Current location: Baden, Switzerland

I have a December birthday and since I have the best husband ever, he showered me with amazing gifts (as usual) and planned a winter break trip to Europe for us. We've both had crazy semesters - he finished his masters and worked full-time at his firm, while I was in school. Now that he's a full-fledged engineer and I'm in my second year of med school it's crazy to think that this exact time in our lives is something we would fantasize about when we met just a few years ago. A trip to Europe was the obvious choice: my sister-in-law and her husband live in Switzerland and they're awesome // my husband and I have had many, many layovers in Europe but neither of us has ever actually traveled here. This trip was definitely a chance to see something completely new together.

We arrived in Switzerland a couple of days before Christmas, and I was absolutely stunned at how beautiful it is. I've been to my fair share of countries, but this is definitely the prettiest place I've ever seen. I wish I could take the landscape, infrastructure, and policy home with me. I'm also impressed with the emphasis on health and well-being. Coming from the US where obesity is rampant it's so refreshing to see a population of healthy, active people. In that vein, we went on a 6-mile hike and it was breathtaking - literally. Though we only got to explore areas around Zürich, the whole landscape was gorgeous.  I can't wait to bring our future children to see their future Swiss cousins :).

About a week into our stay, we took a day trip to Konstanz, Germany. It was a really charming place. And though we didn’t get to see Lake Constance before dark because we spent the better part of the afternoon searching for an authentic German restaurant, we ended up having the best spaetzle ever so it was okay.

Paris was an incredible, unique and memorable experience all on its own. We arrived the night of the 30th and spent the 31st sight-seeing before welcoming the New Year. The celebrations in downtown Paris were a jumble of chaos, joy, and more people than I had ever seen at once.

Before leaving back to Switzerland we visited Les Catacombes de Paris, which are underground ossuaries holding the remains of an estimated six million people. If you’re not familiar with the history please look it up, as I’m sure I cannot do it justice. The catacombs are gorgeous works of art wherein the macabre essence of death is juxtaposed against the romantic art formed solely of human bone.  Along the walkways, the walls of remains are delicately built in a deliberate, stable manner: two feet of humeri, a line of skulls, topped by a pile of femurs. While there, I thought a lot about being in the cadaver lab during my first year of med school. I remember working on "Agnes", my group's cadaver, for hours on end. I remember accidentally holding her hand while moving her arm once and experiencing the weirdest feeling I've honestly ever felt. The sensation of a hand hold isn't necessarily a uniquely human experience, but the emotions triggered therein certainly are. When cutting into inches of fat and shiny fascia it's easy to forget that the body you're picking apart was once a lover, a friend, a parent, a sibling. It's probably also protective to our own psyches to ignore those aspects of a past life. But as I walked through the resting place of those more than six million remains I tried my best to acknowledge their humanity, as well as my own mortality.

Travel has a funny way of making the world seem bigger and smaller at the same time. Smaller in that you can actually point to a place on the map and say you've been there - you've made memories there! But also bigger in the sense that there are an overwhelming number of things you have yet to discover, people to meet, languages to learn, places to see. It also makes you think of how privileged you are and how grateful you should be to see the world. Most importantly, it keeps you open-minded, accepting, and seeking new adventures. I’m truly grateful to have been able to travel during this winter break and even more thankful to have spent it with my husband. It really is something special to share experiences with your best friend. I’ve included some pictures below :).

fisibach, switzerland 

passerelle léopold-sédar-Senghor