A New Furry Baby
We brought home our sweet, sweet puppy today. Seriously the cutest little thing ever! His name is Sampson and his current favorite activities are sleeping and lying on mommies feet. We are so excited for this new little family addition!!
Adventures in the new house: Day 1
We arrived to the house late last night with a car full of random odds and ends that the movers didn’t pack or couldn’t fit for some odd reason or another and our blow up mattress. Feels only fitting to spend our first night in our massive master bedroom sleeping on our tiny blow up bed.
And you know what – we couldn’t sleep! We both slept terribly. And you know what we decided it was from (aside from the air mattress factor) – it was too quiet!! No noise, no faint sound of traffic, no honking cars, no rattle of the subway. Our apartment was fairly quiet, but still there was noise. Now, it is as silent as anything I have ever experienced. It’s like the large empty house is a sound vacuum.
Today, we have boxes and boxes everywhere and I have no idea where to put anything. And the paint still sucks – gotta get on that.
Getting Ready to Leave
Its been 2 solid weeks of tramping, exploring, driving and sailing our way around New Zealand. This country is one of the most unbelievable places either of us have ever been.
Today we head off to Australia for a little time down under before sadly heading home.
Just a few more photos – just some iPhone pics for the interim time as I weed through a few thousand on the SLR.
A little bit of what the Paulson’s are up to these days…
Today I hiked the most amazing sub-alpine terrain with beautiful sunny skies, crossed waterfalls and flowing rivers, ran up a peak to eat lunch in the pouring rain staring over a valley, hiked up snow and ice covered volcanic rocks, and took a nice sand dune walk along the beach. New Zealand – you have my heart.
The End of a Season
Today marks a day to end an era. Today I walked out of the hospital as a medical student for the last time. Today, medical school ended.
I have matched into the most amazing Pediatric Residency in Danville, PA and have graduated medical school. I am officially Dr. Stefanie Paulson, MD – it feels so strange and so utterly exciting.
Being snow bunnies in Boston for the weekend!!!
Seeing where Tyler grew up and enjoying beach weather in mid-November.
Ultimate sadness after watching the gators loose in overtime.
Pittsburgh
And we got to see The Saloon, the infamous place where Tyler’s mom served Tyler’s dad a free shot that fateful day.
Ohio
So for the last month I have been rotating in Toledo, Ohio doing an NICU rotation. This was my first time spending any time in the midwest which, as you can imagine, is quite different than California or New York. Toledo is one of the cities in the midwest that was once great and grand but fell post-industrial revolution. It is slowly recovering, but there are remnants of some pretty amazing architecture all around – you just have to avoid the sketchy neighborhoods. I took the fancy camera out during a run in one of the Wilderness Metroparks and on a walk around my neighborhood. Just wanted to share a snapshot of the beauty of Ohio.
http://instagram.com/p/u3MZITq6P1/
Kenya: Giraffes, Elephants, and a Recap
Hey There!
So I returned from Kenya about a month ago and since then it has been a “hit the ground running” situation. Life went back to its typical warp speed and I have been traveling around like crazy. I finally got back around to sorting through my pictures from Africa and wanted to post some of the ones I didn’t get a chance to post. Also, on my last day in Africa I spent the day in Nairobi visiting the Elephant orphanage and the Giraffe center where I got to touch and kiss the most adorable baby elephants and giraffes. It was so much fun!!! I took only like a thousand pictures of elephants and giraffes, so I will try not to bore you with all of them, but I can’t help but include many!
Some students I saw in the Village Eye Clinic
Tenwek Hospital
Umoja orphanage
Huge banana bunch
The waterfall that provides all the power for Tenwek
The elephants coming out to play at the Elephant Orphanage
These elephants were about 4-5 weeks old.
This little cutie was the youngest orphan, only 3 weeks old.
I love their little coats.
This guy was an attention-seeker, he just walked around letting everyone pet him.
Older elephants came out for their morning bottles
These elephants were about 1-2 years old.
This little charmer was 1.5 years old and had the best face of them all.
At the Giraffe Center
This guy was the nicest giraffe, he even let me kiss his cheek.
Look at that tongue!
Statues of Masai Family
With Scholar and Mercy who spent the day with me in Nairobi
Bye Giraffe
Kenya was such a great trip for me. It was incredibly hard at first, but as I would have expected, as soon as I was on the Pediatric ward I was completely in my element. It was challenging as my last day in the hospital was quite somber as many of our sick patients passed away, causing me to leave Tenwek with a heavy heart. But God always has bigger things in mind. The trip was a great chance to see options for what I can do and to allow me to take on responsibility and try on what it feels like to be the “in-charge” physician. Plus, I have lots of great stories to use in my interviews now about cool things I am doing in this world. I will continue to pray for Tenwek and the people still there. I am not sure what God has in store, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself back there one day.
Interviews
So the interview trail has begun!
I have been extraordinarily blessed in being offered more interviews than I can realistically attend. I am now 3 interviews in and feeling like quite the jet-setter. I am writing this from the Jacksonville airport as we speak. I flew down after work, rented a car, and stayed in the downtown hotel. Now I’m catching the red-eye back to Ohio. I feel like a true Paulson.
Things are going quite well. I have full confidence that some magical program will stick out as a true winner and hope to match in my top choices. We could end up anywhere based on the scope of which I am interviewing, but that is half the fun. Keep praying for sanity during this CRAZY season.
Just under two weeks and my rotation in Ohio will end and Tyler will fly back and we can drive home together. I do miss home very much. And my husband – who is likely starving to death without his master live-in chef.
I am starting the long journey back today. Sad to leave this place but excited to be back home with Hubby. Please pray for safe travel and a fun day in Nairobi tomorrow.