The Summer Before College

I had some stuff about my Portugal trip written a few weeks ago that I never got around to finishing. So I guess I'll try summarizing my entire summer in this one blog post.

Senior Grad Trip - Portugal

My friends and I just got back from our senior trip in Portugal a few weeks ago. I loved it. The food was really good, the mountains and beaches were really pretty, and people were very friendly. The only downside is that the last two Airbnb's smelled really bad (especially in the bathroom), and there were lots of drug dealers out on the streets at night time (although it was interesting to see people try selling cocaine to us).

Lisbon

We spent the first five days in Lisbon, where we explored the city, tried all sorts of new food, and looked at some castles. The Airbnb was really nice, though it was located more on the outside of the city, where all the business buildings were. We were really tired the first night, so we just walked to the nearest restaurant, which served burgers that looked and tasted like cat food. Not fun.

We spent our first real day trying out different foods in the city. The bifanas and the pastel de natas were really good, so we made sure to get more when we visited other places. We also tried margaritas for the first time!

We'd usually get back around 10-11 pm, just in time for some late-night poker. In the first few games, I profited about $110, though that number slowly dwindled down to somewhere around $60 by the end of the trip. I don't think the alcohol helped...

Oh and we also saw a soccer game, although it was just a friendly match and Ronaldo didn't play (he played literally two days after, what the heck man!). That was pretty fun, but everyone around us was smoking so I guess not that fun.

On the last night before we left Lisbon, we also hit the casino. We came in with about $25 each and lost it all in a matter of 20 seconds—three hands of blackjack. It took us longer to walk from the entrance to the table than to actually play the game. I guess that's why no one looked happy there (although we saw one woman cash out $10,000).

Sintra

This was probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen. We started by seeing the castle and a famous well. It was cool, but it wasn't anything spectacular in my opinion. What really stood out was the hike we did right after. Since it was starting to rain a little, all the other tourists left, meaning the mountain was all to ourselves. And on top of that, there was mist everywhere around us (it looked so cool).

I also bought a souvenir shirt here. Turns out, when I went to buy my parents a gift on the last night of the trip, I accidentally bought the exact same shirt without realizing. I don't know how that happened.

Lagos/Luz

Even though Lisbon and Sintra were really pretty, I think the highlight of the trip was Lagos. It's a small beach town with lots of really good food. My personal favorite was the restaurant where I got sushi as an appetizer and steak for my main course. The entire atmosphere of the place was kinda cool too, with menu items like "Vegan bitch" and other interesting names.

But the food wasn't the best part, it was the beach! We did a boat tour, went on Kayaks, and chilled by the ocean, sipping our Piña Coladas. We even started a Jetski rental an hour before our bus back to Lisbon.

Overall Thoughts

Even though I really wanted to go to Japan, I think this trip exceeded my expectations. We made some really awesome memories here and I think everyone would want to come back if we had the chance.

The Rest of My Summer

After getting home and settling in, I spent some time preparing for college. I met with Al a few times at the Mitchell Park Library to talk about UCSB and photonics stuff. The first meeting was mostly about his "Start UC" program that he wants to start with me, but I told him that I wanted to wait until I settled into college before taking on this big project. In our second meeting, he was super eager to teach me about photonics, a topic which I told him I was interested in (because of its applications in Artificial Intelligence). I learned about phonons, photons, conduction bands, indirect/direct gaps, P-N junction, and so much more in that one hour. To be honest, I don't understand everything, but it still is super interesting.

Elden Ring DLC: Shadow of the Erdtree

I've been waiting for months and I finally got the chance to play. I had so much fun, but I might've spent a little too much time stuck in my room. I beat the DLC in about 40 hours, which was over the course of 12-ish days. There's so much lore to uncover it's actually unbelievable. And the final boss was incredibly satisfying to beat.

Getting a "Job"

My mom wanted me to get a job this summer so that I could "learn the value of money" and all that fun stuff. So I signed up to be a DoorDasher, got in my car, and waited... and waited... and kept waiting for two hours and still got no orders. What a total waste of time! I tried three more days before giving up on it completely.

Instead, my parents were willing to hire me instead. I did some basic housework like gardening, installing a new sprinkler control panel, and other cleaning tasks. I made $15 an hour, so not the best, but also not horrible either.

My mom started talking to church friends about my search for work, and that led to more side job opportunities. I started by cleaning Mrs. Angela's shed and made $60 for 2.5 hours. I think it looks really clean!

Then, I started a little basketball clinic for June and Johann's kids. I think they really enjoyed it. We did basic dribbling drills, shooting, and some fun games like dribble knockout. Kevin and Evelyn joined for a few sessions two and had fun.

I made about $90 for 5 hours, but it was also nice talking to June and Johann about college/career/life stuff afterward. They recommended I take some stats classes and learn the technologies that engineers actually use in industry, rather than just the theory. I think I'm going to take that into account when I pick courses in two days. On the final day, the kids and the parents wrote me thank you notes, with June and Johann strongly suggesting that I join a Christian group in college.

Kevin and Evelyn

My little cousins are back! It was super fun hanging out with them this past week and a half. Kevin is getting alarmingly tall (99.7th percentile), but I still have some time before he surpasses me. The week went by really quickly, but we spent time playing late-night board games, Smash Bros, JCC basketball, and watching Brooklyn 99. We also went to the Hillsdale Mall to shop (Kevin bought a Harry Potter game), and we went again later that week to do an escape room. I think everyone had a really great time.

But today will be the last time we'll see them for a few months. They're moving out to Singapore for a year, but they should move back to Palo Alto after that. Evelyn will be going to Gunn! That's crazy!

Looking Forward

My UCSB orientation is tomorrow so I'll be exploring what they have to offer and picking my dorms and courses. I really hope I get good roommates since it'll be random. Hopefully a double as well.

I still don't really know what electives to take since all the interesting courses aren't offered every quarter and they have so many prerequisites.

Anyway, I guess this is my last real day of summer. By the time we get back home, I'm going straight to UCSB for summer school.