the next 5 years

Just in case any there are any non-immediate family or non-facebookers out there who read my blog and are wondering...

Mark matched to a transitional year (1st year) residency in Grand Rapids, Michigan and to Indianapolis for his 4-year radiology residency.

In case you are wondering, the transitional year is basically like a non-specialized year of experience in various areas of medicine. Most residents do a preliminary/intern year for their first year of residency before specializing in their field. The difference between an intern year and a transitional year is that the latter requires (usually/ideally) less time in surgical and internal medicine rotations and allows more time for electives. Also, the hours are usually better as well. This is nice for Mark since he is not doing a surgical/internal medicine specialty and he can try different areas to help him decide if he would like to further specialize in something.

At least, this is what I understand from the conversations I've had with Mark about the distinction--I may be missing a few technicalities but you get the idea.

Grand Rapids will be fun because I have a few friends who live in the city that it will be nice to get in touch with again. Plus, the program has the best perks of any 1st year program we checked out. Yay for perks! On the other hand, it will be hard to face the upcoming winter there after the beautiful winter we just had (70/80 degree weather in March?!?!).

Indianapolis was Mark's #1 choice. I'm happy about it (although I was kind of hoping to go to Texas where we would be closer to family) too because apparently the city is a really awesome/family-friendly city. Housing is also pretty inexpensive. Everyone I talk to raves about Indianapolis--especially the Children's Museum. I know that will be the first thing we check out once we get there :)

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!