The distinctive buzz of my cell phone woke me up way too early for a Saturday. Then I remembered — my train was leaving for Baltimore in less than twenty minutes!

I rushed out of my apartment and found some of my friends waiting for me in the lobby. We hurried to Union Station and got there just as the train was preparing to leave — it wasn’t that bad, only one of us was left behind. The Marines would be ashamed of us.

The clinking of the rail tracks stopped before any one of us had enough time to rest. It is actually a really short trip to Penn Station in Baltimore, MD… Either way, we were finally there. We didn’t take much time planning that trip, we just knew the basic advice — “don’t miss the aquarium” — that was it for our knowledge of Baltimore's recreational activities. So, we headed to the harbor and grabbed some breakfast to make our way to the National Aquarium.

There it was — the beautiful view of Baltimore's Inner Harbor; all filled up with orange Orioles' shirts — as we found out later, they were playing against Boston's Red Sox in a game that would determine their fate in the playoffs for the season. We made our way through the crowd and got a glance of both baseball and football stadiums. Then, we headed to the famous aquarium everybody was talking so much about.

Let me tell you something — it is really worth the visit. From seahorses to sharks and jellyfishes, that aquarium is the biggest I've ever been into. It has all different kinds of rooms that show the aquatic life inside their own ecosystems. They even have a room that is conditioned to feel as if you really went inside a rainforest, with real trees and birds flying around, turtles and fishes swimming in artificial rivers. Even the temperature is so much higher in there!

To wrap up your visit you can go to the dolphin show in order to enjoy the characteristic jumps and charisma of those amazing animals. Now I know why everybody was so insistent about going there. It was awesome!

After eating some crab cakes and resting for a little while back in the hotel, we headed to Fells Point, a neighborhood in Baltimore with all sorts of restaurants and bars. We finally found a place called “The Horse You Came In On” — a pub on the last street before the docks — rumored to be one of Edgar Allan Poe's favorite drinking places. The music, decoration and crowd there really made us have a great time!

Besides all that, I also had some amazing academic experiences. Last Monday I attended an event where Alvaro Uribe — former President of Colombia — talked about his experience on working for the prosperity of his nation. He talked about plurality, security and strong institutions while he pictured his ideal country. That was a very inspiring talk.

Former President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.

We also had a conference regarding the legalization of marijuana in the United States, its potential effects and consequences. The authors of a book regarding that proposition, explained their motives and opinions to support that cause. The plurality of the panel made the talk very interesting — several economists, a Mexican lawyer, and Professor Thomas Schelling — Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences— shared their postures and answered some questions on that matter.

One thing that impressed me very much after the conference is that, at the end of it, I had the opportunity to talk with Professor Schelling about the economic consequences of organized crime. After sharing a little talk with him while we walked down the street, we took different roads. So, there he was, an old man awarded with a Nobel Prize walking down the street, by himself, among every other common citizen. I stayed there for a little while, staring at him. Nobody stopped him to say hi.

So, to make a long story short: My first train ride, the amazing view of Baltimore's harbor, a drink in the last place Edgar Allan Poe had a beer, a talk with former President of Colombia and walking in the street with a Nobel Price. All in the same week! Pretty impressive, uh?