Home Sweet Home, Briefly

[Mar 6 - 16]

Who knew that after only six months of travels we'd be back on home soil? Did something go wrong?

It turns out that my efforts to apply to grad school in India actually amounted to something more than a few weeks of wasted vacation -- I actually got in! In fact, the bioengineering Ph.D. programs at the University of Washington and the University of California San Diego wanted to pay for the privelige of recruiting me in person. As such, we canceled our Bangkok to London tickets, and stopped over in Seattle and San Diego for ten days prior to heading to Europe.



What a great chance to catch up with folks. Mom and Pop Stevens picked us up at the airport to see us for just part of a day; Daniel flew up from his busy Ph.D. work in Santa Barbara; Mark put up with our noisy presence in his apartment while studying for finals; Chris Haugen put us up in style while feeding me economic wisdom; and August made us this fine sign, demonstrating his design prowess. No wonder Pratt wants him. I also got to catch up with a few other friends from work and ultimate, although there wasn't nearly enough time to do as much chatting as I would have liked (so don't be offended if we didn't call).

So much to do. Our first day back, Laurie and Dave had us over for dinner, and despite coming straight off a plane, we held up pretty well. Thanks, Laurie! I also had a chance to have lunch with some of the work crowd, catching up on all the latest hi-tech development back in the labs. Good luck, Amnis, with the new challenges ahead, and thanks to Rich for the fine lunch.

The next day, we were busy running errands, including some returns at REI. Although most of our gear has held up well (and almost all of it is from REI), some of our gear wasn't as tough as the conditions we put them through, including my "Go Lite" daypack, which was held together with dental floss for most of the trip. For Europe, we opted for shoulder bags rather than day packs, as we're quite through carrying something that says, "Hey! We're not from around here!" (Not that anyone would mistake us for Indians or Thais.)



While I checked out the bioengineering program at the University of Washington, Marita went off to Forest Grove to see her parents for a few days. For the six months before then, we hadn't spent more than six hours apart, so a couple days felt a bit strange. Somehow, I pulled through! During the days, I had a great time visiting the folks at UW, eventually leaving with a great impression of the program. At night, I read some great books on economics, and broke even playing a bit of poker with the guys.

Marita and I met up in San Diego, where there was a full schedule of events at the UCSD bioengineering building. Lovely people, strong program, and a fascinating array of research projects. The highlights were the graduate research symposium (which held my interest much better than I expected) and the party at the end of the weekend, where Marita and I ended up dancing on the (covered) pool table. Although we enjoyed ourselves, it was a bit odd for us to be at a college party again. With so many of the students coming straight from undergrad programs, lacking any exposure to industry jobs, I felt like an old man. One thing's for sure: it'll be a big readjustment returning to school.

On the last day in town, Marita and I had the day free, and a car to boot. We spent most of our time driving around and checking out the local scenery. Balboa Park and Torrey Pines Road were lovely, even though the weather wasn't as nice as in Seattle.



The strange thing about San Diego is that it feels like the place has no history. Admittedly, we were in town for only a few days, and have just come from places with buildings that are thousands of years old, but it still came as a bit of a surprise. Also, there wasn't much of a downtown area -- most places require a car to reach, and they're spread out over a huge area. Still, it's a nice town, and I can see why my parents moved there years ago.

When we returned to Seattle, we had only a little time to catch up with my brothers and pack up for Europe. After a dinner of unusually high standard for a freshman cooking during finals week, we said our goodbyes and hit the road.

[As a side note, my worst finals-week meal consisted of my infamous "bread burrito": two heels of bread torn up and microwaved with cheese in a tortilla at 3AM.]