Bonjour vlog!! I’m in Paris now and it’s been amazing. My first week in Paris was great. On the first Monday of being here we went to the Eiffel Tower as a group and saw it sparkle at 10 pm. We ate dinner as a group and then had Max lead us to the tower. We turned a corner and I gasped when I finally saw the Eiffel Tower in person. It was such a surreal experience to see something so world renowned right in front of me. As we got closer it looked even better than in the movies. The attention to detail in the architecture is amazing and it’s crazy to think that it was built by hand and people climbed up there with no harnesses to work on building such a beautiful piece. I had so much fun walking around with my friends and taking pictures. As soon as the tower sparkled we spammed taking photos of eachother to make sure we all got our moment. It was funny yelling at eachother to point cameras a certain way or telling eachother how to pose. 
While scrolling online you will come across posts that talk about how dirty Paris is and say it’s not like how Hallmark makes it look for their Christmas movies, however, I’ve enjoyed Paris a lot. I definitely want to come back. The public transportation is great and there’s so many beautiful monuments scattered around. (P.S. Paris may be cleaner because the 2024 Olympics are happening next month lol BUTTT only way I’ll be able to test that theory is if I come back!
3 key things that I’ll remember from my experience in Paris this week is playfully yelling at each other in our group to get the perfect photos infront of the Eiffel Tower, going to Disneyland Paris with Jaden and Winson and running with Jenny and Max while carrying baguettes and croissants up a hill only to miss our metro and end up laughing till we had tears in our eyes.
Some activities that I did in a team that will shape the memories I take away from this experience was traveling all over Paris on a scavenger hunt to find materials for our low fidelity prototyping exercise. Jenny, Max and I got to navigate Paris while looking for items and laughing a lot along the way. I also enjoyed building 5 minute prototypes as a team during the first prototype exercise because it was fun to guess what we each had made.
Max, Miguel and I are on a team that’s tasked with creating a better version of cup holders for motorized wheel chairs. Our client asked for a cup holder that has a nice design and doesn’t appear to look like a medical device or something straight out of the hospital. Our client wants it to be in front of her and take it off easily. She also wants for it to hold any size cup and be sturdy so the drinks don’t spill when she is traveling on gravel or hard pavement. One final request is that there’s a top that can be added to the cup holder.
Some opportunities I see if this project were to go forward is for there to truly be a better cup holder for power wheel chair users. Most cup holders just clip on the side of the wheel chair and end up making the wheel chair bulkier. Another problem with these designs is they don’t fit every type of cup however, our design would give the user the ability to place any size cup in the holder and not have to worry about it moving around or spilling when traveling.
I feel that I was most successful in my personal contributions in the process when it came to brainstorming and creating what the prototype would look like. I had a vision in my head for what I wanted the design to be; I wanted the design functional, pretty (this standard was based on our clients personal choices of color and textures) and practical. I like drawing and I’m good at that so that really helped me bring my ideas to life and communicate it with my team. Where did you struggle the most? I struggled the most in grasping CAD. I’ve never used CAD before so it’s difficult to try and learn it while also producing a working prototype and final Product in a week.
The highlight of the week for me would be the when Jaden, Winson and I went to Disneyland Paris on Saturday and then London on Sunday. We had a lot of fun going on roller coasters together and running around the park together. I planed a strategic route we could take in order to ride everything we wanted to ride in both parks such as Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney studios and we accomplished everything! The boys enjoyed it a lot more than I thought they would haha! We laughed a lot and didn’t even notice the wait times on rides because we just kept laughing. :)) Then on Sunday we the house around 5:20 am and took a flight to London. We saw all the monuments, walked on the bridge and even got to see the changing of the guards. The day was hectic as we ran around from one metro to another trying to “conquer London in one day” but we did it! We saw all the big iconic pieces of London and even stood on both sides of the world. We went to a place where the East hemisphere meets the West hemisphere and did handstands and funny poses. Our flight was delayed so we got back to our rooms in paris really late but I really enjoyed the trip. So thankful they agreed to go on this crazy trip with me!
Some advice I would give to people visiting Paris next year for iSEED is DO IT!!! I knew I wanted to travel to Europe to see the Eiffel Tower and explore the incredible public transportation Europe is known for but I was a little concerned on figuring the whole trip out because my parents had never been to Europe. However, I believed I could do it and felt that the people who were in charge of the program would help guide us and I was right. Getting to study in Europe had been incredible and definitely a dream come true. I’ve gotten to go biking with my friends in beautiful green fields of the Netherlands and had ice cream on a swing over looking meadows. I’ve seen the inside of one of the biggest known Bike factories and explored how all the bikes are thought out and put together. In Paris I’ve eaten lots of macaroons and traveled with my friends. It’s been a challenge to figure out a new country and there’s definitely a lot of culture shock but within a week or two, you’ll be booking a crazy one day London trip with two of your friends and leaving with nothing but your passport and the clothes on your back off to have a fantastic silly time. I’ve laughed more times that I can count and I’ve opened so many new doors and possibilities for not just me, but my family as well.
Song of the day:https://youtu.be/CCUr2pNJft4?si=8vLMvMJ49mHMnwOC