Author: Nicklaus Fawver

Back in Columbus-Post Trip Blog

This trip to Santiago was a wonderful experience for the first spring break trip of my college career. The beautiful 90 degree weather, my first out of country experience, all of the new lessons learned and all of the new culture I’ve experienced had a great impact on me.

I’ve made a goal of trying to be more interactive with people and spend more time with others every day rather than secluding myself to a dorm room. I enjoyed the week with limited use of my phone and in getting my new one, following an unfortunate series of events with a Chilean Uber, I found myself using less social media and just completely uninstalling some apps so I am less tempted to spend my time missing out on the world around me. The temperature change is still affecting me days later, I found myself wearing a winter coat today in 50 degree weather. But most of all I miss the constant view of the mountains. It seemed like every view of the city was picturesque with a beautiful Andes backdrop, even through the weekly buildup of smog.

I’m amazed we were able to experience so much in only a week in Chile, yet feel like there is so much more to see. This trip made me desire more worldwide travel and it was a much needed break from the normal rigors of college life.

Valparaiso- 3/15

On Wednesday we visited Valaparaiso. The city was absolutely breathtaking. Every corner you turned was filled with color and street art. The 2 hour walking tour through the streets was practically a hike because of the drastic change in section throughout. The buildings were all so different in form and color, making for a very intriguing skyline and beautiful view no matter where you looked. It was clear they had jammed in as many buildings as they possibly could. It was interesting to hear that if you took up residence in a house for at least 5 years, you can claim it as your own. A detail that I believe made the difficulty of the economy there more clear to us. There were multiple funiculars, which we used to get back down from the hills, just as we had at Cerro Santa Lucia. Following this, we were waiting on a bus and had a nice conversation with a man and his young daughter about the area. We then drove down to the beach and spent few hours of our day cooling off in the water, admiring gift stores and buying the majority of our souvenirs. And we tried the street food for our lunch, there were fantastic empanadas, and finished the experience sketching on the rocks along the ocean and getting ice cream.

Kate’s photo from Valparaiso because I lost my phone

Lord of the Rings: One and 3/8 Towers

It was on this day that we visited Torres Siameses, Alejandro Arevena’s glass tower on the PUC campus, as well as Elementals Innovation Center. On the metro ride back to our hotel we met a man who was a student at the University. We told him how much we enjoyed these buildings and he was amazed because it’s was so simple on the outside. We described to him the inner beauty of the building, the reason why us architecture students loved it so much. I really enjoyed the texture of the concrete created by the molds used to form it. It was really unique how they chose not to enclose all of the fixtures and workings of the elevator system, as well as the central atrium, making the building far more sustainable as a whole compared to Torres Siameses. In this building, the glass skin that Arevena intended to make the building more sustainable and create a convection current around the building, to save on energy, seemed to make the building even hotter. The design also provided for issues with maintenance, in the areas where windows were later added, the most noticeable aspect was how dirty the building was between the two layers.

My drawing of the concrete’s texture at the Innovation Center

 

Costanera Mall-3/13

The day was a long one and the exhaustion caught up with us all about halfway through. We had been on the bus travelling from the monastery to the graduate and undergraduate architecture schools here in Chile. Then we had dinner at Mestizo, enjoying a delicious lunch of salmon with flan for dessert, followed by a walk through Bicentennial park where we fed the birds and enjoyed a walk. Following the events on our itinerary, we managed a group visit to Costanera tower. The whole group made their way to the 62nd floor of the building for a breathtaking view of all of Santiago. My friends and I took our time making our way around the building to see all of the angles. After we gad a small rest, we went to the elevator and took the elevator down to the 5th floor. We explored the next 4 floors down the mall beneath, comparing the stores to those we have back home and enjoying the Chilean culture we could observe. We did this for about the next 3 hours and managed to find out way back to the hotel. We then went to dinner at Ekika Ilmenau across the street. We got some Chilean style burgers and fries and enjoyed a few hours together.

One of the really cool art pieces at the University Adolfo Ibanez graduate student campus.

Silent Cerritos Santa Lucia-3/12

Today, following our planned events, my friends and I went on a little expedition to Cerro Santa Lucia. We later found out that a majority of the Santiago group made this trek as well. The walk was surrounded by beautiful wildlife and a multitude of families spending quality time together. After our first set of statistics we met a man with his mother, they were visiting from Australia. They had just landed a few hours ago and we’re asking us if we knew of any cool touristy sights they should see. Naturally, we laughed at the fact that we’d only just began our explorations as well and then told them of the Moneda Cultural Center and the Plaza de Armas. The stairs were a treacherous experience as many of them were weathered and they all seemed to be different shapes and sizes. When we got about halfway up, to where we could see the castle, we stopped for a refreshing drink and took in the view, admired a beautiful waterfall/fountain, and then got a classic picture with the Santiago skyline and the mountains in the background. After our little breather we continued the climb up the hill, meeting more and more of our fellow travelers along the way. As we got to the top we caught sight of the beautiful view that was ahead. We entered the small, crowded crows nest area and I immediatelay took this photo.

The view from the top of Cerro Santa Lucia

 

Arrivals-Day 1

I survived the first two flights of my life and even managed to get a little bit of sleep in the process. I then somehow mustered the strength to get through customs, out to the bus, and on the way to the Hotel Diego de Velazquez to drop everything off and take the trip from there. Then we were off to the beginnings of our adventure in Chile!

The highlight of this day was our trip to Parque de la Infancia. I made my way through the water balls and began my journey of solitude to the top. I took the long route that winds around the hill to the top of the slides. The journey left me with a wonderful view and some much time to myself after the cramped quarters on the plane. About halfway through the path there is a small playground that reminds you of the ones in elementary school, but completely devoid of children. This path gave a great contrast to the city life happening within vision. The height and distance was just great enough to drown out the noises of the bustling city below, allowing the more natural sights to creep their way into your senses. I stopped at the top and enjoyed the breeze and snapped a few photos, my favorite of which exemplifying the harsh contrast between the city life and the park.

The city from the top part of the infant park

 

 

Nick Fawver’s Bio

HI! My name is Nicklaus Fawver and I am from Louisville, Ohio. I am a first year student at OSU in the architecture scholars program, I’m majoring is architecture with a possible minor in psychology. I always loved drawing, and math, and science classes as I was growing up and so I am very happy with my major choice. As I was growing up I always followed the OSU sports teams and wanted to be a part of this community.

I’ve never been out of the country before and I’ve never been on a plane, so this trip is incredibly exciting for me because I love to try new things, especially since I’ve began my college experience. I’ve been playing golf since I was 5 years old. I played piano for a few years and I always enjoy a good book or movie in the little bit of free time I can find between work and school. I am a member of SERVitecture here at OSU. I joined this group to go on a trip to Boston this past summer. A week stuck together in cramped cars for endless hours and sharing a floor to sleep on really forces you to make a few new friends. I can see this being a somewhat similar trip, so I’m pretty excited to be stuck in another country with you guys over spring break!

Nick’s “Selfie”

Troy and I have the same favorite color!

I felt rushed.

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2 Truths and a Lie:

I’ve been hit by a car.

The only other state I’ve been to is Pennsylvania.

I have 2 sisters.