Today was the first time since the interviews that I saw the rest of the UChicago cohort. We met at a café in Pinole, East Bay Coffee Co., to discuss and set up our blog. When I got there, Don took me outside to take some pictures for my profile image. He had me sit on the ground for a couple of shots, then moved me in front of a tree, and finally had me lean on a tree. I actually like having pictures taken of me, so it was a pretty fun experience.
After the photos were taken, I went inside, where Lindsay was sitting (she had arrived earlier and was already done with photos). The café was cozy without being too small, and was tastefully decorated. There were various dark wood elements, and various shades of grey dominated the tiles and walls. Lighting was provided by small rustic overhead lamps and pale string lights. There was a wall separating the tables and the counter, which kept noise pollution low. The décor of the café gave it a sense of warmth despite the cold outside (the heating also probably helped).
When Jahnvi was done with her photos, the three of us worked on our blog profiles. It was a pretty smooth process, except for the part where we had to describe ourselves. No one really knew what to write, so it ended up being a list of the activities each of us are involved in. I think that the main problem with the profile descriptions was that we didn't quite know how formal or informal to be. We ended up talking a lot about National Treasure (the movie) and what emojis Jahnvi should have used.
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| The work situation. |
After Cecilia showed up, Don bought us drinks and talked to us about the blog, showed us some examples, and explained to us his preferences/what the blog was supposed to look like. After that lecture, which was at least half an hour, we got to work on the appearance of the blog. At first we had trouble agreeing upon a background image, but we eventually settled on an aerial image of Chicago during blue hour. After that we tweaked the sidebar/blog size and chose our theme colors using hex code data we found on the UChicago website. One area that caused a lot of difficulty was the background for all of the text on the page; it couldn't be changed from transparent white unless we switched templates, but after testing several different options, we just settled with what we had from the start. I felt like the process, although not all of it was quick or easy, brought us closer together because we had to share our opinions and disagree with each other about certain things.
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| 49 Degrees? |
Eventually, we settled on a satisfactory design and then started to work on our first posts. Don had stressed the importance of pictures during his instruction, so we spent a lot of time trying (and failing) to take decent photos. After I had around 3 satisfactory images, I started to outline this post. By this time it was around 8:15, and Lindsay and Cecilia left shortly after each other. I didn't get very far on this post before my dad came to pick me up 15 minutes later, but I had enough to work off of at home.
Overall, it was nice to see the other cohort members again and work together with them on the blog. Despite the occasional period of distraction, we got a lot of work done and managed to agree on the general appearance of our blog. Working towards one goal as a group really forced us to make our opinions known, and loosened any tension there might have been between people. I'm looking forward to the next time we all get to meet again.
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| The 2017 UChicago squad. |
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