Mondays.

This is the blog for students enrolled in ELI 530- Academic Speaking and Writing for Architecture and Urban Planning, at the University of Michigan.

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Reflection

With the end of this semester, there are a lot of thoughts in my mind. My deepest feeling is that time goes really fast, especially for us MUD students who are already half way down the road. In this semester, the biggest takeaway is that we had a lot of chances to study American cities through the extreme example of Detroit, learning about how the use of automobile, the racial issue and the influx of capital affect American cities to an extent that is unseen in other countries. This not only encourages to learn about many theories in the field of urban studies, but also provokes more thoughts into Chinese cities that is currently on the way of being “Americanized” in some way.

I think what could be improved is the interaction with my American classmates. Although several field trips gave us chances to hang out together and we indeed had some really great time, I feel that we should be communicating more in normal time, and exchange our thoughts and feelings more often.

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Thanksgiving Break

For the Thanksgiving I went to Chicago to experience the holiday atmosphere. Unlike most people who go to the windy city on Thanksgiving for shopping, I went there mostly for the Chinese food. With large Asian population and a famous Chinatown, Chicago has lots of Chinese restaurants with various cooking styles and wide range of dishes. With hundreds of options available, there's a lot of good eats to discover, and I could only explore a few at the short break. One of the most impressive restaurants in my trip is a famous Cantonese restaurant recommended by many Chinese students. I went there and ordered a teapot of tea and several baskets of delicious dim sums and immediately I felt like I was back to Guangzhou. It is very lucky to find such familiar taste in a foreign place. Thanksgiving is a festival with the theme of homecoming and families getting together, and I feel quite meaningful that I could have the same “homecoming“ experience in a different way.

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Reflection

During this semester, I learned a lot of things. This is the first time that I came to the United States as a Chinese student. I not only experienced the differences between Chinese and American cultures, but also learned the common features of this two. In the class here, I felt quite different in design concepts, ways of thinking and learning methods. At the same time, I also made a lot of good friends, they made me to adapt more quickly to adapt into life here. Time flies, but I learned a lot.

Of course, I also need to improve in many places. I need to continue practicing my listening and oral abilities. They can not only make my life more convenient, but also make me understand learning content more thoroughly, at the same time, allow others to better understand my ideas. In short, I will study harder next semester, and try to improve myself.

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Thanksgiving Break

In this Thanksgiving break, I went to travel in Chicago, As the third largest city in the United States, I saw a lot of things in Chicago, and it left me with a deep memory, in Chicago, I saw many famous skyscrapers. When I walk along the Chicago River, I can have a good view of the whole city version. when visiting Navy Pier, I can feel the vitality that the Michigan Lake gives to the city. In addition, I also visited the Chicago Architecture Biennale, which benefited me greatly. At the same time, I also felt the real Thanksgiving atmosphere in this important festival, which made me enjoy it very much, I can real feel the happiness of people in the street. A few days of Thanksgiving holiday soon passed, but the memory of this holiday makes me hard to forget.

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Reflection

I think I’ve got a quite nice semester. I learned some new thoughts about architecture design and got exposed to some new territory in related discipline.

 I think there are still some aspects that I didn’t do well. At the beginning of this semester, I finished every single reading by requirement. However, at the end of the semester when I was much busier than before, I just skipped some reading . I think I should really get rid of it in next semesters.

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Reflection

Now the first semester is about to end. My biggest feeling is that time goes so fast. This term is a good period for me to accommodate to the graduate study and the life in Ann Arbor. I have learnt how to manage time among many tasks and how to balance study and life. In addition, I found my new interest in architectural field; that is design simulation. I chose the design simulation as an elective course and finished many assignments such as acoustic analysis, lighting simulation and energy consumption calculation. During this process, I began to realize the importance of introducing the simulation in an early age of design, which I have never thought before.

In the next semester, I would like to continue my new interested field and begin to do some acoustic research under the guidance of my professor.

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Thanksgiving Break

I stayed at home during thanksgiving holidays because I wanted to have a good rest and finish many assignments. But unfortunately I got sick during those days. I had a fever for several days and had to stay in bed and take medicines. Being sick made me upset those days but now I have recovered and feel good. My illness told me two things; the first is that I really need to manage time well and have enough sleep. The second is that the winter in Ann Arbor is extreme so I need to have heavy clothes to keep warm.

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Reflection

Since I arrived at Ann Arbor on 3th August, it has been over 4 months until now. It is hard to believe that time goes by so quick, which seems to just take a second from then on.

I have to be honest that there is hard time to live in foreign country and study, using the foreign language to communicate. What is more, you have to respect foreign culture and try hard to understand different words in different situations, which sometimes makes so fun jokes.

But it is still an amazing semester being studying in Umich and in Ann Arbor.

Along with the cooler and cooler weather, Ann Arbor begins to snow, which symbolizes that winter is coming. I am from south of China, where has warm weather and people can’t see snow during the winter. As a result, I am quite excited about the heavy snow these days, in the same time, I feel cold.

The difference between study from different countries could be so big sometimes. With the help of classmates, I learnt a lot from studio and classes, which help me improve myself so much. Even it is so hard during this semester, I am looking forward to the next semester and keep hard working.

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Reflections

Time flies, this semester is soon coming to an end. Generally speaking, this first year of graduate study in America is great. I met new friends here, and learnt more living skills. Academically, although there were some difficulties at first, for example, reading long English essays, doing presentations, learning new machines, I gradually adapted to this pace of study. As for something that needed to be improved, it definitely will be time management. I need to set plans and goals before I start the work. This semester, I spent lots of time doing things I had not think clearly about, with no clear purpose, I was lack efficiency and spent almost twice as much time than I supposed to. I need to improve that next semester. For the next semester, I hope I can have better time management, and make time do things I am interested in.

