International Student Ambassadors Blog - Undergraduate

The Story of the City, Gray----Painting on the Gray Canvas

2013-05-03T19:38:38Z

As a former railway bridge built for James J. Hill's Minneapolis Union Railway Company in 1882-1883, the Stone Arch Bridge was rehabilitated as a pedestrian bridge in 1994 and served as not only a historic site but also a destination for recreation. People choose this bridge for causal walking, jogging or other sightseeing.

The bridge used to connect the industries of east bank and west bank by connecting two major former flour mills---Pillsbury "A" mill on east bank and Washburn "A" Mill on west bank. The lime stones that were used to build the bridge provided significant texture on the bridge surface which gives a sense of rough industrial. Today, the Pillsbury was repurposed to be a multi-function building combined with residential and commercial, and the Washburn was reconstructed as historic museum after the fire. The industry of the riverfront became the past, new buildings were constructed on the purpose of taking the City of Minneapolis back to the riverfront, shaping the west riverfront to be a cultural district. For example, the founding of the new Guthrie Theater is a figure that takes the city back to the riverfront. The newly built theater is much larger in scale, encouraging more visitors. Featured spots such as the Endless Bridge, provides great view of the Stone Arch Bridge, the St Anthony Falls and the east bank industries; The Yellow Room, has its visitors to look at the Downtown Minneapolis and west bank industries in artistic "yellow eyes". Building on the former industrial site, the Mill Ruins Park is another case to exemplify the cultural makeover and preservation of the west bank.
Mill CIty Museum

The Mill CIty museum was built on the ruin of the old mill after a huge fire, today it is a historical site for industry past.

The story on the east bank is the story of natural preservation. The green space under the bridge is the wild nature of the riverfront. Wood staircases lead down to the river and land is relatively remote. Trees grow wildly so it is very hard to see anything from the top. There are no fences and any other structure between the bank and the river under the bridge so it is somewhere visitors can "touch" the river, which means this area is the truly wild nature. However, the view is somehow unique. Seeing from east to west, what's visible is not only the river, the bridge, but also the skyscraper of downtown Minneapolis.

Stone Arch Bridge needs to be repurposed, either rebuild or redefine. Owning to strong neo classic style and the rough yet natural surface of the bridge, it was redefined to be a pedestrian recreational bridge. It is believed that the bridge itself matches the profile of the riverfront area---industrial history, riverfront location and preserved wild nature.

So here's a trip of the area. Students from the University of Minnesota or residents from the community near the Pillsbury take their way to the Stone Arch Bridge. They will either go down to the river under the bridge or go on to the bridge across the river. Down by the river, they experience the wild nature and the view of downtown Minneapolis. On the bridge, they experience the river flow underneath and picturesque landscape on both sides. As they wake or jog, they encounter other pedestrians or biker. They will see the preserved natural on their right side; they will see the St Anthony Falls on their right too. As they getting closer to west bank, they will see the mill ruins park under the bridge on their left. The park is a preview for the industrial content of west bank riverfront. The skyline of downtown Minneapolis is on the face of the vanished point so people know where to go. The Ruins of Mill City stands by the river with its collapsed free-standing wall, drawing attention of the visitors'. The modernized ultramarine Guthrie Theater is located by the mill, attracting visitors as well. When people reach the west bank, they will either go down to the ruin park because they saw it on the bridge and want to know what's more down their; or they will try to figure out what happens to the mill city, why it looks like collapsed but still standing. Then, they might head to the Endless Bridge in Guthrie to see what where did they come, what they passed. The journey is not over yet, downtown will be seen through a "yellow eye" via the Yellow Room, and there's always more to explore.
The preservation for both history and nature along the riverside around the Stone Arch Bridge is a great example of designed environment. It gives the new birth of the industrial past in a manner of environmental friendly. Wild nature is not missing around the Metropolitan but preserved as another option of enjoyment.

The story of love under the bridge

Next time, as my last entry, I would like to end it with art in the CIty of Minneapolis

I love Bookstores

2013-04-30T14:34:48Z

I love bookstores. I especially have an affinity for old ones with interesting layouts and even more interesting books. I spend hours in these stores not even reading; just walking through and looking at leather bound covers and feeling through the texture of books' pages. It is a weird habit, but books really are amazing things!!! How can something so basic hold so much creativity and wisdom, satisfaction and joyful escape?

ANYWAY, as I was writing before I lost my train of thought: I love old dusty bookstores but I have become very fascinated with the University of Minnesota Bookstore in Coffman Student Union. It is one of the largest public university bookstores in the entire country! I didn't even know this until now but it makes sense. No wonder I always get lost and lose so much time in there...

Bookstore entrance

It boasts a myriad of fun items including textbooks, general books, collegiate gift items, magazines, fun random items, cosmetics, tech devices, medical school products, collegiate clothing and my favorite part: stationery!

Some cool stuff inside the bookstore.

Coming in as a new student, the bookstore was a convenient place to get all the textbooks I needed. After signing up for classes, I simply ordered my textbooks online from the bookstore. I went to pick them up at the store just as an excuse to roam around but you can also have your books sent to your dorm, apartment or home.

In addition to selling textbooks, the bookstore also buys textbooks back from students throughout the year. How cool is that?! There are instances when the store does not buy textbooks back though. Here are some examples:

-When the textbook is damaged.
-If the store is ordering the new edition of a textbook.
-If the store has filled its quota for textbooks it will buy back.

Despite these cases, it is still nice to know that you don't have to hold on to textbooks you will never use again AND that you can be paid for them too.

Of course whenever I go to the store I have to stop by the clothing section to check what new gopher styles are in store. The store doesn't just have t-shirts and sweatshirts and pants, it also has formal dress shirts, cardigans, kids clothes, caps, bags, miss styles for women etc. The list goes on.

