i went to IKEA!

so after only 4 months, i finally went to IKEA. Yep on a saturday night (its open til 10pm). Yes, it actually took me four months before i could find time to make the journey to one of the megastores. ridiculous, of course, but alas i have made the pilgrimage.

i realize that this must not sound all that exciting, but when you move to another country with two suitcases and no money, this becomes your biggest fantasy! heee. i purchased two table lamps and a clothing stand - i can finally stop hanging my wet clothes on top of my desk and closet in order for them to air dry! i also got a couple other odd things, a power strip, some lightbulbs, etc. and there are a few things i want to go back and get (because i couldn't carry them all home - no car, remember?!) exciting, i know.

so yeah, it was actually super easy and hardly took very long at all. i was expecting it to take hours to travel there and back, etc. but it was really quite smooth and quick! i am fortunate to live on the tube line that goes to the Edmonton Ikea, and then there is a bus that goes straight there. It was about 5 minutes on the tube (only 2 stops) to Tottenham Hale and then 10 minutes on a bus, and some time to change or whatever, but seriously i was there in less than a half an hour! hooray. And they also give you these handy-dandy giant IKEA carrying bags to tote your things home on the public transportation system - of course i didn't realize this til at the check-out so i didn't go back and get the additional items i wanted. I'll just have to go back sometime - and reuse my bag. YAY. it was so happymaking to be there. Odd, because in San Diego i absolutely hated going to IKEA. Strange, huh?

anyway, this store was gigantic. really, even for an IKEA, it was enormous. I think its fairly new. there was like 82 restaurants inside of it, i think. (j/k)

And it was really weird to be out in the suburbs. its just like in the states really (i passed a 24hour gigantogrocery store and some movie rental places, and drive-up fast food - ew), but for some reason i was sort of surprised, i guess just because i spend all my day in central london where the buildings are bursting at the seams.

but yeah, sorry Steph, my giftcard didn't work. :( boo.

what to expect

the past 2 days at school, Phase II DRL thesis candidacy reviews have taken place. This is basically, the final presentation of Design Research Lab students in expectation of their graduation from the M.Arch program.

This will be me, in one year's time.

As Phase I students, we have been helping the outgoing students prepare for their reviews for the past two weeks, and this has allowed me to learn a lot about what is ahead of me in terms of the expectations and possibilities of the DRL program. It is both exciting and scary at the same time, and while i saw a lot of amazing things these past two days during review, i also became a bit nervous as also seen were some, well, 'bad' projects. I think, however, i am eager in anticipation to make progress such as these teams did, but at the same time a bit apprehensive of all the work and capabilities it takes to carry out a successful project. Eeek.

But, game on, i'm a bit refreshed with a stronger drive to plunge forward, as the most impressive projects truly heralded incredible responses, from both students and professionals all around. To achieve such a response and create such an incredible catalogue of work will be valuable beyond just his next year, it is obvious. (People were actually offered jobs from world-renowned architects on the spot. Whoa.) You can really see the growth everyone has made in just 16months if you assume them as "same" to my classmates and myself when we entered this fall. I just hope i can become as sophisticated as some of them - the work was, well, impressive. Of course it is, in the typical "DRL" way, a bit overly rendered, formal, and not-so-responsive to contextual or realistic constraints, BUT the projects are so complex in other ways that you have to view them a bit differently than most work.

In other words, oh hell, i'm going to be exhausted. Once the teams were finished today, you could sort of see a blank, just wiped, expression on their faces overall. While clearly happy and proud, i don't think it has hit them yet. All they spoke of was just getting some sleep. :)

These are just a few pictures of the 11 total projects shown and critiqued over the past two days, as well as a few shots from the studio in the days prior to presentation. What was also exciting was to realize the interest generated by these reviews to the rest of the AA. THere were people knocking down doors to get in and peek - and it is not like that for all the program reviews at the school. The crazyness of the work is intriguing at the least.

foggy londsaytown

so a few "typical" shots of Londsay. i see these streets and buildings multiple times in my day, as they are between the 'school' and the 'studio'. Ah. and yes, it is really, seriously, raining atleast once a day! its normal to me now, my "brolie" is always with me.

more happies

birthdays. more birthdays! our little AADRL group (my classmates and i) went out on saturday to a bar - yes, actually, we left the confines of studio and went out into a real bar in actual london, near kings cross station - and celebrated some birthdays. We even waited in a queue. Impressive, i know. I got home at 4 am. So there really are bars that stay open after midnight! (12am is when the pubs all close - so by the time we normally get out of studio, they are shut. Boo.)

