The end of last week wasn’t quite okay, as you can read in my latest blog posts. I can’t pinpoint the exact reason, but I was feeling very low energy and that probably made me force myself harder to put effort into my work. I was happy to hear that the last C++ lesson was a recap of what we had learned, because that gave me time to finish the inheritance project. Overall, I think I did okay with C++, but I know that if I don’t use it, I’ll lose all the knowledge of what I learned. I’m sure it’ll be useful if I end up in some sort of web-based design, but I haven’t decided on my specialty in design. In a way, I don’t want to decide yet because I’m still in the early stages of my degree, and I want to keep my options open.

Saturday, June 8

I woke up early on Saturday, about the same time as my roommates. As for how the previous days went, I wasn’t feeling very enthusiastic to go to the ropes course. However, I was willing to follow through with the program. We met up with Andrew, who drove us to the ropes course. It was a beautiful day outside, and I was actually able to enjoy Iowa’s agrarian landscape this time, because it was pouring when Abby drove us from Des Moines.

When we got there, we gathered and did some team building activities. I have attended many leadership camps before, so I was familiar with the activities. Afterwards, everyone who wanted to swing individually got their chance, and after lunch, we climbed the structure. About halfway up the structure, I gave up and got let back down. I don’t like climbing, but I thought I should try because I had the chance. At first, I thought that those two activities were mostly individual, and not team-centered, but later I realized that teams of people had to participate for each person to participate safely.

At the end of the ropes course, I even had some energy to spare. I think the good weather really helped.

Monday, June 10

We started with our Solidworks course today. I am so relieved to finally work on a graphics-based program. I’ve never done Solidworks before, but I’ve heard from the industrial design upperclassmen from UH that they use it a lot. I’m happy to be getting a head start on the program this summer.

As for the program itself, I think I’ve been doing well. Alex said the ability to design in three-dimensions, and two-dimensions, at the same time, would be a very helpful tool that I’ve learned in Industrial Design. I’m glad to hear that what I learned in school can contribute to the objectives of this program.

I met up with Stephen today to discuss more about that — what I can contribute to this project from my background. This may sound really simple, but perhaps I can understand design from a human perspective. I’d like to create products that are accessible to the user. I’m not just concerned with how –or if it works, but I want to make sure that it’s something that people want to use. What makes them want to buy the product, or download the app?

We did another Solidworks session, and I enjoyed the second class too. I like looking at complex parts and figuring out what steps I have to take to make it. I find the reverse-engineering process interesting, and something very useful that I can master. The only thing I’m nervous about the journal club reading. I’ll have to find enough time to read it along with all the other readings that I have to do.