Some months ago, one of the last times I saw him that came to visit our home town, I specifically asked him if he could get me a couple of these coins. I was in Bern, Switzerland some years ago. I had the opportunity to stay there for six months to study the first year of high school. At the end of my stay, I had brought back home with me a 5CHF that I hadn’t spent. I actually didn’t bring much cash back home with me, but that coined meant a lot. It is a nice looking coin, and for some reason it became of great personal significance to me.

One day, I realised that I didn’t have my lucky coin with me anymore. I kept looking for it for some weeks, until I understood I had lost it. That’s why when I saw my pal last time, I asked him if he could help me get another one to replace the one I had lost. Turns out, he did not only bring me one of those coins. In fact, he brought two of them, and joked with me about not losing them this time.

One of my coins is from 1968 and the other one is from 2009. I decided that I’m keeping the oldest one as a token of friendship, and the other one I’m saving for the day I get to travel back to Switzerland and buy myself something with it. I keep them with me and almost always carry them wherever I go, for they mean a great deal for me. They remind me of very cool moments with one of my best friends, and  also remind me of very good times I had studying abroad.

Out apartment is a two-bedroom, nice and modern flat with a lot of space for a common area. It is good-looking, and it has been recently remodelled, so everything looks shiny and new. However, if there’s a space I particularly enjoy spending time at in our apartment, that would be the kitchen.

I like to cook. I don’t do it often, but I really enjoy cooking for me and my dad. I like when I get the flavours right, and also enjoy the process of preparing a good, elaborated meal. It can take me long to get a dish done, since I also try to prepare a fair amount of food that will last some days and be enough for the both of us, but it is usually worth the while.

The kitchen of our apartment is just so pretty! It has nice drawers with crystal doors where we store wine cups, cups and some of the plates. The fridge is nice, however strange that may sound. We have a lot of space for our plates and cooking stuff, which I actually suspect it has to do more with the fact that is only two of us living there. But, in general, it is just such a nice looking space, the kitchen. Also, as they remodelled, they added a couple of lamps apart from “the big light” which are hidden on top and under the overhead drawers and run all along the kitchen bar, over the stove and over the sink, all around the centrer space where one stands when cooking. They shine such a nice colour, and give such a relaxing ambience, that I often leave my room to work at the kitchen’s bar and turn on the nice lamps because I feel so comfortable there.

Processing past experiences is what determines how one grows and develops as a person. I do believe that past experiences are meant to be reflected on; to get further learning from the way one situation or another may have resulted for us and those who were involved.

We often hear from our parents, that it is important to learn from our past. We also often listen to people say that we should learn from other people’s mistakes, not just wait for them to happen to us. I believe that is precisely what determines how our future will come out.

When we get into trouble, and a situation gets out of our hands, I think it is important to reflect on how and why we got into such complicated situation in the first place. It is usually an intricate succession of events what led us into trouble, yet if we take a moment to reconsider all that was involved in said complicated situations, I believe we usually can point towards those mistaken turns that eventually took us there.

So, in general, I would say it is not that the future of us all can be accurately predicted based on our past. The past as a concept is such a complex and entangled succession of events, that trying to draw conclusions about someone’s future from it  may very well turn out neigh impossible. However, it is how someone handles the past, and what someone learns from past experiences he or she has encountered, what may definitely dictate what future crossroads may result for someone in their lives.

It is no secret that previous generations didn’t consider a couple aspects of the way they used to do things. It is the definition of sustainability: to use resources in a way that remains beneficial to the next generations. But not only are we talking about sustainability; there’s a handful of situations where previous generations have been incautious on how things were driven.

In many ways, the world is on the verge of getting into serious trouble: finance and economics, politics, climate change, and overpopulation are just some examples of inherited problems from an uncontrolled growth and unrevised human activity. On top of that, it is no secret that the millennial generation is running into many complications derived from the fact that they were treated as a privileged generation and are therefore struggling to adapt to a world where they are expected to perform at certain standards and are granted no favours just as they may have been told during their youth.

Our generation is being taught and is developing in a reality where we are being made aware of the problems that society faces as a whole. It is no secret to us anymore that the situation around the world is complicated, and I believe therefore there has been a change of mentality indeed amongst our contemporaries. I believe, in general, our generation sees the world from its trouble, and I believe we have shaped our education, our career paths and our way of thinking in general according to the needs we identify in the world and how we can contribute to solve or these as fully functioning members of our society.

I do believe that our generation is going to change the world. I believe that we are a generation that has had access to a large amount of information. But also, I believe that we have not been granted the advantage of being praised as a privileged generation to be able to witness all the advancements that have made that kind of information available. We just were assumed to understand that the world is already that way, and expectations were set according to that reality already. I believe that has given us an advantage in mentality as a generation, and I am convinced that our vision of the world and of our circumstances will make a difference when we begin acting on the activities that matter.

