And in the end, it was only just a dream

I think the title pretty much sums up how this whole summer has felt. I was wrong in my last post, I'm not at any of the locations I said I might be. I'm here in the Starbucks of good ol' Webster, NY on my last Saturday at home before moving back to Pittsburgh.

The end of program was bittersweet as we all rushed to finish our reports (I was NOT the last to submit so I'll call that a win) and make the most of our last days. Even though the program was short, I think Srujan and I are proud of the work we did and will hopefully be presenting at BMES in Philly! We convinced a few friends from our lab to submit so hopefully we'll be having a reunion soon enough. I've already been looking up flights to Phoenix...

After finally returning from our quick stop in Europe, I have some final thoughts about this whole travel thing:

- It can involve as much planning or lack thereof as you want. Make 5 different spreadsheets laying out all the logistics, or sit down and just book things until it's done. Neither way is better than the other, but you're probably going to end up needing a bit of both. I learned to plan a lot less than I used to.

- "Study abroad changed my liiiiiiiife" is a cliché thing to say, but it kind of does. At the very least it changes you in little ways, and if you've never traveled before (like me!) you learn to look at the world in more contexts than you used to. I didn't realize how isolated the US can feel from the rest of the world, but now it's pretty obvious. Also, I now appreciate sub 90% humidity far more than I used to.

- Almost missing flights is definitely a thing and there is nothing that wakes you up more than sprinting to your gate through the Munich airport at 10:00am when your flight takes off in 15 minutes all because you didn't check in online. Do yourself a favor, and check in online. Every time.

- Traveling is EXPENSIVE and having this opportunity is an absolute privilege. I would never have been able to do this without the help of Pitt and my family and I am so thankful I was able to. I am dummy broke now.

- If you ever get the experience to travel and DO something other than just vacation, do it. It's an entirely different experience living somewhere and making it your temporary place with a daily routine and everything than just visiting. It makes things a bit more real.

- On that note, if you are traveling for fun, there's nothing wrong with spending your time wandering around, working in coffee shops, foregoing the typical "spots to hit" in favor of just seeing where the day takes you. Those were some of my favorite days in Europe.

- No matter how much you try to make it otherwise, travel is stressful! Nothing ever goes exactly the way it looks in social media posts. So if you can be out of the country with someone for almost 70 days and experience things like getting all of your bags soaked in a Galway downpour, not eating until 4pm because you almost missed your bus across Ireland, and figuring out the cheapest way to get all of your stuff home while sitting on a random sidewalk because on your last day in Singapore you realized the post office doesn't ship suitcases, all without hating each other, you've got a pretty stellar travel buddy. Shout out to to my day 1 Srujan for being the absolute best.

A few more people who made this summer amazing:

Taylor, thank you for being the best new friend I could've asked for. Thank god someone else was always awake and hungry at 2am. See you soon <3

Ryan, thank you for being my photo dad, my voice of calm, and my bus stop drummer. Love you longtime dude.

Stef, thank you for making me laugh more than anyone ever has. I'll probably be laughing at memories of you for the rest of my life. Catch ya in Philly.

Ben, thank you for showing me what it means to love yourself completely. And for introducing me to RuPaul.

Evan, thank you for humbling me each and every day whether I wanted it or not, and for sharing every food in Singapore with me. You haven't seen the last of me.

Rupsa, thank you for not being afraid to be the loudest people on public transit with me. I'll miss laughing with you over things only we think are funny.

Nikita, thank you for reminding me that Vines are the greatest thing in the world. I am so lucky that I get to spend another whole year with you back at Pitt.

And with that, I'll be signing off. If you want to see a bit of what I was up to, check out this video I made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhv-QQc9iAM

Cheers,

Kenzie