Last day of school

Today was the last day of school.

Today I got to school early after running some errands and gravitated up to studio. Found some classmates up there. It's kind of funny, even though we're done with that class, we still go there just to hang out and see each other. It's just a common place. Anyway, we still have to clean our stuff out, take last pictures of models, etc. I really love my bridge model and I think I could transform it into a hangable CD rack, but on the other hand, I should just trash it so it doesnt become part of the debries of my life. Letters for summer internships were finally handed out. They didn't email us or announce it- it was just spread by word of mouth, and we had a lot of fun asking about where everyone is going to going to be working this summer and looking up various firms online. I'm very glad that I was able to circumvent the lottery, as I'd never heard of ANY of the firms people were being sent to. There were firms which did customized McMansions, firms which specialized in landscape design (that student was really ticked off when he was looking at thier projects), and a variety of other firms ranging in size from 9 people onwards. Everyone was very jealous to hear that I'd landed DWL.

Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity. I think I've been such a lucky person in life since I've tried to prepare myself so extensively, and because I've had so many opportunities and known so many wonderful people who lead to these opportunities.

Anyway, we had our last history of architecture lecture, with the likes of Libeskind, Calatrava, Gerhy, Rem Koolhaas, and an as yet unbuilt project by Zaha Hadid. This is pretty much a lineup of the most famous cutting edge western architects. We closed with an image of a Calatrava museum, as Dr. Morton loves alliteration in his subnaming his courses: Caves (of Lescaux) to Calatrava, or approximately 52,000 years of human architecture.

One thing I forgot to mention was that me and two guys from studio were cracking each other up during the reviews yesterday catalouging the various movements that reviewers do while reviewing. While losing something without the hilarious accompanying sketches, here is a basic rundown:

the "Steeple n' Nod"- steeple fingers togather while leaning forward and nod head rhythmically, constantly.

the "Six-inch stand" or the "Smell"- stand six inches away from massive presentation boards and stare at it intently in the middle of the presentation.

the "Step n' Slide"- for a reviewer shifting from the "six inch stand" position, the correct motion is to step back with one foot to the side around the model, and SLIIIIIIDE the other foot around.

the "Pick n' Peek" -reviewer lifts model, peeks into it, turns it around, peeks some more.

the "half-stand and point" - reviewers assume a half-standing, half-sitting posture with the body bent and the arm and forefinger extended to indicate some interruptive point.

the "Squat n' Squint" -reviewer squats down to view the model from eye level, squinting with one eyebrow raised.

the "Mute Lean" -reviewer leans back in chair with hand placed thoughtfully on chin or over mouth, says nothing.

the "Ping-Pong" -reviewer looks back and forth between project and boards or student and boards quickly and regularly. A variant is the up-and-down.

These may be too much of in-jokes, but anyone who'se ever been in architecture school will immediately recognize these. My last day at this job will be next Tuesday.