They say that writing is easy – all you have to do is open a vein, and bleed. It is hoped that with every word we spill, we are one step closer to the authentic self. The spilled ink series encourages everyone to reflect, ponder, and share – to tell stories. With these pieces, we hope to explore the art of writing collectively with BRIDGE and the Waterloo Architecture community.
This creative short piece is an entry in the common place book. A common place book is introduced to all first year students as the book that houses thoughts, ideas, sketches, quotes etc.
I wish you could experience what I am. There is something special about this place. When you’re in an environment that strives to see you succeed by pushing you through your limits and making you answer your own questions through purposeful lack of guidance and great supervision. Lectures that make you crave to learn for more. The globe trotting faculty that are pioneers and scholars who recognize you not as a number, but as the name that they so carefully chose out of thousands to invest in, and who make sure that you don’t fit the cookie cutter mold. A future product made from broken, twisted, tormented but self created artistry that you come to learn, has been crafted through precise and calculated mistakes. Lest not forget the student body, the family that ranges from second year to master students who regard you as an equal. So eager to help you not only because they want to but because they have to in order to maintain the threshold of success to which this program is best known for. And my colleagues that inspire me, creative geniuses each in their own right. Capable of penning, sketching, painting and creating works that boggle the mind. A positive energy that’s so beautiful to be a part of. And of course the beautiful campus, home, that overlooks the Grand River and accompanies the dense forestry of the dustbin outside the wood shop. The University of Waterloo Architecture is exceptionally special. A home away from home.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hagop Terzian is an Armenian immigrant from Dubai, UAE. He is a McMaster University Alumnus holding an honours double Major degree in Economics and Sociology. Post graduation he worked in the banking field. After being immersed in the working field he decided to pursue his passion in Architecture. He is currently a first year student at the University of Waterloo Architecture.
