Well, this is it. In a week exactly, I will have completed my first quarter of college. What do I have to say about this? What is there to say?
Expectations have been met and underestimated. College really is a whole other experience, and yet, at the same time, it's not that much different from high school. There are cliques even two weeks into school; some people still aren't taking life seriously, even with a $40,000 per year price tag; it's an art form to find a good balance between a social life, good grades, and adequate sleep. I guess that's where I'm lucky. I don't have nearly as many friends as I'd like, but each new quarter offers new classes, and in a class of a couple thousand kids, there's opportunities to meet new people all the time. I'll have the chance when I decide to come out of my social shell. Classes weren't hard, as long as you allocate time properly, which isn't hard to do considering all the extra time we have. Sleep? I haven't pulled an all nighter yet and I'm doing fine with my sleep cycle. My only regret is my lack of social confidence.
My confidence in my abilities, though, has increased - a pleasant surprise. At an art school, you think it would be a requisite to do good art in general, but not everyone can draw well or design intriguing projects. In both Drawing I and 2-D Design, I found myself surprised at the number of people who were, simply put, awful artists - but then, I may not succeed in areas where they will. In short, I have confidence in the areas in which I am strong. It'd make more sense if I had more confidence in the areas I'm not strong, but I'm not going to do that for a living. Having a strength allows me to experiment with my weaknesses while still exceeding, doesn't it?
Overall, SCAD's been great to me this first quarter. There are plenty of things to do when not goofing off or attending classes (or doing work for them). The only thing I can complain about is the housing arrangements - namely, the people who live next to me and with me. Both of my roommates have odd sleeping habits; one stays up until 4a and often later and the other comes home at equally odd hours. I've had to take to ear plugs to get my sleep some times, but it's still aggravating. The people next to us like to play their music loudly, as well, which is a problem, because there's nothing more annoying that hearing only the bass line of music at unreasonable levels.
Aside from that, though, and the lack of quality food at Cafe SCAD, I have no reason to complain. SCAD was the perfect choice for me. It forces me to be independent because I'm so far away from what I knew and loved back in Illinois, but I'm here for a short enough time that I don't feel that isolated.
Anyway, in a week I'll be heading back home for a (about) two month break. On January 5th, I'm heading back down to Savannah to start new classes. Now that I've had a taste of college and of SCAD, I think I'll make an effort to do more things...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
all hallow's eve and all hallow's day
Halloween! My favorite holiday. Who wouldn't like an excuse to dress up in creepy, kooky, strange and almost endearingly bizarre costumes that would normally get stares? I for one wouldn't. Even so, Halloween in Savannah was vastly different from the Halloweens of before.
I think this is the first time I haven't gone trick or treating since I started trick or treating. Even so, it wasn't a bad Halloween at all, even with the lack of candy I shouldn't have anyway. Granted, I had planned on going trick or treating in the first place, but things got a little busy. Friday was also the day to sign up for classes for next quarter (which I accomplished with a little bit of a trouble); the people I were going treating with had sign up times of 7:30, so we planned on going right after they signed up. So you know, I spent Halloween with Jasmine (my roommate), two of her friends, Joe and Will (costumes, respectively, were two Japanese rock stars, a fairy, the Spirit - a comic book hero- and Elmo). I was done getting ready by a quarter to 8, but after everyone came over (including three people I didn't know who just invited themselves along), it was closer to 9- and then we decided to run around to another room, then finally left.
Thinking that the stores in the mall would pass out candy, we went to the mall. Unfortunately, that closed at 9:30, and it was 10 when we got there. Barnes and Noble was open for some reason, and there was a kid's corner, so Will decided to go inside and make an appearance. (That, by itself, was worth a trip to the mall.) After that, all six of us (with Will riding in the trunk, since the car could only hold 5 people - but don't worry, he was comfortable) went to IHOP for a 10:30 meal with a creepy waitress who wouldn't stop staring at Will. Once we had our fill of pretty good non-SCAD cafe food, we went to Wal-mart... of course. Subsequently, Elmo got a lot of attention (he really was a celebrity all over the place), and we ended up talking a bit to a 6 and 11 year old.
