On Saturday the 30th, a couple of people went to spend the day at Adventure Land (an amusement park). I didn’t go though. Instead, Farhan, Meriem, Thomas, Dante, Mattan, Kat, and I went ice skating. I had never been ice skating before, so I was really excited. We ended up skating for 2 hours because that was how long the public skate was open. Anyways, I learned pretty quick. When I first got out on the ice, I used the wall to steady myself and get my bearings, but after that I only occasionally used the wall. My mindset was pretty much just go for it. I had no fear of falling because I really wanted to learn. Because I wasn’t afraid to fall, I learned very quickly to the point where before the first hour was over I could do a couple laps around the rink without falling. Unfortunately, I would later regret that lack of fear because I fell hard… A LOT… and my knees greatly suffered the consequences… Despite the pain my knees were in and my bruises I’m currently sporting like battle scars, I had a lot of fun and would definitely love to go ice skating again. I also got pulled into a game of tag with a kid… I didn’t even know I was playing, but guess he thought I was a good enough skater to play and keep up with him 😂. Also, thank you Dante for coating me in ice not 10 minutes after I started skating…
Saturday was also Eli’s birthday, so that night when everyone was on their way back from dinner after Adventure Land, we went into the guys apartment, hid, and shouted surprise when Eli, Thomas, and Emma walked in the door. We had some cake and talked for a little bit before I retired for the night because it was a little after 11:00 and I was exhausted since I usually get up around 5 or 6 every morning. We had a good time and I hope Eli had an amazing birthday!
On Sunday, I spent most of the day in the library working on my game of chess since I now have a completed board that works with the LEDs. I was originally working on rewriting the code and simplifying it, but ran into a problem and took a break to just add comments into my code. Below are pictures of me testing the code to make sure the correct tiles on the board are light up by the LEDs.
Not much happened on Monday besides us finishing our poster for the symposium on Thursday, but last night a couple of us watched Spirited Away. It was an interesting movie and was not what I expected at all, but it was still good. Anyways, now it is basically just wrapping up some loose ends and preparing for the symposium tomorrow. I’ll probably write one more blog post after this to talk about the symposium and say goodbye. It’s hard to believe my time here in Iowa is almost over.