residency.  The medical school gets everyone together in Dunlop Auditorium and calls each person who's matching up one by one to receive their envelope.  Inside that envelope is a single sheet of paper.  On that paper is the place they're be spending the next 3-7 years for residency.  It's an exciting afternoon filled with lots of yelling and cheering and hopefully not any tears.  I attended the ceremony to celebrate with my classmates, and it was great but somewhat bittersweet.  I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating with my friends, and was very happy for them, but since I wasn't matching (I would have matched this year, but took an extra year to complete the masters in education), it was a little tough.

 That ceremony was the beginning of the beginning of the end that has marked these last two weeks.  It was when it became official that come June, many of my friends would be moving on.  The same goes for the friends I've made at GSE (though not in as dramatic fashion), they too will be moving on when all our programs end in the middle of May.  While many of my friends (both med and ed) will be staying in Philly, many won't be, and the nature of those relationships will change.

I've also been working furiously on my Masters Paper these past two weeks.  It's due April 8th, and marks another end for me.  I've been working on it since I started at GSE in August.  I've got 43 pages of blood, sweat and tears on mannequin simulation-based medical education.  I hope I'll be happy with the end result (and with some help be able to publish it), but it's another ending of a major part of my life over the last 8 months.

On Tuesday, I had my final meeting with Alyssa D'Alconzo to wrap up the Alumni Interview Program (for which I was the coordinator).  I handed her the instructions I had made for next year's coordinator and showed the power point of the results of the program.  Although it will be sad to no longer draw a pay check, the final numbers look pretty impressive. 

Yesterday was the Accepted Masters Student Preview Day.  Kudos to Lindsey and Rhiannon for planning an awesome event.  I spent the morning on the New to Philly Panel, ate lunch with some prospective TLL students, and then gave tours all afternoon (for any of you who were wondering, I did lose my voice by the end of the third tour).  While the day was a blast, it struck me around lunchtime that these were the people who were going to be replacing me.  Someone new will be filling my role as TLL's GA in the admissions office (and keeping you informed with their blog), a new batch of people will start fresh in the fall taking Foundations of Teaching and Learning (who knows, maybe someone will even learn how to rock climb for that class...). 

Tonight, sadly, is my friend Christine's last night in Philly.  She's heading to Guatemala for six weeks before coming back for a few days for med school graduation.  We're having a little potluck (in a few minutes) to celebrate, but it'll be sad to see her go.