Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Websites for my summer schools
September 1st - September 15th:
Alghero, Italy
This is a more informative link describing what I will be doing at University of Sassari in Alghero, Italy:
http://www.sei.architettura.uniss.it/article/articleview/100/1/28/
This is a general website for the University:
http://www.architettura.uniss.it/english
When I find good links for University in Turkey I will post them!
Study abraod vs. Finding a Co-Op Job
One thing that worried me about studying abroad this summer is that I wouldn't be able to find a job for the fall quarter.
At University of Cincinnati, we are still on the quarter system. Fall quarter is September - December, Winter Quarter is January - March, Spring is March - June, and Summer is June - September.
Most majors in DAAP (the college of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning), and in the College of Engineering require students to have six co-ops/internships in order to graduate. So starting Sophomore year of school, people who co-op start going to school year round.
I am on the rotation where I co-op Spring & Fall. That means during Winter and Summer, I have to find a job. I rotate work/school/work/school/work/school until I graduate. It's nice because when I graduate I will have over a year of full time work experience in my field. I also get paid during Co-Op, and the positions are full time. I get to apply what I learn in the classroom and also see what Urban Planning is like in the real world.
I knew trying to secure a job while studying abroad would be difficult. A lot of students do phone interviews with employers who are out of town. But having a phone interview in the US is easy an inexpensive. Phone interviews when there is a 6 hour time difference and it costs $1 - 2 a minute is a whole different ball game. But studying abroad was very important to me, and I knew studying abroad would be a valuable experience, so I decided to risk my co-op job search.
Two weeks ago I had an in person interview with an architecture/urban planning called Hart Howerton. This was out of the ordinary because it is so early in the summer quarter. This quarter our resumes and portfolios will not even be sent to employers until July 18th.
Hart Howerton is a unique case though. They have offices in New York City, San Fransisco, London, etc. They don't have an office in Cincinnati. But one of the employees graduated from UC, from the Urban Planning program pretty recently. Nearly every quarter two people from Hart Howerton fly to Cincinnati and spend a day doing on campus interviews. They also usually do a "How To Make a Good Portfolio" and a Portfolio Critique Session. The Hart Howerton associates will give a presentation of portfolios their company uses for clients, and the UC grad always shows his personal portfolio as well. During the critique session they will take a look at students' portfolios and give advice for improvement. I have been to the Portfolio Critique twice, but I have always been too shy to show my work.
Anyhow, I thought my interview went really well. I also really liked hearing about the firm, and what working at the firm is like, what kind of projects co-op students work on, etc. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high though. The Urban Planning program has a lot of talented students, I knew my competition would be steep.
But I guess my interview really did go well, and I must have picked up some good tips during the "How to Make a Good Portfolio" sessions because I got a call on the phone yesterday and was offered the job!
I am really excited!! I will be moving to New York City for fall! I will leave for New York sometime near the end of September, and work until around Christmas/New Year!!
It seems like only yesterday I was 19 and traveling to New York with a friend for Spring Break, wishing I could live there someday....and now I get that chance!
The sad part is that I will be away from Joshua and my friends for so long...but I'm young and may not have these kinds of opportunities once I graduate and commit to one full time job.
It looks like I will be keeping this blog for a while though, so I can share all of my adventures in NYC.
Here is the website for the firm I will be working for:
http://www.harthowerton.com
Here is a website for my portfolio, so everyone can see my work! http://www.uc.edu/propractice/UrbanPlanning/SkeltonAutumn2008.pdf
Ciao,
Brittany
At University of Cincinnati, we are still on the quarter system. Fall quarter is September - December, Winter Quarter is January - March, Spring is March - June, and Summer is June - September.
Most majors in DAAP (the college of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning), and in the College of Engineering require students to have six co-ops/internships in order to graduate. So starting Sophomore year of school, people who co-op start going to school year round.
I am on the rotation where I co-op Spring & Fall. That means during Winter and Summer, I have to find a job. I rotate work/school/work/school/work/school until I graduate. It's nice because when I graduate I will have over a year of full time work experience in my field. I also get paid during Co-Op, and the positions are full time. I get to apply what I learn in the classroom and also see what Urban Planning is like in the real world.
