Kelsey has already interviewed with San Diego and has visited Denver's program. She had good things to say about both, so more good choices likely await Brad in January. Back to Philly....Welcoming us was a big frosty hug to the tune of 32 degrees. Also handy with big hugs were Joanna and Tom. We walked through University City to their place and then scooted out to Banana Leaf, an awesome Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown.
We hustled back to Joanna and Tom's, had a night cap of Trader Joe's peppermint cookies, and got some shut eye. Brad awoke less than five hours later and walked the mile or so to CHOP. I explored West Philly a bit. It is lovely! As Joanna pointed out, Philly loves him some Ben Franlkin! In addition, I had the distinct pleasure of being snowed on while walking to UPenns Anthropology museum. Double score!
The First Snow Flakes!
The First, The Best?
I met up with Brad and Kelsey at CHOP after their interview. They agreed that CHOP had a great program with abundant research opportunities and the people seemed pretty cool. Nothing in particular stood out as a must have, but the carol singers were sure nice! Joanna and Tom picked us up and the snow continued to fall.
Unfortunately, hope sometimes sinks. Only four residents showed up the happy hour, which was on the way to where most of them live. 4 of 150, sorry CHOP that statistic is not promising.More importantly than the numbers, the residents who did show up were not warm, friendly or interesting. I think that maybe they felt because CHOP is a highly regarded program the applicants should just feel luck to be in the presence of the residents. I guess they forgot that entitlement isn't attractive on anyone. For me I think the nail in the coffin was when one of the residents, who I had to initiate any and all semblances of conversation with, after having dissed Los Angeles after he huffed and puffed about all the people he know in both law and real estate, informed me with a flip of his fuzzy cap (yes, he kept it on at the bar) that he grew up in Torrey Pines. I had to turn my head so he didn't catch my huge eye roll. We didn't get a chance to talk with the two of the residents, but the other that we did speak with arrived late and left early. She had a very difficult time getting through two sentences without a complaint. On top of that, she was boring. Wow. It was an incredibly stark comparison to the warm, inviting, high-fiving happy hour in Nashville.
We barely got to the coat rack before we were whispering, "Wow, did you think they sucked as much as think they sucked." By the time we made it to the train station, I had decided, if I were in charge of ranking, CHOP would be dead last. But, Brad was able to meet some great Doctors, and we LOVED hanging out with Joanna and Tom. The city is really amazing and I could even commute to another city for work. Really though, if the ratio of d-baggery to awesomeness in a happy hour setting is nearly 1, my intuition is to head for the sliding door and never look back.
We hopped on the train to D.C., waving at John 's Hopkins as we rode by. We were also able to follow the Charger game on Brad's phone. Go Bolts!!! Vincent Jackson had an amazing night, securing my fantasy football victory. That, coupled with meeting up with Jennie and Kris at their place in D.C. , made the evening a great one. Brad settled in for a long nap of five hours before he woke up and headed to Children's Memorial.............
xo
Mrs. Mcmack
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