The bookstore often has sales on different items . Two of the biggest sales are the Fall Sale and the May Sale. During these sales, as early as 8 am, the bookstore sets up tables in front of the student union and have many boxes of largely discounted items for people to buy. These sales usually last two weeks; one occurs at the beginning of the fall semester and one at the end of the spring semester.

During football season the bookstore also sets tents up outside TCF Bank stadium for home games. So if you are not dressed up in gopher colors when you arrive at the stadium, you can always buy an item at the tents and be game-ready!

Now that's what I call bleeding maroon and gold. ^^

In conclusion, the U of M bookstore is tons of fun. So if you get the chance, do stop by and check it out!

The Story of the City, Green----Park system in Minneapolis

2013-04-19T04:59:00Z

Hello Everyone, long time no blog~
Today, Tony is going to talk about the park system in Minneapolis. As a landscape architecture student, park is an important theme in ourt professionals. Also, the unique park system is the key that makes Minneapolis and Minnesota unique. The City of Minneapolis has the nation-best, or maybe the world-best park system, known as Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. This is also the reason I choose the U as a Landscape Architecture student.
The Grand Round is a roughly circular loop around the downtown Minneapolis. It is a linked series of park areas. Water is a very important feature to Minneapolis and Minnesota, so the park system enhanced the significance of water and used is as a main content of the park system. The Mississippi River, the Minnehaha Creek, the Minnehaha Falls and several lakes were interconnected with each other by roads, bike and pedestrian path and boulevards, bringing different experiences when traveling around the system from spaces to spaces.

Starting from the Weisman Museum by the river on east bank campus, the pavement of the river road is in reddish tone, which starts to indicate that this is a parkway. The parkway goes along the Mississippi River, the green spaces between the river and the road has a slope downwards to the river, the vegetation in the space is diverse and dense, however, owning to the elevation change, the view to the river is not completely blocked.
Crossing the river via the Ford Bridge and continuing to west bank, the density of vegetation indicate to turn left on the first intersection, not go into the residential area but continue on the park system. The road here has an organic shape dividing the land into two parts---the residential area on the right and the park area on the left. The latter is the Minnehaha Falls Park. The falls are hidden in a basin where there's no vehicle access. Vegetation is dense and diverse in spices around the basin so the sense of space is very strong. The staircases leading down to the space are rough and old, merging into the picturesque landscape.
Minnehaha Falls

The Minnehaha Creek flows from the falls by the side of the parkway. Driving becomes efficient for moving but inefficient for experiencing the creek. On the street level, views are blocked by the vegetation; sounds of water flowing are buffed by the elevation change, biking or even walking along the creek is a better way to "feel" the space.
The Creek flow through Lake Hiawatha and pass Lake Nokomis, there's a beach area on the northeast side of the latter. The beach is an open space with great view of the lake and the landscape. The natuesacpe brings joy and the infrastructure like swings provides more options to stay.
The Minnehaha Creek divides into two branches, one continues to flow northwardly and the other one with the parkway eventually lead to Lake Harriet, a lake which is a part of the Chain of Lakes. Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun are closed to each other, and also, they are somehow alike. They both are bubble-like shape, especially for Lake Harriet; they both have some landscape structures such as decks into the lake for fishing and other purposes. They both have beach area that provides an option to "touch" the water while in Lake Harriet the beach area is more unprescribed. There's a stage on the northwest corner of Lake Harriet, which has a glass wall framing the view of the lake. It won't be hard to imagine that during the summer, people will gather around the stage, enjoying music and the delightful landscape the lake provides. Lake Calhoun seems to be more popular among other lakes since it seems to be more developed and closer to uptown area. If a painter would paint Lake Calhoun, it would be water in the foreground
With trees and shrubs; massive vegetation in the middle ground by the water, and then, the skyline of downtown Minneapolis in back.
The parkway continues to other two lakes, Cedar Lake and Lake of Isles. These two lakes are very different from Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. Both Cedar Lake and Lake of Isles seem to be more unprescribed and intimate by comparing with Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. There are in shapes of Amoebas. There're larger open spaces in between the lake houses and the lakes themselves. Automatic parkways, bike path and pedestrian walkway go around the Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun and Lake of Isles, but not completed connected around Cedar Lake. There're two little islands in Lake of Isles, the heavy vegetation indicated that the two islands contain wild nature.
The park system is interconnected with roads, bike path and walkways. The speed limit for vehicle is 25m/h, which provide opportunities to enjoy the view on both sides. However, driving is not the best way to experience the park since the roads are sometimes away from the creek or lake and isolated somehow by the vegetation. However, the park system is not used to go though, people come here for gather and recreation, or seeking for the peace out of urban life.

Lake Calhoun and Downtown Minneapolis Skyline

Fishing at Nights by Lake Calhoun

Today, Tony talks a lot about the park system in Minneapolis. It's turely a lot but as a landscape architecture student, this is something I really enjoyed here in Minnesota. It is a story of the city, a green story about the nature and the city. Next time, let's turn the color to gray and take a look at the industrial past and present of the City of Minneapolis!
To be Continued.......

Minnesota: then and now.

2013-04-16T10:36:26Z

My first ever class at the university was chemical principles I. It was an 8 am class (typical science class time...) and I was waaay too early for it. The day before, I had gone to the bookstore to get all my books and stationery for class. So I had also packed my bag the night before. I spent a good hour studying maps of campus just to make sure I would not get lost (even though I'd printed a map off and had my class schedule in my binder anyway). My walk around campus the day before class began had clearly deceived me into thinking the size of the East bank campus was equivalent to the area covered by the Mall of America times a 1000! So on Tuesday, September 8th 2009 I rolled out of bed at 6.00 AM sharp. By 6.30 AM I was showered and rearing to go! Only...the dining hall in Sanford Hall didn't open till 7 AM. After waiting the longest 30 minutes of my life, I headed to the dining hall to eat. I was determined to use my 14-meal/week meal plan to the best of my abilities! No food would be wasted on my watch. There was so much food...good tasting too! (Sanford Hall had, still has, the best meals on campus). And so I ate. I ate and ate and ate until I could not move.