Houston was great. I particularly am a great fan of everything about space exploration. I study aerospace engineering, so visiting a NASA complex was a big deal for me from the beginning. We didn’t just visit any NASA complex, but we visited the Johnson Space Center. Johnson Space Center is historic for its role in the Apollo program. For me, a space enthusiast, visiting it was like a dream come true. I also had the opportunity to witness in real life a Saturn V rocket, one of only three remaining in display. I can’t begin to describe how inspiring and important for me that was. To look at the rocket that took the man to the moon once in real life, and to actually witness the size and might of such a machine, was nothing less than inspiring for me.

I must say, it has been difficult to stay on track with all of the responsibilities that I have had ever since we got to Austin. Since I am technically not in summer break from school, I still have to stay tuned to what goes on in class back in Mexico. They are still studying theory in some of the courses. In fact, this very week start the final exams for this term. Projects are due between this week and the next. Reports are to be delivered, exams coming on, final assignments and evidence of work is being requested by my different teachers, and it has been really difficult to balance that much work with what we are doing here in GSI.

So, my weekend was all about trying to get ahead of the workload I accumulated during last week. If not to get ahead, at least to get all overdue tasks done to be able to handle this week much more efficiently. It is also true, that I have struggled to remain tuned to what happens back in college because days are long here in GSI. Although, we might not have many subjects or homework, it is true that we begin classes early in the morning and finish the school day relatively late in the afternoon. It is not like we have a ton of time after our last class, and I feel like I may be running a little bit short.

But having talked enough about overdue responsibilities, I did have the opportunity to do something fun during the weekend. On Saturday evening, I took the time to go down bowling to Texas Union Underground. We had such a good time, since we had been looking forward to it ever since we got to UT. In the end, I did manage to have a little fun despite having to finish up a ton of work during the weekend. And truth is, it all paid up to be not as bad as it may sound.

There’s so much curiosity I have about certain events in history, that if I had a time machine, I believe I would definitely go back and find out about the details on my own. Facts or details about my country’s history, world history, famous or influential characters, their lives, their actions. It really intrigues me to get to know every last detail of it.

On top of that, with all the conspiracies that can surround certain historical events, and with all the doubts remaining things that happen, I can just imagine having the opportunity to bring light to all those inquiries people (and I) have about how things actually happened.

Another thing I would definitely like to do if I had a time machine, is to go back and get to know certain notorious people. For example, having the opportunity to talk to historic characters, artists, famous world leaders. I think it is an exciting possibility to get to have a chat with certain characters and understand their underlying motives for their actions, their beliefs, what they defended or what they were against. I’d love to have the opportunity to speak to people like Da Vinci, Roosevelt, Queen Victoria, Napoleon. And, if not to have the opportunity to sit down and talk to them, what about the chance to go back and see them carry out their actions in the flesh? Witness a battle, a speech, a plot being set in motion. I believe they are all exciting possibilities and fantasies I would be excited to fulfil if I had a time machine.

So there were we, two of my very best friends and I, almost out of gas, driving a car that wasn’t even ours somewhere in the middle of nowhere. We had left the highway behind a while ago; we were driving on roads of dirt, no kind of population to be seen around us for miles on end.

It kept getting dark as we were advancing through this abandoned road. I knew we never should have had ventured into this madness. How is it that, less than two hours ago, we were back at Sebastian’s house, listening to the boys jam on a very improvised, yet extremely fun last minute meetup? I can barely remember the guy’s face who we took the car keys from. Paulo said it would be a short ride, a couple minutes outside of town; a short deviation less than a couple miles into the highway and some 500 meters of dirt roads, and we should have arrived to this abandoned saloon where they kept old instruments and some music gear we would take and use at our jamming sessions.

Why did I say yes to this in this place? That’s how one ends lost, with no cell phone signal, two other guys that are of no use and somewhere far away from home. Talk about curiosity killing the cat.

Back to the present. I’m driving with Paulo and Nicholas down the old, scary (and almost pitch-black) dirt road, when, out of the blue, we spot some faint dots of light moving in the distance. We cheer; at last, some civilization. But, have you ever had the feeling that things just got better so suddenly, in such a perfect time, that it just might be too good to be true? If you do, you understand the feeling of that car’s driver at that exact moment. I began to realise we hadn’t been so lucky after all as we kept getting close to the faint flashing lights.

Darkness outside. The gasoline light on the dashboard begins to flash. Did anyone bring along a gallon? Of course not, why would they? But hey, we are almost by the lights we saw a couple minutes ago. They don’t look as promising anymore, though. What are the lights, then? Are they the entrance to a house in the middle of the road, maybe? Is it a garage? Is there anybody out there that may help us not end up stranded, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night?

No. There is no one around. Is that a traffic sign, one of the large ones they put up when they are repairing a road? It is. What does it say, the boys ask me? “Any clue where on God’s green Earth we may be?”.

I turn the engine off. It’s settled, we are spending the night here.

“Apparently, guys” – I quietly pronounce our amusing evening’s disastrous outcome – “We have hit the point of no return”.