Our visit with Giovanni Lauda was incredible enlightening. His journey to and through Rotaliana helped demystify a little portion of design for me. Per usual, it also made me question, or at least put into perspective my journey. Although I knew for a fact he works for a company, but something about him felt independent. A type of freedom I think all designers hope to be trusted with. Besides working at a company, he also teaches at a university. His talk about going to architecture school for six years got me thinking about the “path.” The one I thought I needed to follow. Then I got to thinking that I am going to be a junior next semester. And then I got to thinking of all the topics and fields I would like to learn about since being on this study abroad. I think, as a year of new beginnings (or at least a semester of new beginnings) I would really like to get more involved with the Austin scene of all types of design, and maybe make it a class thing that all design majors could be a part of.