lecture reflection 1/25/11

today's lecture on study abroad wasn't very useful for me. i couldn't hear anything because i came late, and then, at the end of the lecture, the presenter gave websites to check and people to contact with any questions i had. i felt as though i could have looked up all the information myself.
despite not being happy with lecture, i still want to study abroad. tyler's rome program is one of the reasons i came here. i love traveling, and the fact that i can go overseas and not have to pay more tuition is really exciting. i hear the art classes aren't so great, but i believe being surround by so much culture and history will be well worth the trip.

mondays might not be the worst day after all

so despite being the beginning of the week, my monday schedule is good. i have art history in the morning and drawing in the afternoon. both of my teachers are really interesting and passionate about their subjects, so it's much easier to be excited about their class. in fact, all my teachers are like that. when a teacher doesn't care about the class she or he teaches, it's really, really hard to take that class and the teacher seriously. so i'm glad my teachers care, because the classes will be interesting and worthwhile.

bust (until sunday)

so the weekend didn't get more exciting after all, aside from wandering around center city today. i stayed in to do work all weekend, planning out projects and trying to finish a ton of reading before class next week. i did, however, go to buffalo exchange for the first time. since i only work during the summer, my income has to carry me a long way. so it's good to know that i can shop somewhere and get good clothes cheap. going to buffalo also reminded me how different philly is from home... there's a secondhand shop on my town's main street, but it's mostly pastel old lady clothing and paste jewelry. but buffalo has the benefit of being in a major city, so there's all kinds of clothing coming in. i found three dresses from bcbg max azria, dresses that probably cost about $150-200. and they were only $25-30 at buffalo exchange. you'd never find that level of designer in a thrift store by my house. if you have bcbg, you're not trying to sell it.

after leaving buffalo exchange my friends and i headed towards reading terminal market, one of my favorite places in the city. it's open on sundays now, and it today it wasn't nearly as crowded as it normally is. but i still love the marketplace feel, loud and crowded with a variety of different foods, crafts, and books. flowers, fruit, chocolate, beeswax, pancakes, and clams can all be found under the same, small roof. and that's what fascinates me. philly is diverse in its people and its restaurants, but it's hard to find so many good groceries and natural products in one place. it seems like one has to travel to different parts of the city for candles, organic, local fruit, and interesting books. but reading terminal has all of those things. and it's mostly locally owned! i love the idea of successful small business, since that's what i'm thinking about doing after graduation. it can get expensive to shop in reading terminal, but i believe good products are worth paying for.

one boring friday

i thought i'd spend my weekend going on adventures throughout philadelphia. instead i spent my friday wasting time on the computer and carrying eight pounds of art supplies back from blick... hopefully the rest of my weekend will be much more eventful.

first week of class

so, i'm almost done with my first week of classes. there hasn't been a lot of homework just yet...it's mostly the professor reading the syllabus and explaining his or her expectations for the course. what i've noticed is that all of my professors are serious about their classes. they expect dedication, hard work, and drive, but they also expect efficiency. it's one thing to work hard on a drawing for eight hours; it's another to produce a drawing at the same or a higher level in two or three hours. they want us to understand that you don't have to slave over a project to make it "good". and i really appreciate that, because i used to have a mindset where an artist needs to suffer in order to produce excellent art. but suffering isn't necessary, skill and creativity are. the more efficient you are, the more work you can produce. it's easier to manage your time and easier to meet deadlines. the hard part is learning how to do that and applying it to my work and schedule.

companion piece for my 2D final