I knew trying to secure a job while studying abroad would be difficult. A lot of students do phone interviews with employers who are out of town. But having a phone interview in the US is easy an inexpensive. Phone interviews when there is a 6 hour time difference and it costs $1 - 2 a minute is a whole different ball game. But studying abroad was very important to me, and I knew studying abroad would be a valuable experience, so I decided to risk my co-op job search.
Two weeks ago I had an in person interview with an architecture/urban planning called Hart Howerton. This was out of the ordinary because it is so early in the summer quarter. This quarter our resumes and portfolios will not even be sent to employers until July 18th.
Hart Howerton is a unique case though. They have offices in New York City, San Fransisco, London, etc. They don't have an office in Cincinnati. But one of the employees graduated from UC, from the Urban Planning program pretty recently. Nearly every quarter two people from Hart Howerton fly to Cincinnati and spend a day doing on campus interviews. They also usually do a "How To Make a Good Portfolio" and a Portfolio Critique Session. The Hart Howerton associates will give a presentation of portfolios their company uses for clients, and the UC grad always shows his personal portfolio as well. During the critique session they will take a look at students' portfolios and give advice for improvement. I have been to the Portfolio Critique twice, but I have always been too shy to show my work.
Anyhow, I thought my interview went really well. I also really liked hearing about the firm, and what working at the firm is like, what kind of projects co-op students work on, etc. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high though. The Urban Planning program has a lot of talented students, I knew my competition would be steep.
But I guess my interview really did go well, and I must have picked up some good tips during the "How to Make a Good Portfolio" sessions because I got a call on the phone yesterday and was offered the job!
I am really excited!! I will be moving to New York City for fall! I will leave for New York sometime near the end of September, and work until around Christmas/New Year!!
It seems like only yesterday I was 19 and traveling to New York with a friend for Spring Break, wishing I could live there someday....and now I get that chance!
The sad part is that I will be away from Joshua and my friends for so long...but I'm young and may not have these kinds of opportunities once I graduate and commit to one full time job.
It looks like I will be keeping this blog for a while though, so I can share all of my adventures in NYC.
Here is the website for the firm I will be working for:
http://www.harthowerton.com
Here is a website for my portfolio, so everyone can see my work! http://www.uc.edu/propractice/
Also, here is a link to University of Cincinnati's website on the Urban Planning program if you want to learn more about what I am studying!
http://www.daap.uc.edu/planning/Ciao,
Brittany
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
I leave in 8 days
I leave for my study abroad trip next Wednesday. On Jul 16th at 12:46 I board my plane in Cincinnati and start my summer 2008 study abroad experience.
For those of you who do not know..this summer I am participating in a summer abroad program through my school, The University of Cincinnati. I am studying Urban Planning and the program is part Urban Planning part Architecture.
I am flying over to Europe a little bit early. I will arrive in Frankfurt, Germany on July 17th (my sister's 21st Birthday). My very first college roomate ever, a girl named Phin, is from Germany and she is living in Frankfurt this summer. I am going to visit her for a couple of days, and then travel to Berlin. On July 24th I fly from Berlin to Rome, to start the university study abroad program.
The program officially begins at noon, in Rome, at Termini Train Station on July 24th. There are about 25 students from my school participating in the program. We are each responsible for finding airfare to Rome and arriving at the main train station at the designated time.
The program this summer can be split into three sections, punctuated by location and acticity. In the first section of the trip, I'll be in a seminar class called Reading The City taught by a professor from my school. This class will be all fieldwork, taught outdoors at various sites in various cities around Italy.
We spend from July 24th until August 3rd in Italy, going to various sites and museums and sketching them. I have never drawn before, and I think being able to see something and then translate it to paper is a useful skill for an urban planner. In the future I will be able to conceptualize design ideas to colleagues. In this part of the trip we will visit Rome, Florence, Siena, and Venice.
August 3rd is the last day in mainland Italy. I then have a couple "free days" for travel and the only requirement is that I be in the next group destination, Istanbul, but August 7th.
I will be traveling to Basel, Switzerland with one of my friends going on the trip, a girl named Jessie. From Basel we will fly to Istanbul.
