Below is a link to the Adobe Spark presentation of my project.
School Year: 2019-2020
My first year at college was generally an atypical year for just about everyone. I started the year out excited to try out being a new college student in the Knowlton school of Architecture. I wanted to get involved with as much as I possibly could. I even got my roommate to attend a meeting with me which was an interesting experience. I did quickly discover, however, that architecture was not what I wanted to be doing with my life. The problem was and still is that I love architecture. Some buildings are works of art that deserved to be admired and analyzing these builds is something I will be glad to partake in into the future. I fell into a state of rumination for a long time, and I will say that it was certainty not the greatest time in my life. After finally ripping the bandage off and switching majors, I head into my second semester with a new clear and happy mindset.
My second semester well I enjoyed my new classes and I feel into an enjoyable routine when a pandemic struck hard. I was lucky enough to have had some experience with online college learning from taking a hybrid online math class this semester, but still everything changed so fast. I am overall pleased with OSU’s reaction to the crisis, however. Who knows what could have happened if the precautions we are taking now were not put into place. The faculty was quick to adapt to the change and I can finish the semester strong. Over the summer I plan to take summer courses to catch myself back on track in my new computer science major, and continue to work on my first garden I am growing for my OSU scholar’s project. With the situation we are now those are the only certainties of my plans. I hope for the best.
Journal #3
I am not exactly sure what I plan on doing for my Spring semester project, but I have a few potential ideas. This post, therefore, will be a little bit of an informal post where I just sort of spur out a couple ideas I have for the project. One of my ideas for the project is some sort of research of some sort, so I can learn how to plant a vegetable garden. I have always kind of wanted to grow some plants. I find them interesting. I have a few succulents in my room, and I sort of feel bad for them sometimes because I feel like I am treating them poorly. In general, I just want to learn how to better take care of plants, and maybe even make my own salsa with homegrown ingredients. This idea will focus on original inquiry as a little research project that I would do. I think for this project I would have to maybe start the research in the wintertime and then get to planting in the spring. The first step would probably to read up on planting and gardening strategies. The second would to be to determine what materials I would need to plant things and work on place to garden. Included in both these steps is a sub-step of picking the plants and getting the seeds for the plants I want in the garden to grow to make my final product of salsa or whatever I want to make in the end. These steps are kind of clear sense to achieve the goal of healthy plants I need to determine what I to grow, how to grow it, and finally actually get to planting it. For the first two steps, I hope to be ready to plant things by spring, so that means these two steps need to be completed. I will probably not end up with much in terms of results by the end of spring semester, but I will have at least several pictures of what I am doing. My other idea which I am kind of thinking about as well is designing a tabletop game. I have always loved board-games and have wanted to try my hand at creating one, but I’m not sure exactly where to start with this topic. I want to decide what I’m going to end up doing sometime soon, but I am going to keep on thinking about ideas for the project.
Columbus To Do List: Part 2
For my last three experiences my roommate, Dan, and I went to three more restaurants around Columbus. As the weather was deteriorating, we also went with my parents which made the experience quite a lot of fun. One of the places we went to was Katzinger’s Deli. Katzinger’s is a small deli which is light and inviting. The sandwich shop has that homey feeling that German village has. It’s amazing to walk in and see various items they have other than the items on their menu. They have a cheese cabinet with various gourmet cheeses and have a barrel for free pickles if you want to take one. I just love the place. There is something about it that makes you feel like you can sit down and have a nice, casual conversation with someone and just have a nice time. The food is tasty, and something about that atmosphere makes you feel like you are in a down to earth really sandwich shop. I would recommend the deli to anyone who wants a good sandwich. I even found out that their deserts are good too! I ended up eating a bit of carrot cake which was soft and had a nice carrot cake flavor and a turtle brownie which was sweet while not overwhelming you with sugar with the crunch of the nuts spread throughout the brownie. When I think of food in German village, Katzingers is one of the first places I think of.
