“What are you ‘dying’ of this time, Lauren?”

Language is not the sole domain of humans.

“Paint this vase before you leave today,” my teacher directed as she placed foreign brushes and paints in my hands. I looked at her blankly.

I shouldn’t be here right now. My life could have never been.

Nothing could have prepared me for the first time I heard the jangle of John Lennon’s Rickenbacker guitar that opens the theme song of the Beatles’s film A Hard Day’s Night.

Like it does on most nights, the smell of toxic fumes drifts through my room.

Surrounded by thousands of stars, complete silence, and spectacular mountains, I stood atop New Hampshire’s Presidential Range awestruck by nature’s beauty. I realized that I must dedicate my life to understanding the causes of the universe’s beauty. In addition, the hike taught me several valuable lessons that will allow me to increase my understanding through scientific research.