Pretty sure I gained my freshman 15 the first day of class.

It was only 7:15 AM when I was done. But I had to make sure I got the best seat in class! So I dragged my poor, food-laden self out of the cafeteria to the bus stop in front of the building. Alas, the bus was nowhere to be found! I would not let this be the cause of my tardiness that day, so I began to walk. I got to class by 7.30 AM only to hear crickets chirping. No one was there. And so I waited some more, till about 7.55 AM. I had never seen so many students in one class. There must have been at least 200!!! Anyway we carried on with class. The Professor introduced herself and mentioned how we would be going over the syllabus and some introductory concepts. I thought to myself, "Syllabus? What is she on about?" Of course majority of the students whipped out this 'syllabus' item from their bag, all ready to start learning. Despite my obsessive preparations, I had missed this small detail. "Nooooooo!!!!", I thought to myself. "Behind already" (not significantly though haha, I was just being dramatic). There was even a 5 page reading for the lesson that was supposed to have been completed. How in the world could I have missed this? Not to be defeated, I noted this down: Look at course website well before the first day of class ALWAYS. (By the way, the Professor had syllabi printed for the class, so I needn't have freaked out. Most Professors do this). Despite having such a large class, the Professor still tossed numerous questions to the audience. Some unabashed students answered, in full view of everyone in class, EVEN WHEN THEY WERE WRONG. Apparently it was okay not to know the answer. Scratch that. You were lauded for your attempt to learn, without qualms of being wrong. I continued to see this as my classes went on that first day. Different classes, different teaching styles, different expectations. Some professors wanted you to call them by their first name; others wanted you to use their title (Dr., Professor etc.). Some classes had 4 exams for the semester; others had 0. Some classes required me reading 100-120 pages per week; others just solving problems on homework and handing them in. There was so much to keep track of and by Thursday, I'd decided to drop a class to make my workload much more bearable. I did not regret it. My first day at school was an eye opener. Needless it is to say, I got lost despite my little map (inside of buildings are more confusing that outside) and despite all my planning I was still so flustered. It was fun all in all.

Tuesday, September 4th 2012 was the first day of class for the 2012-2013 academic year. I automatically woke up at 7:55 AM, just before my 8:00 AM alarm goes off (my sweet 5 minutes of sleep lost forever :( ). I rolled around refusing to get up until I heard my roommate enter our shared bathroom. I sprung up from my bed to catch her before her shower. If she started, I would never make it to my 9:05 AM class on time. I was too late. "Oh well", I thought, "it'll be cutting it close, but I'm sure I can wing it". While waiting for her, I stuffed some old blank sheets of paper into my one binder (my writing material for 5 classes) and looked around my desk for an old pen and pencil. I found both, no lead for the pencil though. I noted to myself: Buy lead from bookstore at some point today. I heard my roommate exiting the bathroom at 8:25 AM. I dove for the bathroom and made quick work of getting ready. Or so I thought; it was 8:50 AM when I emerged ready to leave. My apartment is a 20 minute walk from my first class. I had 15 minutes to make it. Grabbing a bagel sans cream cheese, I dashed across campus to my class and arrived at 9:10 AM. "Not bad", I thought to myself. I found a seat in the back of the class since it was full (my fellow classmates had had an 8 AM class in the same building and so were early). ¾ of my bagel still hanging from my mouth, it was then I realized the class was awfully quiet. Then I realized, we were having a quiz on the first day of class!! Who does that? And without warning?! Mind you, this time I had checked the course website to make sure I was up to speed on expectations for the first day, but no one had seen the quiz coming! Even the Professor later joked about having to create some 'element of surprise' for the first day. Honestly, I was not too surprised. Some things in college just don't shock me anymore. My motto is "If you can imagine the worst case scenario, it probably will happen" and so I'm always a bit prepared hahaha. As we went through the solutions for the quiz, I answered a question I was certain I had got right. Of course I didn't get it right, in fact it was so far off, the entire class laughed. On seeing my mistake, I joined in too. Over the course of 4 years, I had got to understand why students answered questions in class even when they were wrong. It is quite exhilarating to be able to learn without worries of being embarrassed for not understanding. Also concepts that I may have thought about the wrong way, once corrected, really stuck better than things I had learned on my own. As the day progressed I went from class to work and back to class, only to meet up with my student group in the evening to talk about our objectives for the semester. It felt good to be able to juggle as many activities as I could handle at once. Of course without planning, things did not go completely according to plan that first day either. For instance, I never got the lead I needed for my mechanical pencil. However 4 years at the U has really helped me learn how to deal with these unexpected changes.

4 years in college help me deal with things like 3am homework completions, lol jk! This picture just cracks me up.

Minnesota: then and now.

2013-04-16T10:36:26Z

Pretty sure I gained my freshman 15 the first day of class.

4 years in college help me deal with things like 3am homework completions, lol jk! This picture just cracks me up.

The Fun Classes at the U- Photography Class

2013-04-08T16:01:04Z

I know I know, next week the new class registration for summer and fall semester will begin. Except that required classes within your major, have you figured out yet what fun classes you want to take? Just learn something new, you may end up cultivating a lifelong hobby:)

The fun class I recommend today is the photography class that I am taking right now. Personally, I love taking pictures. And I believe there are a lot of people nowadays love taking pictures too, as a way to express your idea and record life, or a tool to explore the world! My understanding of photography is that, it is a way of thinking. The logic behind the pictures could be as simple and concrete as a single object; or it can be as abstract as whatever beyond your imagination. Photography is definitely a wonderful tool for you to communicate with the world using your own language. You composition, frame, lighting, time, etc., all these elements are the vocabulary that you can use to form your own language.