Another place that Dan and I went to was Thurman cafe. We made a poor decision of eating at the restaurant on a Saturday, so the wait was horrendous. It took about an hour and a half to just get seated. The cafe, however, did have several things to entertain people waiting though like free popcorn, a pinball machine, and an arcade machine. Still, I would not recommend going there on a weekend especially an OSU Football game day weekend. The place was clearly popular from all the awards pinned on all its walls. There were even a few people that said they came from Pittsburgh (probably for the game) and decided to eat here. After finally getting our food, I realized that the burgers at this place were huge. I had heard that they had a massive burger called “The Thurmanator” which includes 1.5 pounds of hamburger, but I quickly found out that all their burgers were large. I had a Hawaiian Burger which had pineapple on because I thought that it sounded strange and want to try it. The pineapple added an interesting sweet aspect to a hamburger. It almost acted as a sweeter tomato on the burger. I do not know if I would recommend the hamburger to everyone, but its worth trying. If you ever plan on visiting, there prepare your stomach because it could be a two-meal burger. I would probably recommend the place the burger I had was good although large, but I am not a really big fan of the bar atmosphere of the place. It was loud, and sort of made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
The last place we went to was Harvest Pizza. The decor was a sort of modern rustic. There was interesting wallpaper around, and the atmosphere made you think of a harvest. We were seated quite promptly and feed at an equal speed. We ended up ordered 4 different pizzas and picking around at whichever pizza we wanted to. My favorite pizza turned out to be the one my dad order which was called Ohio double bacon. The pizza had a nice sweet tomato sauce, red bell papers, bacon and Canadian bacon on it, and just like all their pizzas the crust was thin and fluffy. I love pizza and this place had some good pizza. The pizzas, however, were quite pricey and if your someone like me that can eat a whole pizza by myself if I so will it then you may end up paying quite a bit for a pizza. With these kind of pizza places though the pizza tastes the about 8 dollars more than a chain pizza restaurant, and its clear they care about their food more than a chain ever would. I would like to maybe try some of their other pizzas or try some of their other things. If you like pizza I would recommend the place to you. It made me quite happy.
My favorite part of this whole project was just taking a break from college life for a bit. Being able to go out with a small group or people or just a friend and finding new places you have never been or showing your favorite spots to someone else is enjoyable. I loved being able to go out into Columbus and try new restaurants that I have not experienced even though I have lived in Columbus my whole life. I was already aware that Columbus was for some reason a city that has some pretty good food, but I think during this project I learned that I still have lots more of the cities culinary life to experience. As I get older, I hope I’m able to keep on going on to these small little restaurants around the city, and maybe in the future I’ll be able to do a food tour like this in a city somewhere else on the earth because I really enjoyed the experience. If someone else were to try to complete this challenge of going to 5 different restaurants in Columbus. I would say that you should look over the menu of the place because visiting because some of these places may be more expensive than you would expect. Looking over the menu also gives you an idea of what to expect of the food and for people with food restrictions or picky palettes it may be helpful to know there is something you could eat there. I would also recommend heading to Lavash on highstreet that place probably had my favorite food I had on this trip and Katzingers in German Village because the place is just a great sandwich shop. While you’re at it, even though it’s not on this list, it goes to Schmidt’s sausage haus too. The food in Columbus has made me grow up into a foodie and hope that everyone will be able to enjoy the great food in this city while they are here. In the same realm I hope that these sorts of adventures will inspire others to support these small restaurants everywhere because these are the spots where you can find the best food in any city.
FOTO (Friends Of The Overlooked) PowerPoint
The above link contains my first ever college group project. The Friends of the Overlooked project involved my groups choosing of an underused location and then our ideas of how to transform the location into something entirely unlike the original space. Our chose to turn a for sale car wash into a unique market space in the already established neighborhood. It turned out to be an interesting and fun concept to work on. The part of the project was the ending three minute presentation , so there is not much to get into.
