Biting into the Big Apple!

The phrase 'summer break' for a graduate student is one used in jest or gentle mockery of the general state of constant work that exists throughout the year. If faced with an enthusiastic student who accidentally mentions a trip to Europe, or a beach vacation, they will be carefully reminded by faculty that we are paid on a 12month basis - and hence should be working on a 12month basis. So, faced with a summer of school work in South Bend, I decided to get creative in my avoidance and applied to an internship in New York City. Fortunately (as this is where my creativity stopped), this past week I received a letter of acceptance - and thus I will be taking in the sites of NYC for most of this coming summer.
I will be working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan - one of the top cancer hospitals in the country. For seven weeks I will take intensive courses in oncology - from diagnosis to treatment, with a primary emphasis on psycho-oncology. I will also participate in clinical rounds and patient care, and collaborate with a research team with the goal of producing something publishable. It will be an extraordinary experience, and one that I have been very fortunate to be given.
The added bonus will be living in New York for a short time - it will be tough - but something I am willing to do - for academic reasons of course. Strangely enough the number of people willing to fly and visit me has increased fairly dramatically since hearing of my short stay on the East Coast - this I can't understand at all - with South Bend already close to my heart - and Jen proclaiming that it is her favorite city in the world - much better than LA (too hot), New York (too many people), London (too expensive), Paris (too romantic) or Rome (too cultured)...
Not to be outdone, and with clinically diagnosable abandonment issues, Jen will be off home to LA for most of the summer to take classes and see her family and friends. So my friends - Jen will be in LA and myself in New York, and thus with us covering both coasts of America, we will be able to see as many of you as possible this coming summer.

Pictured: New York, New York...and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center