Finished my last uni project and did the final presentation on 9 November.  It was a huge effort - pretty much worked on it every spare minute I had.  Even had to take everything with me to my friend's wedding weekend (I was matron-of-honour).  Final night was an all-nighter - but I got it done!!

Pushed myself pretty hard though.  Been spending the last week relaxing and coming back to earth.  And now I can finally have a social life again!  Its sooo nice catching up with all my friends after so long in lockdown.

So the next thing on my list is the trip in February!  Bought myself a new suitcase last week so I'm really excited about that.  The boys have been all keen trying to work out how everything will work.  But fingers crossed it'll all be great!!

Now just waiting til the end of November for my uni results.  Wish me luck!!

Okay - I really should be doing my assignments right now.  And I will, very soon.  But first I wanted to whinge about them!

I have 2 assignments due on 2 November (11 days away), both for the same class.

• The first one involves measuring up an existing building, the soccer sheds on our uni oval, (see the picture) and drawing it in architectural drawing program (AutoCAD).  It's a pretty huge job.  I've already spent 3 hours just doing the measuring, and about 12 hours drawing - and realised today that I've missed a whole heap of stuff that I really need to include in this, so I'm not sure how long the rest will take.  I'm hoping no more than about 4-6 hours work.
• The second one is drawing and analysing an existing building.  I'm doing the Water's Edge Restaurant/ Gallery of Australian Design Pavilion.  I haven't done much more than take some photos and find the relevant journal articles.  I expect I've got at least 18 hours to go on that one, and probably need another visit to the site as well.

Then I have another major assignment due on 9 November - we have to design a retreat/house for the Dalai Lama.  It's a huge job.  I've pretty much decided on the design, but I have to draw it up (about 6 x A1 pages for the final presentation) and I have to make what has turned out to be 3 scale models of it.  I expect I've got 18-36 hours work left in that.

The biggest issue is that I'm in Adelaide from the evening of 5 November to 8 November for a friend's wedding!  So I'm aiming to get everything else finished before I go.  I'm aiming to get everything done by 2 November, but 3 November is a public holiday and a friend has offered to take the kids that day if I need her to - so I think I'll take her up on that.

Wish me luck!  And also that I don't have a complete meltdown between now and then!

The Soccer Sheds:

This is the Water's Edge Restaurant side of the pavilion (the Gallery of Australian Design is on the opposite side):

I met with the head of the architecture school today to see if it would be possible to go on our planned UK trip next year.  She said 'Yes'!!  In fact, she said "If you've booked it, you have to go"!!  She was really supportive and is being fantastic to help me work out what classes I need to do to finish my degree given they're changing the degree so significantly this year.

What a relief!  And now so exciting!

But first - I have to finish this semester.  My last assignment is due on 9 November, and I really can't wait to get through it all.  It's so huge... 

I'm in the middle of a dilemma and would appreciate insights and advice from my Minti friends.

My husband, his best friend and I have organised a nearly 3 week trip to the UK at the beginning of next year. We planned to go so that we were over there at the time of my husband and my first anniversary and at the time of my birthday (they are both 2 days apart) and we managed to buy plane tickets at an awesome price - with the condition that they are non-refundable, no name changes, no date changes.

Anyway, I have just discovered this week that my university are making dramatic changes to the way the study terms are next year, with the result that the first term is starting a month earlier than in previous years. So when we were planning to be away - which previously was just before uni began - is now in weeks 3-5 of term. That's usually a very busy time in the uni calendar. I fear that if I'm not there I will be pushed quite far behind, and possibly even fail the unit. If I fail the unit, I will be a year behind which puts me further away from achieving my goal of being an architect and working in a career that I love.

Until the beginning of next year, I won't know who the lecturers are. So I can't discuss it with them to find out if I can organise something to accommodate the trip until about 3-5 weeks before we are scheduled to fly out.

My husband is not coping with this very well. He's very concerned about losing the money we've already paid for our plane tickets. He has suggested no one going, which is not appealing, and he's suggested just he and his friend go - which I wouldn't mind, except for the fact he'd be away for our 1st anniversary and my birthday. The idea of not being with him for those events feels devastating to me. And if I had my way, I would really like to go too! The reason we chose to go to the UK rather than anywhere else is because that's where I wanted to go to see a special friend of mine as well as visit some places that are on my life goal list.

I'm at a loss as to what to do and would so appreciate others prayers, insights and advice to help me work out what to do. Thanks heaps!!