Remember how excited I was as 100th Night approached? Well guess what-- today, March 31, 2011 is 50th Night. As Spring Break ended two weeks ago and our last APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) as cadets was administered last Monday and Tuesday, there are no milestones left really until Graduation Day.
Unless of course you have a capstone or thesis due. Then, I suppose one still has those to overcome.
I really should be writing my thesis as well, as I have to have a full rough draft in by the end of the week, but I figured that blogging will get the thesis juice flowing. It's been a while you know, but it's actually a good segue into my next topic: Spring Break.
So for Spring Break, I traveled to Sicily with the History Department. Lucky for me because a) it was a fully funded trip to Sicily and b) because my thesis has to do with paratroopers in Sicily during WWII. We got to travel all over the island, hitting up the cities of Siracusa, Catania, Troina, Aggrigento, and Gela, among others. Like all my traveling experiences (I've been to Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the Philippines, and now Sicily), I never fully appreciate the place while I'm there. While I was in Sicily, I thought the place was very backwards. The cities could be hardly classified as such, as they were very small and consisted mainly of homes. I don't think I saw one highrise while I was there. Moreover, there were old, run down stone buildings everywhere, which I thought weird, as I'm used to old buildings like that being demolished to make room for new buildings. Now as I reflect on the experience though, I feel that Sicily would be a nice place to retire. The people there live very simple lives, with many people being farmers or shepherds. The country side is also very beautiful, with rolling hills everywhere. Their road system is like spaghetti though, and its easy to get lost, but I suppose if I'm retired, I'll have little reason to leave home.
I wish I could show you the photos I took of Sicily, as the place reminded me of the landscape of Northern California (my home town area), but silly me forgot my camera on the airplane coming back from Sicily. I tried in vain to recover my camera (filed a claim, revisited the lost and found multiple times, etc) but I suppose that ship has sailed. Oh well-- gives me more reason to come back to Sicily right?
I can't believe that my last Spring Break as an undergraduate is in the rearview mirror now. I can't believe the next APFT I take will be as a second lieutneant. Time is flying. My cadet milestones are limited.
Guess I should work on that thesis now...
