Day 10

Tuesday, June 29

Today we got split in half the second we got to the archi stairs. My half of the group went upstairs to the computer lab. We played around with google sketch-up and some of the pictures that we put into black and white yesterday. We made it into an abstract piece and combined it with 3 other cubes from our group members. I really enjoyed this abstract activity.

The activity took the entire day. We went back up to the dorms at about five and Ashley, Megan and I went running and we ran through the sprinklers afterwards :D it was so much fun! At six we had to head back down for our weekly Tuesday night BBQs. After the BBQ we got 2 pinatas because we always celebrate the weeks birthdays on Tuesday nights. Afterwards, we got our weekly lecture. Today it was about admissions to CalPoly and how to become a licenced Architect. We asked a lot of questions and I learned so much!

At the end of the day, Megan, Ashley, Cristin and I did an intense ab work out and then Ellen, Ashley, Megan, and Jagruti talked with the RA's and amongst ourselves about many different topics. Overall it was a productive and fun day, but I am beginning to realize that once I return home in about 2 1/2 weeks I will still have 5 weeks of summer left. It honestly doesn't feel like I should be going home anytime soon, and I don't even know what I'll be doing once I get back. I love my family and friends but the independence here is just amazing! I am also so excited about architecture and I don't want to have to go back to the boring nothing-to-do-with-architecture classes that we have to take for the rest of high school. I wish I could just skip the ACT and SATs and merge into college. I am loving summer and my new friends!

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 9

Monday, June 28

We were all back to the normal morning routine again today. We got a guest speaker that visited to talk about admissions to CalPoly it was really interesting and I learned a lot about the admissions process for CalPoly in specific. Afterwards, one of the first yr architecture teachers talked to us about our assignment. We had 1 1/2 hours to take pictures of our journey through a space. We had to do at least 4 spaces and take more then 6 pictures of each. We then uploaded the images to a computer (and the shared server), put them in 5x7 black and white photos and printed them. We then had to trace about 4 or 5 different aspects of them (lines, light and dark, shadow, vantage point, etc) and then one final composed of a few of them. We then mounted the pictures and begun to cut them out and cut out what we thought was the most important part (one or multiple aspects of the sketches). We get more time to work on it tomorrow but it was really fun :)

The lunch break was awesome because we went to the campus bookstore and I looked at the iPad while people were getting other stuff they needed to buy. I have completely changed my mind on the iPad and think it would actually be a valuable investment if it had a built-in camera and had way more storage. I actually like the Mac version of word, excel, and ppt after I have worked with them for a while but they are sort of confusing to figure out. The games are really fun too (not that that should be the main part) and the speakers are actually very nice. I'm excited now to see where they take it next!

We went running again today before dinner (Megan, Dennis, Ellen and I) and it felt really nice to get a workout :) The food here isn't extremely healthy but it is ok as long as we get some exercise with it. We then continued our puzzle (we finished it!! and it was 1000 pieces!!) and I video chatted with Bryan at ten twentyish. It was awesome talking to him again, even if it was just for a little while.

I am so tired so I'm heading to bed early today. I will keep you updated!

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 8

Sunday, June 27

Today is Sunday and we went to the beach! The second I got there I went down to the tide pools with Paul, Graham and a few other guys. When we got back, the pizza was being served and Paul, Graham and I sat on my towel to eat. Paul left half way through but Graham and I talked forever. He's Drumline captain at his school (super small marching band though but that doesn't matter too much) so we had a really awesome topic of conversation :P After lunch me and him walked along the trails that ran up and down the coast, took some great pictures and just talked. He's such a nice guy (with a girlfriend, don't worry i'm not flirting with him haha) and I enjoy his company (again, as a friend!). Before we left, we climbed this giant rock type thing that was also at the beach. It was a really fun time at the beach today (totally forgot what it's called, i'll let you know later).

When we came back we finished our sketching project, worked on the puzzle, and watched Blades of Glory with a few people in the rec room :) That movie was so funny!! At night Ashley, Ellen, Megan and I had a long talk in our room and Ashley ended up sleeping in our room (on the floor lol) which was awesome. This weekend was def. great :D

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 7

Saturday, June 26

Saturday!!! Finally get to have the weekend and way less work to do. Today we went to downtown to do a group sketch assignment :) We used water colors for some of them. Our assignment was to draw 2 building fronts, 2 building details, a person on a bench, and a lamp post. In the end we have to use the sketches as a tour through the city. It was lots of fun to get out :)

In the afternoon we played Mow with Ashley, Ellen, Paul, and Dennis. We later played 10 fingers, which was very entertaining. I love hanging out with everyone. At night Ellen, Ashley, Megan and I watched Chicago which was so amazing. I fell asleep during the last 1/2 hr or so though :/ oh well, I'll just watch the end again :)

At the end of the day we all fell into bed. We were all so exhausted since it was the end of a very long week.

