bwaaa-----

In just a few hours, I will be on a bus with my favorite people.

We will be headed toward the airport, where our plane will arrive and let us board for our flight into Asia.

And then we will hop on a bus that will take us to our destination in Europe.

I will be in Istanbul for a week.....for school.. .. . . ..

Just so you're aware, I'm telling this more to myself than anyone else because I still can't quite believe how fortunate I am. I never thought I'd actually go to Istanbul. This is no longer a plan on a piece of paper. My luggage is packed, I have my passport beside me (OMG I'M GOING TO GET A STAMP FOR TURKEY----)

......deep breaths.

I know! I'll calm myself down by uploading pictures of what we've been doing in terms of studio and field studies.

The derive project was a lot of fun. Not stressful at all; actually quite refreshing to be able to be so creative without limitations of regular studio projects.

Not that that's a bad thing, it's nice to be challenged. But it was also really fun to see how everyone was thinking outside of the box while not designing. If only we weren't a bit confused about the requirements (of which there weren't really any, in terms of materials used -- i.e., we didn't have to draw on paper -- we just thought we did because we misunderstood our field studies class as being only a sketching class).

And in terms of studio Project 2, that was just as good. We'd been doing exercises in which we're given a figure-ground map from places outside of Rome with a portion cut out. Our assignment is to fill in the gap with our own scheme, thinking about context, movement, and all other aspects of urban design. For the first two studies, we had one our each to come up with a response. The third, we were given a week, or a few days. The final one that we pinned up was a site in Rome and was done over the span of... a week and a half, I think..?

I stayed up through the last night (don't worry, I napped afterwards) to tone my drawings and saw the market vendors setting up before the sun began to rise in Campo, listened to good working music (from Chopin to The Andrews Sisters to Sleigh Bells), and didn't freak out. That's... a first...

I think it may have something to do with the fact that I didn't get consumed by attempting to build a perfect model.

And finally, for further enjoyment, please.. PLEASE... watch this video. It will make you so happy if you do.