Columbus To Do: NorthStar Cafe
The Second of the Local Food Favorite experiences I had was another trip with my roommate, Dan, this time to NorthStar cafe. My cousin used to work there, so I have been to the restaurant before, but that was about 5 years ago or so. The menu and the decor have not changed that much since I have been there last. The same stuff is on the menu which could be a sign that the items are good enough to stay on the menu for years. My tastes, however, have changed. I remember their ginger ale being too strong for me to consume, but over the years ginger ale has become one of my favorite carbonated beverages, so I wanted to try it again. This time the strength of the ginger brought me back to the first time I had it almost a fourth of my life ago, but the strong ginger and mint flavor did not this time prevent me from finishing the entire glass. The drink makes you flush and almost forces you to continue drinking it because of its spicy flavor. It is probably my favorite thing to get at NorthStar Cafe especially when you consider the steep prices of almost all the other offerings there except their nice homemade drinks. Showing of how I dragged Dan to the Cafe all the way from campus I think it is fair to say I would recommend the location. Eating there at least once is an experience itself. Sitting in the large booths in the center of the cafe being part of the required visit.
Columbus To Do: Lavash Cafe
For the first Local Food Favorite experiences I had, my roommate, Dan, and I visited Lavash Cafe. It was fairly crowded for the odd time we went in to eat, but the line to order food was short so we were able to order quickly. The cash register did crash while I was ordering my food, so I was accidentally charged for my order twice; however, after finishing my meal the staff fixed the issue promptly. I decided to eat their chicken shawarma sandwich on Lavash bread which came with their garlic sauce. I remember the meal well because of how much I enjoyed it. It was also only 8 dollars which is how much a swipe is worth on campus, so it was reasonable in price. The cafe itself was comfortable and even had a little phone charging station which I found a bit odd to see. Lavash Cafe was a spot I would be hard pressed to not visit again. If all their food is as good as the shawarma I had (which by the order of almost 300 dollars’ worth of food shown on the cash register as we left is likely), then I would love to experience more of their offerings. I now officially have a place in my heart for this Cafe.
Columbus To Do List: Part 1
I have always considered myself somewhat of a foodie. I thoroughly enjoy dreaming about eating all sorts of different foods and end up finding myself browsing restaurant menus on my phone on separate occasions, so for my Columbus to do project I picked the Local Food Favorite list. Even though I have lived in Columbus for my whole life, when I looked at the list, I have not been to ten of those places. This just spurred me on to continue to learn more about the diverse food environment we have here in Columbus. I just hope to experience and eat some food and visit some restaurants I have not been to or share some of my favorite spots with some friends, thus is the way of the foodie. So far, my roommate, Dan, and I have visited two spots: NorthStar Cafe and Lavash Cafe. Lavash Cafe was a brand-new experience for me, and I really enjoyed the space. The Shawarma I had was affordable at eight dollars and was incredibly delicious. I probably ate it a bit too fast. The staff was also helpful when they accidentally charged me twice, they refunded almost on the spot. On the other hand, NorthStar was a spot I have already been to albeit it was over 5 years ago. The ginger ale they have there when I had it years ago was a bit to “gingery” for me, but now I love that nice burn from the ginger something about just makes you feel happy while drinking it. Walking around Columbus with Dan and pointing out a bunch of spots I recognize made me feel a bit like a tour guide and it was especially fun. I look forward to continuing to go eat around Columbus!
