Let's see...some Semester highlights?

Trips to SF. On rainy days with Leo and Lauren for their project along the Embarcadero. With Erik last Sunday to escape studying for finals for an afternoon at the Ferry Building. With Steph, Candice, Dan, and Erik to hang out at the beach and then getting followed by the scary naked guy. To meet my family for a night on the town to see the Lion King. With BUSSA to visit MOMA and to have some burritos in the Mission after. One of the best things about Cal is being close to such a world-class city.

City Planning Studio! What can I say, we rocked! We were told twice that we were better than the city planning grad studios, once by the Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning. The people in studio were great, we had a lot of fun. Especially the folks in my two teams. Late nights in Wurster listening to BEPs over and over again (Let's Get Retarded), and ugh...my first all-nighter in Wurster. Even that was kinda cool. Not really, but ya, it paid off.

Haha...my first Thursday night at Cal as a 21 year old. Thanks for being so *helpful* Miss Profiet on our walk back to the house you lil punk. I forgive you for pushing me into the shrubs, weeds, whatever you want to call them.

BUSSA. What a cool group of people. and some fun activities. I started this semester with the intention of helping start a club for students studying City Planning. I never thought that it might happen so soon and be successful. I'm really looking forward to serving as Coordinator for the club next year and seeing it further establish itself.

CP118 with Leo and Lauren. Well not the class so much, all though the class was certainty interesting. But the lunches after. Endlessly planning trips to Europe, making fun of each other, complaining to each other, or just talking. Next winter, our Europe plans better become a reality. My range of dining options has also expanded vastly this semester. Thaaaanks guys.

Parties! At the girl's apartment. At Steph's place. For Flavia's birthday. For Hanah's Birthday. Good times. We need to have a good one at our place still though.

Friday lunches with the crew. When I could make it. The discussions never failed to be entertaining.

And lastly, just normal nights at the house. Watching TV, joking around, hanging out. This is a nice place to come home to.

Summer, hopefully, will be nice. But I'm looking forward to Fall already.

Well...

I'm done! My Junior Year at Cal, is over. And I must say, I kicked ass academically this year, both semesters. On the other fronts, I had a really fun time in the house, with Leo and Lauren, and with BUSSA, over this past semester.

But of course, for me all endings are bittersweet. Friends are graduating this year, starting their adult lives. And seeing them leave just reminds me that I'm leaving this time next year...and it scares the crap out of me. I am not ready to leave Cal. Maybe I will be next May, but I doubt it. Between now and then I've got a lot to figure out. And I can't imagine saying goodbye to all my friends here, leaving this house, leaving this whole life behind.

Over the past few days I've found lots of ways to distract myself from not studying. Since Erik's been gone one of my procrastination activities have been to read the many inspirational posters/cards he has up on his wall. One, from some guy named Buddha says:

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

I should work on that.

Meanwhile, I want to have a lot of fun this summer. Head start, I'm off to Boston on Saturday morning! Good way to start my vacation while you poor saps on the quarter system are still taking midterms (sorry...sorry...sorry).

Gentes da Diáspora

Ei-los que partem
novos e velhos
buscando a sorte
noutra paragens
noutra aragens
entre os povos
ei-los que partem
velhos e novos
Ei-los que partem
de olhos molhados
coração triste
e a saca às costas
esperança em riste
sonhos dourados
ei-los que partem
de olhos molhados

Virão um dia
ricos ou não
contando histórias
de lá longe
onde o suor
se fez pão
virão um dia
ou não

-Manuel Freire

I've signed up to take Portuguese next semester, with the hope that come January, I'll be using some of it in Portugal.

Click on the poster. View the trailer, and prepare to laugh.

This just in...apparently the city of Palo Alto Human Resources made an error when they said I wasn't chosen as a finalist for the paid planning internship position! I got a message from the planning department to let me know I'm still in the running as a finalist!

What a great day.

It's over! My City Planning studio is over! It's actually kinda sad. I love studio and I hope this isn't my last. Studios have been one of the biggest highlights of my college experience. The final review today went really well for everyone. (and I must say, my group in particular really pulled it together and were dished only compliments by our panel of reviewers...a Berkeley City Planner, the architect of the biggest Development firm in Berkeley, and a well known and respected Urban Designer)

In the end our teary eyed Professor showered us with praise and wished us well, and we did likewise to her. People were patting each other on the back, many of us have become friends over the course of the semester. Overall, it ended on a really really good vibe for the 15 of us. I can safely say I learned a lot too. We put a lot of hard work and it really paid off. Woohoo!

But now that it's over...time to study for finals (boo!). Of course, before that there's a party tonight (yay!). And at least I can safely assume that in at least once class, I have a big fat A coming my way (yay for studio!).

So....I was in Studio from 5pm on Sunday to 8am on Monday. Yep, my first all-nighter in Wurster. I dodged that bullet in 11b, who would've thought it'd hit me in a City Planning studio? I made my way home by 8:30...finished up some photo shop, went back to studio at 12:30.

