The world is a much different place since last September, and I’d like to thing I’ve changed along with it. Get ready for a photo dump — let’s dive in!
In September I moved into my apartment with 3 close friends — two transfer students I knew from Camp Ramah, and one who lived on my floor during our first year — and we made sure to keep things interesting throughout our lease. Below is the view from our apartment’s balcony, where I spent lots of time on Zoom and doing classwork.
Although we were stuck in the house for most of our coursework, we made sure to make it out frequently. Between a 6 minute walk to our hammock spot and a 45 second stroll to the beach (with sweet waves!), I made my way outside pretty often. Nature is our best friend!
Fall quarter was by far the easiest in terms of workload, where I had plenty of moments to spend with friends. Near the middle of fall quarter (October!) I had some friends pop by, which always makes for great memories. I love these guys so much I have no idea how to even start explaining our relationship 😍
But saying goodbye to people is also difficult 😢 although we’re now a Pacific Ocean away, we keep in touch by me wearing his clothes and sending snaps to each other of our memories!
Surfing was at one point a daily staple. The routine was: wake up and check the waves, do my classwork and then go surfing, and then spend some time hanging outside before the sun went down.
And not to be ~that guy~ but we had some incredible sunsets this year — seriously.
The night before Halloween we were playing a game of Ninja and my roommate and I got a bit too into things — my finger looked like an escalator for an hour and I had to explain to the entire hospital staff how to play Ninja and how my housemates *were not* harming me intentionally.
Sometimes the squad might have been a bit too close, but we always managed to find a good way to laugh about life with each other.
For those who haven’t talked with me too much these past 3 years (or shared a meal with me), I’ve been dealing with my IBS by avoiding garlic and onion — two ingredients that are in most foods in America — which has been doing wonders for my health. But some people don’t agree with my lifestyle.
Winter break started with four of us heading into Joshua Tree and camping on some BLM land, where Alix skillfully taught me how to play Jack Johnson’s Banana Pancakes.
For others that have seen me walking around these past 4-6 years, you know that I won’t give up on my flipflops unless I really have to; instead of throwing them out, I found a way to repurpose my old rainbows!
At end of winter break the guys from back home planned a group hangout out in Denver, and split the 15 hour drive back together.
My school had a good COVID testing program, so we were able to stay confident that everyone hanging together wouldn’t cause us any COVID scares (only that one time made us nervous…)
I can’t tell you that I understand everything that happened during this year, but I promise you that there was a lot of learning involved.
Before my birthday, we bought an ocean floatie to take as a group into the Pacific, but it’s maiden voyage ended up being the greatest sea of them all, Our Carpet.
I kid you not when I tell you that our sunsets are 🔥.
Camping was a pretty solid staple of our senior year. This is on top of the Santa Barbara mountains, just a couple hours before the fog lifted into the mountains for 0 ft visibility.
If I could impart on you one great COVID activity, it’s digital scavenger hunts. Your phone points you around parts of the city and have you solve for clues and crack the case. We spent the entire day as detectives!
As part of my final year capstone activity, we were finding ways to capture particulate matter from car tires as they drive around. Although it may not look it, this is a pretty scientific setup. 🔬
When I wasn’t finding ways to reduce pollution from autos, I was finding new nature — an hour and a half north of school, the Rancho Guadalupe Dune Preserve has the strongest winds, the coolest drop off into the Pacific Ocean, and great dunes to slide down!
I found a new hobby — rollerblading! My new life goal is to be decent at most transportation methods (driving, rollerblading, surfing, skateboarding, and such), so here I am! I can successfully enter a coffee shop, grab drinks and sit down without hitting anybody ⛸).
Spring break had more travel involved, with three of us heading to Utah -> Nevada -> California for camping purposes. We met up with another part of the squad for a few days in Joshua Tree for some sweet shenanigan-making moments.
Other than trying to reduce car pollution, I was working on a pill cap which helps people with tremors to take their medicine. Although it hasn’t gotten me any jobs yet, it’s been a valuable learning experience so far!
More camping with more friends!
If I wasn’t camping, I was still finding other ways to get out of the house and get work done simultaneously.
As the year went on, it became difficult to realize how hard it would be to leave these fine folks out here. I’m going to miss these folks a whole bunch ♥
There were another 500 photos I felt deserved to be in here, but I’ve already taken up enough space. This year was incredible, COVID didn’t know what hit it, and I’m truly appreciative for the people I have going in my life. Thanks to all my peeps for being my peeps, and remember that it takes a village (or one really large farm)!