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 6

Friday, June 25

Routine morning (saves a lot of typing haha) Workshop started with a guest speaker: one of the teachers that teaches architectural engineering. He explained what they do and how it gets integrated into the field/the classes/life. We got a project to build a structure out of five cubes on a cardboard base. We each had to pick a care (A-4) to see how many cubes had to touch the ground. I got 2 so it was interesting to build. We then had to insert diagonals to stabilize the structure so it won't move no matter where we put force on it. It was really fun to create. At the end we could substitute some of the diagonals with paper squares or string x's so we could see how tension was created.

In sketching class, we used water colors today. It was so interesting and a great learning experience! We do have homework: redraw the cube with watercolors and then just experiment with gradient, shades, and mixing colors. We don't have sketching class any more but we had other guests/activities/classes anyway. I am so surprised how much I have improved, grown and learned in just a week of these classes!!

After class Ellen and I went down to the track and did a sprinting exercise with warm-up and cool down, resulting in us running a total of 1 1/2 miles. We headed to dinner (and played ten fingers when we were done eating, so fun) and then went to do a puzzle in the main room. We did that for a while and all decided we wanted to watch RENT (thank goodness I brought it). Soooooooo, Megan, Ellen, Ashley, and Kristen pilled into my room and we watched it together :) Definitely had a fun Friday night with my new bffs :) Continuing to have an amazing time and I'm getting really close to some of these people; guess that's what happens when you live with them. I'm glad I found a group that isn't boy-obsessed, actually cares about sports and health, and is fun to be around. As I found out through ten fingers, I am the least innocent because I won (got out first haha) and I kind of like it lol. Totally looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow! :D

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 5

Thursday, June 24

Woke up today same as usual and had the usual breakfast (yay for routines haha). In the workshop today we got a piece of fishing wire hung from the ceiling and about 20 different materials. We listened to different styles of music while we worked and had to become inspired by the music. It took the entire day and was so much fun!!

Sketching class was about shading and we learned the shading scale (0-10) and a few other things which was fun :) Our homework is to draw a cube with the shading. At four thirty (after countless burn, cuts, and bruises from the project lol) Megan, Ellen and I rushed back to the dorms, got changed and went for a quick run. We got back just in time to run up to our room, change, and head to the bus stop in time :)

We went to Farmers Market at five thirty. We had dinner at the best BBQ place in San Louis Obispo (I had a veggie sandwich :) and then had frozen yogurt for dessert. We walked around Farmers until eight and then walked back to Cal Poly. It was a 40 min walk so we still had an hour and twenty min until girls and guys had to separate. Ellen, Megan, Dennis, Paul, Ashley, and I played Mau together for that time and it was so much fun!! Today was def. FUN :D

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 4

Wednesday, June 23

Where do I begin? I would have to say that today was my most productive day :) Started out with breakfast as usual (cereal, probably not going to change anytime soon) and then we went to the conference room at nine. We discussed yesterday's project (the two cubes with the 3 materials) and talked about what we liked/didn't like. Then we talked about today's project. We had to design something (couldn't be bigger then 18"x18"x18") with a 10"x10"x1" base and at least 4 of the following materials: wire mesh, paper clips, paper towels, spaghetti, cardboard, rubber bands, and string. We could also use all of our tools and wire cutters. It was really fun to see how the materials worked together to bring out different properties in each other.

We had another sketching class in the afternoon and we learned how to measure things with our pencil so that it is proportional on the paper. We drew the outside of the architecture building and got our homework: to draw the outside of our dorm (or one of the other dorms) using the pencil measuring thing.

At around four thirty, we gathered with our completed or semi-complete projects and discuss different aspects of them, e.i. light, layers, materials, how the base was used, etc. It was really interesting to see the different creations and how they used materials together.

We headed back to the dorms around five and megan and I immediately did our drawing. It took us until six to finish and we headed to dinner.

We ate in turbo speed (20 min) so that we could go down to the track to run the mile. We stopped running at six fifty just in time to head up to the dorms, change, grab money and head to the bowling alley with the second group. Megan and I played 2 games with some of the RA's (Katie, Lindsey, and Jason), headed to the arcade to play the shooting game, and then the two of us had 4 bowling lanes to ourselves because it was eight thirty so most of the other groups had left. We went back up to the dorms at nine and Megan played ping-pong while I watched the game/movie/talked with people. There was a meeting at nine thirty where we got told about the farmers market and our weekend activities/projects. When the meeting ended I went back upstairs and took a shower. I am so glad I finished the sketching homework earlier because I was able to do the fun stuff in the evening. Thins are going so great!