And I slept at 10. Slept through my alarm and woke up at 12:45...missed a review session. Oops. Kinda outta it and grumpy today. But something really cool cheered me up in ED100....I got a shout out from Professor Roy. It was really flattering. The class was having an open question/answer review session and the topic of nostalgia versus history came up.

While answering a question on the topic, Prof. Roy started talking about theme parks and said "In fact, Nick wrote a great paper on Disney theme park's use of history, about a year ago...right Nick?"

I looked at her and smiled goofly and nodded....thinking..does she want me to say something. But I stayed quiet...I was still getting over the fact that I was served a compliment in front of a lot of my friends and classmates by a prof. that is one of the most well respected in the CED.

It felt good...especially since in that class things often go over my head and I don't feel confident enough to ask questions and participate. It really made my day.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

I want Pan Dulce.

So...no Europe this summer for me. But Leo and Lauren and I are planning on going in January (brrrr). Found this off a European weather/travel web page:

For Sightseeing/Culture in reasonably comfortable weather conditions:

Spain: with the exception of Madrid[cold] and the North[wet], Spain is generally warm and pleasant in January. The best bet for a dry cultural experience is in the south, visiting the magical Moorish cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada, where the days are warm and the nights coolish. Barcelona too is a lively, interesting city, though it can be a little chilly/wet in January. Swimming in the Mediterranean in winter is no fun, nor is the sad, overbuilt coast that is now dedicated to sod-the-culture, we want sun, sea and sangria tour groups.

Portugal: A bit wet, but often warm with blue skies in January. Try the pleasant old-fashioned atmosphere of Lisbon, or further south to the Algarve for outdoor pursuits.

Italy: The southern part of Italy has generally mild winters with blue skies, so Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Sicily are excellent cultural targets, while Amalfi takes good care of those who need a scenic uplift. Venice is chilly, damp and foggy, but has an interesting, spooky quality, enhanced by the lack of tourists [and relatively welcoming locals].

Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Barcelona, Lisbon, Algarve, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sicily, Amalfi...and a spooky/interesting Venice? Sounds like some good choices to me!

So this weekend was pretty cool.

Thursday was very productive. I met with the prof who is my advisor for the first time, and we had a very nice conversation. I actually got some good advice too! Go fig. She looked over my resume as well, and gave it a thumbs up. So I felt confident taking it down to the CED "Show and Tell" that evening, where CED alumni set up tables about the company's the work for. Carey & Co, an Architectural Preservation and Planning firm was there. I would love to have an internship with them. I had a great conversation with the Vice-President (a CED arch alum) and submitted my resume. Sent an e-mail that night. Still waiting to see if anything comes of this.

My uncle got married and I missed it though. But it was at 2:00 on Friday in San Jose City Hall, kinda hard to get to seeing that I scheduled to meet with my studio prof at 5:30. Argh. Then Mikey gives me a hard time about it even though I already feel bad I didn't make it. Butt nugget punk. Hehe.

I've been spending most of the weekend either writing my ED100 paper or thinking about writing my ED100 paper or worrying that I'm procrastinating because I'm not writing my ED100 paper, or working on studio. I will be quite relieved after tomorrow when my LAST paper of the year will be turned in and I can focus my complete attention on designing a new streetscape and parking/retail complex for University Avenue (that's my part of the studio project).

But nevertheless, the weekend was lots of fun. Steph's 21st bday party was great. I managed to drink enough to have a good time....but also remember every thing that happened. (Okay that sounds bad. It's just that the two times I've been drunk since my 21st, I over did it. No regrets, never been sick, I just need to get a better idea of my limits.) Anyways, remembering everything is both a good and bad thing I suppose. I make some pretty dumb comments when I'm drunk. The truth is, I know they're dumb as I am saying them, I'll say strange things to garner a laugh (him....I am my father's son). And Lauren enjoys recounting each phrase to me the next day, while I hit myself in the head.

So after a night of drunkenness, poor Kat has "the worst hang over ever." Check out her blog for a transcript of our humorous morning-after exchange. That afternoon, Lauren, Eric, Erik, Candice, Kay and I headed down to the Presbyterian Church to see Kat's final Wind Ensemble performance. It was very nice, and I couldn't help but think it was 'very Berkeley' of the group to be out drunk partying the night before and then quietly watching a symphonic performance some ten hours later.

And on that note...Chris is still waiting to hear back about his Berkeley appeal. I think I'm just as, if not more, wound up about it then he is. He's submitted his SIR to Davis already, so if he's not a Golden Bear, he'll be an Aggie. No shame in that, Davis is a great school and he's looking forward to going there if that's the way the ball bounces. But I've been reading the "college confidential" discussion boards, which are inhabited by overly-paranoid high school seniors to see if any of them have heard back from their Berkeley appeals. Apparently some have, with a few successes. It gives me hope. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out by tonight.

All right, time to head down to campus.