San Fransico

Almost There!

I’m typing this while racing to hit 100 hours of work on my website project-only 20 minutes to go! Once I cross that finish line, I’ll have exactly 16 days until my big trip to San Francisco.

What Happened Today

When the trains went on strike today, everyone switched to online classes. Normally we’d get the day off, but apparently we’ve been too “rested” lately. So here I am-Zooming away, coffee in hand, multitasking like a champ while jotting down these notes.

Before the flight

I arrived at Schiphol with my brother, mom, and dad. After a few hugs and a very real “this is it” moment at the gate, I waved goodbye and stepped into solo travel mode. Next stop: San Francisco. Alone. For real.

My Flight

The flight itself? Surprisingly chill. I somehow scored three seats to myself. I stretched out (kinda), watched Interstellar for the 2nd time, and vibed to music until sleep finally kicked in. Sure, it wasn’t five-star comfort, but it did the job.

I arrived!

Touchdown in San Francisco! But of course, my story couldn’t be that smooth, border control wasn’t quite sure what to make of my “I’m going to build stuff with internet nerds I met online” explanation. So they took me into a separate room for an “interview.”

After explaining Hack Club, convincing them I’m not a threat to national security, and answering a few curious questions, they gave me the green light.

I took the BART (Bay Area metro) into the city, and then walked nearly 3 miles uphill with my backpack and suitcase. Welcome to San Francisco: the city of tech dreams.

Pizza party

When I finally got to the house, Paolo and my roommates were already heading out, to a pizza-making party at the other Hack Club house. Even though I felt like a zombie, I tagged along. We made pizzas until 11pm, and by then my body had given up on being alive.

Attempting Sleep

Everyone else had their bed setups ready with pillows and cozy blankets. Me? I had a couch pillow from the other house and a thin airplane blanket. It was freezing in the house. I barely slept. So yeah. end of Day 0, and I’m basically running on nothing.

Morning After the Storm

After that awful night of tossing and turning, I gave up trying to sleep by 6am. My body thought it was 3pm anyway. I got up, hit the toilet, and had a chill early-morning chat with one of my roommates. I ate an apple, walked to a local café, and called my mom.

I told her the truth: “This isn’t really what I expected... I’m not sure I want to stay the full time.” Big feelings, right from the start.

Chat With Paolo

Later, Paolo (a organizer and housemate) sat down with me to chat about what I wanted to build here while im at San fransico. Truth be told, I had no clue. I thought it’d be like Juice in Shanghai, but this time, there was too much freedom. No structure. No guide rails. Just… “do your thing.” It hit me: I’ve never really lived independently, let alone worked in a self-directed way from 9 to 5. It was overwhelming, and I started questioning whether I’d made the right choice.

12PM & Some Normalcy

After sulking in bed for way too long, Paolo and Abby suggested we head to the Hack Club open space. a big, cozy area where everyone was coding, vibing, and doing their thing. We grabbed lunch on the way, and honestly, I finally started to feel a little bit like myself again.

But the peace didn’t last long. Paolo dipped early with a headache, and Abby went out for food… and just never came back. So now I was alone, surrounded by laptops and strangers, wondering what to do next.

Cue: spontaneous side quest.

The Random Adventure

Feeling restless, I called my brother just to check in, and my dad jumped on the call too. With my family on the line and no destination in mind, I just started walking. somewhere. Anywhere.

That “anywhere” turned out to be… LinkedIn HQ. Yup. Just stumbled right into the corporate heart of networking itself.

There was a big public lounge space inside. suits and startup folks having Very Important Conversations™. And me? I walked up to the front desk like, “Hey, got any stickers?” A few minutes later, I walked out with some LinkedIn swag: stickers and a branded keychain lanyard. Mission accomplished.

The Great Pillow Rescue

After wrapping up the call, I realized I had unfinished business: Sleep. Last night’s setup, rock-hard couch pillow and a too-small airplane blanket. wasn’t going to cut it again.

So I went on a heroic quest to Target, hunting for something softer, warmer, and just… not awful. It wasn’t exactly a luxury hotel haul, but it was a major upgrade. Mission: mostly successful.

Grocery Chaos

Later in the day, the five of us decided to stock up on breakfast and other essentials. Easy, right? Turns out, not so much. With five people from different cultures, everyone had totally different ideas of what to buy. After aimlessly wandering for ten minutes, we finally made a list and split up.

