My name is Gabriel, I'm 17 years old, and I'm a 12th-grade student at Loulé Secondary School. I've always enjoyed programming and coding, so I'm thrilled to have this opportunity with the Erasmus+ Project! I love staying updated with the latest trends and am always eager to learn. I enjoy engaging in conversations with people too.

Additionally, I can cook simple pasta and turkey meat, so if my classmates don't mind having that every day, they can count on me! Just kidding, of course.

We started our adventure by hopping on a FlixBus bound for Lisbon at 4:10 pm. Once we arrived three and a half hours later, we hopped on the metro at Oriente and headed to the airport. From there, we boarded a direct all-night flight to Vilnius around 11:15 pm. The journey so far has been absolutely amazing! 

Left our hotel at 9:15 in the morning and caught a bus, making our first journey to work. An interesting fact about the buses is that they are electric and connected with lines above them, as depicted in the second image of the carousel. These lines provide power to the bus.

Webpage of Linesa

Later, after returning from the internship, I went with my colleague Menelik to sign up for a gym near the hotel.

We went to have dinner at a restaurant called Snekutis in Vilnius. It had a cool vibe, but the food I decided to try wasn't that great... But the snacks, saved it.

The place had a scarf of Cristiano Ronaldo.

We had to leave the hotel today at 6:15 to catch the bus to the internship local. Our Lithuanian teacher, who was in charge of us, surprised us by taking us to an academic center where there was an astronaut who had been in space doing maintenance on space stations.

At the event, the astronaut presented us with a PowerPoint about their history. They had held several professions before becoming an astronaut. In the end, questions were asked and answered by them. It was something unique, just the fact of having experienced and met an astronaut who has really been to space not just once but twice. Being able to speak, to question was incredible. 

!!None of this would have been possible without our internship supervisor Eglé who signed us up and took us to the event. Thank you :)

After the event, we learned more about the educational center we were in. We saw projects like robotics, chemistry, physics, and much more. It's definitely an interesting place, and if there were an opportunity, I wouldn't hesitate to go again.

We had lunch at a restaurant next to the event. The food seemed a bit gourmet, but I ended up enjoying it!

Later that day, when we returned to the hotel, my colleague and I went to the gym to train back and biceps.

At dinner time, we went again to a restaurant called Berneliu Uzeiga that we had already been to and where I hadn't liked what I ordered before, but this time I got it right. It was a lovely dinner!

When we arrived at the internship, our first 'mission' was to organize our workspace, which was cluttered with disorganized desks, cabinets, and chairs. The image on the left shows how our space looked in the end.

After completing the first task, we visited two other rooms in the same venue. In the first one, there was a man who created toy-like boats for competitions, and he told us that he had been a world champion in the field. In the second visit, we met someone who also worked on constructions, but focused on teaching children. I was fascinated by what I saw.

Each person was assigned a task, and I chose to take on the task of setting up LED boards that would display gifs when assembled together. I opted for this because I'm unsure if it will ever be needed or used in the future, but if it is, it's a unique skill that I'll have compared to others.

At lunchtime, we ate again at a restaurant next to the internship site, which I had enjoyed the food from previously and today I enjoyed it once again.

In the afternoon, we had the task of planning a trip for Saturday, during which it was decided to go to a place called the Museum of Illusions in Vilnius. Personally, I think it's going to be interesting, and I'm excited for it.

For dinner, we decided to try another restaurant next to our hotel, where I enjoyed the food the most.

I arrived at work and went to visit my partner Valentinas's workstation. He assigned me the task of getting a LED panel up and running. It was a new experience for me as it was the first time I attempted to configure and even touch a LED panel. But it was fun; I managed to get everything working properly.

My first step was to check the number of pixels on the panel. I noticed that the panel was composed of 2 rows vertically and 5 columns horizontally. Each row had a total of 32 pixels wide and 32 pixels long, which after calculating showed that the entire panel had a width of 160px and a height of 64px.

My first step was to check the number of pixels on the panel. I noticed that the panel was composed of 2 rows vertically and 5 columns horizontally. Each row had a total of 32 pixels wide and 32 pixels long, which after calculating showed that the entire panel had a width of 160px and a height of 64px.

