If I talked
about every moment and every amazing memory from spring break, I’d be writing
this blog post exclusively until the moment I arrived back in the US. So
instead, I will give a summary and some of the highlight moments. I will start
by saying that this spring break was the most amazing time of my life. I got to
travel and be fully responsible for myself and do exactly what I wanted to each
day. I even got to go to whatever country I wanted to. I think that experience
alone helped shape me because it helped me feel more independent and capable. I
also had plenty of time to think about my future while on spring break, and I
came up with a couple necessities and goals.
1)
I need to travel as part of my life. I have
begun realizing how much of the world I haven’t seen even in places that I have
been and I want to see so much more and have so many more experiences. I want
to see new places and bring people I love there.
2)
Before the end of undergrad, I want to figure
out if I want to do industry or research for my biomedical career. If I do
industry, I want to join a consulting or broader company where I am not specialized
to a type of engineering so I can evaluate my options while working many
different areas (and preferably traveling). That way I can see what I want to
do with valuable experience and gauge whether or not that specific field
requires a masters or not and go from there. Otherwise, if I determine I want
to do research as a career field, I want to start graduate school directly
after undergraduate school and get my PhD (preferably not in Texas so I can
explore and experience a new place).
3)
I want to spend my life adventuring even in tiny
ways and doing new things. Mini adventures could even be finding out who lives
down the street. Thoreau always discussed how there is more to discover is a
10-mile radius from you than you will ever find. I want to know my radius well
and have so many fun days finding it.
4)
Books and experiences are not meant to be
memorized; they are to plant seeds for later. Even all of these experiences
aren’t meant to be remembered exactly and it’s ok if I don’t see everything in
a place I visit because I am just getting the seeds of ideas and the seeds of a
life that I will live.
Now I can start telling about my spring break experiences.
I travelled
to my first destination was Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, with Austen
Fricks and Vijay Sinha. We got to see were the beach, the Picasso Museum, the
Segrada Familia, the arc and the central park, Park Guell, some incredible
fountains, and an awe-inspiring art museum. I also had an amazing seafood
Paella dinner and some sangria. I thought I would be a bigger fan of sangria
but I think it was just too sweet for even me, the person who puts two heaping
spoonfuls of sugar in a small coffee cup. However, the most sight to me was the
Segrada Familia, it is a modern cathedral still under construction. They are
building it to the plans of Antoni Gaudi, a famous Barcelonan architect. He
took over the plans of his mentor, who had planned a gothic cathedral for the
location. However, when the crypt was famous, Gaudi had become famous for some other
projects he had designed around the city of Barcelona and therefore he designed
a new modern cathedral on top. Many of the design features mimic nature, as
Gaudi’s style tended too and the church gives the feeling of a lit up forest.
His plans are not down to every detail and many of it is left up to the
interpretation of current artists such as the design of the stained glass, the
style of the entrances, and many other factors. This has helped keep the
building modern and changing with the times. It is a beautiful building and by
far my favorite church I have seen in Europe because its so different. It will
be completed in 2026, and I plan to go back and see the completed state.
Next stop on the best spring break
trip ever was Rome. We arrived Tuesday evening and stayed in a wonderful
Airbnb. By this point, Austen and I had become good travel buddies because we
both had a sense for different things and we were acting more like siblings
than anything else, but we got mistaken for something else a couple times. For
example, while we were in Rome, some people stopped me and asked for a picture,
and then when I gave their phone back, they asked if I wanted a picture and
pointed towards Austen. That happened a couple times, but it got even funnier
when it happened and the people asking pointed to a complete stranger, implying
that I was dating him. However, the sights of Rome were incredible! My
favorites were the coliseum, the forum, and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
The forum was outdoors so we were able to explore around in an ancient Roman
marketplace. It was an incredible outdoor museum and was like a dream to
adventure in. Also, while entering the forum, I meet two deaf people
communicating in sign language so I attempted to communicate back. However, I
only speak American Sign Language but they knew sign language from another
country so we were not able to communicate much. I could tell they did
appreciate my efforts though and they were very friendly. One of my life
hobbies as I get older will definitely be to learn more sign language. Overall,
Rome struck me as an impressive city with more things to see than time. I hope
I can study Roman history and understand the culture and innovations of the
Roman people and return someday to Rome and show it to someone that I love. Also,
it is worth saying that I had some of the most delicious gelato at a place
called the Frigidarium and the most
delicious pasta carbonara at Abruzzi. My trip to Rome was a little bit
stressful due to the people that continuously approached me about tours and the
tightly packed schedule that we adhered to in an attempt to see all the major monuments.
However, Cinque Terra was very different.
My trip to Cinque Terra was much
more relaxing because the five cities are very small and less in your face
touristy. Also, they are incredibly beautiful. Our main objective in Cinque
Terra was to hike between the cities on a trail that leads up into the hills
and has wonderful views of the ocean and the cities. We stayed in Levanto, just
outside the main five. On Saturday, we
hiked through the first three cities, but the trail was closed to the last two
so we took the train to see them in the rain. It was wonderful because on top
of the expansive view of the water which at times felt like you were walking on
a trail that only a couple feet from your path had a shear drop straight to the
water a ways down, there was also an amazing view every time you came into a
city. This was my favorite part of the trip just because of the shear beauty of
the landscape and how relaxing I found it. On Sunday, we travelled to Bergamo
to fly out of there. Ironically we got Americano pizza in Bergamo. It had
hotdogs and French fries on top.
Luckily, I did not have any travel
mishaps like I usually do while in the processes of arriving at cities.
However, we had a major mishap in Barcelona when Vijay got his first bloody
nose ever, which lasted 4+ hours. After three hours, Austen and I took him to
the hospital with a tampon up his nostril. While waiting for the doctors, the
bleeding stopped due to the pressure of the tampon. Therefore, the doctor took
the tampon out, put in salinized sterile cotton to keep it clean and keep the
pressure until the morning. This worked for a while, until the next evening
when it began bleeding again. We tried all the normal tricks but after another
hour or two of bleeding, we all headed back to the hospital where they tried
for hours but couldn’t stop the bleeding. That night, with cotton in his nose,
and blood still rushing into the nasal passage, Vijay didn’t sleep and threw up
twice due to swallowing so much blood. So, on Tuesday, when we were all set to
head to Rome, Vijay flew back to Bonn. There, after multiple days of hospital
visit and many attempts in Cologne and Bonn, they finally fixed the bleeding
and solved all the problems. Despite this one misfortune, the trip was amazing
and I couldn’t have asked for (now probably will ever have) a better spring
break.
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