What to do after graduation

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EM Dude

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I am graduating medical school in May, starting residency July 1. However, I have a month off in May as well, conceivably leaving me with 2 months off before residency starts.

I want to remain at my home program, so will hopefully not be moving. Any ideas on what I can do with my free time? I am planning a 1 week vacation, but if I sit around the rest of the time, I will go crazy! Some things I have thought of so far:

1. I am an EMT, so I have thought of working some shifts during that time (a doctor working as an EMT would look kind of funny though). I have considered trying to use the time to challenge the NREMT-P exam to become a paramedic.

2. Research?

3. Read Rosen's or Tintanelli's? (yeah right)

Any ideas on other things I could do with myself for 2 months would be greatly appreciated!

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go to guatemala and climb tajumulco. it's can be done comfortably in 3 days and it' s a burly climb but non-technical. afterwards, hang out in xela for a week or so and spend another week in antigua at some of the local bars. then, go to the bay islands off the coast of honduras for some scuba diving. as an alternative (and to make this vacation somewhat productive, if that's your deal) do a spanish language school in xela (antigua has too many expats for you to be speaking anything but english). while you're there, read the story of english by mccrum, cran, and macneil. it's a book about the changes in the english language and the differences in english slang in various countries in the english-speaking world. when you get back stateside, if you have any time left, head north to canada. montreal in the summertime is awesome. totally random, i know, but i'm on ob/gyn and am hating life at the moment, so thinking about EM and travelling is fun! take it easy. --sp
 
Sounds great, but my wife still has to work, and I don't think she would appreciate me maxxing out the credit cards on such an adventure...

Any other thoughts?
 
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EM Dude said:
Sounds great, but my wife still has to work, and I don't think she would appreciate me maxxing out the credit cards on such an adventure...

Any other thoughts?

take her to Europe. If you shop carefully you can still do it with less than big bucks.
 
Especially eastern Europe. Take her to Estonia, it is beautiful and relatively untouched by rampant tourism. Or go to India or China where things are real cheap.
 
Drink,
Drink heartily, heavily, and hope that your liver hangs on for the ride. Your going to need the kind of perspective that only four, or maybe five foreign substances running through your blood can give you to understand all the drunks, druggies and crazyness that the next three to four years of your life will give you. And in my expert opinion, the drinking may help with your wife.

Good Luck
 
EM Dude said:
Sounds great, but my wife still has to work, and I don't think she would appreciate me maxxing out the credit cards on such an adventure...

Any other thoughts?
I painted my dad's house, the exterior, in May/June... in FLORIDA. It was absolutely painful and I swear I lost ten pounds of water weight every day, but my dad's old so I had to do it. If I didn't do that, I would have sat at home and played video games and drank all day long. I would do that now if I didn't have so many responsibilities.

But, a trip to Europe is manageable. I am doing a one week ski trip to Switzerland with my wife in Feb... airfare, with ONE layover, is $580, and a one week stay at a bed and breakfast, WITH ski rentals is $700 per person. So skiing the Matterhorn and staying in a bad ass bed/breakfast is only going to cost $1280 each for a week in the Alps. Not bad. It would be conceivably cheaper if you "backpack" through Europe in the spring. But keep in mind most college kids are done with school in May so the prices may go up. I dunno.

But I would not even touch a book during your two months off.

Q
 
spend it reading, and i will personally hunt you down and beat you with that book.

have a nice day. :)
 
Good grief, Charlie Brown. Do ANYTHING besides something medical with those two precious months. Do something crazy that you've never done before. You'll never regret it.

If you read anything medical during those two months, you deserve to be kneecapped. If you read Tintinalli's, it ought to be bilateral. The limp will help remind you about the error of your ways.
 
You will feel lost and unprepared and mercilessly overworked at the begining of your inten year no matter how much you read. So, I think you should at least be well rested and have done some fun things so you won't be miserable before you even start intern year.
 
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