Alba Hysaj
141 Convent Ave,
New York, NY 10031

September 6, 2021

Crystal Elizabeth Rodwell
Department of English
City College of New York
141 Convent Ave,
New York, NY 10031

Dear Ms. Rodwell,

My name is Alba, I am a transfer student from Kosovo, Europe majoring in Architecture. I remember exactly the day when I decided I wanted to be an architect. I was in the 9th grade and our English teacher had asked us to write an essay about what we wanted to be when we grow up. That was the first time I had ever asked that question to myself as well. I was always good at scientific subjects in school but was very passionate about art and drawing. I couldn’t choose between those two, so this is how architecture happened. I never wanted to be something else since.

My goal in life is to love what I do, and by that I mean to be able to use my designing skills to make people’s life easier/better.

 The design process in architecture from concept to completion involves a lot of thoughtfulness and research. Architecture is deeply involved with science, and as architecture students, we are always incorporating ideas of physics, psychology, anthropology, and other scientific fields in our work. It is very satisfying to see the final product and know that it is a result of our own thoughts, but being able to explain something to an audience that does not get your thoughts is very challenging, especially in a language that is not your native.

Communication and articulation are powerful tools in order to be successful in any field. If you are able to express and articulate ideas you can be very powerful and architecture requires a lot of interaction with people and describing a certain product or certain material and how it plays a role in our design so, in my opinion, this course is an excellent opportunity to learn how to communicate my work to the audience and offers me the perfect exposure I need to help me in my future career.

I often think about how being an immigrant and failing to use professional English blocks me from being who I really am. By the end of this semester, I am hoping to find that science writing helps me improve my ability to recognize and make arguments in English about any topic without fearing the lack of vocabulary.

Alba H.

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