Dear $name,

Wow, a lot happened this month: I wrapped up my first semester at Purdue and went on an amazing trip with my family! So yea, this is going to be pretty packed

School

• Our planned Hall Club holiday party was canceled because we didn't submit the request form two weeks prior, and by the time we got around to it, we would have had to do it during finals week :C
• Seth (drone delivery programming team lead) and I bonding over shared love of urbanism and high-speed rail
• Did a lot of reading during downtime. I read
  • I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé. First off, I just have to say what an amazing title this book has. I picked this up because of the title, and kept reading because it was incredibly interesting, appropriately humorous, and learning more about human experiences is always a win. The ending was a very beautiful reflection on pain, but how we cannot let that pain get us down and left me with hope in humanity.
  • Defekt: Love this! It has strong anti-capitalism themes and also brings in more horror elements to speculative fiction. It was also relatable, as I'm pretty sure everyone feels at some point like I don't belong. I binged this in a day when I probably should have been doing work, which I guess is indicative to how good it is. So read!
  • Three parts dead: What if lawyers did magic and necromancy? That just about sums up this book. And because they're lawyers, of course some of them are going to be evil. It's an intricately woven adventure through 3 interconnecting narratives, lawyer, priest, and gargoyle. Sometimes this did bother me because I was like "NOO I want to see what happens" when it cut away, but I suppose that is good for the book's engagement.
• MathMan
  • I wanted an electronic notes app that could record questions and mistakes on math problems, and allow quickly going back and re-attempting them. It it visible at this link, in case you find yourself enrolled in a math class I guess?
• Night photography (love it because I can look at all the lights, knowing that each one has its own life and story. I can look at the stars and comprehend the vastness of spacetime itself, surrounded only by my thoughts, the stars, and the couple on top of the parking garage)
• Reliable Microsystems interview
  • Received email with interview invitation! 🥳
  • Received later generic rejection email
  • I assumed no interview, and was surprised when they called me at time of interview.
  • I was wearing my cat hoodie, so I panicked and put on my winter coat
  • I was sweltering from the stress and heat
  • Have not heard back, so probably didn't get the position :/

Break

In order of what we did. Bolded entries are my favorites

1. E-bike tour in Nazaré 🥈
   • Known for big waves
   • e-bikes great for hills!
   • 
2. Walked around castle (there were no rails on the other side of the walkway!)
   • 
3. Mom visited the daughter of a person she knows from Cape Verde, practiced her Portuguese!
4. Threw sea urchens back into the sea
   • 
   • Also got pants drenched from trying to walk to sand bar and sinking 😭
   • 
5. Ate an incredible amount of fish
6. Turned 19! 🥳1️⃣9️⃣❗
   • 
7. Jeep tour of Madeira 🥇
   • Could stand up when offroad. Very bumpy, windy, (slightly) dangerous, and fun!
   • 
8. Madeira Botanical Gardens 🥉
   • Had some crazy plants there, cacti, and wild tigers (jk, cats)
   • 
9. Saw the Madeira New Year fireworks! 🎆
10. Louvre in France
    • We found the oldest thing in the museum (and no, it's not dad)
    • 
11. Time to go back home for more school :/

There's also a few silly photos that didn't make it

If you want to send me physical mail (finally fixed the typo here!), my address is:

$address

Merci, Obrigado!

Ethan Dawes