At dinner, we went to eat at a restaurant called 7 Fridays where I had dinner before. I split the food with a colleague; I ordered a hotdog, and my colleague ordered a hamburger that we split in half. However, when my order arrived, instead of a hotdog, I got a 25cm sausage, but it was still good.

We started the day by having a nice breakfast with Professor Paulo Ribeiro. We tried a new Vanilla pastry. While we were eating, we asked Professor Ribeiro for some advice on opportunities and pertinent questions.

As we all had very little clean clothes left, we decided to go to the laundromat today to wash them. We already knew it was highly unsatisfactory to mix white clothes with black ones unless we were tired of the whiteness of the clothes, so we decided to use two machines. Afterwards, we took all the clothes to another machine for drying, which took us 50 minutes. When it finished, we noticed that the clothes were still damp, but the dilemma between having 100% dry clothes or having to wait another 50 minutes... we were thinking about it on our way back home... But in conclusion, we managed to wash the clothes well, each with its proper colors.

We ate at a KFC fast food restaurant and left almost bursting at the seams...

After washing the clothes, since we had the day off, we decided to visit some malls and check out new things that aren't available in Portugal. In total, we went to three malls, and I only bought a pack of Sour Patch candies that had a great discount, so it was very cheap.

After we got home, I spent some time with my girlfriend.

I had missed her for a while...

For dinner, we ate at a restaurant I had enjoyed before called '+++'. They serve really good food there.

In Vilnius, it was possible to visit various historical, cultural, informative, and amusing places. We visited castles, churches, and museums. Everywhere we visited, everything was insanely huge, and it was clear that everything was well-crafted and long-term work. I enjoyed the visit, learned a bit about the city and its historical monuments. In the end, we visited a museum of Fantastic Illusions that left us completely amazed by what we saw. I'll explain a bit more below.

Halfway along the way, we encountered a giant statue of a man wearing a hoodie. Upon research, I discovered that the man depicted in the statue was Vincas Kudirka, a Lithuanian poet and author of the Lithuanian national anthem. Regarding the hoodie, despite my research, I couldn't find the reason why the poet was portrayed wearing it.

The structure you're currently seeing is the entrance Tower of Gediminas Castle.

To enter the castle, there are two ways: by elevator or by foot via stone and wooden stairs, which is the route we took. We didn't use the elevator because it cost €2 per person, and the line was huge.

I think it was fortunate that the elevator was paid and there was a long line because if that weren't the case, we would have missed out on views like these...

Inside the tower, there was a museum showcasing a bit of what happened in that region in ancient times and some curious artifacts... What I liked the most was the miniature sculpture of the tower because I noticed how detailed things were, for example, the cut trees, the detail in them. But it was also very curious to see the artifacts, like crossbows, shovel heads, and much more..

While exploring Vilnius, we stumbled upon a massive church called Cathedral Square, and upon entering, we were even more amazed. We spotted huge paintings and sculptures, accompanied by a spacious and cozy atmosphere. Here are some photos of the place captured.

After leaving the church, we visited a museum that had caught our attention, which was about illusions. In my opinion, we went in there with high expectations and came out even more impressed. Below, I'll show some of the things we saw there.

This artwork gave the illusion that it changed the size of the walls as we walked from side to side...

To get to Trakai, we had to take a 15-minute bus ride followed by a 30-minute train journey. It was nice because we got to enjoy some of the views along the way.

At lunch, we found a restaurant on the way to Trakai Island Castle Museum. I didn't have high expectations because we were the only customers there, but in the end, it surprised me.

Upon arriving at the castle, we could see its entrance. The castle had a Ukrainian flag at its entrance.

Upon entering the castle, we saw many interesting ancient artifacts. The castle seemed to be under renovation while we were there, so there were scaffolds and lots of fences. Here are some photos taken of the artifacts...

After seeing the Castle, we noticed people in small, manually operated boats for four people, and we wanted to go on one too. It cost us a total of €10, and we could stay for 1 hour

Our teacher, Paulo Ribeiro, recommended a café to us, which had a chocolate theme. We all ordered the same thing, which was a chocolate milk.

For dinner, we decided to go to a restaurant we had been to before, but unfortunately, it was closed. So, my colleague Menelik came up with the idea of making our own dinner, which is what happened.

