Spring Break, Part I

Before I can make it to spring break, I had to make it through a week of school first. This week of school wasn't too bad, I used Solidworks for the first time, and it actually didn't turn out too bad. We started learning about renal physiology, and it's quite complicated. We have started creating our solutions for our project with Enmodes, which has been challenging. We're coming up with a device to improve the hemocompatability of the ECMO circuit, by reducing/catching clots.

After the week was done, spring break began! I hopped on a flight to London and took the Tube into town. I finally got to see my parents! It was really nice to get to see them again. The first night that I was there we saw Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and we saw a bunch of protests going on on the steps of the Parliament. That evening we went to see Wicked. I really liked all of the effects, sets, and costumes they had. It was very impressive. 

The next day we explored the City of London. We saw the Tower of London, where we got to see the crown jewels of England, the Tower Bridge, the HMS Belfast, which is a WWII cruiser that is now a museum on the Thames, and we went up the Shard, the tallest building in London, to the 72nd floor. It was really wild looking down on buildings that from the ground were skyscrapers, but from up there are really small. That night we got a chance to go to a nice Indian restaurant, which was very tasty. I got to sample a lot of different foods, including bebinca, which is a Goan carnival pudding. Our last full day in London, we went to the British Museum. We saw the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, and tons of other cool pieces of history. That museum is massive, and I could've spent multiple days there. That night, we spent our last evening in London at another play: the Book of Mormon! That play is absolutely amazing. It's by far the funniest play I've ever seen, and although it was a bit offensive, we were all laughing the entire time. Relaxing in England with my parents was really nice, but we still had another week together over spring break!