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 3

Tuesday, June 22

WOW!! It feels like it should be the last day because everyone now feels so comfortable around each other! I love knowing that it will last another 3 1/2 weeks, and I can't wait to see how much more I will grow because I have learned so much already! Today stared out with breakfast (cereal :D) and then we headed to the conference room at nine. We talked about the cubes that we made yesterday and looked at different thought processes. Most had jut the plain cube, but others had cut out/drawn on patterns, symbols, designs, etc. We got a hangout of what we had to do today and at ten thirty we broke into studios. Our assignment for today was to make two cubes. We had 3 materials (white template and two different colored card stock) and all the tools that we brought. We could also use materials we found in the studio/scrapyard. We were supposed to think about movement, flow, color, shading/light and a few other things I can't remember.

We broke for lunch at twelve and got back at one (had orange chicken and chow mien in case you care)/ When we got back we had a 2 hour discussion about where we were at and we looked at the unfinished models of some of the cubes. At two was our drawing class again. We covered vantage points and drew some 2 vantage point and 1 vantage point drawings. It was really fun and I def. improved. Our homework was to to draw our dorm with 1 vantage point and the lounge with 2 vantage points. We headed back to the studio at three.

Although studio ends at four most of us stayed until six to finish (I finished sex ten). We then had dinner (BBQ :D) and at seven we had a 1 hour lecture about architecture with pictures of some of Mark's favorite buildings and some of buildings he designed. Most people headed back to the dorms (including me) to do the sketching assignment, but some people had to stay to work on their cube assignment. It took me until nine forty-five to do the sketching homework but it was so much fun!! Me and 4 other girls and 3 guys sat in the upstairs lounge sketching and helping each other out while 2 guys were playing Brawl on the Wii we have in there. I then headed for the showers and am now writing this.

Although I do miss family and friends, I am making new friends and basically getting a new out-of-home family. The RA"s and TA's are so nice and super fun! Yesterday the RA's played soccer and basketball with us, and the TA's (mine's Patrick btw) are so helpful in the studio. Mark, of course, is awesome to have as a camp director and he is a very talented architect Like I said, I feel so comfortable here ad going back to HS after knowing what college can feel like will be very hard. Now that the groups are integrating(girls and guys aren't separating anymore and we wit/work/etc) and people are becoming more vocal, it is a blast :)

The teaching style is amazing as well. We try things out, then talk about them, and then do them again. This way we can actually LEARN from out mistakes and other people's mistakes instead of just being told what to do. We can be so creative because there are hardly any rules. I love the freedom we are given as well; I just love it here!

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 2

Monday, June 21, 2010

Second day and I am loving it!!! We started out with breakfast and then did some group stuff in the conference room (never seen 60 people make a circle before but some kind of circular shape in a rectangular room is actually possible haha). After that we broke off into our studio (groups of 15). We get our own desk and studio key so we can visit any time (with TA supervision), which is very awesome. Our first assignment was to make a perfect cube, and it's a lot harder then it sounds; trust me! So that, believe it or not, took and hour and a half.

After studio we combined with another studio and had an art class. We drew a few things right way and mirrored and up-side-down at a very fast pace, but it was fun :) By the end of the week we're doing water colors, which I can't wait for! We got our second homework assignment: sketch a towel hanging over a chair. By the end of this I think I'll have 20 sketches of towels, so be prepared if you want to look through my work.

We ended at 4 and Meghan and I headed over to the key shop (to pick up our studio keys) and then back to the dorms. After quickly changing, we walked down to the field/track/court section of campus and Meghan joined the soccer game while I ran a mile. Yay for exercise, right? After a good run and watching some of the game, we headed back to the dorms and played ping pong and Fusball in the rec room. We played for about 2 hours with a bouncy ball soccer ball. Again, that too is a lot harder then it may sound. We were supposed to go bowling but a party rented out all the lanes, so we're going Wed. Night :D fun stuff!!

Well now it's 8:20pm and I still need to take a shower AND do my sketching homework so I'm going to finish this up before I spend more time describing the details of my endless day. I am loving this so far, and I can't wait to see how we will grow and learn throughout the workshop :)

xoxo

Lisa-Marie

Day 1

Sunday June 20, 2010

Hello fellow friends!

So I arrived here at CalPoly today and unpacked the suitcases. I put up some pics to make it feel homey and already feel comfortable living here for the next 4 weeks. I think this experience is going to be so much fun and I can’t wait to get started! We have dinner (BBQ) in about an hour and then a meeting at 7. I don’t really know what else to say lol. My roommate is really nice. Her name’s Meghan. She flew in all the way from Boston! That makes my 4 hour car trip look like a wimpy ride :). Well the 29 other girls and 30 guys should be here by now so all I have left to say is…

… Let the fun begin!

Xoxo

Lisa-Marie