rome stayed with me long after i boarded the flight back to india. the city felt alive in a way i cannot explain. streets glowing past midnight, strangers talking like old friends, moments that felt slow and cinematic at the same time.

the fellowship at pi school was unreal. final pitch day felt like standing on a stage with adrenaline in my veins. marco showed us what real storytelling looked like, maytee sharpened every word i spoke, cristiano shared advice that hit deeper than i expected, and marcello guided us with calm confidence through the entire journey.

pi campus was its own world. morning coffee under the trees, long discussions in the sunlight, a quiet buzz of ideas everywhere. i met people who changed the way i think, learned more than i expected, and ate enough pasta to last a lifetime. italy was special. i carried a piece of it back home with me.

flying back to india from ucsc felt heavy in a good way. the kind of heaviness you get when you are carrying experiences that will stay with you for years.

i left behind late night coding sessions, sunset views from the west coast, and people who made even the most random ideas feel possible. i came back with notebooks full of thoughts, a camera roll filled with moments i did not want to forget, and a little more confidence in who i am becoming.

home felt familiar again but i could sense that something in me had shifted. travel does that. it pulls you apart and puts you back together just enough that you do not return as the same person who left.

moving from csu to ucsc felt like jumping from one universe to another. colorado was calm and grounded. santa cruz was electric the moment i arrived.

the city had a strange rhythm to it. mornings smelled like ocean breeze and evenings felt like you were walking through a college town built inside a forest. ucsc had people who asked big questions without hesitation. one coffee conversation could turn into three hours of ideas, debates, and experiments we wanted to try.

those weeks shifted something in me. it was the first time i felt like i was surrounded by people who were not afraid to think out loud, dream a little too big, and chase ideas just because they were fun.

left india with a backpack full of expectations and landed in the us feeling like i had stepped into a different timeline. everything was fast, loud, alive, and strangely comforting at the same time.

colorado welcomed me with quiet mornings, long walks across campus, and evenings filled with conversations that drifted from code to life without warning. csu had this calm academic energy that made you want to think deeper and work harder without anyone telling you to.

those first weeks were a blend of culture shock, curiosity, and discovering that the world is much bigger than i thought. looking back, it feels like the beginning of a long story i did not know i was already living.