I'm already about halfway through with my winter break, and I've been able to relax and celebrate the holidays with my family. I even was snowed in for a few days earlier in the week, giving me the perfect excuse to sleep and watch movies, a luxury much appreciated.

I also celebrated with friends with a small Christmas party, which included all the cliche activities...cookie swaps, secret santa exchanges, and all the classic movies. It was nice way to reunite with all my friends from home that I hadn't seen since Thanksgiving.

I'm still looking for to returning to school though; I should have a lot going on this semester. I will be applying for my first co-op position that I will be starting the spring semester of 2009, which means portfolio and resume preparations. I also will be applying for the study abroad program in Rome for the Fall of next year, an exciting part of the architecture program here at NU. And when I come back, my schedule allows for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to be nearly entirely free of classes (all the architecture classes are now on Tuesday/Thursdays for me), so I will be looking to find a part-time job somewhere, most likely off-campus. I also have my Honors seminar to look forward to. So far all my honor courses have been really interesting and exciting and I'm sure this will be no different. It's on a topic I have no real background in: the history of espionage, taught by Professor Burds. But I'm excited to take an elective that's different from anything I've taken at NU thus far; in the past I've focused on environmental science/studies courses.

Posted by Jessica Wilcock at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Basically my life for the past couple weeks has occurred primarily in the studio. Everyone's pretty much been frantically trying to finish all the requirements for the final presentation we are giving on our library design on Monday...including very time-consuming models. On top of the 7 to infinite hours I'm spending in the studio a day, I've been trying to finish up a group project for structures and a term paper for 19th century architecture.
Architecture majors quickly learn that studio takes precedence over other classes (as much as the professors of those other classes hate to hear it). But in comparison to the work load for studio, those classes can essentially be pushed aside until necessary, when there is an assignment due or exam scheduled. Studio is definitely also the most important in gaining the skills necessary for the profession, so I guess it makes sense that we put that on the top of our list.

Posted by Jessica Wilcock at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)