Tape Trees and Birthdays

Hello from the Vancouver airport! Amy and I are on our way to Jackson Hole to ski for our week off, and we’re waiting for our first flight to Denver as I write this. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more ready for a vacation, even after finals last term. These past two weeks have been some of the busiest that I can remember, and mostly with school work that’s kept me holed up in my room. I really enjoy a lot of what I’m doing, but the sheer volume is enough to make it a little less enjoyable. As I mentioned in my last post, I worked more or less straight through the weekend, so by day 10 or so, around Wednesday this week, I had really reached my limit. I had to push through to take one more midterm and finish one more project, and when I finished class on Friday, the weight that was lifted was something unmatched.

I started the week with volunteering after class on Monday, and spent all my “free” time working on my drafting assignment, an English assignment, and studying for the two midterms I had this week. I spent Tuesday afternoon finishing a project with my two partners for my environmental design class, which we presented on Wednesday. The assignment was to make the ventilation systems in one building on campus, known for its sustainable design, more experiential for the building’s users. Most groups focused on the stack effect that moves air vertically up the tall atrium, but my group chose to focus on the displaced ventilation throughout the building that allows people who work in office spaces to control their own environment. The brief limited our materials to tape and yarn, and we chose to make a giant tree out of tape that funneled the air coming out of the vents up the “trunk” and out little spouts that moved parts of the leaves we made. Overall our critics seemed to really like it, so my group and I were very happy that the many hours we had spent making it were worth it. It can be a little difficult to be sitting making giant leaves out of tape when you have exams to study for, so it was nice that our work was recognized.

Wednesday I also took a midterm for my climate class, and had my drafting class, and then went back to work to study for my midterm the next day in my cities class and to work on a project I had due on Friday for that same class. Thursday I had my normal classes with the exception of my midterm instead of lecture for the one, and that night I worked on the project and did the last part of the application process for the design program. Friday I breathed a sigh of relief after I presented my project and was able to officially say that I was on vacation. 

Saturday morning we celebrated Amy’s nineteenth birthday with breakfast at Aphrodite’s Cafe with us two and Carol and Lilly. We walked around Kits a little after, and got cinnamon buns from Grounds for Coffee on our way back to campus. I spent the rest of the day packing and working on some drafting stuff due after break, because I really can’t let myself rest apparently. That evening we came over to a hotel at the airport where we met a chunk of Amy’s family that had been skiing in BC the previous week. We had dinner with them and, much to Amy’s dismay, got the guy doing live music to sing happy birthday to her. Amy and I experienced the peak of luxury this morning with room service breakfast before coming down to get to our flight. This probably won’t go up until I get more reliable wifi at Amy’s family’s house, but I’m going to end it here and will get everyone the skiing details they didn’t know they wanted next week!

Final tape tree with my lovely partners for scale

Room service breakfast on Sunday... we're spoiled

View from the hotel room at the Vancouver airport