This is the Dallas Fort Worth international Airport, a piece that is full of architecture and art.  My first encounter with at DFW was junior year of High school, I was taking a plane to a national’s conference in Nashville Tennessee. At that point in time I didn’t pay much attention to the details of the airport because it was 4 am when we got there.  Fast Forward a couple of years and this place became one of the most exciting places to be, because I knew I was about to go somewhere, or I was picking up someone that I cared about. Terminal D is my favorite, this is the international terminal, I love this because you can visually see there are so many different people, languages, and cultures, in one place. Standing there around different cultures and ethnicities  makes me feel what the United States of America is “a melting pot”.  Architecturally, I like all the glass that allows you to see throughout the airport. Lastly, more than anything I LOVE all the art that is displayed throughout the airport itself, one being the wishbone, displayed above, with the flags of different countries displayed behind it.  The building itself is beautiful but all the art and culture that goes though it makes it even more beautiful.

This school holds a very special place in my heart. I grew up around this school most of my life. My older siblings went to it, and so did I. My house is two blocks down the road as well. The first time, and every time, I look at this place with amazement. This school has taught me so much and has helped shaped who I am today. I attended this school since 6th grade and all the way through high school. I loved it the whole way. It is a Catholic school, where I learned so much about my faith. I met my best friends there, and some of my favorite teachers that I will ever have. Cascia Hall was founded in 1926 and is one of the two only Catholic schools in Tulsa. This place is not only special to me, but the school itself is also awesome looking. It is so beautiful, and in my opinion, it is the most beautiful school in the state of Oklahoma.

When I was younger I went to New Orleans and got to experience some of the food and historic areas. I was only 17 when I went, so I did not get to experience the nightlife or anything to cool, but I still got to look around the city. The French Quarter architecture stood out to me. I could not tell you anything in architecture terms but in layman terms, it was cool. Obviously I was young, so I was not looking too deep into the reasoning behind why the buildings looked the way they did. The building I am posting a picture of stood out to me, it reminded me of some movie that I cannot put a finger on. When I think back to being there and taking this picture, I feel a certain sense of nostalgia. New Orleans is a happy and goofy place, with lots of character, I think the feelings that this building represents for me are happy and goofy as well.

The Texas Motor Speedway is a very fun environment. Not only do they host world-class races, but they utilize the facility in other ways as well. This past winter I drove through the speedway while the entire racetrack was decorated thoroughly with Christmas lights. I have also attended formal dinners in the Speedway Club pictured above. I love how it is very family friendly and welcoming at all times throughout the year.

I graduated from Durant High school in 2016. I was part of the first class to complete all four year of high school in the new building since the building was finished in 2011.For reference, Durant is one of the largest schools in Southeastern Oklahoma, with capacity of 1200 students ( I know small compared to other schools), but schools like these are not seen around my home town.  The first time I entered the building I was impressed; on the inside everything was new and modern, but my favorite stops had to be the library, the stairwell and the entrance.  The library and one of the stairwells can be seen on left side of the picture above where you can all the windows, it always made me feel happy to be able to look outside while walking to classes throughout the day. The entrance was my most favorite part about the whole building because it reminded me of a high school you would see in a movie or something because of the tall pillars. I like this building because this where I met many of my lifelong friends, the best teachers, and the best community. I also had a lot of special moments inside of this building some happy, some sad, and some exciting. For example, the happiness of winning basketball games but also the feeling of disappointment of losing or finding out that I would be the captain of the dance team, senior year, but also dancing on a stage for the last time. Lastly, prom the last time, before graduation, that our class would be together in the same place celebrating each other. There was a lot of growing in this building from me personally, but it also signified that our town was growing.

Two years ago my dad and I rented out a fire watchtower in the wilderness of Montana. It was located on the top of a medium-sized mountain and was one room that was about 30 feet off the ground. This building brings back good, but also terrible memories. We had to hike up the mountain with about 15lb’s of gear, a spotting scope to watch for wildlife with, and food/drink. I am an avid outdoorsman, but this particular hike had me a little sketched out. We kept seeing grizzly and cougar tracks, so by the time we were almost to the top I was extremely paranoid that we were going to get attacked. When we reached the tower, I had a sudden sensation of not being able to breathe, the altitude was getting to me. This induced a panic attack from the lack of oxygen and the overwhelming feeling of a bear attack potentially happening.

The panic attack soon went away but I was left with a hangover, for lack of a better word. We got up into the watch tower and started using our spotting scope to look for animals. We ended up seeing a grizzly on a peak across from us. Around this time we saw humans coming our way. They came up to our watchtower and told us that they had rented it and that we had to leave. We assured them that we rented it as well, we even had a key. It was dark at this time, so they could not just hike back down so we agreed to all stay in the one room together. We had to sleep with complete strangers at 9,000 feet. As you can imagine this was extremely uncomfortable. To make matters worse (or better) it was my birthday. When I think back to this building, I love the idea of it, but hate the reality of it.

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A building that has influenced me in a positive way is Devon Energy Hall on the University of Oklahoma’s campus. I like this building because it takes advantage of natural lighting with plenty of windows surrounding the perimeter of the building, which I have found that a lot of buildings that I have had classrooms in on campus have had a lack of windows. The design of the building is also intriguing to me. The building has a balcony on the 5th floor that only students in the college of engineering have access to, which makes for a great study area when the weather is nice.  Overall, this building is what I would consider an ideal learning environment for students who like to feel like there is more “open space” around them in the classroom.

I am most excited to talk about Happy Joe’s Pizza that is located in Iowa over by Bettendorf.  Bettendorf is about a two-hour drive from my dads hometown, Chicago. My uncle was telling me how when he and my dad were younger, they got stupid drunk and started to seriously crave pizza. So they did what any responsible teenager would. They took my grandpas’ car and drove it two hours to Bettendorf to try the famous Taco pizza that Happy Joes had advertised on a radio station. After stuffing their beer guts with scrumptious taco pizza, they arrived back home in the same night thinking they accomplished a perfect prison break from my grandpa’s house. However, my dad forgot to put back the gumball machine that he stole from Happy Joes and was found by my grandpa, cuddling it on the living room floor with my uncle. After hearing this story and realizing why we have a random gumball machine in our attack, it was only fair we all traveled to his home town to return it. This was the first personal connection I ever had with my dad considering he was a macho- military man who felt he needed to seclude all of his emotions and childhood memories to himself.  The building is very vintage and has a very friendly atmosphere. Not to mention the taco pizza is to die for.  Seeing my dad for the first time show genuine happiness was the greatest feeling I had ever felt. The establishment also had a gaming area where you could win prizes with tickets you received and a playground where my dad would take balls from the ball pit and chuck them at me. If it wasn’t for the harsh winters, Chicago would be my future home area. However, I will be going back soon for the delicious taco pizza and to check on the returned gumball machine that we discretely put back.