Adventures in Baltimore

Okay, so I didn't really want to go to this interview @ JHU because after having been on teh interview trail for the past 2 months, I've been getting kind of tired of it. But I figured I ought to give it a shot, since it is one of the best medical institutions in the world.

The interview day started at 11:30 am, but for me it began at 9 when I arrived in Baltimore. Baltimore is reminiscent of New Haven, in that nobody really raves about the cultural offerings, etc. Instead, they'll say "DC is just 40 minutes away." (For NH, it was NY). For the 2.5 hours before the program officially began, I visited the med school dorm (Reed Hall) and did teh obligatory intros w/the other applicants. Then the Assistant Dean of Admissions did his spiel & we went to a conference room where I had lunch w/an elderly African American doctor who is convinced that the cause of cancer lies in cow's milk, and if cancer patients would just drink human (breast) milk instead, they would get better. Don't have time to explain right now but he had some evidence to back it up.

Then I went on a tour led by a student named Curtis, who hails from Hawaii. I think he went to Harvard, because he said that he took the entire 1st year of the HST program (the med program my sister's entering next year) as an undergrad. But he totally didn't seem like the gunner type. (FYI - a "gunner" is the stereotypical pre-med - ultra competitive & always gunning to get ahead). He was actually quite chatty, something I've observed in other Hawaiians, but he has a girlfriend, so no questions there. Anyway, he was really nice & funny - kept reassuring me & the other 2 applicants that we would all get in because we weren't eccentric. Apparently he's had some of those in his previous tours this year. Along the tour I bumped into a student who was shepherding ppl into an auditorium to hear the Nobel laureate Sidney Altman speak on stem cell research. The guy looked so familiar & before I knew it I was asking him, "Did you go to Governor's School in NJ?"

He was like, "Yeah..."

Then I was like, "Are you Noy?"

It was the strangest thing - I didn't connect the name to the face on a conscious level, but I just knew he was one of the 2 students I worked with that summer in Dr. Miyamoto's lab. We didn't have time to say much else except "good to see you." He remembered me, too, though, & he mispronounced my name just like he'd done all that summer.

To wrap up, I had my interviews (nothing too remarkable), then made my way back to Penn station (seriously, how many Penn stations are tehre along the NE corridor?) & now I'm back at work and about to leave for New Haven. Have a nice weekend!