My task? Apples and bananas. And. no joke. we were standing right next to the fruit section. Mission complete in under 10 seconds.

By the time we got home it was nearly 7pm, and I was starving. But I was so exhausted I just went to bed instead. Food could wait. sleep couldn’t

Midnight Dinner

I woke up around 11pm, still tired but now super hungry. I made a PB&J sandwich. nothing fancy, just bread, peanut butter, and jelly. That was dinner. Simple, but it did the trick.

Right as I finished, new roommates showed up. We're now 7 people in the house. It’s getting cozy! Tomorrow, I'm determined to find my footing here, but I have a feeling more chaos is just around the corner.

Morning Reset

Woke up at 6am again. jet lag still doing its thing. I didn’t want to wake anyone, so I grabbed some fruit and went for a quiet walk.

I called home and said something important: "I'm feeling way better today."

Yesterday was rough, but I realized I can’t wait for things to be fun. I have to make them fun. Paolo mentioned that attending events could count as programming time if we show proof. 2 hours per event. That sounded perfect. I was in.

Target Trip, Part II

Realized I still didn’t have a towel. So, back to Target! This time with four of us, picking up towels, dish soap, plates. everything we forgot the first time.

After a much-needed shower, I wrote down yesterday’s and today’s notes. Then we went to the Hack Club workspace downtown, where I worked on my own operating system, NickOS. The biggest challenge was getting the bootloader to correctly pass control to my custom kernel, but seeing the 'Welcome to NickOS!' message pop up after hours of debugging was a huge win.

Thomas’s Curry Night

On my way back home, I got a DM:

"Thomas is cooking dinner for everyone at 7pm at Lower Haight."

By the time I arrived, Thomas, Paolo, and Nick A, were cooking curry for 20 people. Smoke alarms went off (a lot), but people kept showing up, 4, then 8, then 14… eventually over 20 crammed into the house! It was chaos, but so much fun. And the curry? Surprisingly great.

Game Night

Later, Paolo pulled out his Nintendo Switch, and we played Mario Kart and some wild tower-stacking game. Laughter, yelling, and close finishes everywhere.

Cards from Home

I brought out a special deck of playing cards from my grandparents. We played some chill games on the floor with music in the background. A small moment, but it felt really nice. Here’s a polished, more readable version of your Day 4 6/19 entry, keeping it casual and fun for your family:

Golden Gate Bridge Adventure

For most of the day, not much really happened. But around 6pm, things picked up, we all headed out to visit the Golden Gate Bridge.

Our group of 8 was the first to arrive, so we walked partway across the bridge while waiting for the others. Eventually, about 14 of us were there.

At one point, I realized I was unintentionally leading the group. just walking ahead with no idea where I was going. So, naturally, I picked a random path… and somehow ended up at a pier.

We joked that it felt like we were in a Lemmings game, everyone just blindly following along!

Along the way, I talked with a few people and ended up having a blast hanging out with Elliott and Om. super chill and hilarious guys. Definitely a highlight of the day.

frozen pizza

All of us did not feel like cooking and wanded something simple before going to the bridge. So, WE GOT PIZZAS! 6 of them actualy. but only some of the group wanted pizzas and so we had like half a pizza left and did not use 2 other pizzas. So we have more leftovers for another day!

City Adventure!

The day started with my usual morning walk, and then we decided to head to Market Street to find a good spot to work on our 40 programming hours.

We tried multiple locations, but since it was Saturday, most places were closed. except Salesforce Park. It's this elevated park surrounded by Salesforce buildings, with a cable car leading up and even a small band playing country music. We hung out there for a bit and enjoyed the vibe before continuing our search.

Apple Vision Pro Experience

On our walk, we stumbled across a couple of cool stores. one of the only Nintendo locations in the area, and of course, an Apple Store.

Inside, we saw the Apple Vision Pro on display and noticed they had open booking slots… in just one hour. So we killed some time in Chinatown, grabbed ice cream, and played a game of UNO in the sun. Then it was time to try Apple’s $3,500 goggles.

My Honest Review:

1. I honestly can’t think of anyone who’d really benefit from owning one in day-to-day life.
2. Gaming? Not great. The only thing I managed to play was 3D solitaire.
3. I tried opening Excel and it felt clunky. not ideal for real work.
4. BUT the eye tracking? Super slick. Your eyes act like a mouse, and you can “pinch” your fingers anywhere to click. It felt smart and surprisingly smooth.

