A Coffee Closing

While aspects of this assignment are annoying, there are many things I can appreciate from it. Firstly it got me to leave campus something I now do on a regular basis, and it has also helped me to learn the tricks to navigating the city on a bike. Lastly it helped me to find mission coffee, a place I know go on a bi weekly basis. Mission is now where I frequent my time in the short north, often spending long hours writing my Essays there. It has stood the test of time so far for me, and my enjoyment there has been much stronger than any of the other coffee locations. I have truly been shocked at all the different coffee locations around Columbus, and keep learning about more to go to. I have definitely realized that Columbus has a lot to offer in those regards, much more, than I had originally realized. Each of the coffee shops I visited had their own advantages and disadvantages with the possible exception being cup o Joe winch had no advantages. This trip has definitely given me new perspectives on what is around Columbus and I look forward to finding more treasures in the coming years.

Cup O Joe

Cup o Joe was definitely my least favorite coffee shop on the list. While for the most part it wasn’t terrible, it felt like a Starbucks knock off complete with syrupy drinks, and overpriced espressos that were from an automated machine. The bean variety there was much lower than that of everywhere else I visited, and all the coffee was pre made in heated carafes, annoying considering the attempt to reach pricing of mission and the likes. CUp of Joe left a sour taste in my mouth after leaving, its attempt to fit in with the craft coffee house setup, with the quality of Einstein bagels has made me likely never to go back there. Overall its not the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted, but it is far from the best, and could do well by adding something else to there menus to attract customers, as for now I won’t be going back.

Stauffs Coffee

Today I visited Stauffs coffee at North Market. It was during a group trip with my floor that I went. While the coffee was good it definitely wasn’t among my favorite places I’ve visited. It lacked the great coffee of One Line, or the atmosphere of mission. The only plus I found was that it offered a convenient cup when browsing the market. Stauffs coffee was pretty average in terms of taste, and was also plagued at the time with a broken espresso machine they forgot to descale. Despite the short comings the environment that the north market offers is really wonderful, however it is unlikely id go to stuffs out of enjoyment.

Impero Coffee

And so I stood outside on a rainy day about to enter my third coffee shop this week in an attempt to find my perfect spot. Previous days at Mission Coffee, and One Line Coffee left a sweet taste in my mou7th revolving around well designed, higher priced coffee shops where experience ment everything. The coffees at these shops was suburbs, and the care that went into making them first class. What would await me inside Impero was completely different however. Upon entrance you could immediately tell this Place was different, but not in the way I had hoped, the interior was rather bland, and the the coffee not up to par with the others. However what it made up for with this was in character, and the people. Impero defied the ideas of the hipster coffee connoisseur, and replaced it with good enough coffee but great people. No more than ten minuets after entering I had immediately struck up with a local photographer and an English prof about the values of Hollywood Surrealism. This was a place you could go and just have fun at. Gone were the snooty discussions about various eateries in the area and the many first world problems that I found at One Line and in were genuine people that were interesting to talk to. While the coffee left much to be desired, the welcoming community that surrounded it were truly special.

