Hello everyone,

There's only one more month of university to go, and then I'll have officially completed the 4-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program at Guelph. I can't believe that it was probably more than 5 or 6 years ago that I first learned of the term "landscape architecture" from this forum, and now it's a central part of my life.

This final year has been a crazy one, and for all the good reasons. The semester that I had spent in Copenhagen (end of 3rd year) was eye-opening, and this year back at home in Guelph has been all the richer from my exchange. Everyone had changed in some way because of that open semester, and yet the community was still strong as ever.

We had the honour of hosting several exchange students in our class, 2 from Australia, 1 from Austria and 1 from Denmark. This semester, we have another student from Australia and another from Scotland.

Some of the varied projects we tackled in the past school year included the central downtown square in Guelph, which has tremendous potential but is woefully underused, and a large urban development, also within Guelph, intended to accommodate up to 5000 residents and 10000 new jobs.

This semester has us working on our independent design theses and group seminar presentations. It's been tremendously enjoyable, and unfortunately, passing too quickly.

A professor has been approached by the Tim Hortons foundation with the opportunity for students to design a new arboretum for a kid's summer camp. Details are still in the works, but it may be a summer opportunity I'll be pursuing. Otherwise, I have a serious long-term employment opportunity at a smaller LA firm, where I'll have the chance to gain more experience in site visits, proposal calls, presentations, etc.

Just so that this isn't all text, a small current project is my parent's backyard, which is rarely used (other than regular maintenance). The existing patio will be reduced in size, with a new landing off the kitchen steps, raised vegetable beds, pergola, and numerous garden beds interspersed throughout.

- Audric