Denver, CO....a long post

As many of you know (and I know that because only family and friends read this site), I spent the past weekend in Denver, CO for my interview/recruitment to the University of Colorado Health Science Center, specifically the Department of Pharmacology. Let me give you a rundown of my weekend, then I will give you my thoughts on the place.

Fly out of Indy at 8:20 pm on Frontier Airlines and arrive in Denver at 9 pm. I am supposed to be met by a greeter for a Limo company, so I follow the signs for "Limo/Taxi" and look for a guy holding a sign. I do not see anyone and get out to the pick-up place. I ask the attendant who doesn't know anything but is helpful. He gets me the number to the Limo company. After a call or two, I find the guy standing at the other end with a couple of other students. No biggie, I'm picked up and get to experience my first limo ride (sad, but true). We stayed at the Warwick Hotel in downtown Denver. It was late and I was tired. So I head off to bed for a rough night of sleep (a bit of anxiousness and hotel bed issues).

Get up and head to the school. A breakfast and overview of the program, then off to interviews. I had meetings with 4 faculty in the morning, then lunch, then 3 more meetings with faculty, followed by a couple of lab demonstrations. Back to the hotel. An hour or two in my room resting, then a cocktail hour followed by dinner with students, recruits, and faculty from all programs. Reasonable food and I was in minority of non-drinkers. The students planned a night out at a bar, but I declined in order to rest up.

Saturday, consisted of seeing some sights. Several recruits and students went up to Red Rocks Ampitheatre. After a climb to the top, I was sucking some serious wind (combination of out of shape, high altitude, and asthma). It was a really neat place though. Up next was Buffalo Bills grave on Lookout Mtn. followed by the scenic windy road down the mountain. Lunch at a Subway in downtown. Then back to the hotel for a few hours rest before a night on the town. Up first was a tour of a microbrewery in downtown Denver. Then it was supper at Rock Bottom (another microbrewery/restaurant). They actually have a RockBottom here in Indy, so it was not my first experience. I ordered a sirlion steak and it was pretty tastey (but it's been awhile since my last steak, so a bad steak would've tasted decent to me). Then it was out to a tavern for more hanging out. Played a couple of games of foosball and just chatted with some students and recruits. Then back to the hotel for some sleep.

Up the next morning, watched some TV, then off to the airport. I had quite the long time to kill in the airport (got there about 10:45 am and my plane left at 3:10 pm). I had an Auntie Anne's pretzel. Read for a little while, then to McD's, then some more reading, then some ice cream (Airport food is expensive). Got on the plane and flew back to Indy. Arrived here around 7:30 pm, my brother picked me up at 8 pm, and back to my place by 8:30 pm where I rested, watched TV, then went to sleep.

My thoughts: I really liked the program. Everyone seemed really awesome. The students especially where nice and got along really well. I got along with the other recruits and enjoyed my time. The department really seems to have a sense of commraderie (spelling?). Each faculty/student has their own research, but still work with others to improve it. Lots of cooperation, instead of secrecy and one-upsmanship. They just finished a new research building and are working on another one, so the facility is top notch. Plus they have a 900 something or other magnet NMR machine (1 of only 5 in the country). It is used for determining the structure of proteins and the like. I also enjoyed Denver, but I feel it is similar to Indianapolis. Both are large cities and have nearly everything one could want. I believe the transition would be easy from a city perspective. The weather is nice, cooler than I generally like, but no humidity.

Now, I am keeping in mind that everyone in the department was trying to get me to put on rose colored glasses. They only focused on the good and did not mention any bad. In the end however, I was still impressed, and firmly believe it to be my number 1 choice. Now I will await a letter (one way or another) and keep an open mind going to my other interviews (Dartmouth this weekend and UAB in April).

There you have it. Thanks for reading...sorry for being long winded, but it was a busy weekend.