The past 1/2 year has been very strange. I moved city, lived apart from my husband the longest, getting used to a new school and its culture, and I've learnt so much.
SCI-Arc was intimidating at first. I must confess, it still scares me a bit. So much knowledge floating around, so much to learn, I feel inadequate sometimes. But this same sense of insecurity motivates me to learn more.
The caliber of people at SCI-Arc, be it the faculty, students, staff or administration continues to amaze me though. I feel like I am at a unique place among unique people doing the strangest and most wonderful things. Its crazy and I love it!!
Of course, I must confess yet again, I don't always love it. I hate it that I have to be away from my husband, I am not please I don't have time for pretty much anything else other than school, definitely not please we have poor indoor air quality at the school and that we don't have any plants. I miss that a lot - plants! I miss trees, plants, rivers and fish and the crazy colorful lizards and iguanas and beautiful birds... All that was amazing about the east coast. I think California has most of these things but I dislike that I have no time to see any of it. I miss having time to play with my cat!! But then again these sacrifices, I know are totally worth it...
I still manage to find time to go volunteer a few hours every week. I sometimes wonder, do I manage time poorly? Other times I think we have wayyyyyy too much work. Maybe the reality is something in between.
I disagree that while in school we should be all consumed by education and education only. I believe that college / university education should be in preparation to the real world out there. Not only give us the skills, horn in new skills but also prepare us to manage a balanced life. So far the way I've experienced architecture school is not that but then again, considering how much is there to be learnt in architecture its amazing that the B. Arch can be completed in 5 yrs...!!
Cheers!
