Thursday, February 12, 2009
carms adventure
CaRMS = Canadian Residency Matching Service
So... for the last 3 weeks I have been traveling the country interviewing for a potential residency spot (ack -- come July i will be a "real" doctor?!). I must say that I have had incredible CaRMs karma (haha) with regards to the weather. +7 in Calgary... a 'balmy' -5 in Winnipeg, snowstorms hitting cities the day after i leave... nooo complaints. UNTIL YESTERDAY.
I shall attempt a summary with my facebook statuses (statii?):
Alli is stuck in the Ottawa airport and has no hope of making it on time to her Dal interview.
- we arrived at the ottawa airport, having dutifully checked in online the night before and carefully selecting the most optimal seats, only to find out our flight to toronto had been cancelled due to rain (rain?! rain?!!), and we would not be able to make the connection to Halifax
- panic? us? never! the trusty WJ agent sorted us out, and i calmly emailed and phoned Halifax to say i would not (sorry) be there at 8am tomorrow (thursday) morning
- we then proceeded to enjoy a meal courtesy of westjet: hellooo booster juice and harvey's burger!
- we also anxiously watched the flight board as our flight was delayed and redelayed...
Alli is spending the night in Toronto courtesy of WestJet and hoping Dal won't mind if she is 3 hours late for her interview!
- we did make it to toronto well before midnight and WJ put us up in the Sandalwood Suites near the airport which was good, but energy flagging, we weren't too pleased when virtually every hotel shuttle came and went (some more than once!) before ours finally arrived
Alli is not impressed that "many of the hotel shuttles are booked" forcing her to take the 4:10 shuttle for a 7:20 flight.
- we were EVEN LESS PLEASED when the hotel clerk told us that all the hotel shuttles except the 4:10am and 8:10am were booked, this despite the fact that there were enough rerouted guests to fill another shuttle (he didn't offer, and i guess we were all too tired to beg)
- we did however make ample use of our 10 dollar breakfast vouchers at the airpor the next morning (after an anxiety inducing nap while attempting to clutch our belongings and sleep at the same time) ... hellooo grande green tea latte, banana loaf and white chocolate macadamia cookie
Alli is still managing to laugh even though she is unexpectedly in St. John's, Newfoundland while her interviewers are in Halifax.
- shortly after the "we are beginning our descent into Halifax" announcement, it was apparent the plane was... clearly going the wrong way, after 15 minutes of wondering what was going on, the only thing to do when the captain came on the mike and said "folks, the visibility in Halifax prevented a landing, so we're going on to St. John's" was burst out laughing
- yay for more WJ vouchers: helloo garden salad, everything bagel with cream cheese, and an ever energising Coca-Cola
Alli flew to Halifax from Ottawa via Toronto and St. John's NFLD in order to do a phone interview from the airport.
- we did eventually make it to Halifax.. but by this time it was so late, and because it's a 45 minute cab ride into the city, and i am oh so determined to get on the plane to Vancouver tonight (as originally scheduled), we managed to finagle phone interviews... there is definitely something awkward about doing an interview on a cellphone, pausing while the airport staff make overhead annoucements and feeling odd to be not in a suit, but a very casual (but oh so comfy) femme docs t-shirt
Alli is happy to be done with interviews (albeit a bit anti-climactically), but sorry not to be able to say a proper goodbye to friendly (& helpful!) CaRMs buddies:(.
The End.
posted by allimalia 2:28 PM
