Journal 3

My first semester at Ohio State went by very quickly. Between getting my studio projects done, studying, writing papers, along with extracurricular activities, and keeping up a social life I feel like I’ve hardly had time to breathe. Fortunately, I’ve enjoyed every second of it, and it’s been a blast. Architecture wasn’t quite what I expected it to be, but not in a bad way either. It’s most definitely something I want to keep pursuing. Although I really enjoy it, it’s very intense major, so I’m not sure how I’ll be able to balance all of my school work along with having a job, but I do want to get a job starting next semester. Also, I want to consider joining AIAS. I feel as if it’ll be good for experience and a good thing to put on my résumé. And maybe in the spring of my sophomore year or sometime junior year, I’d like to get an internship. Along with all of this, I think interior design would be a nifty skill to acquire. With this education, it would help me to utilize, create, and perceive spaces in new and diverse ways. All in all, I want to broaden my perception of design, and I want to do this in many ways. The goals that I’ve laid out here are mainly categorized in the Original Inquiry section of Scholars G.O.A.L.S. I know that there’s upperclassmen in scholars that are involved with AIAS, so I’ll easily be able to get help from any of them with joining. And I can also get time management tips from them in how to maintain the stress of majoring in architecture along with having a job. Essentially, I can achieve many of my goals with the help of upperclassmen scholars students, and whatever I can’t achieve with their help, I know there’s people within Knowlton that would be willing to help.

Columbus To Do List Part 1

For the Columbus To Do List, I chose to participate in the coffee and tea theme. I love trying new kinds of coffee and going to new and local coffee shops/cafés. Cafés are wonderful places to study and to simply just go and relax. There are some coffee shops that even have live music from time to time. Through this project, I’m excited to find a nice, retro coffee shop that I can visit and have a place to study that’s off campus and not quite common and popular. I also can’t wait to find a coffee shop that has a unique drink that I can introduce to friends and family.

So far, I’ve visited two coffee shops: One Line Coffee and The Roosevelt Coffee House. One Line Coffee is located in the Short North. I think the Short North is a convenient location for a coffee shop, because there’s so much going on that anyone could stop in there at any time so they get an ample amount of business. I loved the general atmosphere of this shop: upbeat and vibrant. While here I got an iced mocha to drink, but unfortunately, I’ve had better. They kind of just put all the ingredients in a cup and handed it to me rather than stirring it up-I could taste the actual coffee grounds in it. If I were to go back, I’d get the drink hot instead of iced, but it’s not likely that I’ll go back, and I would not recommend this place to a friend.

I had a much better experience at The Roosevelt Coffee House. First, it’s a little further off campus, so not as many students were there, but they still had a decent number of customers. Second, along with being a coffee shop, there was a small design studio for architects upstairs. Instead of ordering an iced mocha again, I got a mocha latte. Little did I know, this coffee shop does latte art! So, I got a heart design on the foam of my latte. I really enjoyed my experience at The Roosevelt Coffee House, and I’ll definitely be going back and recommending it to others.

 

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

Artifacts

The last three places I went to complete this assignment were Fox in the Snow, Zen Cha Tea Salon, and Stauf’s Coffee. Fox in the Snow and Zen Cha Tea Salon neither one is too far off-campus, but Stauf’s Coffee is located in Grandview. I liked going further off campus because it was a more diverse audience, so to speak, and it was just cool to see all the types of people that went there.

At Fox in the Snow I tried an iced mocha again, and just like One Line’s, I was not a fan. Although, I did like Fox in the Snow’s better, and they had more resources available to make it taste a little better. I think my problem hasn’t been the places, rather than my choice in drinks. Because I had heard a lot of good things about Fox in the Snow, I probably would recommend this place to others, but suggest staying away from the iced mocha.

I was a little weary of going to Zen Cha Tea Salon because I’m certainly not an expert at tea, considering I usually just drink Gold Peak Sweet Tea. When I walked in, I had a feeling that it’d be fancy, which made me think that it would also be fairly expensive. Fortunately, it was not expensive, but I was kind of lost on what to get. I ended up trying a cocoa latte which actually wasn’t too bad. It kind of tasted like what cocoa puffs smell like. I’m not sure I would get it again, but it definitely was interesting enough to make me consider going back and recommending the place to a friend.

Finally, the last place I visited was Stauf’s Coffee. I really liked the atmosphere there and it was cool to visit Grandview. Grandview is a cute little neighborhood that’s a delightful place for college students/young adults, so Stauf’s fit right in. Here, I ordered a mocha cappuccino, and like the Roosevelt Coffee House, they also did latte art with the foam. Also, it wasn’t expensive either. I definitely want to go back and I would surely recommend it to a friend.

I tried getting similar things at each place to make it a fair comparison. In order from least to most liked, I would rate these places One Line Coffee, Zen Cha Tea Salon, Fox in the Snow, Stauf’s Coffee, and finally The Roosevelt Coffee House. I liked that Roosevelt was off campus, but not too far, and I loved that they had a little architecture studio within it. It gave a retro/hipster vibe. Since Stauf’s was in Grandview, it made me think of possibly getting an apartment/house there when I live off campus. If someone else were to do this same list, I’d recommend that they for sure go to Roosevelt and Stauf’s and get the mocha latte or cappuccino. And if they had to compare each place like we did, to also get the same or similar drinks at each one, that way, it was a fair comparison.

About Me

I’ve now been at Ohio State for three weeks. I first got here with Buckeyes First, a program geared directly towards first generation college students. Sunday through Wednesday was spent going to seminars and participating in activities that helped us to form friendships and become more familiar with resources around campus. Thursday through Saturday was spent with the OWL (Ohio State Welcome Leader) program. During these few days we were trained to be OWLs, moved in other OWLs, and finally moved in the rest of the school on Saturday. And as I expected, I was kept incredibly busy that whole first week. Every day started at eight in the morning and ended, at the earliest, ten at night. The week following, Welcome Week, was just as hectic. I certainly didn’t expect it to be near as crazy as it was. On top of starting classes, we had events every single night. But through those first two weeks, I was able to form strong and reliable friendships. The thought of college in general never really scar3ed me, but as the reality neared, I was beginning to fear if I’d make friends… I still wasn’t scared for workloads and schedules, just simply the social part. But Ohio State does a great job in offering multiple opportunities to branch out, meet new people, and get involved. As much of an adjustment as it’s been getting used to being away from familiar people and places, I’ve really enjoyed being on campus and having the opportunity to get to know new people and places.