I’m currently on my way to the airport, tonight, I’ll be in New York City.
Even though I’m a sucker for routine, I never feel more alive than when I’m on the move.
There’s this part of me that has always dreamed of traveling the world. I’ve always said that after I graduated high school, I’d take a gap year and just travel. I wrote endlessly about how I’d find a job online and hop from cafe to cafe, meeting people, reading, writing and working.
The fact that this dream is coming true is almost a surprise to me and it still doesn’t feel real.
It was different from all my other goals because it wasn’t an intentional plan, I didn’t draw a line and try to steer the boat as straight as I could. It wasn’t a series of “to-dos” and preparations. But it’s as if every decision I’ve made has unconsciously led me to this.
Holy cow, I’m so excited.
I’ve only been to NY once and back then I was a completely different person, this was before the Emerging Leaders, before the altMBA… hell! It was before Covid.
I remember walking around the chaotic and beautiful city and wondering if I was truly there. I was reading the book “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr at the time and I remember the prose being so detailed and involved that I felt like I was in two places at once.
At times, I was in a land of huge skyscrapers and rushing pedestrians. They walked past without even a slight recognition, AirPods in their ears, a coffee in one hand and their phone in the other. Just like in a book, I made no difference, had no impact.
But sometimes, I was nearly on the other side of the world, at a time when there were no AirPods and coffee was a luxury few could still afford. The book, set during WWII, took me on a journey trough Germany and France. The toggle between the two main characters – a german boy on one side and a bling French girl on the other – drew a beautiful relationship between opposite perspectives on the same event, tied together by the shared feeling of hope.
This time around, however, I won’t be merely an spectator in The City That Never Sleeps. In the time since, I’ve made friends all around the world and I’ll be meeting two of them in just a few days.
After the 6 days in NY, I’ll leave my mom and the country I consider my home behind and I’ll embark on my most exiting journey so far.
I’m going to Switzerland, baby!
I’ll spend two months in Zürich, volunteering at a partner lab of the University Children’s Hospital. I’ll shadow and learn from scientists who are looking for genetic treatments for DIPG, a rare, and incurable brain cancer.
I’m still not sure what exactly it is that I’ll do there, since I can’t really perform any experiments, but I know that I’ll always find a way to help and learn.
And, where will I be when I’m not in the lab? I’ll be “hopping from cafe to cafe, meeting people, reading, writing and working”!
The main reason I started this blog was to record my travels… may the recording begin!