Introduction

Over the past two weeks, my friends jackson.souza, Pedrinho_Eu, holanda2103, RealAni, and I attended the ICPC Brazilian Summer School — an event that brings together competitive programming students from Latin America. During this time, we studied full-time, fully focused on the competitions that will take place throughout the year.

Also, we had some cool adventures that I would like to share with you.

1. The water

When we arrived, one of the first things we realized we needed was water. We went to the mall, but the Carrefour was already closed. So we stopped by a small local market on the way to the hotel where we would be staying for the next few weeks.

At that point, RealAni and holanda2103 decided to head back to the hotel, while the rest of us stayed behind to deal with the water situation. As they were leaving, RealAni summed up by saying, “Why do you need four guys to carry some water?”

Little did she know what awaited us.

Our original plan was simple: buy four 5-liter bottles. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any. After a quick recalculation, Pedrinho_Eu concluded that 19 bottles of 1.5 liters would be enough to sustain five people for an entire week.

At that point, the vendor looked at us with visible confusion and asked why we needed so many bottles. We tried to explain the situation, probably sounding slightly unhinged, and went along with it anyway.

Then came the real problem: getting all of that water back to the hotel. That’s when I had the brilliant idea of walking. Pedrinho_Eu and jackson.souza agreed — after all, the hotel was “close.” More importantly, walking meant we would save 20 reais, roughly $3.80.

holanda2103, like RealAni, had already gone back to the hotel. And so, the three of us started walking.

It quickly became clear that we are not the most athletic people in the world. The bags dug painfully into our fingers, pulling hard against them with every step. We stopped several times along the way just to rest our hands, shake our arms, and seriously reconsider our life choices.

To make things worse, we somehow chose a route that was considerably longer than the optimal one.

More than once, we were on the verge of giving up and calling an Uber. Some of the bags tore, our arms were completely exhausted, and the sky grew darker by the minute, threatening rain.

Still, driven mostly by stubbornness and the need to justify saving those 20 reais, we pushed forward.

When we finally reached the hotel, holanda2103 and RealAni were already there, resting calmly, while the rest of us arrived tired, sore, and undeniably victorious.

2. The thunderstorm

We were at the Unicamp's IC (Computing Institute), in order to come back to the hotel, we planned to call an Uber. The ride would have cost 12 reais (about $2.28). But then the rain suddenly stopped, and this message appeared on our smartphones, it is in portuguese and says.

Civil Defense: Heavy rain spreading across the Campinas region. There is lightning and wind. It is affecting neighboring municipalities. Stay in a safe place.

Since the message seems safe, that brief rain pause was enough for holanda2103 and jackson.souza to decide that walking was the better idea. After all, the hotel was “close.”

The hotel was only about 500 meters away, and everyone agreed it made sense to walk. So we canceled the Uber, paying a 4-real fee (around $0.76), and started heading back on foot.

At the beginning, everything felt harmless. We walked and joked around, and holanda2103 was laughing about point discharge — explaining how being tall objects crossing an open area during a thunderstorm might not be the smartest idea. At the time, it was still funny. The lightning hadn’t started yet.

Then the thunder returned. And soon after, the lightning.

Each strike felt closer than the last, until one bolt hit roughly 250 meters away from us. That was the exact moment the mood changed. We all laughed, and started running toward the hotel as fast as we could.

Just when we thought we were almost safe, we reached the final obstacle: a barbed-wire fence. In a surprisingly athletic move, holanda2103 vaulted over it and quickly helped jackson.souza and Pedrinho_Eu get across. RealAni and I ran around the fence.

As we got close to the hotel entrance, a final, extremely powerful lightning strike hit nearby. For a split second, everything turned white.

And then, finally, we were inside.

3. Jackson's birthday

jackson.souza ’s birthday was a memorable day.

Earlier, we took part in Codeforces Round 1077, a three-hour contest. We had some fun, and right after it was over, ojoao invited us to play some board games at a local bar.

At night, we gathered to play board games, mostly bluffing games. It was the kind of game where confidence matters more than truth, and everyone slowly became suspicious of everyone else.

In the final round, I confidently accused holanda2103 — and got it completely wrong. While I was focused on the wrong person, Pedrinho_Eu played his hand perfectly, bluffed his way through the game, and ended up winning. He lied to me, I am still trying to understand what happened.

And here we are, from left to right, there are: Pedrinho_Eu, ojoao, me, holanda2103 and jackson.souza

Later, back at the hotel, we waited for jackson.souza ’s birthday cake, which arrived around 10:30 p.m. We sang “Parabéns pra você” (Happy birthday to you) and celebrated together.

Only then did we realize we had forgotten plates and cutlery. With no other option, we improvised — using a plastic knife borrowed from the hotel breakfast and makeshift plastic plates to serve the cake.

Simple, improvised, and shared with friends — a fitting way to celebrate.

4. Conclusion

I’m incredibly grateful to all the friends who shared these weeks with me — the long study sessions, the competitions, the walks that should never have happened, and all the moments in between. Experiences like this only work because of the people around you.

I’m also thankful for the new friends I met along the way: Gabeee, ojoao, and Victor_Ivis. Getting to know you made the experience even more memorable, and I hope we cross paths again in future contests and adventures.

And if there’s one lesson to take from all of this, it’s a simple one: never cancel an Uber just to walk — it’s never worth it.