I try to do an update on classes and school everytime I write so here it is. It has gotten much easier, easier in the sense that I have become content with not understanding everything. I realized that the set up of the school system is quite different from America. How? Well I will take a stab at it but this is only from a half year experience and what I say is only applicable to the architecture school.


In Europe it seems to be more about learning whereas in America the university system seems to be more about success. A learning environment geared toward success seems to be set on proving that you can accomplish the learning goals of the course regardless of whether you want to be there everyday. I think a learning environment, like the one here, is geared toward providing the ideal learning situation, for those who are really interested in learning, which doesn’t have so much to do with proving that you learned the subject. There is both a problem and advantage to this setup. The problem is that people can slip by with out understanding everything since they are not forced to show that they have learned. However the advantage is that I can slip by without understanding everything. But in all seriousness, both systems have many advantages and I am happy to be able to experience them.

There is a phrase that makes its way to the front of my mind about once every week while I am trying to talk with my professors. This phrase is something I always want to say but ultimately and wisely decide to hold back. It is probably an idea that every person who has ever studied abroad has considered explaining to someone who they are talking to. This is the phrase, “I am not really this dumb at home and most of the time I am good at what I do.” For some reason I feel like this phrase would explain all the shortcomings of my presentation or project but in the end I realize that it is only an excuse.

And that is an extremely important realization that I have learned in terms of architecture: I will not have the opportunity to explain with perfect articulation the intentions and concepts intended in my architecture to all the users or clients involved in project selection. Furthermore most of the people who enter a building don’t ask for a recitation of the architects design process, they just go in and live, work, shop, or whatever without much thought. So through my in ability to communicate precisely with words what I have intended, I learned that the idea that the architecture should be clear enough to speak for itself is the ultimate goal when I consider the users of a building. (I am sorry if that was too architecture specific, deal with it)

There’s more but I will save it for next time.