A lot has happened. A lot has changed.
I left Poland not knowing what was going to happen next. I was excited and scared. I thought I'd go to Ireland for my intern year but alas that did not happen. Instead to my great dissapointment I went home.
I went home and held my grandmothers hand as she took her last breath. I lost the woman who made me who I am today. It was the worst year I have ever had.And yet it was a year of learning. I took all of the board exams back to back (I don't exactly recommend doing it that way). I worked 6 days a week, primarilly at night as a medical scribe and made sure to pay attention every second. I didn't have the best experience in the ER on my US rotation, but I learned so much as a scribe. I learned how to write notes and talk to patients. After a year of preparation I applied for the match expecting to start the following June.
I became very close with the ER physicians I worked for. They helped me so much- I can never repay them for everything they did for me. Several of them teamed up to help me get an observership with the internal medicine residency at one of our sister hospitals. I did the observership and at the end was called in to meet with the director of the program. They offered me a spot!!! Instead of waiting a year I would only wait one month. I had at that point gotten around four interviews- it was strange to rescind all of my applications after all that work! But boy was I thankful for it!!!
Not your typical route to residency, but then again going to Poland isn't exactly your typical route to medical school either!
I miss Poland every day from the people I experienced it with to my apartment, to silly little things like the box of ginger snap cookies I could get for 5 złoty. But for now I'm okay with being back in the US. I will get top notch training and then maybe if I ever do learn Polish I'll go back. Or maybe I'll go somewhere else.
Only time will tell!