In my photography class, so far, I have finished several projects. I will give you one picture form each project as an example of my work:)

Project 1: Self Portrait without face

Project2: Photography is fiction

Project 3: Narrative story VS Non narrative subject
Narrative:

Non narrative:

Project 4: A Story of My Little Bear

And more...

Now I am working on another project which I will keep it as a secret.
As you can see, there are so many things out there that you can take a picture of. Whether you make up something like my "orange brothers", or you just record of the thing itself. Whatever you do, as long you are learning, thinking and having fun!

This is a digital photography class. Also, there's film photography class too, if you want to stay in the dark room and experience how to "wash pictures" using different chemicals. That's a lot of fun too!

My "BORING" winter break

2013-01-21T03:35:44Z

So winter break is almost over:( A lot of student ambassadors went back home for the break (I'm so jealous!!!) Others travelled to other cities, states and countries. Well it sounds like I might have a boring winter break since I didn't go anywhere. However, there is still a lot of fun being around campus during the break. Just want to share with you what I have done for my break

1. Working: Take a break from school and work more and more. Actually it is not a bad thing at all. Since we can work up to 40 hours a week, break is a great chance to save up some more money^_^

2. Shopping for sale: We have the biggest mall in the U.S. Why not taking advantage of it. I went out for Chrismas sale and got a lot of good deals. Plus, no tax on clothes in Minnesota!!!

3. Spending time with my loved ones: My family is still back home in Vietnam. Break is when I have more time to skype with them. I also had more time with my puppy:)

4. Celebrating my bestbfriend's birthday:: My best friend came from Seattle to visit me during winter break. See!!! There are people coming to Minnesota for the winter break:)

5. Ice skating: One of the most popular winter sports in MN!!!

6. Eating good homemade food: Break is when I have time to cook and enjoy homemade food

7. Working out: Trying to stay healthy and get ready for the new school year.

8. Getting together with friends: Of course I was not alone. A lot of people were still around campus during the winter break. We had great time together. No worries about homework and class!!!

Such a list with a lot of pictures. Now you all can see how BORING my winter break was:) I would love to hear any interesting story about your winter break. Feel free to leave any comment if you have any question:)

Enjoy the rest of your winter break. <3

Minne-SNOW-taa Experience!

2012-12-10T03:38:26Z

Hi all,

So, this just happened today! And I couldn't hold myself not to write about it. ;D

SNOW

-From outside my window-

Today was the first day of heavy snow for the season. You must hear about term "Minne-SNOW-ta" before. People said the winter can be pretty bad, not only the coldness but also the snow.
However, I bet the first thought in your mind (if you have never seen snow before) would be:

"When is going to be snow?"

"I want to play with the snow"

And the first reaction when first time seeing it would be:

"OMG, snow!!"

"It is snowing!"

"Snowwwww, aaaahhhh xD!!"

What is happening next? You would start taking pictures, posting it on Facebook, updating your FB status, updating your twitter, calling your parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, and so on. Tell me if I am right. Hahaha.

Although this year would be my second winter, I am honestly still excited seeing snow. Actually, I should have spent my time studying for final next week. But I couldn't concentrate to study because every time I looked out from my window, there were tones of snow falling down and calling me to go outside and play!

-View from my other window-

Yes, and that was exactly what I did! Since many people said last year wasn't a real Minnesota winter and I didn't get to enjoy thick snow that much, I decided to have some snow fun activities. I ditched my books for the soft, white, pretty snow! Haha. I got ready and dressed up just to make sure I didn't get cold or frostbite (though it wasn't that cold).
I called my friends to make snowman. So these were basically what I did:

Snow Fight

Once we got outside and held the snow, next thing that happened was we started throwing it to each other. Hehe. Well, snow fight was just for warming up. There wasn't any picture of us because I was too indulged in the fighting.
But I stole this from my friend, Danial, because I just think this is hilarious.

Snow Angel

This is the first thing that you should make on the fresh snow! After the soft snow just fell, you should at least try to lay down on it. ;)

-Snow Angel-

And, TADAAAA...

Snowman

It took us more than half an hour to gather enough snow and made the base. It wasn't that easy since the snow was still so soft. We need to really make it compact and solid by adding water. Some decoration were also needed.

-Snowman-

-With asian snowman-

-My very first snowman-

After mission accomplished, we closed the fun with hot cocoa.

Hope you enjoy reading it!

Sincerely,
Ceria ;D

Where to buy chicken? All about Supermarkets, American supermarket Episode III

2012-12-07T10:12:18Z

Hello again, Tony's here.
Well, this is episode III, but please be aware that this is a short show so episode III is the final episode, at least for the first season.
And the name is "American supermarket" but today what I'm going to talk about is some Asian markets, so the name should be "Supermarket in American", but Tony is just too lazy to change it.
So, back to the topic, the 4 markets I'm going to talk about are: Shanghai Market. United Noodle, Shuang hur, and Midtown global market.
Shanghai Market
Shanghai market is my favorite Asian market, or to be more specific, my favorite Chinese market( it is actually the only market found and run by Chinese).
What makes it so special to me is the products. Besides normal grocery and food like local fish etc, shanghai market sometimes sell actual made-in-china Chinese products like drinks, snacks and other stuff that I can only get when I go back to China. They import these products in a special way which is still legal, and sell them with during unscheduled and limited time. There's always some surprises every time I go shopping there, and this is a happy shopping experience!!
However, the location of shanghai market is not ideal. It is located in St Paul near St Paul Campus of the U, which for West Bank and East Bank students would be a long journey. Luckily, Bus No.3 can take people from Jones Hall all the way to Shanghai Market. So grap a book, put on your headphone, then enjoy the sunshine if there is, after about 40 mins bus trip, you will start the happy shopping!

