Reflections on four years

When I started college at ASU, it was my silver metal. I had had vauge notions of going to an Ivy League school, but of course, when you only apply to one of them, odds are against you. As I began freshman year, I promised myself that I would get as good an education as Rice students if I worked as hard as they did (or what I imagined they did). Two years later, I was happy to be at ASU.

ASU made me consider the parts of my life that I’d long neglected, or considered insignificant in relation to school. For me, it taught me that education is not just what teachers tell you, but also what happens outside of class, working on my own, discovering how to enjoy myself, spending time with friends, filling out my life. ASU really mellowed me out, allowed me to take a step back and look at the larger picture. Sometimes, for me, watching a spectaular sunset is important than getting to class on time. I’ve learned to forgive myself sometimes.

I think that if I’d gone to Rice straight from high school, I would have missed the bigger picture. I used to think of education as its own end, higher than anything else. I would have done well there, firmly entrenched in academia, but would I have been happier? I don’t think so. If I went there now, knowing what I know, I think I would be able to get more out of it.

I think I’ve mostly fulfilled my promise to myself. An architecture degree is easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I got through the first year on my high school academia honors mindset, the second year on the challenge of acceptance to upper division, the third year on the pure love of architecture, and the fourth year on attempting to understand the relation of architecture to larger issues.

Before I started the program, I was warned by my aunt who also happens to be an architect. She told me, truthfully, that it’s a very hard road to go, and you spend a lot of time with a small group of people, and that unless you love it, its not worth it. Good advice. I decided to go for architecture anyway. Freshman year, I was in a special program where I lived in a dorm with about 20 other architecture students in my class, and we had special acess to professors, shared studio space with the class a year ahead of ours, and dedicated facilities close to the architecture building. Interestingly, only two of the original 20 graduated this year in the architecture program: Molly, and me.

Some of my friends have been dissapointed with where we ultimately ended up, but I think ASU did a decent job of getting us to a certain point. No, I can’t immediately hop into the field as a project architect, but I can design a building, I have some knowledge of all the systems and parts that go into a project, and a good foundation of design. I’ve also picked up a half dozen computer programs for designing, drafting, and rendering which I could turn around and use by themselves.

Four summers ago, I had my first job scooping ice cream for retirees in an antiques market. I think I was paid somewhere in the range of six dollars an hour. Now, I’m taking a salaried position at one of the most prolific architecture firms in the valley.

Outside of school, I have been astounded by all that I have done in the last four years, including backpacking through Europe, tropical island vacations, a semester abroad in South America which is the highlight of my life so far, music, a vastly expanded social and dating life compared to high school, and too many other travels and adventures to mention. It’s been good.