Being in a pressure cooker

Being in this study abroad program is like being in a pressure cooker. 

The studio part does not require much explanation. Creating diagrams in 15 minutes then explaining them, forcing ourselves to think outside of the box, lingering outside of our comfort zone, we were asked to develop maturity in our works in short amount of time, sometimes relying nothing but our instinct. 

But as one of the final critique juror described, 

the most valuable experience of this program is the dynamic or the relationship we gained under this compressed time. From strangers to friends, we were forced to be with each other everyday every hour in this program, seeing the same faces as soon as we opened our eyes till the moment we went to sleep. I have to admit I was sick of being part of the crowd at early times in the program. It made me realize the value of solitude or self reflection time. Yet being such introverted and "special" human being, I still feel accepted. The program makes us show our worst and best in just two months through just daily habits. We compressed the phase of what I would describe as "pretentiously polite." Greetings in the morning went quickly from a "Hi!" with a smile, to a simple eye contact and a nod. We saw each others' messy hair straight out of bed, underwear hanging in the balcony, awkward sleeping posture and snoring sounds.  We learned to accept it all.

So perhaps being in a pressure cooker was not that bad after all. 
It made us more real.

we are so pretty        i guess  (Picture stolen from FB)

- Renee Yuen