I think it's great that there are readers who are interested in architecture, therefore I thought I would write a longer post where I explain a bit about the education at the Royal Institute of Technology here in Stockholm, what it takes to enter the program, why I chose the education and about my own experience. Since I've only been at the school for two months, there is much I don't know but I hope I manage to answer your questions. If you wonder about anything, just ask! More about my days at school can be found under the category "Architecture 1. year".

To enter the programme:
In Secondary School (high school) I studed the Social Science Programme, even though I already in elementary school thought about studying architecture. I knew I could choose to have extra math to qualify for the Architecture Programme. You can only apply for the programme once a year. There are three ways to enter the programme and you can apply in all three groups simultaneously. You can apply through your high school grades, by the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test or by doing the Architect test. It has always been a high minimum of entry qualifications due to architecture being a popular education. I entered the programme through my grades and never did the architect test, therefore I can't tell you much about it but you can read about the test here.

The Architect programme is five years long and is divided into three years of Bachelor Level (grade 1-3) and two years of Master Lever (grade 4-5). During the Bachelor years the class is divided into five groups with about 20 students in each. Each group has two architects and one artist who follows us through our projects. We all have mutual lectures, goals and requirements, but exactly what the task is in every project is different from group to group. In addition to the projects we have courses, for example Architecture Techniques and Architectural Theory/-History that runs parallelly with the projects. Here you can see our scheme of the year. The colors are explained at the bottom where you also can see the different courses we have.

Why I chose the Architect programme

Due to my dad being an architect, I have always known much about the profession and always found it interesting. I've always loved to draw, paint, build, be creative and do some kind of problem solving. Since I didn't find anything else I can think of working with during my years in school, I've stuck to the architect plan.

My experience so far 
I am very grateful that I entered the programme and started studying directly after high school (I did have some hesitations about that before graduation) because so far I am more satisfied and happier than I ever imagined I would be before I started. During the last two months I've realized that I really want to work with this in the future and it fits me very well. I am aware of that my attitude and desire may change, but right now there is absolutely nothing else I want to do. I can't imagine any better job than a job where I can express my creativity and create something myself for other people.

A very big reason that I enjoy the education is the social environment and the wonderful people I ended up with. We are a great mix of personalities and ages that all goes well together and share a common interest. Thanks to these groups of 20 people each it's still a comfortable class feeling that I thought I would lose after high school. Because our days are long, we also spend a lot of time together. Required time is 9-5 but it often happens that we sit and work after 5 because we do much practical work. The school is open 24/7. This way of studying suits me very well because I find it hard to study at home. No matter what time I get home it's so nice to come home and relax without thinking about school. However, I know there will be more studies at home when we are writing exams and when we begin to work more with computer programs.

I hesitated to start studying directly after high school because I was afraid of being too occupied by the education. Today I am occupied by the education, but I don't mind. I want to be occupied by this. I don't mind spending much time in school because I enjoy what I do and I always have other people around me that I have fun with and who are going through the same thing as me.

After this long post I finally want to say that if you want to study architecture, fight for it! It may be hard to enter the programme but there is always a way to get in, although it may take years of trial. Don't give up too easily, it is after all something you may do for the rest of your life, and I think it is very important to work with something you love.

I just had to post the last picture of the rape snake. Observe that the head is brown hahaha... Excuse my humor.

Our class was tasked to build large animals of cardboard and were divided into two groups to make one animal each.



 There was much cutting, folding and gluing.



My group built a large gorilla.

Eventually we had two complete animals with the gorilla and the three-meter tall giraffe...

 

... which we will draw with various tools and techniques...

... and have some fun with. Awesome costume or what?



Me and my pet.



Don't mess with it.



Just give it some lovin'.



And pimpin'.

I have to say that I have never ever been so committed to and occupied by school work. For a few days my life consisted of the project, school, the people at school and nothing else. I went there in the morningand worked on the project, went home late at night and thought of the project, went to bed and dreamed of the project. I barely answered to any messages and was irritated everytime the phone rang, I barely saw my familyand I haven't checked my computer in four(!) days, which is a long time for me. Everything took much longer timethan I expected, and since I yet haven't learned how the computer programs work I had to do all the drawings by hand. I came home at one o'clock last night after struggling with preparation of the presentation (Note to self:always leave a full day for preparations) and was so up in high gear when I got home that started to cut and crop images to three o'clock. When I realized how obsessed I've become I went to bed to get at least a few hours sleepbefore the criticism today, which by the way went great!

Left school at nine o'clock today. In the evening, that is. It is my record so far, but there will probably be sleepovers at school when we have major projects. I can comfort myself with the fact that I'm not alone! We are always a bunch that stays overtime, some of us are more ambitious (read: slower) than others. Our workroom is catastrophic after only a few weeks, you have to climb over all the waste on the floor in to get by. The last two days we have also worked with gypsum, in other words, it looks like someone has walked around and poured flour all over the place. My hands are also a mess. They are full of smudges and ink that can't be washed away, just like they were when I was younger and colored pencils were my best friends. Neither can I wash away the super glue on my fingers. Superglue is nothing to play with, I have noticed. The best part was when I read the warning text out loud and said "Haha, how the hell do you get it in your eyes!? Those who manage to get it in the eye shouldn't even get to touch the bottle." Next thing I know my mascara is running down my cheeks and I have to run to the toilet to rinse out. But I survived a little glue in the eye. I don't mind my messy hands either, they remind me that I'm spending my days creating something with my own hands. Architecture rocks.