Be polite; introduce yourself, so it can introduce itself to you - Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) Roma! I got Goosebumps on my neck when the Immigration Officer finally grabbed his rubber stamp and striked my passport with the European Union Italia entrance mark. This was how our adventure in Italy started. It was almost too easy - I had prepared to have some complicated conversations in Italian, but the officer just asked, in English, for my first and last name and found no alarming problem with my valid EU Student Visa. Jason and Ryan even did not get their passports striked with entrance stamp. Arriving in Ciampino Roma Airport around 10pm, I was eager to finally settle down in my new home for the next couple months. My rusty Italian helped to navigate ... read more

We got up at 7 am, and tried to sneak out Mr. Gordon’s house as soon as possible to get into the meeting place for the Highland Tour. We didn’t want Mr. Gordon to drive us there, because we thought his help was too much. The walk up the Edinburgh hills, with all our belongings, was not so fun. We needed to be at the Magnificent Mile before eight, otherwise the tour would leave without us. The good news was that we arrived at the bus right before eight. The bad news was that Mr. Gordon showed up at the same bus minutes before the departure, and confronted us not to wait for him to drive us there. He was so demanding, but yet I realized that he just wanted us to enjoy our Scottish experience ... read more

Heathrow Airport’s immigration and custom was a breeze. The tube (London subway), priced accordingly to districts covered, is an extensive and excellent subway system. District one and two ticket is perfect to cover our trip in-and-about London, and it costs £21 for one full week. We met several interesting people at our first tube ride, including two Americans from Boston and Tennessee who advise us not to skip Edinburgh, and a burly Norwegian lady who scared us at first because she looked like about to swallow us alive when she asked whether we’re from the States (later on, she advised us to take off our American Airlines tags that were still hanging off from our backpacks, that identify us as Americans). The USA has no popularity in the world lately due to the recently started Iraqi ... read more

Our Spring 2003 studio, the Regional Design Studio, covers the study of several counties of Iowa. Cody and I were traveling with a truck, taking pictures of these fabulous barns and landscape. Photo credit goes to Cody Funk (c).... read more

A roadtrip to Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN, to attend the fraternity regional/Panhel 2002. Meeting up with our fraternity brothers from Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Wabash. Wabash College is all male college, and around 95% of the student population is associated with ten national fraternities. In order to dig more chicks in (which they are good to begin with), they created the Panhel event, which imitates the Panhellenic, the sorority association. Long story short, this is when the whole campus is wet, all students are basically drunk for a whole week, many are hauling kegs to classes and parties. I guess we are fortunate enough to taste the tradition of Wabash College.... read more