I have decided that for the remainder of the program, I will structure my blog posts to be released every Monday and Thursday. This way, I can make the Monday blog about the events from Friday and the weekend, focusing more on fun activities, while the Thursday blog will be centered around work and updates on our projects. Although they won’t be strictly categorized, that’s the general idea I want to stick with.
To start off the fun blog, the after-work yoga session wasn’t terrible. As a track athlete, I am reasonably flexible since we do a lot of dynamic exercises to warm up our muscles before our speed workouts. However, one thing that isn’t typically part of our training is balancing. Balancing on one foot definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it seemed that everyone managed to survive the yoga session, so I consider it a success. Afterward, I spent two hours rock climbing and had the opportunity to meet some cool guys who were also working in Ames over the summer. They gave me plenty of restaurant recommendations, which was fantastic because I love trying new places.
Friday was a relatively easy and relaxed day. We had a project meeting and created a Miro board, which is essentially a digital sticky note board, to organize our thoughts about the Mission Admission game we played and how we could incorporate its elements into our own game. Later, we wrapped up the C++ workshop and then played a 2-bit Slither.IO game hosted on a Raspberry Pi which we connected online through port 3000.
After work, I gathered all the guy interns, and we headed downtown to Great Plains Sauce & Dough Co. Despite knowing that Ames can be dead during the summer, I was still surprised to find downtown relatively quiet on a Friday night. We managed to squeeze into a booth and enjoyed our giant pizzas that we had ordered. Afterwards, we drove back to campus and decided to take a detour through Greek Street, which is more like a Greek neighborhood. Everyone was amazed by the size and design of the fraternity and sorority houses. This experience was definitely the highlight of the program for me so far, as I enjoy exploring and sharing my home state with the other interns.
On Saturday, we hit the farmers market, which turned out to be just as busy as I had anticipated. To be a good tour guide, I recommended parking at the Cubs stadium since it had lots parking and was located near the farmers market. Amy and I both drove separately, so we managed to arrive at the planned meeting spot while the others got a bit turned around and ended up parking in a garage across the river. After a short game of “Where are you,” we eventually reunited with the rest of the group and made our way to the farmers market.
The weather was perfect for the market, and we took the opportunity to explore the entire area before deciding on what to eat. I suggested trying pupusa, a dish from Honduras that consists of a griddle cake filled with pork and cheese.
On Sunday, I decided to go for a run at the ISU XC course, but I must admit, I found it a bit underwhelming. Having experienced national-tier courses at places like FSU and Wisconsin with their scenic landscapes and abundant tree coverage, I had higher expectations. However, the ISU XC course turned out to be more of an open field. While it provided a pleasant running environment, I don’t think they’ll be hosting the D1 XC national meet anytime soon.
Sounds great. If you want some Mexican food, you might try Celaya over across from Chick-fil-a. Their quesabirrias are impressive.