An end to Finland

I've experienced so much this summer, and looking back on my blog, I feel I have captured so little.  I guess that's what happens when you squeeze an entire semester into 3 months, a 6-credit studio course into 3 weeks.  But the experience did not feel compressed.  What I have failed to do is write about the places I have seen.  We did a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia - some of the craziest pairings I've seen of old and contemporary architecture.  I squeezed in a weekend trip to Stockholm - a city I know I have to return to someday, as I feel I just glimpsed its potential.  I could have spent the weekend alone at Woodland Cemetery.  As the Finland Summer Architecture Institute came to an end, the 3 Catholic guys and I stopped in London for a few days to end our summer trip.  I started the summer having no interest in staying in London, thinking I'd take the Chunnel to Paris, or fly to Ireland.  With finances ridiculously low, I decided to stay, and what I discovered was a city I could be tempted to live in - even after just three days there.  


I realize I will never be able to "catch up" here with what Finland was about, and since I'm no Austen, I'm sure I would never be able to really do it justice either.  But I have definitely taken a part of Finland home with me.  The culture, the landscape, the architecture, the spirit of place.  Surprisingly, I am feeling rejuvenated and even inspired to start my next semester of grad school.  I am looking forward to the challenge and discovery this new year holds for me.


So, I'm going to try to make a resolution.  I want to write more often on this blog.  It is probably just for me, because I swear even my family doesn't read this any more.  But I hope to continue to write here.  Document what inspires me, what I am thinking - whether design-related or not.  I think our summer studio left that impression on me.  Maybe this is my version of a scriptorium - my way of committing pen to paper - well, you know what I mean...


And since I'm referencing my final project, below are my final boards.