When you first take on the location-based paper and before when you have to walk about the grounds near City Tech that is what you should do. Walk around and look for something that you think is interesting and that you would be able to talk about and not mind doing so.
First of all, you should find a place nearby City Tech. There is a lot of interesting sites in Brooklyn that you would be interested in researching, writing and talking abut like the Brooklyn Bridge, Dumbo, Coney Island area Verrazano Bridge and etc. But, most likely, forty percent of the students in your class will take Brooklyn Bridge as their topic and you don`t want to be among them. Coney Island and Verrazano bridge, for example, are interesting but far away from City Tech, so it does not satisfy location criteria.
You should do careful research and find sufficient number of documents and information about your topic, before you choose your location because otherwise you would have difficulties to find enough facts to support your topic and because you will have to work on your topic on and on during the semester and modify it. The papers and their topics will change overtime but should have similarities and you should be able to use what you had before to modify it. So if you do not love or at least not mind writing and talking over the same thing thing over and over again then you have a good spot. However if you are not then you should find something that you can do so with. Also be creative when approaching any of the projects because there maybe a very interesting story if you look at it from the right angle. Also if you believe you have found a better way of doing something or writing about a slightly different focus talk with the professor first and avoid any problems.

My fellow student, I would like to share with you the seeds of wisdom that I achieve through my own experience.
First of all, began to study from the beginning. Even though after lecture you might think that you understand everything your professor have told in class, take the notes in class and read your notes often. Read the assigned pages from text book. Do not look at your fellow student, who come unprepared to the class because “professor is not going to ask them”. Do and submit your assignments on time. Yes, it is a lot of work. But, hey that`s why you went to college, right. You want to be prepared to face professional competitive adult world.
Second of all, whatever you do, do not miss your classes. I understand you want to enjoy your student life with your friends and do fun staff. But if your grade will be “good” because of absences it might turn into “satisfactory”, and if it is “satisfactory”, because of absences it might turn into “unsatisfactory” and you will fail the class and will have to take it again.
The next important issue is, if you feel that you are not doing good, look for help, from the professor, from your fellow students, or from tutoring. You even, might withdraw from the class around the time of midterm, but try not to fail your classless, because it brings your GPA down.
The next important issue is, choose your major right away. Even if you do not know or not sure what you want to do, declare your major and take some classes. Only then you will understand if you like that area of study or not. Do not waste your valuable time on taking classes that you don`t need.