Friday, 6/19/09

Finally, some free time to write on this thing...

Yesterday, each group presented it's full-scale cardboard models to the class. We made the presentations outside, and it was insanely humid. Our presentation went well, and our model was lookin' pretty good. I took the rest of the day off: played some pool, went to my Mandarin class, and went to the 7/11 for some delicious convenient store food.

Today, I met with my group at 2 o'clock and we started work on the 3D computer model. I'm doing the computer work, and my group is figuring out all of the dimensions and joint-structure. We are nearly done, but have a few complications to work out. Tin-Man wants a half-scale final model made of wood, and some of our measurements are getting pretty tiny. Maybe I won't lose too many fingers trying to build this thing.

We were supposed to take a trip tomorrow, but the oncoming typhoon is gonna swamp us with rain for the next few days. So I'll probably just hang out in my room, and hopefully get some more work done.

I realized today just how big of a change it will be to be back in the States in a couple of weeks. I've gotten used to the way things work around here, and it'll probably take some time before I can even function properly when I get back. Plus the fact that I'll probably be speaking in broken English for a few days...

Wednesday, 6/17/09

I'm back again! Busy, busy, busy...

Since I last wrote, it has been business as usual. In class my group refined our design concept and began building our full-scale cardboard model. On Sunday, we took a trip with the international students to an aboriginal village and saw some pretty unique shows. Then, the week of classes began.

In ceramics, we began using a potters wheel to make bowls and cups. In glass, we finally poured our plaster molds to prepare to pour glass. In metal, we made necklaces. And in Chinese Painting we started using color, which I'm horrible at...

Which brings me to tonight, when we finished our full-scale model. It looks really good, and I think it will be pretty successful... if Tin-Man doesn't destroy it. We show it off at 9 tomorrow morning, so I will get some sleep now. I'll put up pictures later.

Thursday, 6/12/09

Okay, I haven't been slacking, I've just been very busy.

First things first, Hong Kong was great! We wrapped up the trip with a visit to the offices of TTI. It was cool to see all of the power tools they had designed and meet some of the design directors there.

Wednesday, after we checked out of our very nice hotel, we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Taiwan. Our first order of business in Taiwan was to rest up for studio the next day, when we were to pick our final design.

After studio, the Auburn students had to make an appearance at International Day. We set up an Auburn table and James and Lindsay sang a couple of songs on the stage. I got pulled up to participate in a Malaysian congo line, of sorts. The celebration ended with the serving of some of the international foods. Soon after we ate, a few of us headed to the pool hall and played an hour or so of pool before calling it a night.

Which brings me to today. This morning we took our design to Tin-Man for approval, and he quickly dismissed it and we headed back to the drawing board. He had to go to the hospital soon afterwards, so we haven't run our new design by him yet. Hopefully he will like it.

At 5 o'clock we headed to an International Dinner, which had a pretty nice buffet set up. We ate and sat through some presentations about other countries. Soon the dinner turned into a karaoke night, so we slowly filtered out of the room.

That about wraps up this not-to-brief summary. Hopefully I'll be making more regular posts, but my schedule is pretty full for the next 3 weeks. If anyone is still reading these things, please feel free to make a comment... Let me know this isn't just me talking to myself. :)

Sunday, 6/07/09

Well, it's been a while... so I guess I'd better get started.

Since the last time I wrote, I spent two days building three scale models and presented them on Thursday alongside my group. The presentations went well, and I caught up on sleep for the later part of Thursday.

Friday, at 8:00 in the morning, the group headed to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong. It's been very interesting here, so far. We have eaten some great food, and taken a trip to the highest peak in the city. We've ridden subways, double-decker buses, and street trolleys. Shopped in markets and malls, and taken sky rails to a giant Buddha.

Hong Kong is a huge place, and I'm starting to really like it here. There are a lot of English-speaking people here, and the hotel we are staying in is one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. There is an amazing breakfast buffet here, complete with an omelet chef named Rambo! You just tell him what you want on your omelet, and he whips it up within a minute.

That's all I'll write for now, I'm gonna sleep so I can wake up and eat some good breakfast!

Monday, 6/1/09

In ceramics today, we were tasked with making a little clay whistle. I was skeptical at first, but when my first whistle started a-whislin' it turned out to be an OK project.

In studio, we turned in the 10 sketches each that were due and had to pick out 3 that we would build models for. THREE scale models per person are due on Thursday... That's 15 models that my group has to turn in! Needless to say, I won't have time to write in this blog until I'm done.

Wish me luck...

Sunday, 5/31/09

Today was the last work day for the NCKU Creative Life and Service Design Workshop. The final presentation started at 4 o'clock, and we had officially put in only 10 hours of time into the project. I've included a picture of our final product, which is a lift to help elderly and people with disabilities into a pool instead of having to use a ladder.

Presentations went well, and we took off for a really good meal with the NCKU students and staff. I had two of the biggest fried shrimp I had ever seen, and an assortment of other asian favorites. After the dinner, the NCKU staff handed out awards to the two best presentations... and my group won top prize! The 5 of us all got a certificate, which is enclosed in a really nice Institute of Creative Industry Design cover.

After we returned to Shu-Te, I sketched until I dropped. Where did the weekend go? It's getting incredibly busy here...