Will I go back to play with it again? Absolutely. You can book as many sessions as you want, and I definitely will.

Midnight Programming

Since most of us were nowhere near the 40-hour mark, we all ended up staying up way past midnight trying to catch up. Around 2am, I finally called it quits.

I spent most of that time working on my multiplayer escape room game. where you solve puzzles with friends online. I was trying to design a puzzle where players on different screens would see different parts of a clue, forcing them to communicate what they were seeing to solve it. It was fun just chatting with others while coding until I realized how late it was.

Final count for me this week? 18 hours of “programming.” Out of the goal of 40. Do I feel like I’m getting kicked out? Not really… But I guess we’ll find out soon. (• - •)ゝ

Sunday Vibes & Burritos

We woke up around 9am and went on our usual mini morning walk (ᵔ◡ᵔ) Not long after, we got a message from Thomas:

"Meet at 12pm in Dolores Park to kick off the new week and eat burritos!"

Sounded like a perfect plan. Before heading out, I had a super encouraging call with my mom and brother about my new game idea. a 2D online escape room with physics. It really got me hyped to build something fun!

When we arrived at Dolores Park, all the Hack Club houses had gathered. about 36 people in total! We lounged in the sun, chatted, and devoured some chicken burritos Eventually, about half of us decided to head to the open workspace downtown to get some hours in.

Battery Crisis

Once we got there… we realized something. None of the Europeans brought their power adapters. So while we all set up our laptops, they started dying. One by one. Slowly. Tragically. Before long, all our batteries were dead and we had to head home to grab our adapters.

When we finally returned, the workspace was already closing. it shuts at 6pm. So we had to pivot.

Hotel Coding Session

We wandered around and ended up finding a random hotel with a comfy lobby where we could sit and code (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

Honestly? It was kind of perfect.

There, I clocked 8.4 hours of focused programming. working more on my online escape room game. Felt good to finally make solid progress toward my weekly goal.

While coding, I got a video call. We chatted for a bit about the event and what everyone was building. It was a fun little moment to wrap up a weird, wandering, productive day.

Wait… it’s already Day 8?!

Today it hit me. I’ve already been here for 8 days. Time is flying way too fast! We decided to start planning a few things since it’s the last week for Om (nooo). So we applyed for an event about ComfyUI at GitHub HQ

which I’m super excited for! (≧◡≦)/

Back to LinkedIn HQ

In the morning, Om and I headed straight to LinkedIn HQ to get in some serious programming time. A bit later, Elliott joined us too. We ended up staying there for 5 full hours of coding! It was a really productive session; I managed to fix a frustrating physics bug in my game where objects would occasionally fall through the floor. That brings my total to...

12 HOURS!! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

I’m currently #2 on the leaderboard, with the top person already at 23 hours Still, I’ve got a solid lead on #3, so I’m feeling good about where I’m at!

Grilled Cheese Break & More Coding

After our LinkedIn coding session, we went back home for a quick grilled cheese recharge Then. back out again to the open workspace to put in even more hours. Gotta keep the momentum going!

HOW?!

Today we got to attend an event hosted by ComfyUI. and it just so happened to take place at GitHub HQ. Yes. GitHub. Still can’t believe that sentence is real.

ComfyUI, for context, is a visual node-based AI image tool. kind of like drag-and-drop Photoshop powered by AI. The event was part hackathon, part hangout, and part surreal tech dream.

What Even Was It?

It was a mini hackathon where we had to build a workflow using ComfyUI. Our group made a simple background blur effect, using depth mapping and image processing. Was it revolutionary? Not really. But did it work? Yes.

The prizes? 2x RTX 5090 GPUs and Some cool T-shirts ...which we didn’t win But hey, it was still a ton of fun.

Inside GitHub HQ

From the outside, GitHub HQ just looks like a regular grey building with a tiny sticker on the door that says “GitHub.” Kinda underwhelming, right? But once we walked in… WHOA.

The place was packed with small, geeky details. One of my favorites? The security guard’s vest had “SSH” written on the back. like the secure shell protocol. Little Easter eggs like that were everywhere. The whole venue had serious personality.

Definitely one of the coolest tech spaces I’ve ever been in!

Wait… What Is GitHub?

For those reading who don’t know: GitHub is a huge tech company used by developers around the world to share code, collaborate on software, and build projects together. Think of it like a giant library of code that people from everywhere can access, improve, and remix. It’s the place to be if you build things with code.

