Today was another relatively early morning with a hotel breakfast and then we were off to visit the Gogoa Mobility Robots. The Gogoa Mobility robots is a company located in a private hospital 20 minutes away from our hotel. They specialize in technology related to the rehabilitation of patients such as exoskeletons, brain stimulants, and reaction games. It was really fun seeing my roommate Connor walk with the exoskeleton and watching the intense match of reaction speed between Aditya and Johnathan.
After our visit to the Gogoa Mobility Robots we headed to the University of the Basque Country main campus to take a tour of some of the nursing/biomedical engineering labs. While the tour was very interesting, my favorite part of this excursion was hearing our tour guide’s story regarding an injury that forced her to stay in the Hospital Gorliz. A shortened version of the story is as follows: She was on a run in the mountains, but the path ended before the top, so she attempted to scale the rest of the mountain via climbing. As she was climbing, the rock she was using as a foothold fell, and she was hanging on by just her hands. She believed that the best course of action was to let go and mitigate the fall as best as she could. Unfortunately, she shattered her calcaneus (I think that’s what the bone was called) and was told by multiple doctors that there was nothing they could do. Fast forward a couple years later and she was running a marathon. This story was so inspiring and heart warming!
After this short tour, we headed back to our designated plus3 room for the best part of the day: Dr Professor’s presentation! This presentation was by FAR the best of the entire trip. I gained so much respect for Dr Professor that he chose to research a topic based on what he cared about instead of following the money. Not only that but the way his research impacts the daily lives of many was so cool to hear!
After the presentation we headed back on the bus and travelled to San Juan de Gazteluga. It was the most beautiful place I think I’ve ever been to. The only downside was the walk. The walk there was perfect, only a little bit draining. However, the walk back was the most exhausting experience of my life. The incline felt like it was 70 degrees, even worse than cardiac hill. Every single corner we turned I thought it was over, but it just kept on going forever. Luckily, after our trek we got treated to the beach and gelato! Best believe I was slumped on the bus ride back!