The Beijing Waldorf Astoria, designed by architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, is conveniently located next to Wang Fu Jing (a high-end shopping district) and is only two blocks away from the Forbidden City. The bronze linings throughout the interior and exterior of the buildings are meant to be a testament to traditional Chinese architecture. The vertical frame and roof were also meant to be similar to the traditional Chinese roof-soffit silhouette. The windows are floor-to-ceiling, which allows guests to enjoy an abundance of natural light.

I personally thing that the bronze on the building is striking and beautiful, but the cube shape isn’t my favorite. I can see where the firm tried to keep the building consistent with tradition Chinese architecture, but also give the building a feel of the modern times. It is a Waldorf Astoria, which screams luxury. The bronze does not detract from that image.

FKI Tower, or Federation of Korean Industries Head Office Building, is a skyscraper in Seoul, South Korea that was designed by the architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill. The building has a unique exterior wall that was designed specifically for this project that helps to reduce internal heating and cooling loads and collects energy through panels on the southeast and southwest faces. The building isn’t the most efficient one out there, but it does create a portion of its energy onsite.

I think that the building is kinda boring, to be honest. It just looks like any other skyscraper. It’s impressive being one of the tallest in Seoul, but it’s still just an energy efficient skyscraper.

Broadgate Tower in London was designed by architect Adrian Smith. It is located in London’s main financial district. The east side of the building is the shorter side – only thirteen stories – and lies within a “viewing corridor” that limits the height of buildings. The particular viewing corridor is for St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is close to Liverpool Street station, which is a major hub of public transportation. It houses high-quality office spaces.

The building isn’t particularly groundbreaking or anything, but it is quite beautiful in my opinion.

Broadgate Tower was used to represent a Shanghai skyscraper in the James Bond movie Skyfall.

The Burj Khalifa was designed by architect Adrian Smith when he worked at the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The Burj Khalifa is to this day the tallest building in the world. However, Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia is planned to be the first one-kilometer tall building and may overtake it. Coincidentally, Jeddah Tower was also designed by Adrian Smith.

The Burj Khalifa is more than just the tallest building in the world. It hosts not only residential areas, but a hotel, observation decks, and a restaurant. The park at the base of the tower has a design based on a desert flower. The surrounding area is now filled with shopping and other attractions.

The tower’s design was somewhat derived from the Great Mosque of Samarra, specifically, one of its minarets that is a spiraling tower that gets skinnier the higher up the tower. The y shape of the tower is used to optimize residential and hotel areas. The hexagonal core with wings is used to support the height of the building.

I had never been inside such a big church. The level of detail in every piece of the church is fantastic and amazing. I find it amazing how dedicated some people are to honoring their religion, and it is truly showcased in St. Paul’s Cathedral. I had read about the building of a cathedral in a book called “The Pillars of the Earth,” which was fictional, but still detailed every step of building a cathedral. From that book, I had known that cathedrals were built in the shape of a cross, but I had never actually seen it before. To be honest, I think it makes the building look a little awkward, but it doesn’t detract from the grandeur of the cathedral. There are also a lot of people in the tombs underneath the cathedral, which was kinda creepy, but every single one of them had a story attached. Many were veterans who died in one war or another. All in all, I will never forget touring St. Paul’s.

The Tower of London was much smaller than I thought it was going to be. It’s not exactly small by any means, but I expected it to be bigger and grander than it was, especially after seeing Buckingham Palace. It was still an amazing experience. When you walk around in there, you’re walking the grounds the monarchs of Great Britain walked for hundreds of years. It’s a little creepy thinking about King Henry VIII, given his penchant for executing his wives. It was cool to see where people got executed though. It makes it more real. The crown jewels were also amazing. At the same time, it made me feel really poor looking at the amount of gold, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and more precious metals. The throne was disappointing though. There’s a picture of it below. The amount of history in that one small area is truly amazing though. I learned a lot about the English monarchy history while there. We didn’t pay for an official tour, just entry, and it was great. There are little signs with stories and descriptions of buildings and areas of buildings. There’s also an armory in there.

I was sixteen when I went to a Dallas Stars game for the first time. I had always liked watching hockey, but it wasn’t until I actually went that I really got into hockey. I’m much more invested in hockey that I am soccer these days. And I watched English Premier League religiously on the weekends. Last year, I didn’t miss a single Stars game. Even when I was doing homework, I had the game up on one of my spare devices. I was lucky to be able to watch the games because I wasn’t actually in the right time zone where I should have been able to. The Fox Sports app on my phone just somehow still thought I was still in Texas (despite being in East Tennessee) and I just went with it and didn’t try to fix it.

The atmosphere at the arena during games is fantastic. Everyone there is into the game and fans just like you. Even though (as you can see in the picture) we sat up in the nose-bleed section, it’s still amazing. You know that everyone else in the arena is just as dedicated and excited as you are. It’s completely different than sitting in your dorm watching it and yelling and probably annoying your neighbors when someone on the other team hooks one of your guys or when you score.

I will start this by saying that I hate flying. I recognize the efficiency of flying, but I hate it. Not because I think I’m going to die, but because of my ears getting messed up. The first time I went on a plane and remembered it, I was thirteen, and my ears were messed up the entire vacation in New Orleans.

Despite hating flying, DFW International Airport has been a happy place for me. Before I transferred to OU, I went to a school in East Tennessee in the middle of nowhere. I was literally a thousand miles from home, and I was miserable. Arriving at DFW on break was always accompanied by a feeling of relief. It signaled to me that I was home at last.