Free Write Post

I decided I would write about my Thanksgiving break for my blog this week. My family's Thanksgiving was slightly different this year from our traditional thanksgivings we have had in the past. My dad moved to France this summer for work and cannot come back to the states for several months to establish a permanent French work visa. I also have brother living in Mississippi who could not make it either. My mom was also flying out to France the day after Thanksgiving because the flights were so cheap. Therefore, by the end of the holiday, we only had two members of our five at home. This was a little bit different from our traditional holidays; however, our family is simply going through a difficult moving phase this year and Im sure everything will be fine for Christmas and Thanksgivng next year.

Dual Coding Theory

I found the lecture on Dual Coding Theory to be very helpful. It was helpful to learn of this theory for everyone because it can be applied to almost any field. It also reassured me of things I know but never knew scientifically why they happened. For example, studying vocabulary for the GRE, I was able to memorize over 900 words in the span of three weeks and knew everyone of them. Now looking back at them, a few weeks later, I can only really remember about half of them. This is obviously because during those three weeks I was repeatedly using them in my vocabulary and reveiwing them every night via flashcards. Also, in the field of architecture it is very helpful to undersatnd the concept of dual coding theory. The most successful way to sell your idea is have first, powerful written/spoken text and ideas, secondly, powerful visual images to describe and strike interest in the project, and thridly, a peronable presentation that connects all of the over. All the components of a successful presentation parallel the three cognitive systems that work together in dual coding theory.

Group Work So Far...

So far the group work has worked really well. I think we really lucked out with our group memebers, everyone seems to get along really well and we have yet to have any major problems. They only minor problem that we have has so far is that everyone has a different schedule so it gets complicated for everyone to meet at the same time. Im sure this is typical of any group of five college studetns. Maybe, since this seems to be a problem, we might need to meet as soon as possible for Phase 2 because everyone's schedule seems to get really hectic towards the end of the semester.

Mock Interview Reflection

In reveiwing my mock interview, occuring on October 22nd, I think I was in general very successful. I went into the interview prepared. I made triple checked to make sure I had my cover letter and resume prepared and with me before leaving my appartment. I also made sure to get there at least 10 minutes early just to make sure I was not late. During the interview, I feel I was definitley calm and able to respond to the questions in a prompt and eloquent manner. I do think that I need to be cautious of how long I am speakig for while responding to the questions. I sometimes feel I begin to give too much information and it ends up disinteresting the interviewee and taking too much time. I thought the overall experiene was great. It is great to be able to practice interviewing in a non-stressful situation so that you are prepared when you go a real interview. My only critique is that I did not where I tie. I mistakenly took the "no jackets required" as "no jackets or ties required." Hopefully this does not hurt me too bad, as this could happen in a real situaion; you could spill coffee on you tie the morning of or all kinds of things could occur. The key is to control whatever happened or you forgot and enter the interview with confidence, as this will show your character and tenacity more so than a simple tie.

Free Write-Trip to Chicago

The trip to Chicago ended up being a lot of fun. I love the city, its similar to New York; however, not as dense and hard to get around. It is a great city to study architecture; there is such a collage of different styles and periods. While we were there we went to several places including: Oak park, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright and his studio; Millineum Park, design by famous architect Frank Gehry; the Chicago Architecture Foundation's Architeture Boat Tour; the architecture tour of Chicago's Loop, the early 20th c. highrises; the Chicago Art Institute; Chicago's Musuem of Comtemporary Art; and visited the Illinois Institute of Technology, home of Mies Van der Rohe's teachings. All in all this was a great trip and I really enjoyed visiting the city of Chicago.

Presentations Response

The presentation that particularly stuck out to me was Jesssica's on Tiger Town Trivia on Thursday nights. She did a great job explaining how it operated and I think it was nice how she got into the presentation and wore the TTT 21 yr-old shirt. One think I meant to ask her was why they do not have more "academic" trivia, its seems to always be about celebrities and pop culture? Especially since its at a university I think it would be good to acutally have questions incorporated to what we are learning.

Free Write

Since its definitely on my mind, I want to write about my upcoming trip to Chicago, Il. All the 4th year architecture majors at Clemson are going on a field trip to Chicago, to study the modern architecture. The 3rd year students go to New York every fall. I guess there is a belief that as an architect you should have a understanding of the United States' major urban cities. I am pretty excited about going to Chicago too; I have never been. We leave Wednesday morning from Charlotte Airport at 7:40 am, so getting up at 4:30 a.m. in Clemson to drive to Charlotte is going to be a little rough but I think I will survive. While we are their we are set up to go the famous Chicago Riverboat Architecture Tour, go to the top of the Sears Tower, go on a tour of Modern Architecture studying Chicago's skyscrappers, and of course have a good time.