Journal 2
I have been having a confusing couple of weeks recently. I spent a quite some time contemplating some of the decisions I made when coming to OSU, and I am sure many students ask themselves these same questions at some point. Did I apply to the right major? If the major is the wrong fit for me, how do I get out of it? Which other major should I move towards? To help me talk out my concerns and maybe answer a few of my questions, I decided to meet with one of my scholar’s mentors, Julia, who I remembered from the her introduction has switched majors to computer science which just so happens to be the major I am most interested in. Even though before the meeting I really only communicated with Julia a couple of times over text, email, and during scholar related events, it was easy to contact her and get around to finding a correct meeting time. We met between 11:45 and about 12:20 on Tuesday the 24 of September at Mirror Lake’s amphitheater. After getting something to eat we got down to talking. Before getting into the meat of what I wanted to ask, we talked about how I was going with midterms and the like which I am happily doing well on. Once I finally got around to asking about switching majors, we started a long conversation about the mentality of switching majors and how to go about the process. Julia talked a lot about how many people switch off from architecture and that I should not worry about doing the same. She told me about her experience switching and why she exactly ended up changing majors. Many of these lined up similarly towards my reasoning for switching such as not wanting to end up pulling an all-nighter at Knowlton once a week. She also taught me the difference between the two computer science majors at OSU. Both majors have the same computer science curriculum, but computer science and engineering (CSE) is supplemented by engineering electives while computer and information science (CIS) has arts and science electives included instead. After explaining the difference, Julia recommended CIS over CSE for myself because of how the electives are more interesting then the engineering ones, and because of my AP credit I have quite a lot of the requirements for the major completed such as the language credits given by AP Spanish. All of this information was helpful and interesting to me. Julia also noted that I should meet with an advisor for further assistance in scheduling the transition. We didn’t just talk about academics. The two of us spent quite a bit of time talking about where the best food was or where the best study spots are. To the former, Julia notes that Kennedy traditions and curl market are a few of her favorites, and to the latter, she mentioned that in the Thompson library the desks by the stacks near the windows are a nice, quiet, and relaxing. She also informed me of a function of buckeyelink that allows for students to figure out when classrooms are occupied or not, so if the classroom is not busy you can sit in it and study there. In general, I felt the meeting was well worth it. Julia helped reinforce my ideas of switching majors and made me feel unworried about doing so. As a little bit of an introvert, Julia’s calm and open attitude during the meeting made me comfortable talking to her throughout the whole experience. If I have further questions about these topics, now I have absolutely no worries any longer of reaching out to Julia. I will be sure to use her advice to further my academic career.
Journal 1
So far my first couple weeks of the university have been inventful, to say the least. The welcome week celebration (which I believe it can be considered as it is essentially a holiday for the university) was busy and tiring, but all the same informative and, unsurprisingly, welcoming. Listening to speakers of the likeness of President Drake was all comforting and made the university feel like it wanted the best of its students and craved for their success. The whole convocation, however, still was intimidating. Sitting in the almost three-quarter full Schottenstein Center just opened my eyes to how large the university truly is. On the other side of the spectrum, the opposite was true of my favorite part of welcome week, the involvement fair. Even though there were hundreds of organizations all over the oval, I was able to find many groups that shared similar interests to my own which, just as I hoped it would, shrunk the university down just a little bit. I, of course, also picked up as many pamphlets as possible. Once I finally got to my first class, I was much less nervous than I thought I would be. My classes have already begun to teach me unfamiliar content and I already feel like I’m learning. I will still have to decide which classes are my favorite though. Additionally, like every school year, I still believe that I need some time to adjust to getting back into the groove of going to classes again. University life has ended up being different from the schedule I have been on for my 13 years of K-12 education by a large margin, so my recuperation may take longer than normal. I have been awake later than I would have been during my high school years (even staying in Knowlton to 12:00 in the first week). To oppose these late nights, however, I am able to sleep in longer which I may say is one of my favorite parts of University already and is keeping me feeling unexhausted and refreshed. I did expect to be challenged with the OSU’s workload, but I believe that the university has a near-perfect balance set in place (at least at my current number of credit hours) to allow time for involvement in the university. I am not overwhelmed with work to the point of stress, and I am can go to some student organization meetings when they fit in my schedule. To add to the unexpected, the scholars program at OSU has been different from what I have expected as well. I thought scholars would have a stricter focus on the academic, but the scholars program seems to have a focus more on the whole of the university experience. Going on the trip around Columbus sort of proved this to me. Just walking around the city with the scholars program mentors and all of its members was enjoyable. I am overall looking forward to seeing where the remainder of this school year takes me.