2 Down, 1 to Go

Today was the last day of critiques. Daniel presented, and of course they loved it. It was quite interesting because he was one of two 4th year students. The other four presentations were made by pre-architecture/ architectural foundations studios. It is really amazing to see how far we have come, and also to be able to sit in front of a project and know exactly how to make it better, when to stop, when the proportions are fitting for certain scales, etc. I am actually looking forward to our next project, where we are to tackle thermal baths in the canals from what I've been hearing. 

Tomorrow morning we are going on another school sponsored study tour to Sweden and Finland. Everyone seems pretty excited. It will be a chance for me to break out of my shell maybe - I don't know anyone in the group I was put in. I'm excited for my own reasons. I have never been to a Steven Holl building, and now I get to. I am not sure of the internet availability over there, but I will try to post if at all possible. Of course you know by now I love useless information, and more importantly I like to spread the knowledge. So, here some interesting facts about Sweden and Finland.

Sweden

• the 21st most visited country in the world
• official name - "The Kingdom of Sweden"
• All the Tsars of Russia until the last one, Nicholas II, were of Swedish Viking descent
• Sweden has the highest number of McDonald's per capita in Europe
• Swedish Inventions: astronomical lens, zipper, marine propellor, refrigerator, computer mouse and the pace-maker.
• ABBA
• IKEA

Finalnd

• 25% of land mass lies above arctic circle
• 180,000 islands in Finalnd
• Home of Santa Claus (Debated)
• Last regions of Europe to adopt Christianity
• home of Nokia
• Donald Duck comics were banned because Donald is pantless
• 1.8 million saunas in Finland

Until then, Hej, Hej.