Going back to the beginning.

In continuation with my last post about boards and all their glory, I thought I would tell you a few things about Medical School that led up to the blessed boards; AKA the events that take place before med school.

I was blind.  I told J from the beginning, “As long as we are married I will go anywhere you get accepted.”  This was my ploy to get married. 

DON’T DO THIS PEOPLE.

I locked myself into all the homesick pain I am currently in here in West Virginia, and because of my wonderful promise… I can’t complain at ALL (except on this blog, of course).

But I did get a ring.

Our three year anniversary is next week.  :)

J was wait listed for a Med School in Louisiana and had already been accepted into the school in WV.  We were in limbo.  Waiting until the very last minute for LSU to call and putting all of our eggs in that basket.

Three weeks before school started in WV, we still hadn’t heard from LSU.  I was STRESSING.  J wanted to wait it out, and I could not handle the thought of attempting to move our lives with one or two days notice.

I honestly didn’t care if we moved to New Orleans or WV… I just wanted to KNOW where we were going!  Lewisburg was kind of a scary thought, but J talked about how cute and charming the town was and how they have cheep housing (like the 3br/2ba $100,000 house he looked at while visiting for interviews).  

If you tell your new young wife you will buy an adorable white house that needs a little TLC… she will follow you ANYWHERE.

1. Don’t fall for that unless you have papers in your hand!

2. Husbands do not always research and worry about housing and future cities like wives.  Start this process early!  Call schools and ask what areas most students live in, look on their website for suggested apartments for rent, and Google EVERYTHING so you know what you are getting yourself into.  If you are renting blindly over the Internet ASK tons of ridiculous questions!

·      Is there a bar across the street?  What time do they close?

·      How many windows does the apartment have?  (I always asked this, because one woman I spoke to had a studio apartment for rent in the basement of her house for $850 a month with NO WINDOWS!!!)

·      How far is it from school?  Is it a safe walk to school?

·      Is there central A/C and Heating?

·      What is the square footage of the living room and bedroom?  (One landlord informed me that my queen bed and couch would not fit in the apartment after I asked this.  PEOPLE ARE CRAZY, and they assume everyone calling is a single med student who doesn’t have furniture.)

·      If you are living in a snowy area, do they have someone who shovels the snow on the driveway? (believe me, you don’t want to live on a rural route with a busy med student hubs and have to do that work yourself!)

I made the mistake of trusting that J had this all under control, and I would just pack up everything and wait for him to get the moving truck.  NOT THE CASE.  Three weeks before the big move, J was still looking at houses for us to BUY.

I finally had to break it down for him.

We do not have a place to live.  I have never even seen this town.  NO ONE CAN BUY A HOUSE IN THREE WEEKS… ESPECIALLY IF YOU DON’T HAVE MONEY! 

I decided to take over looking for apartments, but by this time… EVERYTHING was taken.  I must have called 100 different landlords.  I was in panic mode.  I do not do well with being in limbo, and my life was currently packed in cardboard boxes with no future WV home in site. 

That’s when I FREAKED for the first time in our marriage and for the first time on this Med School journey.

It was a Thursday night, and I remember it well.

J came home from work and after five full days of me looking for apartments and talking to very sweet, but annoyingly over friendly landlords saying how adorable their place was then sending me pictures of homes a serial killer would live in…. I lost it.

J, we HAVE to go to WV tonight.  I’m not kidding.  I called work, and someone can cover my shifts.  If we don’t go now, we will be living on the streets of Lburg or in the same house with Jeffery Dahmer.  GO PACK! 

He actually looks normal which is even scarier! Source

J, understanding the desperate tone in my voice, agreed.

3. If you and your significant other are on the fence about which school he will attend… visit ALL of the cities that are true potential options to get familiar with what area you would want to live in, and find apartment selections in ALL of them.  This way, if you happen to need to use craigslist to find a place, you will know what area you are willing to live in.

We made it to Lburg and continued our hunt.  I’d forgotten that J had never lived away from home before (we lived in a studio apartment above his dad’s garage while in newlywed/med school limbo), and this experience was INTENSE!  He wanted to look at ALL of the options… even the options that were $400/per month.  I tried to explain to him that YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, but he wasn’t buying it.

4. Pick a reasonable price range for the area you are moving to, and stick with it!  Don’t waste valuable time allowing your husband to be cheap.  Also, you are moving for him… USE THAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TO GET A NICER PLACE.  :)

After a full day of looking at apartments with wipe off board walls in the bedrooms and living rooms, I realized that med school was WAY more than I could have imagined, and when J started thinking those wipe off boards were great ideas… I realized he was going to be CRAZY for 4 straight years.

J, I am not living over a 24-hour laundry mat so you can have a massive wipe off board to study on.  Also, we are not having a wipe off board as a wall. 

5. Stand up for yourself and your décor!

In the end, we found a cute two bedroom apartment.  It wasn't perfect, but it was better than wipe off board walls and living in a basement!

Hope that helps!

-Cap