The pictures here show me with Matei [USA] and Tomas [Chile], (the birthday boys) and then Yevgenia [Ukraine], Ujjall, Rochana, Praneet [India], and myself taking turns wearing someone's hat.I think it is Ujjall's. They are a team of 4 also in my same studio going to Dubai with me. (Matei and Tomas are going elsewhere/doing projects with different sites, though you may remember my darling Tomas was in my team this past fall. Aw!)

so tomorrow and friday are the AADRL Phase II Final Reviews. (i.e. me in one year's time, last presentation of the program). In other words: Graduate or Die. EEeee. We have been helping them for the past week or two preparing for their critiques. Stress and Sleep Deprivation are High. Scary. In these next two days of presentations, i think i shall learn a lot about what to expect from myself in the upcoming year. There are big wigs on the reviews of course, Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, Karl Chu and some people from Columbia Uni, and of course some people from Zaha's, etc. Maybe there will even be model-smashing. Eee.

and of course, like a nerd, i offered to help video tape some parts - big mistake, as i have to get up at 6am to get there by 8am to set up! crap. idiot!

happy day to you . . .

and you and you and you and you: Jen.
Jennifer Pasternak. Happy F'n Birthday . . . !

"the Sarah"

it is true. "The Sarah" is here in London. Visiting me. Yep, YAY.

this is her, wearing an ice-suit . . . and also myself and my friend Alan, who introduced us to the chilling London Ice-Bar. Our Absolut Vodkas were served in ice-glasses and we got to wear these giant thermal blue santa outfits - very "cool"!














we have accomplished a few other "must-do-in-london"s: we went to the Theatre (the History Boys) and we drank giant beers on the street, had numerous guinnesses in several pubs, and ate late night(early morning) chinese food in chinatown after our attempts to avoid dancing. here is a picture of some hanging ducks, awaiting to be served. (in the small upper window)

also are some pictures of us out with the canadians (aka, my roommates) after a nice dinner in Islington/Angel on the "high" street (sorta near my house - though really really NOT close enough to walk home. Yet we did. Walk home. In heels. F!)

tomorrow "the Sarah" leaves for Africa. She is going on an animal search . . . to "look at some animals" . . . in other words: a safari. in Tanzania. FUN!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsaycarol/TheSarah

the PIRATE coast

NEW TERM NEW TEAM

Soooo, its a new year and for the next phase of AADRL i have new teammates: Sergio [from Columbia] and Claudia [from Austria]. We are beginning to work on our design project which should take us through til our graduation in 2009 . . . . eeee!

Our tutor is the same as i had before, and our site for the project will be in the U.A.E. [United Arab Emirates] (in the Persian Gulf), i.e. the true Pirate Coast!

We will be going to this strange "Disneyland/Dubailand" in March after the end of this term [2], visiting Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and our site in Ras Al'Khaimah. It is a very odd place really, should be incredibly interesting.

in the swing

yep its time, today was officially the first day of Term II at the AA. While i didn't have any formal classes today, i did have two assignments due, which i had to turn in by 5pm, but officially we don't meet as a studio unit until tomorrow morning at 10am. It is from then on, that i will be officially back, back in the swing of things. EW.

(It unfortunately seems that the associated excitement and newness of going to gradschool in london has effectively worn off and now the realization that i'm still a stressed-out-student has hit. I'd much rather eat some more christmas cookies and go drinking with friends - wouldn't you?!) Aw, no. I am excited to go back, a little. Just this time i know what it is going to be like, and i know that it will be, again, confusing!

Hope all are doing well and starting to plan their london adventures for this summer/fall visits to England . . .

resolution time

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008! - wow, that's crazy.

more big fireworks from lovely london - in the drizzle (but no, i didn't take these photos, i got them off bbc.)

so, what do you promise to do this year? me? no clue yet, guess i should pick something creative, though flying a plane is seeming even more challenging over here - think they fly on the wrong side too?