Tag: student life

Study Hal: Week 5 – A Very Good Helper

Leila Mullison 2 Comments

Hal’s been taking some online classes, and summer finals season is almost here. He’s been diligently trying to finish all of his work. But, his family’s dog, Sparky, is not a very good study partner. Sparky would much rather play…

Pets may not understand this whole “work from home” thing, but they do love hanging out with you. If you have a pet, I bet they would appreciate if you carved out some time to hang out with them.

Hal is a U-Mich student who’s living at his childhood home over the summer of 2020. He’s back with updates on his exploits and experiences every week. If you want to see more, search the Study Hal tag!

Study Hal: Week 4 – Practice and Patience

Leila Mullison 1 Comment

In the quest to be more mindful, Hal has started learning about origami! It was supposed to be a way to relieve stress, but, he’s been frustrated that he can’t even make a paper crane… He was up late last night trying to get it to work. It seems like practicing and sticking with something can actually pay off!

Hobbies are a cool way to make time for yourself and feel productive at the same time. Reading, crafting, and making art all let you take a minute to breathe while they provide you with a concrete accomplishment! What hobbies have you been keeping up with?

Hal is a U-Mich student who’s moved home for the summer of 2020. Every week, he’ll be here to share his experiences of this odd time. If you want to see more, search the Study Hal tag!

Study Hal: Week 3 – Correspondence

Leila Mullison Leave a comment

It’s been an especially stressful week, so Hal’s taking it easy to take care of his mental health. One of his favorite ways to stay grounded is communicating with his loved ones. Hal’s been exchanging letters with his cousin Fil for a long while. Fil has a particular talent for drawing flowers, but, Hal could probably use a little art practice…

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or you haven’t checked in with your friends and family in a while, now is a good time to reach out. Maybe you can send a fun doodle of your own! Or, if you’re like Hal and you’re less artistically inclined, you could send a meme or joke instead.

Hal is a U-Mich student staying home for the summer of 2020. He’ll be around every week to share his experiences moving back home during this weird time.

Study Hal: Week 2 – Work Space

Leila Mullison Leave a comment

Hal’s back again! After being home for months, Hal finally got to set up his ideal study space… in his childhood bedroom. Perhaps he should use this time inside as an opportunity to redecorate?

In case you missed the first post last week, Hal’s a U-Mich student stuck at home during the summer of 2020. He’ll be here every week to share with you some good, bad, and plain unexpected things that come with moving back home during a pandemic.

Study Hal: Week 1 – Quiet Time

Leila Mullison 5 Comments

Everyone, this is Hal! He’s a student at the University of Michigan. Through the summer of 2020, he’s stuck at home like the rest of us. He’ll be back every week to share with you some of the good, bad, and plain unexpected things that come with moving back home during a pandemic.

This week, Hal’s been aching for some alone time. He wants to enjoy his book, but it seems like everyone else has other plans for the afternoon… Is there ever a moment when someone isn’t mowing their lawn?

In the Eyes of An Architecture Student: What Music do you Listen to for Studio Work?

themichiganarchitect Leave a comment

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful, restful MLK weekend!

I’m back again this week to discuss my answer to the question: What music do you listen to as you’re doing studio sketches or modeling?

First things first, I’ll just say, I have always been someone who’s been easily distracted no matter the context. So, getting me to focus and stay still to focus on specific tasks under a seemingly far away deadline is like pulling teeth. Whenever I do my structures assignments, I’d say that I listen to anything really, I find that classical music is alright too (I did used to be in orchestra, in case you were wondering how I don’t fall asleep listening to it for two hours straight). For any assignments that involve in-depth writing, like essays or reading, I listen to instrumentals. Again, orchestral music is great with me for this. I also really enjoy listening to dub step or even just instrumentals to tropical pop songs, and even remixes. I’ve even done quite well listening to non-English music. As soon as I hear English music, I find it inevitable that the lyrics will end up somewhere in my paper haha. As for my studio design sketching and modeling, I guess I do not really distinguished playlists for either of the tasks. I enjoy listening to anything really, as long as its upbeat. So, pretty much anything within the genres: pop, EDM, tropical house, and synthetic instrumentals, I find quite inspiring to my work actually. Besides the fact that sometimes I will find myself awake or still-awake at unearthly hours, I just find that anything upbeat and catchy just sets a great groove for me to “settle” into the work that I need to do. I oftentimes find that the beats and catchy lyrics keep me energized for hours, as I’m usually doing some sort of tedious, repetitive task either with my knives on the cutting mat or on my laptop with the software. I do also think that the devices that I use to listen to my music influence my ability to make this work as well. Sometimes. if there is just too much linework, or powerful renderings that need to be done, I will go to the BT Lab (our PC classrooms with very powerful computers) and I just end up listening off of their PC with my earbuds. If I’m at my desk doing my work on my laptop, I’ll just listen off of my laptop with my earbuds or my wireless headphones- the only downside with the headphones is I often get too warm or my head starts to hurt from the weight and pressure put on my ears for the extended period of time. Now, if I’m modeling, I find it immensely more convenient to use my wireless headphones- you can imagine, there’s a ton of materials and blades and sketches scattered on the desk, so the last thing you need or want is a tangled wire of your headphone getting caught on stuff, as you’re constantly re-positioning in order to produce the most effective cuts. I’ve definitely forgotten to charge my headphones and ended up using earbuds, and the result was just some wasted minutes to untangle things, or bring my phone and headphones along wherever I moved. Aaanddd, here’s what you would consider the click bait of this post: an excerpt of my playlist! I hope ya’ll will give it a go, whether you’re sprawled in bed or doing your own work. If you do, (or don’t I guess) and have comments or suggestions, feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments below, or reach out to my instagram at: themichiganarchitect Ciao 🙂

TheMichiganArchitect Work Playlist Winter 2020 🙂

Mike Perry feat. Tessa: Stay Young

Sistek feat. Tudor & Amy J Pryce: Pitfalls

Doja Cat: Say So

Far East Movement feat. Jay Park: Sxwme

Maggie Lindemann (Cheat Codes and CADE Remix): Pretty Girl

Bazzi (Bazzi vs Young Bombs Remix): Mine

Timeflies: Once In a While

Timeflies & Shy Martin: Raincoat

Alex Ross feat. Dakota & T-Pain: Dreams

Ali Simpson: Guilty

Allie X: Catch

Overstreet: Carried Away

Lovelytheband: Broken

Jax Jones & Ella Henderson: This is Real

Arizona: Electric Touch

Kim Petras: Icy

Alexandra Stan: Little Lies

Adventure Club & Crankdat feat. Krewella: Next Life

One Republic (Arty Remix): I Lived

The Knocks feat. Foster The People): Ride or Die

Austin Mahone: Better With You

Tiesto feat. Stevie Appleton: BLUE