Name: Shanghai Market
Category: Grocery store
Price:Slightly higher than average
Recommendation: Recommended
24/7 Open: No

Shuang Hur
Shuang Hur market is an Asia market featuring fresh food especially fresh sea food like oyster. Also, shuang hur sells living fishes, so it should be extremely fresh!
Shuang Hur is in St. Paul as well, but it is on the route of bus No. 16.

Name: Shuang Hur
Category: Grocery store
Price:About the average
Recommendation: Recommended
24/7 Open: No

United Noodle, Midtown Global Market
The reason why I put these two together is, they are so related to each other.
First location, they are both on west bank where the neighborhoods are mainly immigrants.
United Noodle

United Noodle is an Asian Market focusing on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean food. Especially for Japanese food, they are all in good quality so some of them are kind of expensive.

Name: United Noodle
Category: Grocery store
Price:About the average
Recommendation: Recommended
24/7 Open: No

Midtown Global Market

Midtown Global Market, on the other hand, is not just focus on raw food material, there's lots of restaurant from different culture. Also, some interesting goods are common in midtown global market, it's more like a shopping mall.

Name: Midtown Global Market
Category: shopping market
Price: average
Recommendation: Recommended
24/7 Open: No
My friend, Sarah, who is a landscape architecture student like me, she and her group have done a comparing project about these two markets. Her point of view is focus on architecture and social context, but still very interesting to read. Sarah's Blog
In a word, United Noodle is more like a grocery store people are looking for, while the Midtown Global Market is a shopping-center-like market, which means totally different experiences.

Honors Pride!

2012-12-07T08:32:29Z

Hello everyone, today I'm going to share with you'll my experience as an honors student at the U of M .
The UHP is a program for highly academically motivated and qualified students. In other words it is a program for the biggest nerds in college. At least that was the impression and fear I had before joining the U of M. The last thing I wanted to happen was to be branded a nerd the very first time I walked into college. That being said, I was never the coolest kid in high school or anything like that, but at the same time I was always far enough from the bottom of the ruthless high school social hierarchy to be able to look down upon the bottom dwellers with disgust. The prospect of being that bottom dweller was not at all appealing. Yet I joined the UHP: deep down I was proud of being inducted to such a selective program. That along with the fact that I did not want to incur the wrath of my parents who would have none of me making a decision based on college social status considerations. Indian parents...enough said.
So I joined college and spent my freshman in the Honors Housing in Middlebrook Hall. It turned out to be a lot like I had imagined in the sense that the program was full of seriously smart people. Nerds. But strangely, after a while I began to feel a connection with the honors students. They were hardworking, competitive, focused and determined to do great things in life-just like me. Maybe the development of this connection was inevitable since I was surrounded by honors students most of the time and slowly, I began to experience the 'Honors Pride': pride at being an honors student. I began to notice the privileges of being an honors student; I got to study in small honors classrooms where I could receive greater personal attention from my Professors, I got individualized academic advice and counseling from my Honors advisor and I had the opportunity to graduate with Latin honors . As my social circle within UHP expanded I came across several people who had very similar interests as mine outside academics. Since a lot of the honors students fall into the typical nerd stereotype, I was very excited when I finally found people within UHP who like me loved to play sports, just hang out or party! Honors pride gave rise to the belief that we honors students belong to the top of the college social ladder. Needless, to say nobody else in college believes that.
I moved out of the dorms and into an off campus apartment with my two best college friends, both honors students, in my sophomore year. Moving out of the Honors housing has helped all three of us expand our social circles outside the UHP and we have had some fun and crazy times in our apartment. It is true that there are a few times I am sick of the extra effort I have to put as part of being an honors student, but looking back I am glad to have joined this program and proud to have been considered for the UHP.

Chemical Engineers: The Ironman of Superheroes.

2012-12-05T22:39:32Z

I was thinking of a title for this blog and once the word superhero came to mind. Obviously, I couldn't let it go. So yes, as you may have guessed, Ironman is only the greatest superhero ever (well Thor also but he's not really into science) unlike sissy Batman and Spiderman...

Chemical engineers do remind me of Ironman though. They are super smart, resourceful, (more often than not) wealthy and extremely witty. Yes unlike other engineers we do have personality and are not socially awkward ;)

Perhaps I'm just biased because I'm a chemical engineering major myself. That's very unlikely though, as my 4 years in this major have not been a walk in the park.

Chemical engineers have done much to leave their mark on history. Take for example World War II. Many people think, erroneously, that majority of soldiers died from battle wounds. The actual culprits in these casualties were the infections that developed after the wounds were sustained. Fortunately, Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin, the antibiotic, which would eventually solve the problem. However, another problem arose. The process of extracting this drug from bacteria was painstakingly long and only afforded little amounts of it. It was the work of chemist Jasper Kane and chemical engineer John McKeen that saw the production of penicillin on large enough scales to be used to turn the tide of the war.

As tempted as I am to go into how chemical engineering principles were used to solve the world food problem, I shall not. Instead I leave you with a history of the Haber Process for those of you interested in further reading.

I was curious about what my fellow classmates thought about chemical engineering and the program provided here at the U. So here are some questions I asked them and a few students' replies.

T: "What is chemical engineering about?"

S1:"It's about designing and supervising processes that make chemical products on a large scale. It entails process optimization/engineering, plant design, operations supervision but most importantly: SAFETY!

T: "Gosh you sound like a professor right now..."

S1: "That's what 4 years in the department does to you (laughs)"

T: "What are some courses people take in the undergraduate program?"