A Chat with Thomas

The day before, we noticed a few things that felt off. like how San Francisco is this city full of events and energy, but the 40-hour system kind of discourages going out and exploring. Also, things like research or design work didn’t count toward the time tracker, which felt limiting.

So me, Elliott, and Om put together a list of points and asked Thomas if we could talk. As soon as we brought up our concerns, he smiled and said,

“Let me show you something I’ve been cooking up…”

🦅 FREEDOM WEEK 🇺🇸

Thomas announced an upcoming experiment called Freedom Week, starting Monday, June 30st July 6th

No hour tracking, No 40 hours. Start a brand new project from scratch and make a 5+ minute YouTube video

It’s totally optional. but of course I’m doing it. Let’s goooo!! (ง🔥Д🔥)ง

Other Stuff We Talked About

We also talked about

Juice merch (coming… eventually) Buying furniture for the house If you're a Juice person and curious about merch updates. DM me on Slack! but dont be hyped

The Interview

Later that day, we headed over to the Atrium on 2nd Street, and got a surprise call from Paolo.

He wanted to film a quick interview with us before Om leaves Neighborhood. It went pretty well! Another memory locked in.

Poker Night!

I brought a deck of cards from back home and decided to play some games with Om. we played Swedish Bullying and good old Texas Hold'em.

Not gonna lie… Om may have turned me into a bit of a gambling addict (in the fun way, I promise) I loved the strategy, the bluffing, the chaos. and… I won a whole bunch!

New Faces, Temporary Chaos

Some new people arrived in SF today, but they didn’t have a place to stay just yet. so they crashed at our house for one night.

Let’s just say… it was really busy. Loud, packed, and kind of fun in a chaotic way.

Ship Sunday

Today maked the end of the week and we has to show what we made that day.

Idea Storm

Today was a full-on brainstorming marathon. I woke up at 10am and went to bed around 2am. with a working prototype and a chaotic, hilarious idea for a game. And honestly? It’s super fun to play already!

The idea came from a conversation about how paranoid we all get during games of Among Us. I wondered: could I recreate that feeling in real life? A game you play with friends where you have to eliminate your target by secretly taking a selfie with them in the background. The hardest part was figuring out how to reliably detect if a target was in the background of a selfie without using complicated machine learning. Simple, sneaky, and a little evil

Introducing: Pao

A real-life game of betrayal… with selfies. It’s like Among Us, but in the real world.

You get a secret target, sneak a selfie with them in frame, and boom. they’re out. You take their target. Game continues. Last one standing is crowned The Pao Champion™

You can read the full README right here,

here’s the TL;DR:

Pao in 3 Sentences:

It’s a real-world, multiplayer game of stealth selfies. You eliminate your target by snapping a picture with them in the background. It’s funny, sneaky, chaotic. and you’ll never trust your friends again.

A quiet day overall, but I caught Paolo doing something incredibly smart and totally in-the-zone. That’s it. That’s the post. (✿´‿`)

Noicebridge is one of San Francisco’s most iconic hackerspaces. It's a big, open community workshop where anyone can build, tinker, code, 3D print, paint, sew. you name it.

The whole space is run by volunteers and totally open to the public. The vibe? Super creative and weird in the best way possible. (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ While there, Paolo even played a bit of guitar 🎸

Pao Lives On

We’re still working on Pao. testing it with friends, laughing a ton, and fine-tuning the chaos. So far: lots of eliminations, sneaky selfies, and betrayal. Perfect.

We Carried 5 Chairs + a Big Table… Through SF

Yes. We really carried 5 chairs and a table across San Francisco. including on the metro. Why? Because Hack Club housing is DIY to the core.

So Many People

Coolest Things We Saw

There was a guy doing flips over another Hack Clubber. The fireworks, crowds, and chaos made for one unforgettable night.

Walk in the Park

Starbucks Stop

Not every day is loud and crazy. This one was just nice, quiet, and full of coffee and trees.

Late-Night Coding

Sorry for all the photo/video-only updates. I honestly didn’t feel like writing this week. But trust me. we’ve been coding, building, and shipping. Late nights, good snacks, and progress.

When You’re the Only One Who Cares

Someone clogged the toilet and left without saying anything. Another person? Clogged the shower. No one seemed to notice or take initiative. So yeah, I decided to handle both.

