I would say, people, are very, very nice. There's a festival every year called the hot chicken festival, one of Nashville's staple foods. They have this festival on the 4th of July where they bring lots of food trucks from the big hot chicken restaurants. There's a band playing, long lines, local breweries in the 90-degree heat.  During my intern year, I went with my fiance and, and a bunch of my co-residents and it was just a great experience because we were all so hot and sweating and eating hot chicken. And it was just a great kind of bonding experience for a lot of my co-interns and me. It has turned into a fun tradition.

I think some of its strengths can also be perceived as kind of downfalls or weaknesses just because it's coming from Iowa where there's almost no traffic when, when you have all these people moving here and all these events here, it makes things really expensive. The city is kind of outgrown its infrastructure a little bit so that some of the roads are very congested. Thankfully I live close enough to the hospital where I can walk, but if you're fortunate enough to buy a house as well, a lot of property taxes are going up as well. I think some of the pluses of being in a big city can also bring a few inconveniences.

Iowa does a great job preparing you for residency. Everyone's struggles with the transition, but there were three Iowa grads in my class at Vanderbilt. And the program director has said that Iowa prepares us well. 

Going from being a med student to taking care of a couple of patients to being the primary provider of eight to 12 patients is a big jump. But I think the people at my program are incredibly supportive. The other residents, the staff, the attending, the fellows have all been incredibly supportive to make that transition.

After you get your feet under you then things kind of happen again where you have a role transition going from an intern to a second year, and they guide you through those steps. And then kind of once you get your sea legs you can start learning more of the nitty-gritty details versus just going through the day-to-day stuff. So it's been a, it's been a great experience for me.

So  I've been fortunate enough to have accepted a position for next year (2021), actually at a unity point in Des Moines. So I will be coming back to Iowa. I'll be working as a hospitalist there and doing some of the teaching through for the University of Iowa with Dr. Craig. I feel like I'm coming up on another big transition from being a third-year resident to being a first-year attending. And just wondering if I am ready for that? 

I feel like I know what to do with patients that come in, but I'm not the last decision-maker. There's always someone above me who ends up making the final decision. So you know, I guess just normalizing that these feelings of I am good enough and am I going to do a good job. So I am just normalizing the fear of every transition.

For me it was so important going to these places, talking to the residents, talking to the faculty to make those personal connections. You kind of get a sense of who you vibe with. That’s the best way you find a program that fits best for you. At least from my experience, medicine interviewing process and just kind of seeing how easy it is to talk to folks in the program. Kind of get a sense of how collegial they are, that's kind of where I would say you should rank higher.

 You know, I went to these fantastic programs on the west coast, but when I was talking to people, I'm like, I just don't really feel like I get along, with these people. And that's nothing against those programs. It just wasn't necessarily a good fit for me. And I think that's going to be important to tease out when you're deciding who to put number one and who you feel like are kind of your people.