S1: "Like every other engineering major, we start off with the basic chemistry, calculus and physics courses. For chemical engineering specifically, a few of the core classes we take include:

Process control- to understand how to keep a process running at specifications you choose.

Transport phenomena- Dealing with fluid flow modeling and heat transfer topics.

Separations and diffusion-Pretty self-explanatory.

Materials science- The physical properties of materials (e.g. ceramics, polymers, metals etc.).

Thermodynamics-I have no words to describe this.

Numerical methods- How to model processes numerically. This is done because many of the processes we deal with are non-ideal and their models are not solvable by hand. So we build numerical models that approximate them in a simplified manner and make them soluble.

T: "Wow, sounds like you really liked numerical methods".

S1: "What can I say; we were drilled very well on the concepts in that class."

T: "I can't say I disagree. What have you learnt from the program here?"

S1: "I don't remember things from every single class. The lessons that have stuck with me more are those dealing with transferable skills."

T: "Can you explain that?"

S1: "Sure thing. I no longer rush into a problem blindly like I did when I first started. I observe then proceed with a logical and critical thought process. I now apply this method of thinking to everything I do like designing experiments, assessing and producing meaningful data. Most of all I havelearnt how to manage my time and prioritize. As you know, you won't always get to be the perfectionist you wish to be. [They] won't allow you"

T: "By prioritizing you mean between school, a social life and sleep?"

What prioritizing may come down to in college sometimes.

S1: "Yup, that triangle but also between classes, assignments due and so on."

T: "Interesting. What kinds of jobs are available for people like you and me?"

S1: "You can work in virtually any field. Not like English literature, but you know what I mean! You can work in oil and gas production, paper industry, food processing, refining, pharmaceuticals, patent law, medicine, business (with an MBA), renewable energy, and the biomedical industry."

T: "Is there anything else you would tell incoming freshmen or prospective students about the program, fun facts and such?"

S1: "A couple things actually.
• If you have plans to go to graduate school, it's a great idea to get involved in research early.

***To find out more about doing research at the U, here is co-blogger Tarun's blog on the subject.

• I came into chemical engineering because I liked chemistry and math a lot. In the program we are required to take many chemistry classes, so with 2 or 3 additional classes, you can get chemistry major as well. However, core chemical engineering classes hardly center on chemistry, at least on the undergraduate level. Instead the classes more focused on using applied math.

• From early, you are encouraged to work on group projects. In higher level classes; you perform labs and write joint reports with group members. You will be put in groups with people you don't know and will learn how to work with different kinds of people; odd quirks and all. This is great since it simulates the environment you will be in when you enter the workforce.

• The program at the U is so very challenging. If you asked a junior about it they'd be likely to tell you to jump ship. It definitely is worth it to stick it through though. You learn so much about perseverance. Many people start here as the brightest from their high schools but the chemical engineering program really is an eye-opener. It is a talent leveler of sorts and in the end; you will have been well schooled on humility. However, if you can get through the chemical engineering program here, you can regard yourself as one of the foremost in this field--at least I believe so!

• We have many accomplished professors; a favorite of mine, Professor Cussler. He received an Ig Nobel Prize for settling whether people swam faster in water or syrup. I know, the award is not as prestigious as the Nobel prize but how many professors do you know who would turn a University swimming pool into a sea of syrup and have a varsity swimmer swim in it to run an experiment? How cool is that?!"

T: "What has kept you going all this time then? I suppose it doesn't hurt that we have the 4th best undergraduate chemical engineering program in America at the U."

S2: "(laughs) Not at all. To be honest, sophomore year I realized I would like to focus on biomedical engineering and biophysics for graduate school. I probably could have switched majors but the concepts I've learnt in chemical engineering are very easily applied in other fields. They are enough and maybe even more enlightening for my end goal."

That concludes my interview questions and describes chemical engineering and the U's program in a nutshell. If you have more questions feel free to ask!

Again, the same time of year for new class registration!

2012-12-05T05:01:00Z

I will be graduating next semester and here are my classes for the Spring:
Two marketing classes that relates to my major
One Biology class about global environment
One digital photography class
And one more African dance class.
Yes, I am senior student who is about to graduate.

You might think that, aren't the seniors students who are about to facing the last semester supposed to be busy with papers, projects, applying for graduate school or finding an internship etc. How could I possibly have time to take such unrelated classes as dance or photography.

Well, let me explain. I understand that it is impossible for you to believe that I am willing to put so much time to classes that seem have nothing to do with my major. But let me tell you the reason I choose to do this and the fact is that the university has so many interesting classes that you can't even imagine.

In China, I know that the students are always required to take this class and that class in high schools and basically don't have any choices. After the Chinese college examination, the students are admitted into universities with their majors mainly settled. And the students need to follow the scheduled classes options until they finish and graduate.

Here at the U, things are so much different.

Freshmen start their first year with trying different classes that they think they might be interested in. They will explore different classes to gain various experiences before they decide what major they want to take. Also, some students will combine several interests together and they will double or triple majors and maybe at the same time taking some minor courses too.

To satisfy different students' different needs, the U offers thousand kinds of classes for students to try out and have fun. In this case, although the students are taking their major classes, but they can still have time to explore more areas that they are passionate about. More examples are, I know a Chinese girl who started her freshman year at the U and she is interested in physics and she also has taken four different dance classes. Another Chinese girl majors in math but every semester, she is trying to learn a new language, she has finished elementary French, Japanese, Arabic courses, amazing right?

As for me, I used to think that I need to put all my time into my major coures and try to finish my degree and graduate early. After a while, I realize that such thoughts are keeping me away from a lot of fun. So I tried tap dancing class and it was awesome. The moment I step in that dance class, I realized that I can add more color to my academic life by experience something new! And later I took African dance class which brought me back to the free and wild world of movement. what's more, I have considered self-defense class, design class, drawing class, singing class etc. But they all ended up with time conflicts with my other classes or they were to popular to register. But I still remember the moment I was going through the class options and imagining myself taking such cool classes, I could smell that sense of excitement. Because I know that every single class will lead you to a brand new journey and open a whole new world to you. Isn't it a great thing to learn new things? Yes, it is!