16 Minutes of Toilet Hell

I woke up to a bit of a commotion. One of my housemates pointed out the clogged toilet.

“Hey, you’re kind of the house leader, right? Could you take a look?”

I wouldn’t mind doing the cleaning if people were more appreciative, but it needed to be done.

The Shower Saga

The shower was clogged so badly that I had to call a plumber. Turns out: someone’s hair had blocked the whole thing. We paid up front (don’t worry. the landlord reimbursed us), but after the plumber left, the shower was disgusting. So I scrubbed it for nearly an hour to make it usable again.

Final Thoughts

People in Neighborhood don’t clean up after themselves nearly enough. It’s a shared space, and it felt frustrating to be the one always picking up the slack. (￣ヘ￣;)

Game Dev with Kai Ling

Yesterday, Kai Ling made an announcement:

"Come to 55 2nd Street to follow a Godot game-making course. From 10am to 6pm. lunch and dinner included!" Of course I went!

I’ve been making games since I was 9 years old. mostly in Unity. building everything from Mario Party knockoffs to multiplayer VR experiments. But since starting college, I haven’t had much time to work on my passion.

So between Juice last April and this week in San Francisco, I’ve finally found space to reconnect with game design.

And honestly? I love it so much. It feels like coming home.

Dinner & Dancing

After a solid 8 hours of straight programming, we headed to a nearby park to wind down and enjoy some well-earned dinner.

The weather was perfect, the food hit just right, and the vibe was pure chill. Then we noticed a group nearby dancing. and of course, me, Elliott, and Johan jumped in and joined them for one dance.

A perfect way to end a long, productive day.

Paolo

I went back to the Atrium today to keep working on my game, but I didn’t get far before getting completely distracted by the new ping pong table. Classic.

Game Progress

I still managed to put in some time on my project. You can check it out here. It’s a "simple" tower defense game where you play as an old man living on an island, defending your home from waves of bats and birds with the help of programmable bots.

Gameplay

The prototype is shaping up nicely, and it’s already fun to play.

CRP

Today started quietly. I was one of the first to wake up and went on my usual morning walk. When I got back, things had turned chaotic.

We found out that Child Protective Services had been called on one of the other Hack Club houses. Panic broke out. Almost everyone at our house fled, except me and Alice. One guy even packed everything and left for home.

After about an hour, the situation calmed. Police had visited the other house, but according to Thomas, they were simply checking in due to how unusual this kind of student hackerspace looked. They talked with students and parents and left peacefully.

It’s Over

Later that evening, Thomas made an announcement: "With everything that has happened lately, the police being called was the final straw. I’ve made the difficult decision to end Neighborhood."

Just like that, the program was over. People felt confused, heartbroken, even angry. The announcement hit hard.

Everyone was asked to book their return flights by July 18. Thomas said he would help with bookings starting the next day.

Thomas

Watching him deliver the message in person felt surreal. This community changed a lot of people’s lives. including mine.

I Can Stay?

The next morning, Thomas made another announcement. He said twelve people would be allowed to stay. He dropped a form, and the selection would be based on grant weight and impact.

I signed up right away.

So did Asker, a thoughtful and enthusiastic person Elliott, someone I really respect and look up to And Alice, a kind individual

I Got In

That night, I was added to a group chat with 18 others. Elliott and Asker were in. But Alice wasn’t.

Tomorrow Is Undercity

Tomorrow is Undercity, another Hack Club event. It’s a multi-day hackathon held at GitHub HQ.

It’s probably where I’ll say goodbye to a lot of people. It feels like the right place to end this chapter.

And just like that, it’s over

Thomas announced that Post-Neighborhood is being canceled too. The landlord decided to evict us, and we all had to leave the house just two days after hearing the news.

So now I’m here, writing this last entry from home. Waiting for Hack Club to announce whatever comes next.

This was my first time writing a blog. The first time I really shared something like this. raw, unfiltered, personal.

If you’ve made it this far, through 739 lines of stories, chaos, joy, frustration, and everything in between. Please, send me a quick DM, an email, anything. Just let me know:

Why did you read this? Was it the writing? Was it curiosity about what Neighborhood was like? Were you looking for inspiration? Or maybe, just because.

Whatever your reason Thank you. Truly.

This time in San Francisco was chaotic and life-changing and full of unexpected beauty. And I’m so, so grateful to have lived it.