Baltimore and Me!

Here is the story of why this song has been stuck in my head for the past three days.

I went to Baltimore this week on perhaps the shortest trip of my life.  I went for a very formal interview at the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University (go ahead, be impressed).

Overall impression of the city:  very cool.  Some parts are definitely very reminiscent of Boston.  Unfortunately most of my walking-around was at night, and so I didn't get any great pictures of the parts that were particularly lovely.  There's American history aplenty there, including Fort McHenry, the site where "The Star Spangled Banner" was composed.*  Of course, there are also parts that are very sketchy, but everyone I talked to seemed to say that it was a safe place for anyone with good common sense.  Also, the shuttle driver who brought us to campus was the most excitingly friendly man ever.  He was totally like a cartoon movie bus driver or something.  The sad thing about such a short trip was that I didn't get to try as much of the delicious-looking food as I would have liked, but hopefully I'll be able to go back.

Overall impression of the school:  OH MY GOSH I WANT TO GO THERE SO BADLY!!!!!  I knew I wanted to go there pretty badly when I originally applied, but after visiting and talking with all of the faculty and students, I'm in love with the place.  There is a ton of fascinating research going on, and I know that if I went there, I'd be extremely well-prepared for a career in academia.  Also, their medical school divides its students into four colleges or "houses," and the way it was described, it sounds exactly like Hogwarts.  Additionally, everyone is super friendly, and one of the current students has an a capella group called "The Centrifugues."**  How awesome is that?

Also it's beautiful.  I didn't want to be crazy-tourist and take tons of pictures,
but this is the front of the old hospital.

Other fun things:  I got to see friends!  Laura, the Lawyer of Baltimore, and Bostonian Dave Currently in D.C. met up with me the first night I was there and we had dinner.  There was much nostalgia (brought on in part by crayon-scented cars) and reminiscing and forgetting that I wasn't in Boston and it wasn't last year.  But it was insanely fun (probably because I was exhausted and hilarious scenes from "New Girl" were referenced).

This is not what Laura's face looks like all the time.
If I were more talented, I would Photoshop myself in the middle.

Overall, it was an awesome trip (if for no other reason than I was not in Hawaii).  I think the interviews went really well.  Fingers crossed that I'll be able to say "Good Morning" to Baltimore yet again!


*Forever ingrained in my memory from first grade music class with Mrs. Thomas
**They are a branch from the Med School a capella group, "The Notochords."  Yay for nerdy music puns!