My point here is that, I understand that Chinese students when they are studying abroad. They are carrying expectations from families and friends. They work so hard and they want to make the most use of the tuition that their parents have paid for them and they want to learn as much as possible because they want to be more successful. However, during this period, you can actually make study a fun experience by adding some fun classes to balance your major classes. You will be grateful and surprised of how much joy and fun these classes can bring to you. Choosing these classes doesn't mean that you are wasting your time. the truth is that these classes are helping you to gain a diverse perspective of the world around you. These classes will inspire you, teach you how to be a more well-rounded person, guide you to explore more opportunities and thoughts of life. I think these experiences are more valuable than you simply sitting there and trying to memorize that equations from the text book.

Try to seize the youth time to experience more. Working hard is important, working hard while having fun is more important, working hard and having fun while learning new things is the most important thing you should do when you are here as a student!

Why choose College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota as your destination?

2012-11-25T05:40:38Z

As my previous blog, we have discussed that importance of a Liberal Arts degree. Now, you might start to think where to pursuit your Liberal Arts degree. In this blog, I will share with you my experience why College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota should be a destination for your education.

I'm a transfer student. Thus, when I decided to transfer at my junior year, I needed to make a right decision not to waste my time and money. College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota stands out among many options. Here are the reasons:

1. Reasonable tuition fee

Estimated Cost of Attendance for International Undergraduate Students Full-time tuition, fees, and books and supplies* (9 months) $20,088

Let's face it: $20,088 is A LOT OF money! But if you just do a little bit research about tuition fee for international students to attend US university, you might find that you get such a good deal for a good University like the U of M.

2. Second language requirement
As I mentioned in my previous blog, College of Liberal Arts at the U of M is the only college that requires students to study a second language. However, if you are international student, language requirement is waved for you!

If you are still interested, CLA offers different classes of 40 different languages. You can check here for the full language courses that are offered at CLA http://www.class.umn.edu/degree_requirements/Second_Language_List.html

3. Wide range of majors, minors and degrees
CLA offers 69 majors and 74 minors in 5 main themes:
1. Arts, Communication, and Media
2. Humanities, Languages, and Cultures
3. Sciences and Math
4. Social Sciences
5. Individualized.

Here is the detailed list for different majors offered at CLA. http://discovercla.umn.edu/majors/

Moreover, The College of Liberal Arts offers five bachelor's degrees:
bachelor of arts (BA)
bachelor of individualized studies (BIS)
bachelor of fine arts (BFA)
bachelor of music (BMus)
bachelor of science (BS)

4. Many active student groups
There are 33 student groups that show how CLA students take their education beyond the classroom. Besides that CLA student Ambassadors, here is the list of different group that you might able to join basing on common interests, hobbies, professional goals, religious affiliations. http://discovercla.umn.edu/life/groups/index.php

5. Helpful advising academic and career service

=> CLA professional advising team can help students to:

explore and choose your major

plan your course load to stay on track for timely graduation

understand University policies and procedures and how they apply to you

take advantage of University learning opportunities outside of the classroom

prepare for life after graduation, including grad school or your career

=> CLA Career Services will help you:

Explore majors and choose one. They do this via individual assistance, personality and interest tests, classes, and resource room full of information you can browse

Connect your major to potential careers. You're likely to find options that you didn't know were available.

Search for internships and jobs. They'll teach you effective job-search strategies, resume writing, and interviewing skills. They also connect you to an on-campus recruiting program specifically for CLA students.

Set up an independent research or study project with a CLA faculty member.

Decide if you want to attend grad school and help you apply. CLA Career Services is also the U's prelaw advising office.

6. High ranking programs
Here is a not-detailed list of the rankings in the nation of some majors in CLA that I collected from Usnews:

#1 Developmental Psychology
#3 Industrial and Organizational Psychology
#4 Macroeconomics
#8 Psychology
#10 in Economics
#35 in English
#24 History
#17 Political Science
#20 Sociology

It's not all majors at CLA but it could give you an overview about the quality of different majors at CLA.

Above are 6 main reasons why I decided to attent CLA at the University of Minnesota. What else are you waiting for? Apply today and join our big family at CLA!

When architecture comes to landscape.

2012-11-24T07:10:47Z

Hello everyone, this is Tony.
Since everyone is talking about their majors, and it is thanksgiving now, let's hit the pause button of the supermarket show. Today I want to talk about my current major, landscape architecture and give a quick glance of what we are doing now and might will be doing in the future.
Just to clarify some terminology here first. The major is called Landscape Architecture, which means it is the art of creating landscape, not creating a house like architecture. This is the professional degree; for undergraduate degree, which is the pre-professional degree, is called Landscape Design and Planning. I'm actually new to the program, I transferred from Journalism to LDP this summer ("From Journalism to LDP? These two have nothing in common, crazy man...") and started my LDP program this term so I can only give some limited information, but my friend, Sarah, is actually writing a blog about the LDP major, with her juicy description and funny tone, you guys can enjoy reading her blog and know more details about LDP program.
Here's her blog, please click the link until you need a new mouse, LOL:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/design/studentblogs/landscape-design-and-planning/

