Wherein I answer all your burning questions

Now that our time on Statia is nearly over (18 more days!) I’ve been fielding more and more questions regarding our future. Makes sense, I guess, considering I haven’t exactly aired things out on my blog (mostly because the bigger details are still very much uncertain). But the basic outline is in place, and here it is:

While on the island Jon completed (is completing) his first portion of medical school, known as Basic Sciences. This was mostly classroom stuff, with a little bit of hospital work sprinkled in here and there. (SIDENOTE – his first chance ever to see patients was pelvic exam day for the local brothels.) The next phase of his schooling is his Clinical rotations, where he spends several weeks in each branch of medicine. Those go on for two years, BUT! He can’t even begin arranging them until he passes the United Stated Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1.

In order to prepare for the exam, he’s attending a May review course in Galveston, Texas. I won’t be joining him, because these are probably the most important few weeks of his entire life and I don’t want to be in his hair. Nor does he want me in his hair. So I’ll be spending May in Utah and Idaho, with MAYBE a weekend roadtrip out to Gardnerville, NV thrown in for good measure, but only if my friend Christa ever replies to my email about it.

Our Jeep is still in Tucson, being stored by a friend of ours. After Jon completes his review course, he’s flying to Arizona to pick it up, and I may or may not be joining him. Cross your fingers for me, because I really really want to go.

We loved our time living in Arizona and as a result, Phoenix and Tucson are in our top three places of where we’d like to end up for his Clinical rotations. But at the same time, we’ll go wherever the best opportunity is. Which is exciting, because it could be ANYWHERE. You’d think one of us would have a strong opinion about where we want to live, but neither of us really does, and I like it better that way.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, because as I said, we can’t even begin setting up his rotations until this exam is over. If all goes according to plan, he’ll take it sometime in June, find out he passed shortly thereafter, and be starting his rotations in the fall.

Which means that this summer is our last chance for a vacation for a while, and we’re 90% sure we’re going to fly up to Alaska for a week once the exam is out of the way. I lived there for two years when I was a kid but have only been back once, for my brother’s wedding. Jon has never been, and the only thing preventing us from buying flights this afternoon is the uncertainty of his test. He’s not sure when, exactly, he’ll be taking it – it all depends on his review course. So that makes things a little stickier. But I’m sure we’ll sort it all out.

That’s as far as I know at this exact moment in time. Summer in Utah, Idaho, Canada, (and Texas for Jon), maybe Nevada, maybe Arizona, maybe Alaska, then a big move in the fall to who knows where. Nice and clear.