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Trip to Chicago

During the Thanksgiving, I and a lot of my friends went to Chicago together and had a really great holiday there. We left on Thursday morning and spent nearly 4 hours on the bus. However, we found out that almost every shop, store and restaurant was closed that day and we went to the China town for hot pot. It had been nearly half a year since last time I had hot pot in China and I really missed the taste of it. Then on the next day, I and my friends spent almost a day wandering along the Michigan Ave and bought a lot of stuff for good price. The crowd of people in Chicago made me remind of my hometown Shanghai and I hope I will visit this city more in the future.

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Reflections

This is the first semester in the United States. I managed to gradually adjust to the new environment. Cooking, which used to be difficult for me become natural. The most important thing that I have learnt is time management. Good time management enables me to have different plans in mind and actively be engaged in the actual work.  I also start to be brave and step out of my comfort zone. In the past, I am afraid to try new things, now I have courage to get in touch with challenges with an open mind. For studio, I am making progress in finding logical way for designing, and I will keep actively working on design and try to be more in depth. In the next semester, I plan to be more courageous and active in connecting with various design approach, software, and make a better balance of my life with a better time management. I hope to work more logical and efficient so that I could spare my time thinking about my life, ambition, and future career besides assignments and courses.

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Reflections

During this semester, I learn a lot new knowledge of architecture, how to design, and how to make a good presentation. But what impressed me most is that in Taubman college I progress much more dramatically than before.

I spend 10 hours in the studio, so I always stay with foreign friends of my studio. we learn a lot from each other, and their excellence reminds me that study is not the only thing we should care about. The abilities of communication, keeping doing exercise, reading, even doing housework are equal important as the ability of study. In the past, because of the heavy pressure of going to a good university, I spent most of my time studying, and gave up my spare time, even felt guilty if I had a hobby which may waste my time and I can’t focus on my study. And I believed this idea was right and only in this way can I succeed.

But students in my studio can not only do great jobs for their classes, but also have many hobbies, and colorful life. With their help I believe I can do better than before. 

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Christmas Party

Because the end of the semester is coming,  in the thanksgiving day, I decided to stay in my home, and finish the assignment of my studio, and elective course.

But yesterday our studio had a Christmas party, everyone should brought food for Christmas and share together. We brought cookies, hot chocolate, chips, oil balls  and wine to Emily’s house. This was the first time I tried some many different desserts here, they are delicious and pretty. And I never thought I could have so many new friends here. I am lucky to have these cute and nice friends in my studio.

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Reflections

During this semester, I’ve learned a lot of new things and I also tried many new approaches to the design process, which I consider as the most meaningful thing. When I was in college, we didn’t spend much time on the research for the precedent building for the project. While I was told at the beginning of this semester that I would have to make a large scale of precedent model as a way to investigate the program and form for a fire station. At first I couldn’t see the meaning of such big model-making process, but later my instructor asked us to combine the models we made and have up to 10 different design ideas towards the fire station. And possessing such many design ideas really helps me to choose the most suitable one to develop. I really enjoy my studying time here and I hope I would learn more things for the next semester.

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Reflections

This semester went for me well. At the beginning of this semester I was a little bit nervous, because the study life in US is much different with study lift in China. At first, I think it will be easy if you only have 4 classes in one semester. However, then I just found out that every classes in US have many homework to do, not like in china, most class just want you to listen to teacher and have no homework. But the works in this semester do teach me a lot.

I have to say learned a lot this semester. First, I Learned a lot about how to use rhino and grasshopper, which I never use in China. And my skill become more and more better when I use them to processing my design. And about the studio, I also learned a more logic way to design my building, which means give every step a logic and a reason. Of course, I also learn some thing in other classes, like in fabrication I learned many little skills, and in frame structure I become more familiar with structure and learn some useful software.

Finally, in the next semester, I should improve my design skills and learn more about the software I’m using.

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Thanksgiving Trip

During the Thanksgiving break, I went to Chicago again with my friends, mostly for the black Friday shopping and fancy foods.

We spent an entire day on the Magnificent Mile for shopping and went to Chicago Riverwalk, which was designed by SASAKI to reclaim the Chicago River for the ecological, recreational and economic benefit of the city. This is an inspiring project as they need to account for the river's high level of pollution and annual flood dynamics of nearly seven vertical feet, and think of new ways of designing the linear park along the riverbank as well. I think it is a successful project as it brings a lot of opportunities for the site and enriches and diversifies life for visitors. One of my classmates is working on the site with SASAKI for her master project to test the water quality after the construction.

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Reflections

During this semester, what I improved the most is the presentation skills. I still remember when I first got here, honestly even before, every time I need to speak in front of a bunch of people, I got panic and my mind was in completely blank. But now, even when I’m stuck in the middle of my presentation, I would stay calm and rational to figure out my next word. Besides, I’m also excited about what I have learned in the design process in studio. This semester, our studio used precedent buildings, collages and drawings that focused on different perspectives to generate design concept, which I haven’t been through before. And each of us figured out 5 versions of our own fire station before the midterm. I think I won’t worry about just work out one design after that.

For next coming semester, I hope I could step out of my comfort zone and try things I have never done before. What I have in mind now are try new software, new design strategy, new way to represent for studio work, try to get more involved with everybody, try some crazy, fun stuff and enjoy.

Hope I could finally survive along the final week, good luck guys!