On your first day of studio, you walk in thinking you are going to change the look of the world as we know it.

But you have no idea what you are getting yourself into.

Then you find out you have a project due during syllabus week.

And you think because you have heard of Frank Lloyd Wright that you got this.

And it’s a group project.

OK, maybe this isn't what you expected, but you soon learn that architecture is all about collaboration, whether you like it or not.

Of course, once you finish and spend less than a minute admiring your very first creation, a clumsy peasant bumps into your model.

It takes every ounce of strength in you not to cry.

So, you pull your first all-nighter to fix it.

And you promise yourself that you will never let that happen again.

When everyone is going out on Thursday night you are raging in studio.

And that is OK, because mid-morning dance parties and fattening food deliveries in studio are a common occurrence.

But at least you have built resilience to little sleep and little food.

When you come home from breaks, you try to reframe your emaciated figure and sleep to make up for lost time.

You develop some solid opinions on non-studio classes.

And it is not always a positive one.

And when your university requires you to take a non-architecture class…

You mean I have to go outside of the architecture building for class?

And peoples’ pity reaction to your major no longer phase you.

At least there will come a day when you can call yourself a “super senior” during your fifth year in thesis.

You develop a whole new vocabulary.

It consists of words like form, space, juxtapose, symmetry, clarity, massing, proportion, sensation…and many more.

But you say the same thing every time your parents ask about grades.

And most professors will agree.

And you feel special after making something like a total boss.

Chop saws and band saws no longer intimidate you.

But sometimes you have accidents.

And of course there are never any band aids in the first aid kits.

At least you learn to fight for the laser cutter during finals.

Sometimes it gets nasty.

And learn to make cool stuff like this.

Even if it took you hours on end.

But you feel hopeless when you forget to save your work.

Ctrl S are your favorite consonants.

During finals week you have approximately 30 “final” projects saved.

Final Project…Final Project 2…Actual Final Project…Literal Final…This One…Final Final…Finally Final…

Leading up to your final review you may look something like this.

Essentially well rested, but exactly the opposite.

And after your final review.

If the reviewers did not tell you to consider a new career, you know your review went pretty well!

Actually this is probably more accurate.

For now you are free…until your next project commences.

Your life is forever changed, but early on you realize your architecture friends will see you at your worst and at your best and will love you either way.