Post Wal-mart, we came back to the dorms and watched the Batman Movie (with Adam West), and went to bed, exhausted, around 3a.
Next day (or rather, later), tea time! One of my friends, a sophomore (who I may be a roommate with next year), really enjoys tea and told me of this tea room in Savannah, so Will, Joe, I, Meghan (my friend), Jen (her roommate), and one of Jen's friends went for "full afternoon tea". Unlimited tea of any kind on the list, quiche, finger sandwiches, sorbet, and little cakes were on the menu. I'm not much of a tea person, actually, but it was a wonderful experience, and the French Vanilla tea, with a lot of creme and sugar (it's very bitter without) was really good. I also tried Vanilla Jasmine, Pomegranate, and... another tea which I can't remember the name of at the moment. The bad part? $30 per person, tip and tax included... which I guess isn't too bad for food, drink and 2 hours worth of entertainment. I certainly wouldn't mind doing it again - but maybe it's something I should reserve for more special occasions... or once every half year.
After tea, we ran to CVS and Fed-Ex/Kinko's, then headed over to Boundary Village (dorms) to watch "Keeping Mum", a very good British movie, and "The Producers", which was hysterical.
And... I just got back. For two days, a lot of fun stuff happened -- so there you go!
Halloween can still be fun without having to go trick or treating... but I'd still like to go, regardless.
I think this is the first time I haven't gone trick or treating since I started trick or treating. Even so, it wasn't a bad Halloween at all, even with the lack of candy I shouldn't have anyway. Granted, I had planned on going trick or treating in the first place, but things got a little busy. Friday was also the day to sign up for classes for next quarter (which I accomplished with a little bit of a trouble); the people I were going treating with had sign up times of 7:30, so we planned on going right after they signed up. So you know, I spent Halloween with Jasmine (my roommate), two of her friends, Joe and Will (costumes, respectively, were two Japanese rock stars, a fairy, the Spirit - a comic book hero- and Elmo). I was done getting ready by a quarter to 8, but after everyone came over (including three people I didn't know who just invited themselves along), it was closer to 9- and then we decided to run around to another room, then finally left.
Thinking that the stores in the mall would pass out candy, we went to the mall. Unfortunately, that closed at 9:30, and it was 10 when we got there. Barnes and Noble was open for some reason, and there was a kid's corner, so Will decided to go inside and make an appearance. (That, by itself, was worth a trip to the mall.) After that, all six of us (with Will riding in the trunk, since the car could only hold 5 people - but don't worry, he was comfortable) went to IHOP for a 10:30 meal with a creepy waitress who wouldn't stop staring at Will. Once we had our fill of pretty good non-SCAD cafe food, we went to Wal-mart... of course. Subsequently, Elmo got a lot of attention (he really was a celebrity all over the place), and we ended up talking a bit to a 6 and 11 year old.
Post Wal-mart, we came back to the dorms and watched the Batman Movie (with Adam West), and went to bed, exhausted, around 3a.
Next day (or rather, later), tea time! One of my friends, a sophomore (who I may be a roommate with next year), really enjoys tea and told me of this tea room in Savannah, so Will, Joe, I, Meghan (my friend), Jen (her roommate), and one of Jen's friends went for "full afternoon tea". Unlimited tea of any kind on the list, quiche, finger sandwiches, sorbet, and little cakes were on the menu. I'm not much of a tea person, actually, but it was a wonderful experience, and the French Vanilla tea, with a lot of creme and sugar (it's very bitter without) was really good. I also tried Vanilla Jasmine, Pomegranate, and... another tea which I can't remember the name of at the moment. The bad part? $30 per person, tip and tax included... which I guess isn't too bad for food, drink and 2 hours worth of entertainment. I certainly wouldn't mind doing it again - but maybe it's something I should reserve for more special occasions... or once every half year.
After tea, we ran to CVS and Fed-Ex/Kinko's, then headed over to Boundary Village (dorms) to watch "Keeping Mum", a very good British movie, and "The Producers", which was hysterical.
And... I just got back. For two days, a lot of fun stuff happened -- so there you go!
Halloween can still be fun without having to go trick or treating... but I'd still like to go, regardless.
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