Whew! Just over 20 pages in 2 days... not too bad.
I'm here. I'm in a rotten mood. But I figure I better share my trip (and my news that is not all that great
) before I forget it all!
We started out driving to Long Island. Well, we stopped in PA but that was uneventful. Long Island is NOT what I expected. At the risk of coming across wrong, I'll leave it at a minimum, but I was quite surprised. I knew it was expensive, I was prepared for that. But I was NOT prepared for what you get for the amount of money you spend. I assumed the whole island (which is GIGANTIC, by the way!) would be beautiful new developments, and that's why it's expensive. Not so much. For $350,000 we could buy a 2 BR condo that's about 20 years old
Kyle and I can't justify that when we can get a 3-5BR house with a big ol' yard for the same price in lots of other places... and still maybe not spend that much! So we aren't even going to rank it. That was pretty easy, and yet a very enjoyable few days. I will say this - I can understand why it is so desirable. To be so close to NYC yet so different, is quite nice.
From there we went to Delaware. This is where my good news comes in, believe it or not
We almost cancelled the trip, because in our minds -- what the heck is in Delaware? Well, I'm in love with the area. NOWHERE have Kyle and I both been there for less than an evening and said "I could spend forever here". In stinkin' DELAWARE?!
Really though. If you aren't familiar with northern Delaware, it's heaven in the US. Good schools, fairly low cost of living, 25 minutes from Philly (the area we were looking) and between 1-2 hours from the beach, the Poconos, DC, NYC, Baltimore, several major airports, etc. And Newark is just like Oxford (our straight-out-of-a-movie college town
). We assumed the program would be horrible (because that's how it's gone -- good area, bad program and vice versa). It was perfect. Kyle said, and I quote - "I haven't been to a program yet that answered all of my questions 100% how I want. It's like they were reading my mind"
I think Cincinnati will still probably rank #1. Mostly because of the Children's Hospital..... but it was the most AMAZING feeling to know there is in fact somewhere else we could end up that we love. We were getting quite nervous.... while several places are "fine", before Delaware I thought I was REALLY going to have to choke back some tears on Match Day if we didn't get Cincy. I'm pretty relieved, to say the least... espeically since UC grads have historically gotten their top 1st-3rd choices. Now we have 3 I could live with!
Really not that great a story, huh? I told you that you all were getting too exited
We finished up in Philadelphia (at another program) and Baltimore. Both were fantastic cities, but the programs were very ok. We got stranded in Baltimore an extra day, which made returning to school a little nerve wracking.
And now my Critical Care course is going to be the death of me.
And I've gained 5 pounds since I last checked, but that is an entirely different story that belongs (and is already posted) on the other thread.
althought I'm trying hard to keep it from everyone else that I know about it.
However, the great part - since over 75% of the audience wasn't able to make it that night, he just said - "I'll come back" - and they honored all of our old tickets - so we still got to see him 5th row center! 
