Namaste from India! Though it really should be from Canada.
After concluding my first year at Waterloo, I decided to reboot and recharge by treating myself to a little travelling. It is important to note that this summer will be my very last summer (the youthful kind with frolicking through sprinklers and not worrying about a job) because Waterloo is a co-op school which means that I will be put through cyclic rounds of a term in school and a term in an office until it eventually culminates to a term in Rome (!!!) and a B.Arch.
Choosing to go to India was the easy part: I am a deep appreciator of Louis Kahn and wanted to see his IIM in Ahmedabad; there is also a fair smattering of Corb buildings in and around the area; the stepwells of India have always interested me to no end; and I'd be lying if I said that this trip had nothing to do with the sun and beaches of Goa. But, if I must defend myself, it was our school's director who once said, "A good architect has to know how to walk on the beach."
An obligatory listing of goals for this blog:
1) Represent Canadian Architecture Schools! Sure, there aren't a lot to speak of, but we are worth the attention! I promise!
2) Self-preservation. It'll be a big scrap-booking fest of my time at this school, with the added thrill of talking about myself on the internet.
3) Hopefully keep you entertained throughout? Maybe?
I have a hellish 2 day airplane trip eagerly awaiting me now but hopefully my next post will have some pictures from India and maybe some embarrassing drawings from first year? I'll maybe do the ever popular "What I Learned From Architecture School" thing or a list of memorable quotes from last year (sneak peak: "(sobbing) Is an axo of a circle a circle or an oval? Anybody. Please help me... please.").
Oh, and the monkey. If you are still wondering what on earth that was about... it happened in Jaipur. I had climbed through a rocky barren gorge to check out the Temple of the Sun God, as I had heard that it offered fantastic views of the city, especially at sunset. My Lonely Planet did mention that monkeys liked to converge here at dusk, but what they failed to mention was that these monkeys were crazy! So on my climb back down, a monkey ran up behind me, bit me on the calf, and then ran away screaming into the woods.
But the view was indeed fantastic. I highly recommend it.
6 Comments
Erica,
Sounds awesome. I am (if everythign goes as planned) going to India for a couple of weeks myself, this fall. I am also very interested in the stepwells and other forms of indigenous water/landscape management. Jaipur, Delhi and Hrshikesha are on my itenary.
Erica I hope you got a tetanous shot! Crazy monkey. I've had one piss on my lap. But your journey sounds great so far...and yes realy architects know how to walk on the beach
re: namhenderson
Good luck on your trip to India--you are going to absolutely love it! If you are going to be in Rajasthan, I highly recommend Udaipur and Mt. Abu. The former was my favorite place in India even if it rained half the time I was there. Visit the Monsoon Palace on a motorbike; to do so in any other form of transportation will be sacrilegious.
re: architechnophilia
I did indeed get a tetanous shot but at a very dodgy hospital... like, imagine leaky ceilings, used syringes on the floor, ad unlabeled vials. But considering that I am not frothing at the mouth or leaping at the sight of water, I think I can cross off rabies off the list of exciting diseases I might have caught during my travels!
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