At the internship today, after configuring the LED panel, I was introduced to a program called 'Race Timing Ultimate,' which is used to organize miniature races like toy cars and boats. It displays the positions of each person and the number of laps completed. My mission was to create a layout for it.

In the end, three different screens were created: one to display from 1st to 4th position, another from 5th to 8th, and a final one showing the race time.

Professor Valentinas, after having finished setting up and creating the layout for the LED panel, I was tasked with adding information to the application where the supposed race will be controlled. From what I understand, each student, not only from LINESA where I am interning, but from various other academies located in Lithuania, created a small electric car, like a toy, and a race will be held with all of them. There are more than 20 students, but each race will only have 8 participants. In conclusion, I was responsible for adding the participants, clubs, and rules to the application. There was a bit more difficulty since there were some names with special characters such as "ž" and several others. But it wasn't tedious, quite the contrary, as I was adding them, I tried to figure out how to pronounce the more unusual names for me.

I didn't take a picture of the main dish itself, but I did take one of the soup, which is very, very good. It seems to be a broth where the vegetables are cooked, and then a spoonful of some kind of cream is added on top. The best part is that it's nutritious and cheap, which is even more excellent

Later in the afternoon, since no one seemed to be doing anything, I took the opportunity to spend some time with the most beautiful and kind person in the world... obviously my girlfriend :)

Today, I finished entering all the data about the clubs and people who will participate in the race.

Then, half an hour before the end of the workday, our dear Égle brought us Lithuanian-themed mugs filled with various snacks to eat.

She might be one of the kindest people I've ever met. Thank you, Égle :)

At night, my colleague Menelik came to our room, and we watched some horror theory videos that left me a bit traumatized that night. But then I had the idea of watching marble races, which relaxed my mind a bit. The best part was that the marble Menelik chose, thinking it would win, was the first one to lose. That was essential for a good night's sleep, relaxed and happy.

We first went to the laundry to drop off the clean clothes. This time, we decided to use 3 machines instead of 2. Last time, the clothes didn't have a fresh smell and didn't dry properly. But this time, everything turned out as expected! The clothes came out with a clean smell and were completely dry.

While the clothes were washing, some of my colleagues and I decided to visit a game store next to the laundromat. We saw many interesting things like keyboards, character figurines, and much more. The problem was the price... Way too expensive.

When we put the clothes in the dryer, we saw that it would take 50 minutes to be ready, so we decided to have lunch while waiting. We tried a new restaurant recommended by our teacher, Paulo Ribeiro. The restaurant had a pleasant atmosphere, but the only problem was that the menu was not in English. So, we had to guess a bit to choose our food. After some time, we decided to order a dish with a name similar to "Spaghetti Bolognese," and it turned out to be exactly that. The dish was great. It was inexpensive, filling, and tasted very good.

After washing the clothes and arriving at the hotel, we took a bus that brought us to the museum.

When we arrived at the museum, we bought some tickets. We bought an extra one because there was going to be a presentation about energy. We also noticed some very comfortable bean bags outside, so we stayed there while we waited.

The presentation was cool, although we couldn't understand what the lady was saying because she spoke only Lithuanian. However, watching the devices in action was fun. She showed us a bit about Tesla energy. It was even possible to get shocks from the machine.

There were various machines there for us to test and generate energy. It was fun and very diverse. One of them was a machine where you had to jump and land with maximum impact to create energy levels. It was funny because, at first, we weren't sure if we were supposed to make a loud noise or if we were breaking the machine. While we were doing it, we noticed no one was paying attention, so we kept jumping harder and harder, but it didn't take long before we got tired.

After the energy room, we went to another room where there was a puzzle. The staff member locked us in a room, and we had to use the clues we received from either the setting or the narrator to solve it. As we solved the puzzles, they told us a bit about the history of Lithuania. It was fun because nothing was obvious. For example, there was a safe, and the code was discovered by the number of lights that turned on. Each light would turn on or off at a given moment. It sounds a bit confusing, but it was fun, I promise! :)

Today, I took the opportunity to rest a bit more in the morning. In the afternoon, we went to a music festival that was happening in Vilnius, near us. I noticed there were several parties spread throughout Vilnius. It was fun, there were many people, a lot of music, and a lot of everything.

To go to Kaunas, we needed to take the train. The journey was long, about an hour and a half.

