08/06/2026 - Reflections on Summer of 2026 (aka purple summer)

Woah, what an insane summer vacation. So much has happened over this summer break, it's monumental. Me and my friend had been talking about how this summer was gonna go down in history and I believe this to be true. When I'm much older and many many years have passed, I will look back on the summer of 2026; the summer before junior year of high school and think ’damn, I felt alive in the summer of 2026’.

Since the beginning of summer break, I have felt a deep connection to the color purple. Somehow, this entire summer has been coated in a thin glaze of purple that seems to follow everywhere I move. There's just something so free about purple summer and as cliche as it sounds, it felt like I was living my dream teenage girl romcom.

I began summer vacation with a vacation to Eastern Europe, which obviously changed my life. I'm eternally grateful I was able to experience that especially since I hadn’t been out of the US before that trip. It was such a beautiful and enriching vacation. We started in Berlin for a day and then went to Dresden, Prague, Krakow, and my favorite Budapest.

The most impactful part for me was for sure when we stopped in Dresden and me and my brother went to this gorgeous art museum. Seeing so many sculptures and paintings from old masters was so inspiring to my art journey.

After I got back from Europe, on June 20, I started dating my boyfriend. I’ve spent a major chunk of my summer hanging out with him which has just been such a blast. We’ve gone to the history and art museum together, gone on long walks both in the morning and late at night, listened to many many albums together, and video called regularly. It all feels very special.

I've just been unbearably happy this summer and I've done so much. I tend to shut myself in my room and play minecraft or just draw all summer long and I never really do anything noteable. But this summer I did so much and I felt it very intensely throughout my whole body.