This is it. I'm sitting in the airport in Lajes in Terceira, waiting to board my flight to Ponta Delgada in an hour. From there its on to Boston, and then to RDU tomorrow morning.
This trip has been beyond amazing. From a professional standpoint, I've seen things at the hospital that have been enormously affirming; I know now for sure that medicine is what I want to do with my life. I can't thank everyone at the hospital enough, Dr. Claudio especially, for everything that they've done for us these past six weeks.
This trip has also been amazing from a culturally. Life in the Azores is completely different from what I'm used to in the States; the living here is easy; the people are very proud of their heritage, and fiercely protective of their traditions. They are some of the nicest people I've ever met; the openness of the Festas and the Sanjonina's festival are testament to that. The raw, breathtaking scenery of the rocky beaches, volcanoes, and rolling hills juxtaposed with the energy of the bullfights and Touradas make this an experience I won't soon forget.
Finally, there are all the people I met on this trip. All of us (Vanessa, Hamrick, Fei Fei, Aisha, Singer, Erin, Nicole, Chris, and Rozo) have become very close over these past six weeks; people I am sure I would not have met otherwise. I'm glad I got to meet them; we've had some awesome memories that have made an awesome trip 1000 times better. Love y'all.
There is a restaurant near our Residencia called 1516, where we ate at least 5 or 6 times. The food there was amazing, but we also kept going back because of our waiter. Pedro is easily the most energetic person I've ever met, and a perfect example of the type of people here. Our first time there, he gave us all nicknames to remember us better (maybe he knew we would all be coming back). I was "The General," because I asked something about the way the Chef prepared a dish. Apparently in Portuguese, Chef means "chief," as in the military rank. Ever since then, he's called me that. Last night we decided to make our last meal at 1516. When Pedro found out we were leaving the next day, he instantly invited us over to his house later that night. He wouldn't get off of work until about 2 am, so we decided to head over there after dinner. We walked around our section of the city talking for a little bit, visiting all the places that have become so familiar to us over the past six weeks. I was feeling a little nostalgic, which is funny given the fact that I didn't even know that the Azores existed before I got here. In six (entirely too short) weeks, this place has clicked with me.
Without a doubt, I'm excited to go back home and seeing my family. In a week, I'll be in India for my cousin's wedding. But I'm also sad to leave this place. I really hope to come back here at some point in the future, whenever that may be. Hopefully I'll have a similar experience next time, though it'll be hard to top this trip.
I love my team.
-Ranjan Banerjee
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