Upon arriving in Kaunas, I noticed it was a less-visited place. I'm not sure if it was emptier because it was Sunday, but it seemed more deserted, with several destroyed or abandoned houses. We walked around Kaunas a bit and saw a little bit of everything there.

We also visited a local shopping mall that piqued our curiosity, as well as a famous church in the region.

With some research, I found out that it is called the Church of St. Michael the Archangel and that it is an important Catholic church also known as the Garrison Church. Built between 1891 and 1895, the church is a notable example of Neo-Byzantine architecture, a style that combines elements of Byzantine and Russian architecture.

After finishing the project with Professor Valentinas, Professor Paulo Ribeiro gave me a task that consisted of building an app using the "Django" framework in Python. I dedicated this first day to installing all the necessary tools, such as Python and the framework. Tomorrow, I will start researching a bit about the language, for example, how it works and basic commands. So far, I know that in Django, it is common to divide an application into multiple apps to keep the code organized. Each app is responsible for a specific functionality. For example, an application like Facebook might have: An app "users" to manage users; An app "groups" to manage groups; An app "publications" to manage publications.

At dinner, we tried a new restaurant. It's called Chili Pizza, and the pizzas were very good. I ordered a "Student" pizza, which I didn't know what it had, but when it arrived, I saw that it was a tomato, cheese, and sliced sausage pizza. It was very good, and we all left there quite full. I would go back more often.

After some time exploring the Django framework, I noticed that the instructor also asked us to explore and learn a bit about Git. I decided to look for a course that teaches Git well and offers a certificate upon completion, even if it required payment. I chose to look for a paid course because I know it is something I will make good use of in the future. Additionally, on the website where I searched for the course, called Udemy, certificates are only awarded for paid courses.

In the afternoon, after leaving my internship, I carefully considered and chose with great caution the color my girlfriend should paint her nails. It’s not a task one can undertake lightly and come out unscathed...

For dinner, we decided to order from Bolt Food, taking advantage of the fact that most restaurants were offering discounts and delivery was free. It's an interesting question how the delivery drivers get their share, considering both the delivery and the service are free...

Today, while taking the course, I learned many things, with the most important being how to "create a repository." I also learned how to create branches, tags, and stashes. It's actually very easy and quite intuitive. For example, if I type a command incorrectly, it not only indicates that it's wrong but also suggests the commands it thinks I might have intended to use. This feature was very useful at the beginning when I was still getting familiar with the commands.

Today we went to dinner at Plus Plus Plus... once again. It's good, but I'm getting a bit tired of fried food... not going to lie.

Today, I learned more about GitHub itself, including the purpose of each page and its content. I also learned how to create submodules within a repository. The course has been very interesting so far.

After we went for lunch, we stopped by a supermarket. While exploring the aisles, I saw a bubble-making toy. Unfortunately, I couldn't resist and ended up covering the city with soap bubbles. 

Today at 11 a.m., we had to be at the internship location to visit a place arranged by our dear Égle. Thanks once again. 

Professor Valentinas also came and drove us to the museum.

Upon arrival, we spent some time in a museum-themed bar. Around the walls, there were various mini-games for us to play. We stayed in the bar for a while, also because the presentation of the spaces we were going to see was scheduled for 1:00 PM, so we had to wait about 20 minutes.

The presentation was very, very good. The guide taught and showed us many things, from theories to facts proven by science and demonstrated in practice. The museum is divided into several rooms, all focused on the same area but covering different topics. This made our visit more interesting, as each room surprised us with its unique features. There was one room I particularly liked, which had drawings on the walls that changed based on the color of the light, for example, blue, red, or green. It was a very interesting experience, and I learned more than I expected.

The museum also housed rare stones, including a piece of moon rock and, even more valuable, a Lithuanian flag that was taken to space and signed by an astronaut. Below are some images I captured during the visit:

At the end, we got to see a huge telescope used for observing the sun. It was cool to watch the guide set up the equipment and to look through the telescope ourselves.

After the presentation, we enjoyed the park they had. It provided a very pleasant experience.

This morning, we took the opportunity to wash some clothes. It seems we've really learned how to clean them well, as they came out perfectly, just like last time. We're getting good at this. :)

At lunch, we decided to try a new restaurant near the laundromat called "MeatBusters." The food is good, but it's very expensive for what you get. If it were a bit cheaper, it would be perfect.

