Hello to all my imaginary followers! I am on my lunch break at work, the perfect time to start this blog about my experience here in Santa Fe, concerning both work and life in general. Most people ask, "Why Santa Fe?"
There is a pretty simple answer to that question. In my opinion college is a time to test new waters and see and experience what you can before you graduate and get stuck in a place you might not like. That's one reason I chose to go to Northeastern University, in Boston, in the first place. I lived in Florida most of my life, and have lived in and traveled to many places around the United States, with the exception of New England. I wanted to make the most of the college experience by trying something completely new and really getting out on my own, being far enough away from home that I really couldn't use home as a respite on the weekends. Co-op, of course, was another appealing aspect of Northeastern. Besides just going off to college, co-op is yet another chance to try something new all over again.
For my first co-op, however, simply having a full-time job and working in the field of architecture was new enough for me. To keep the overwhelming factor of co-op to a minimum I decided to find a job at home, in Orlando. Unfortunately at that time, in the first half of 2008, the economy was just starting its downturn and made for a very rough job search. After getting a job with the only firm I could even get an interview with, their project list began slimming down as most projects were being postponed because the money simply wasn't there anymore. This led to a lay-off -- actually, many lay-offs throughout the firm. Then I turned to the back-up plan, working with my dad in construction which I had also done the previous summer. So that job worked out, I finished my first co-op and went back to Boston for more school. Now I'm on my second co-op. I have worked in construction twice, have been taking architecture classes for 3 1/2 semesters (including one of those semesters in Rome), and after this have one semester of classes left to finish my undergrad.
Deciding where to do my second co-op wasn't an easy decision, especially when you can choose anywhere in the world. After contemplating Los Angeles and San Diego and a couple other places, I came up with Albuquerque, NM. My whole life my family has been vacationing in Riodoso, NM, a gorgeous mountain town in Southern New Mexico that I highly recommend (it happens to be my favorite vacation spot, at least in the United States), and visiting Albuquerque on occasion. I decided that California was out simply because I have been there enough to know what it's like (I was born there and all of my dad's family lives there) but I had never experienced the Southwest on a more long-term basis. Like I said before, college is meant for new experiences. So here I am experiencing yet another new place.
The transition from Albuquerque to Santa Fe happened pretty smoothly. I told my wonderful co-op advisor, Lynn, about my idea and that sparked a memory. Apparently a couple of years prior she had received a phone call from a firm in Santa Fe asking about the program, and after searching through two years worth of notepads she found the contact, called back, and they were still interested. After a pretty discouraging job hunt on my first co-op, having this one nearly fall from the sky was a very pleasant experience. If it weren't for Lynn I have no idea where I'd be right now.
So after doing a phone interview while stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center (my best friend, Martha, and I were driving from Orlando to Atlanta during Spring Break) and being offered a job on the spot, I was taken aback then simply excited. There were many details to figure out, but I'll save you from hearing about the hell that was figuring out those details, and more importantly, getting those details past my father. In the end, it all worked out. I rented a UHaul truck and Martha and I drove almost 2,000 miles from Orlando to Santa Fe. After she flew back home I had a week to settle into my apartment before starting my new job. Thankfully the apartment process was fairly simple because my grandparents (who only live about 4 hours from Santa Fe in the lovely Muleshoe, TX) went apartment hunting for me in April.
And now for the present day. I am in my second week at Barbara Felix Architecture & Design, and so far I am really enjoying it. My first week was much more hectic than I had expected. They were finishing up two model rooms at a historic hotel here, La Fonda, that had to be ready for a walk through by the hotel's board members on Friday. Therefore most of my week was spent at the hotel moving furniture, placing anything and everything, and making sure the rooms looked perfect. It's not very typical for firms to see projects that far through, and especially not typical to be doing some of the final work yourself, but when you're in a crunch that's what has to be done. And I must say that I enjoyed every minute of it. There's something rewarding about being in the field and seeing everything really come together, rather than just sitting in the office with the image in your mind of what you know it's supposed to turn out like. And an interesting factoid about that hotel, La Fonda -- it's where my grandparents had their honeymoon in 1955 and my grandfather was a part of the remodel in the 1970s (and that 1970s portion was again remodeled last summer by the firm I am now working for). Crazy small world.
Overall I'm enjoying Santa Fe so far. I'm in love with the mountains, however my allergies are not in love with the dry air or the altitude. I still need some more time to get used to that part, but I definitely think it was all worth it. And besides enjoying my job thus far, I have the 4th of July to look forward to. My grandparents from TX and my mom are coming to visit me for that weekend. Should be fun fitting all four of us into my 1-bedroom apartment. Now I need to finish my lunch and get back to work. I'll try to update often, but I've never been the best at keeping up with blogs regularly. Toodles!
No comments:
Post a Comment