First , why and how did I started majoring in Journalism but then transferred to LDP, which might be the biggest change in my lifetime.
Well, first of all, I'm a sort of artistic person who has some good idea, the work I would like to do is those need to have creative thinking, artistically. Then, becoming a journalist was one of my dream because a news reporter is the one who deals with something fresh, meeting with someone new everyday---I see this as a way to practice my creativity. So I decided to be a journalist, or an advertising designer. I became more passionated to the latter when I was taking my art courses. My paintings were always something new and eye-catching, visually strong enough to impressed the audiences but still had the subject matter to express the messages. I thought this was my strength to be a media designer and I still think it is, I felt I was so close to my dream, there's no barriers between me and my dream.
However, dream can always be beautiful a dream but reality can only be a cruel reality. I was rejected by the program and I still don't know why---maybe I didn't have a strong personal statement, maybe because my language skill was not good enough to be a journalism major student. Anyhow, The fact was the fact, in spite of how many major courses I've taken already or I was a junior already, so I had to find another major to graduate with a degree. I started seeking, and the rule was, something creative.
I thought about majoring in art, since I love doing art and drawing and painting were two of my favorite things to do. But I immediately rejected myself. "You can't major in something you love most, it might run out of your passion one day and you can't risk it" I kept repeating this and looking at the list of all majors in College of Design( CDes). I considered graphic design, which I felt to similar to the artwork I did for my art minor, so I quited. Then, came with Architecture, which I thought it was not fresh enough for me. I like the Chinese traditional architecture a lot and it's to learn anything about that in the United States. Eventually, I saw three words---landscape design and planning. A thought strike me right in my head---"this is what I was looking for!"So, without knowing much about this major, assuming it is about doing something new and creative because there's a "design" in the name, I became a landscape design and planning student this summer.
So, what exactly does landscape design and planning do? the name can tell some stories.
Landscape means we deal with the landscape, either change or create based on the original landscape; design and planning indicate the process, and they are different from each others. In a larger scale like a city, where does the park should be placed; in a community, where does the playground should be built, it is planning; In a smaller scale, detailed enough to each element like a single tree or a piece of brick, that's design. The priority of landscape design and planning is creating spaces, coordinating with the environment and the cultural context, people would better use the land and more efficiently . In a word, landscape architecture is the art of living.

To be more specific, I would like to show two of my work, And again, there's more in Sarah's blog.

1. Using vegetation to create the space.
This is a plan view hand drawing to show my design by using vegetation such as trees and shurbs to create space.
The trees or shurbs work as wall to limit/block people's walkable space, so that the circulation can be controlled. This is just step one, a rough plan. Then, we were asked to consider about the desity of vegetation. Heavy vegetaion can block the way, as well as the view if needed, so what's the density of the vegetation on one side and what's the density on another. What would be seen and what would be visible.
There's more, What kind of trees ore shurb would be fit in the site considering its contexts. what plants can grow together and what plants can not. What kind of aesthetical value can this type of plant create and most importantly, how these vegetation related to the way when people using the site. And there's more elements for one site to be considered when design it. Landform would be considered before vegetation, then comes structure, and the symbolism is another factor needed to be addressed, etc.
So landscape architecture is not a easy work, it is a cross-subject major, which refers to aspects such as art, architecture, hortculture, geology and many other field, and this is another reason why I really like this major---it gives me a great opportunity to explore more and more and keep learning. I'm actually really glad that I was rejected by Journalism.
People always say that, If life closes one door for you, there's always another window open, And this happened to me, which the window is much bigger than the door. I'm very excited about this and for the future, I will get my master degree to be a real landscape architect, I have a really huge dream, create a city, and to achieve that, I will work harder and harder step by step, I'm ready for this!!

The two pictures blow here are another design we make for one of the countyard on campus, Vincent Countyard. We did some huge changes based on the original plan, trying to figure out the way to encourage more people to use this countyard.
Design

Origin

It's thanksgiving...now what?

2012-11-24T03:58:09Z

It's great we are on thanksgiving break. It's the time to relax, hangout with family, pig out at countless dinners, catch up on some Thursday night football and just let loose for a couple of days. At least that's our typical line of thought as students: relax now, scramble to finish up school work Sunday evening before school. I hate to be a Debbie Downer here but there are academic responsibilities to seriously to consider after thanksgiving break.

For some of us, it's a straight shot to finals; without any more midterms, your sole attention is on preparing for finals. For others, there are still papers to write, quizzes to ace and tons of homework to do. I hope it has been a successful semester for everyone so far but I understand that may not be the case for every student. So here are 3 tips for getting back on your feet:

1. Break = Catch-up/ Study time
Play hard, work hard! You've got full days during this thanksgiving break to run wild and do what you want. Remember though, when school returns we will be getting down to crunch time. If you've fallen behind on the semester's work, you can use this time to get yourself back to pace. If you are already at a comfortable place with your schoolwork, you could review what has been learned or better yet get ahead! Oh this probably a good time to get those sleep cycles back to regular :P.

2. Organize, organize organize.
Thanksgiving break is also a time to reflect on what has happened in the semester: reflect on what we planned to get done at the beginning and what we have ended up achieving so far. It's a nice time to figure out what in our plans worked, what didn't and what we could do to improve our positions. Also it's a great time to figure out final schedules (if you have not already), study spaces and study plans.

3. Still unsure...
If you are still uneasy or unsure about how your semester is going, this is definitely the time to reach out to your professors, teaching assistants (TAs) and advisors. It is a good habit to always monitor where you stand in a class throughout the semester. If you have not done so, don't worry, it's still perfectly fine to find out about your class grades and see what your TAs or professors expectations are of you. Depending on your performance, you could also speak to your advisers about steps you should take for the rest of the semester. It could be for academic worries, involvement, etc. The point is to work together to find a solution to whatever problems you may be facing. Since it is registration period most advisers are busy helping students organize their spring class schedules at this time. However, take patience and don't fret; appointments always open up for students in no time.

So I hope you take this thanksgiving period to re-energize for the last push of the semester. Remember: it is never too late to turn things around for worse or (preferably) better!! Good luck!