:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: Friday, October 17, 2003 ::

:: Back to School ::

I have to remind myself every now and then that the reason I've flown to the other side of the country is that I'm attending art school. You probably wouldn't know it from reading my blog since it's received only cursory mention so far. My first few weeks of school have been interesting in that this school is quite unique, even when compared to other art schools. For one, the President of the school is a real dog lover and dogs are allowed to freely roam the building (the place is too small to be referred to as a "campus"). Students are also allowed to bring pets with them as long as they don't take dumps inside the building (meaning the dogs). For another, I don't think any other school starts the year this disorganized. Our quarter apparently set a record for new students with a huge number of 48 and it seems that they've just now settled everything down, what with many students being confused about their schedules as recently as last Monday. And that's another thing. The question isn't what year you are, it's what quarter you are.

It's a tiny school. I always thought Art Center in Pasadena was a small but Miami Ad School makes Art Center look like Harvard (though we're no less prestigious =P). Ad School has satellite campuses all around the world and the total student population at all locations total roughly two hundred. The main "campus," where I am, is the largest with about 90 students.

Classes have been intersting so far. It's certainly been more compelling than similar courses at my old community college and the atmosphere is ripe for creative minds. I haven't had to do much studying yet but I've been loaded with homework and projects. It's the kind of stuff that I just might be doing out in the real world one of these days so doing this stuff has been relatively gratifying. The people who I've been hanging out with are also people I've had to partner up with for a couple of assignments and so far I've worked with good people. There's already word going around about who's good and who you don't want to work with, which has been kinda amusing.

I know I needed this change of pace but I didn't think I'd adjust this well this soon. While it may be too soon to use the word "thriving," I certainly feel like this move has been an enormous step forward. It's not to say that I'm in a seaside Utopia since I do have my share of problems to deal with every day. From a distance, it may not even seem like that my life has necessarily improved. Yes, the location is great but I had to make a lot of sacrifices to make this happen so it would seem that all I did was trade in my old set of problems for some new ones. But you know what? From my perspective, these new problems are the types I'd much rather endure. And the kind of person that I am, as self-masochistic as it may sound, it's extremely difficult for me to imagine a life without problems. It would just be too dull.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 5:53 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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