stephanieNY

Look how huuuuuge Sao Paulo is. It's the seventh largest city in the world. This is where my studio is going in March.

And we're going to Curitiba too. It's the city that my professor was the mayor of. So it'll be like touring New York City with Rudy Giuliani...sort of.

Looks like Boston's warming up to its modern buildings.

This one's my fave:

...as in after 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
...as in the studio choice I ended up with this semester.

Our studios are determined by lottery. Each semester, we sit through an afternoon of presentations by each professor as they woo us with their proposals. In this crucial final semester, the options were disappointingly weak for us third-years. I was really into only one (out of 18) studios. I'm still mourning it's death, as I found out only hours ago that I didn't get into it. Maybe some day I'll tell you about it. But not today. My second choice was...oh-kay. So you can imagine how I feel about my fifth choice. I'm borderline just not interested in it. I'm so disappointed. I needed this semester to roll me up tight into a complete and comprehensive masters graduate ball to bounce me out into my career. I fear this turn of events will only complicate my personal thesis and brand, and confuse my position as a designer. Dramatic, I know. But, I am mourning.

Ok, that was me whining. Now, this is me looking on the brighter side of things:

The studio I will be taking is taught by Jaime Lerner. He's sort of a big deal in Brazil. Really...a governor of the state of Parana in Brazil for a while, mayor of the capital of Parana, and a renowned city planner. Read his wikipedia page...some of his reforms as mayor are kind of brilliant (or at least refreshingly sensible). So, we're going to be proposing alternative models for urban organization and specifically, transportation. I'm pretty anti-cars and pro-living/working in cities. He seems to be too, so I'm sure it will be just fine...and I'm open to pleasant surprises.

Oh, and I'm going to Brazil in a few weeks. Hah!

My final semester started today...the beginning of the end. Can't believe it. Well, I can, I think I'm just in the habit of saying I can't believe it, because that's what everyone says. But I can.

Anyway, the beginning of my end now involves the beginning of next year's new students. Along with a few other third-years, I'm helping to review applications for next fall admissions, and we had a meeting today, to be instructed on how to evaluate the applications. It struck me how perfectly full-circle this will probably feel, helping to admit (or deny) these newbies, as I'm peacing out to move onto my next thing. But how strange it'll feel to be in a position of judgment. Who am I?

I imagine it'll be really satisfying but kind of uncomfortable, empowering and maybe a little intimidating. I fear flipping open the file on someone applying for my position at school, who is more qualified than me now...and being forced to commend them while second-guessing myself. I'll try to stick to the satisfying and empowering parts. But mostly, I think it'll be really interesting and enlightening...to see where people are coming from, what they've studied, and how they put together a portfolio. And to bring it back to myself of course, I'll probably wonder where my application fell, in a similar group of applications three years ago. But I'm judging them though, not me, right?

We stayed at the Hudson Hotel on Sunday night. It's so swanky and hip...so Gossip Girl. We had cocktails in the library bar before dinner and another after dinner in the club. Fancy, huh?

We took lots of pictures.

Adam and I ate at Neptune Oyster last night. We scored the two stools at the end of the bar that face out the window. We milked it for as long as possible, and by the time we left, we had eaten oysters (fried and raw), mussels, arctic char, and petite octopus. Mmmmmm.

I've been looking for a new bag for-evah. And finally, with the help of a sale at Banana Republic and some gift cards from Christmas, I purchased this gem yesterday. It's grey on the outside and red on the inside...mmmm. And it expands to fit my laptop and maybe my lunch. Love.

Take twelve and half minutes to watch this. It is entirely computer-generated...as in no cameras...as in when you think something looks too real to be fake, it's fake...completely modeled and rendered digitally. Ah-mazing.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

To read more on it: bldgblog

On our way to the south shore last week in a zipcar:

I met friends for drinks in New York on the actual day:

When I got back to Boston the next week, Adam threw me a party in the North End:

And I'm just getting around to posting the pictures.