More Than Just the Lago
During each session we had one free weekend to travel on our own. For the second free weekend I decided to travel to Zurich, Switzerland with my friend. The highlight of the weekend was Saturday. We left the hostel early and took the tram to the main train station. We bought our ticket and headed up to Rhine Falls, the largest plain waterfall in Europe. It was amazing. The amount of water rushing over the rocks and the splash at the...
Returning From Spain
It has been about two weeks since I came back from Spain. My last couple of days in Spain were spent exploring the capital, Madrid. While in Madrid, I toured the Royal Palace. My favorite part of the tour was seeing the Royal Armory. The Armory has a wide variety of weapons and armor used by the Royal Family throughout history, such as armor for horses, lances, shields, etc. While there, I also saw all of the extravagant rooms of the...
My Time in San Lorenzo de El Escorial
Landing in Madrid, the first thing I noticed was the immediate immersion into the Spanish language. Everything from the airport signs, to advertisements, to the people talking around me was disorienting. My initial feelings of “oh no what have I done” went away as soon as I found my group and we loaded on the bus to head to El Escorial. I went into this trip not knowing anyone on it, and before we even got off the first bus ride I had...
A Not so Difficult Decision
Since I left Germany after a two week vacation in high school, my goal has always been to go back, but I did not know how. The opportunity presented itself with the Two Steps Ahead program at UA. The expectations were lofty: become a fluent German speaker inside of two years, take some of my hardest electrical engineering courses at a top German university in German, then cap it all off with six months at Daimler. I always wanted to...
Greece Abroad
First Impressions My first impression of Greece was “Wow, this looks like home.” The airport in Santorini is up on a cliff and looks a lot like the Sonoran Desert at home in Arizona, except with an ocean view. It was so funny that I had to take a picture. It was at that moment that I realized that I’d turned my cell service off to not be cahrged international roaming, and not use up my small international plan...
The Beginning of a Journey
The first day of my journey was full of stress. Not only did I have to try to remember everything, but I then had to drive 4 hours in the pouring rain to the airport. My dad and I had a sad, yet short, parting as we unloaded my luggage in the rain. The stress was heightened when my flight was delayed 1 hour, leaving only an hour and a half for my layover. Once I arrived in Newark, I had an hour to convert currency, use the restroom,...