This weekend was our first big break since we have been here. The interns and I took full advantage of that fact. Because it has been four days, I will have a bullet point for each day.

• Thursday – This was after we saw the fireworks at Jack Trice stadium the previous night. We all decided to watch Inside Out 2 during the day and then get dinner. The movie was decent but not as good as I remember the first one being. I assume it is because I have grown a lot since then and have less appreciation for kid movies. The end was much better than how it started but I still think it was a let down from the first. Dinner afterwards was good. We went to a Japanese restaurant and I ordered some phenomenal sushi. On the fourth, we had a nice hangout at night with the interns.
• Friday – I don’t remember doing much on Friday. I woke up late and did some work but it was dark before I knew it. Some of us hung out for a bit at night but it was very lowkey. It felt like an actual break day.
• Saturday – Rodney, Angy, Ruby, Lydia, and I went to Des Moines. Angy had to go to the bank in Ankeny so we decided to make a small trip out of it. We ended up catching the end of the farmers market and seeing the capitol. After that we were all kind of wiped so we did not do much that night.
• Sunday – I have been watching a lot of Reacher on Amazon. It has been an amazing show. I woke up and watched a couple episodes trying to cherish the last day or break. The curiosity group then started working on the outline of our lit review. We then went to Aron’s house for dinner. It was nice to finally meet our mentor’s family. His wife made some amazing food and bread and his kids were very energetic. Also his house was extremely nice. I think he might have had the nicest shower I have ever seen in his basement bathroom.
• This morning, we were tasked with brainstorming our posters for our projects. We are supposed to ask a question to each of the other groups so here are my questions:
  • Stem XR – How will you ensure your game is immersive and fun for all types of students who will be playing it? I am sure they all have different interests and some might not be interested in learning a subject through a time travel game.
  • CommHeat – Would you use this app if you were in a location with extreme heat? And how will you make sure people in areas where they do not have easy internet access will be able to reap the benefits of the app and your studies?