Our Cross Country Drive

Thank you for all the love and support for our upcoming adventures, you guys! We can't wait! Since it's bound to be a crazy year I figured I may as well attempt to stay on top of documenting and blogging so I don't get behind. Here we gooooo!

After putting our furniture and things we wouldn't need for the next year in storage and returning the moving truck we said goodbye to our family in Southeast Ohio and off we went at 6 pm on Friday, July 6th!

We folded our mattress topper and put it in the back of our car in a little sliver of space along with a pillow and a blanket for when we got tired so we were able to go the entire 31+ hours without stopping to sleep. It was awesome and that space was actually sooooo comfy! I got some nice z's there! 

^^After I woke up from a 4.5-hour nap. Seriously so comfy and cozy! 

Parker drove the first stretch and we swapped on and off every 4 or 5 hours or so. When we first moved to Ohio, I had a really rough time driving across the country. I'm not a great long distance driver so I was a little nervous about this trip but we were well stocked with snacks and books and podcasts and movies and shows and all that jazz. Also, I did the entire trip without caffeine. I'm two months strong without it, you guys! Go me! lol 

I took photos in each bathroom that we stopped at along the way (minus a few) as you can see below! I progressively look more and more disheveled and tired in each one haha!

We had plans to stop in South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore since we probably wouldn't find ourselves in South Dakota again any time soon. We decided we may as well stop at the Badlands, too, since they were near that stop. Both of these places were a welcome pitstop and opportunity to get out of the car and move around a bit! We ended up doing a little hike in the badlands which I was scared to do bc they have signs saying to watch out for rattlesnakes. Snakes are my biggest fear (I don't even like typing the word) and heights are my second biggest fear so the combination of hiking somewhere where we could encounter both of those had my hands all clammy. Luckily, our prayers were answered and we didn't come across any unwelcome animals or cliffs. I was very, very grateful. 

At Mount Rushmore, Parker quizzed me on American history which I honestly haven't thought about in 7 years so I got pretty much every question wrong. My embarrassing answers were on his Instagram story for all the world to see lol. Sorry, America! Also, history/social studies was one of my worst subjects so don't judge, ok?!

#Parkerforpresident!

Parker and I contemplated stopping somewhere for the night either at a hotel or a campground but both of us wanted to just get to our final destination so we could be done the driving. We pulled into Parker's parent's house at 5 am on July 8th and how happy we were to have arrived safe and sound. In total, we drove through 8 states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. I tried to get a photo or video of each of the signs but we missed a couple of them since it was the middle of the night when we were driving through and I was asleep. 

^^ Not a bad destination, eh?

I was pleasantly surprised by how fun the drive was! Parker and I talked and laughed and got along the whole time lol. Grateful for these memories with my love! 

xoxo, Chelan

4th Year Medical School Adventures

If you follow me on Instagram or know me in real life, you may have heard the news that we moved! Kind of... we're actually homeless at the moment. We'd known about the move for a while but with my job at the dance studio, we kept it on the down low for as long as possible so I couldn't announce it to the public until it was actually happening. We have such an exciting year ahead of us and I can't wait to share all of it!

#ButFirst (hey, Julie Chen), I just have to say how proud I am of Parker for all of his hard work throughout these last 3 years of school. It's crazy that he's now a fourth-year medical student! Where has the time gone?

Now a little background information on how this whole medical school thing works... at least at Parker's school. Medical school is 4 years. The first two years take place in the classroom, the third year is spent doing clinicals and rotations in all the different specialties at hospitals associated with the school, and then the fourth year is a lot more flexible with time to do electives in areas of interest. Students are able to go to other schools to do rotations and get a feels for other specialties and residency programs. Parker has a few away rotations set up and each one is typically a month long so we decided it made the most sense to get rid of our apartment for this year and get temporary housing at each place we visit.

So many good memories in apartment 35 on Tallmadge Road <3.

So we officially moved out on Friday after Parker's last test of 3rd year. He's officially in his last year of medical school which is nuts! It's gone so fast! We put our furniture and things we won't use for the next year in storage and packed everything else in our car. We drove across the country and are currently staying at Parker's parent's house in Montana for the week. Then we'll go camping with my family next week. Then onto rotation #1.

I'll share an entire post about our drive across the country because it was super fun and it deserves to be documented! For now, I'll share our upcoming year plans because they are a little crazy and I've been asked so many times where we are moving that I thought it would be easier to put it all in one place ;).

We are going to Oregon, North Carolina, Denver, and possibly South Carolina. Still waiting to find out specifics, though.

I'm so excited about each rotation! All of these locations look incredible and we are really excited to explore. I am very blessed to be able to continue working throughout since I work from 'home' for Chatbooks.

After American Thanksgiving, we'll be back in Ohio until Christmas, then we'll spend Christmas with our families. We have after Christmas to the end of January blocked off for residency interview season and then we'll be in Ohio for February, March, and April. In March, we'll find out where we are going for residency on Match Day! I'll share more about how that works later, too!

Parker will graduate from medical school in May and then we'll be onto intern year/residency! Whaaaat?! It's all gone so fast and I've actually loved this entire process. We will miss our Ohio friends and family so much but we'll be back for a bit which makes leaving a bit easier. And we have such exciting things in store so we are really, really excited for what this next year will bring!

Thanks for all the memories, Ohio! We love you!

Wish us luck!
xoxo, Chelan