Mentor Meeting

“Worse comes to worse you don’t gain anything from the clubs you join, but if you never join how will you know?” During my meeting with Maria the other day I was able to gain many insights into life in college, and as a member of ENR. Maria, is currently a sophomore in the Fischer School of Business at The Ohio State University. She’s currently studying to work in logistics, the technical side of business where timing and attention to detail become key, and moving goods, and services in the most efficient ways possible becomes the goal. When asked about how she decided on wanting to go into business, or more specifically logistics Maria commented with her time in high school, as an international baccalaureate. She then moved on to discuss the fischer career fair where a guest speaker came to talk about the world of logistics. The speaker put on the wall the famous chocolate scene from I Love Lucy, and at the end asked what was wrong with it and how it could have been improved. It was after this discussion that Maria realized how good she could be at logistics. When the question came up about ENR and her field Maria responded quickly noting how many employers enjoy seeing the more unique extra circulars on resumes. She went on to say how ENR has given her many opportunities to add these non conventional activates to her resume, which allow her to stand out compared to other candidates. This moved in to her discussion about how important it is to join clubs. Clubs, as she said, help you find new activities, and hobbies that you may have never known you would enjoy. It was brought up at many point through the interview how good it is to have a diverse range of clubs on your resume, and how highly regarded well rounded students are to employers. Even more so than grades. Maria recalled one point after a meeting in her business seminar class, where the guest speaker told the students how they will take a kid with a 2.9 and multiple student organizations that they are heavily involved in, long before they take the kids with 3.9s and nothing but homework as an outside activity. This she said, was an important thing to get into your head, as it makes the stress of college a lot less. The idea with grades was also her answer to the question of freshman advice. She said while your GPA is important, its much more important that you pass your classes, and build up a good resume. The key is to not let yourself get too stressed out, and try to maintain at at least a 3.0, and to not get to down in you fail a test, as you can always bring it up later. Think of classes in the sense of statistics. Where one bad grade wont ruin your GPA, and that as long as you average out well your good. In terms of future plans, maria says she dosnt really have any. The goal right now is more to just get through college and find something that is sustaining, and enjoyable as a long term career. These are goals that seem pretty on par with what most people should want, as happiness in your future career is extremely important. Talking to Maria was deffinitly helpful as it allowed me to gain some more insight into life in college and what to expect. She especially helped with ENR and helping me to understand the various ways in which it could help me with continuing my education after college.

 

Mission Coffee

Today as part of my Columbus to do list I chose to go to Mission Coffee. The overall experience here was very good. The style reminding me of my favorite climbing gym back home with its raw urban décor, and open front cause of its location in a garage. The staff was very friendly here, surprising considering the reviews painting it as full of snobby hipster types unwelcoming of “outsiders”. While atmosphere is an extremely important part of any coffee shop, the coffee here was not sacrificed at all. The store offers multiple brewing options, including my personal favorite, aeropress. While they do not have as many as One Line Coffee the quality of there beans is just as incredible. The Ethiopian blend I choose contained fruity notes, with a slight winey flavoring to them. The coffee was however a bit sharper than I prefer, but this may be due to the Ethiopian roots of the bean. All together the coffee was wonderful, but I’m not certain I can say I’ve truly found my favorite spot yet. However they have definitely given One Line a run for there money.

Artifacts

[Artifacts are the items you consider to be representative of your academic interests and achievements. For each entry, include both an artifact and a detailed annotation.  An annotation is a reflective description of the artifact that attempts to communicate its significance.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

About Me

I grew up In Chagrin Falls Ohio, and attended Lawrence School for high school. At Lawrence I worked within the school extensively to help speak on behalf of students about the learning differences we all faced. I worked as an ambassador for the school, and was given the honor to speak on behalf of the student body at fundraising events. Additionally I participated in school theater for 6 years.  Outside of school, the majority of my time is spent outside, camping, hiking, running, or climbing. All of these sports help me t improvemyself by pushing my physical, and mental strength. I hope to one day climb the Matterhorn, Denali, and run at least one ultra marathon.  In addition to these activities, I spend lots of time playing various instruments, some of which include Piano, guitar, Ukulele, and Mandolin.  The environments is an important part of my life due to the amount of outdoor activities I do. I’m very passionate about cleaning up the forests and making them accessible to everyone. In the future I hope to graduate and enter into med school at Ohio University, and continue education to become a surgeon. I hope to use this knowledge to then go to mountains and treat climbing injuries. I also hope to continue to improve on my carbon footprint, and help develop greener practices in medicine. In edition to my study’s I also run a photography business back home that focuses on portraiture, as well as commercial photography. I enjoy doing more artistic shoots as well and plan on continuing photography as a hobby.