When we get to Istanbul, we meet up with the study abroad group again. This is the 2nd portion of the study abroad program. We will be in Turkey from August 7th until August 27th. Once we get to Istanbul we will spend a couple days in the city, doing more drawing. After that we will visit some cities in the Turkish countryside, including Troy. For our last week in Istanbul, we will spend one week at Marmar University in Istanbul working on an urban design project with Turkish students. I will get credit for the course and the credit transfers back to my school and counts toward my graduation.
On August 27th I have another "free travel" time. Jessie and I will be flying from Istanbul to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We will stay in Amsterdam for a while, then fly to Milan, Italy. On September 1st we will fly to the Island of Sardinia to the city of Alghero.
When we arrive in Alghero we being a two week long intense urban design studio at University of Sassari. This is the 3rd and final leg of the study abroad program. I am excited for the time in Alghero because we will be in one place, the same hotel, for two whole weeks. I'm sure that after a summer of being in a new city every couple days I will be exhausted!
After the study abroad program finishes on September 14th, I am flying with Jessie to London and we will be staying with her Aunt for a couple days. After that I have to make my way back to Frankfurt, Germany for my return flight to the US. I plan to take a train from London to Paris, and then Paris to Frankfurt, but we'll see. My dad doesn't like that idea too much!
In my next post I will put links to the universities I'll be studying at, as well as a link to urban planning work I have done at my school in the past, so everyone can see that kind of work I produce.
Ciao,
Brittany
For those of you who do not know..this summer I am participating in a summer abroad program through my school, The University of Cincinnati. I am studying Urban Planning and the program is part Urban Planning part Architecture.
I am flying over to Europe a little bit early. I will arrive in Frankfurt, Germany on July 17th (my sister's 21st Birthday). My very first college roomate ever, a girl named Phin, is from Germany and she is living in Frankfurt this summer. I am going to visit her for a couple of days, and then travel to Berlin. On July 24th I fly from Berlin to Rome, to start the university study abroad program.
The program officially begins at noon, in Rome, at Termini Train Station on July 24th. There are about 25 students from my school participating in the program. We are each responsible for finding airfare to Rome and arriving at the main train station at the designated time.
The program this summer can be split into three sections, punctuated by location and acticity. In the first section of the trip, I'll be in a seminar class called Reading The City taught by a professor from my school. This class will be all fieldwork, taught outdoors at various sites in various cities around Italy.
We spend from July 24th until August 3rd in Italy, going to various sites and museums and sketching them. I have never drawn before, and I think being able to see something and then translate it to paper is a useful skill for an urban planner. In the future I will be able to conceptualize design ideas to colleagues. In this part of the trip we will visit Rome, Florence, Siena, and Venice.
August 3rd is the last day in mainland Italy. I then have a couple "free days" for travel and the only requirement is that I be in the next group destination, Istanbul, but August 7th.
I will be traveling to Basel, Switzerland with one of my friends going on the trip, a girl named Jessie. From Basel we will fly to Istanbul.
When we get to Istanbul, we meet up with the study abroad group again. This is the 2nd portion of the study abroad program. We will be in Turkey from August 7th until August 27th. Once we get to Istanbul we will spend a couple days in the city, doing more drawing. After that we will visit some cities in the Turkish countryside, including Troy. For our last week in Istanbul, we will spend one week at Marmar University in Istanbul working on an urban design project with Turkish students. I will get credit for the course and the credit transfers back to my school and counts toward my graduation.
On August 27th I have another "free travel" time. Jessie and I will be flying from Istanbul to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We will stay in Amsterdam for a while, then fly to Milan, Italy. On September 1st we will fly to the Island of Sardinia to the city of Alghero.
When we arrive in Alghero we being a two week long intense urban design studio at University of Sassari. This is the 3rd and final leg of the study abroad program. I am excited for the time in Alghero because we will be in one place, the same hotel, for two whole weeks. I'm sure that after a summer of being in a new city every couple days I will be exhausted!
After the study abroad program finishes on September 14th, I am flying with Jessie to London and we will be staying with her Aunt for a couple days. After that I have to make my way back to Frankfurt, Germany for my return flight to the US. I plan to take a train from London to Paris, and then Paris to Frankfurt, but we'll see. My dad doesn't like that idea too much!
In my next post I will put links to the universities I'll be studying at, as well as a link to urban planning work I have done at my school in the past, so everyone can see that kind of work I produce.
Ciao,
Brittany
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