Today we visited the KGB Museum in Lithuania, which is a former prison where inmates were sometimes held or executed. It was very interesting, as there were genuinely old items, such as pistols, worn keys, glasses of executed prisoners, and much more. What I found most intriguing was the fact that we could literally visit the prison itself, where we could see the prisoners' rooms and other areas. I'm not sure if other parts of the prison were closed, but the number of cells seemed quite small.

Another fascinating detail I noticed was that the Pope had also visited the museum and even left an object resembling a candle.

After leaving the museum, we went to eat at a restaurant called "Subway," where the food consists of 30cm or 15cm sandwiches, and they prepare the food in front of us as we choose the ingredients we want. It was enjoyable and one of the few times we didn't eat fried food, which made it even better.

In the afternoon, I went with my colleagues Ricardo and Paulo to visit some shopping centers for a bit of a walk. It was enjoyable and better than just staying at home.

Throughout the course, I have been following along and practicing what I learn step-by-step. For example, when the instructor explains branches, I test it out myself as he explains. But today, I decided to try doing everything I’ve learned from the beginning without using his help, or at least with minimal assistance. Surprisingly, everything worked well. Sometimes I make mistakes, like forgetting to check the git status to see what hasn't been committed before doing a git push. However, Git is so user-friendly that it immediately tells me what the error might be, and most of the time, it accurately identifies the issue.

For dinner, we decided to order delivery to the hotel. We settled on Chilli Pizza, which, as the name suggests, is a pizza place... pretty obvious :)

Today were the final lessons of the Git and GitHub course. In these last lessons, the instructor taught me how to better use the GitHub platform, and we didn't work much on Git itself. I also learned that it's possible to host a website, such as a portfolio, using GitHub Pages, which will certainly be useful for me and something I will use. As I mentioned before, I received a certificate of completion.

I think this course was very good and informative for me. I now understand that it's an important and beneficial practice to save my projects on GitHub, as it preserves versions of my code and provides various helpful features.

After the internship, on my way home, I decided to stop by a supermarket to buy breakfast for the next day. While shopping, I saw a curious lollipop that claimed to be cola-flavored but looked different... it was completely black. If someone had told me it was charcoal-flavored, there would have been a 50% chance I would believe them.

Today, after finishing the Git and GitHub course, I resumed my research on developing an .apk application for Android using the Django framework. I watched some videos and experimented with what I learned.

Later, after the internship, I went with my colleague Ricardo to an outlet in Vilnius that I had never visited before. There were various different stores, and the place had many new and amusing decorations, such as giant swings, with ropes that were about 3 meters high.

For dinner, I decided to go to a fast food restaurant in the mall with my colleague Ricardo. We chose KFC.

In the video I'm following, it showed a bit more about back-end development with Django. So far, it's been something new and a bit confusing, but I've been keeping up...

Today, we met with Professor Ricardo Jacob, who was responsible for taking us back to Portugal. I got to know him and found that he was a very friendly person and easy to talk to.

We woke up slightly early today to go to the shopping center to buy souvenirs and show the professor around. I bought keychains, fridge magnets, and much more. I also wanted to buy a fake spider to scare people, but I ended up getting scared myself when I saw the price...

For dinner, we decided to go to a restaurant that serves traditional Lithuanian food. We couldn't suggest any dishes to the professor because we hadn't liked the food much on our previous visits, so everyone ordered at random. This time, we were lucky... everyone liked what they ordered, even though we didn't know what it was.

This morning, we took the time to pack everything neatly in our bags, and in the afternoon, we caught a plane to Vilnius Airport. Everything went smoothly... we checked in our luggage and waited for the right time to board the plane.

While waiting for the plane, I took the opportunity to check out the shops in the airport. I treated myself to some very delicious cookies.

After waiting, we boarded the plane and had a long flight. It took about 4 hours. At least I had downloaded a series on Netflix. Unfortunately, my headphones hadn't charged overnight, so I could only watch one 20-minute episode...

When the plane landed, we arrived in Lisbon, where we stayed for one night in a four-star hotel called "Hotel Roma". It was enjoyable and relaxing.