Hey. It’s been a while! I have some time before yoga because I could be doing my silk screening sketch, but I need a break because I’m pretty exhausted. I’m going to do it tomorrow before class. I have the idea in my head so it’s all good. But yeah.

So in color photo I didn’t manage to take a new roll of slides, so Sunday when I got back from Toronto I just printed from what I had and showed them to her Monday. She said they were fine. So that’s that. Now we’re working on our final projects, which are due almost-done this Monday when we’ll have a preliminary critique so that we can fix a few minor things to make them extra perfect for the last day of class. I also think my teacher is having two of her friends who are also photographers come in and give us some feedback too, which should be interesting. We also had to write an Artist’s statement, which I’ve never really done before, and it felt like writing a college application essay, you know, the kind where you have to sell yourself. I didn’t really enjoy it too much, but Mom helped me and it turned out pretty well. Actually, Kate really liked it and said it was really good because I was learning how to talk about my work really well. So that’s that. I also need an artist’s statement for my black and white class, so I’m going to turn in the same one and he’ll tell me if it needs some fixing. My final project for color is, of course, landscapes and nature stuff. But I’m really excited about it because I’m using three different kinds of pictures. What I mean by that isn’t in terms of subject matter, I mean in terms of “shape” of the photograph. So. 35mm film is a rectangle, yeah? But sometimes it’s horizontal and sometimes it’s vertical. To make it cohesive, you would want to print them the same way on a rectangular piece of paper, aka all the papers are vertical, or they’re all horizontal. You with me so far? Okay good. Then, add to that square-shaped pictures. Why? Because some pictures are square, like medium format. But I’m not doing medium format, I just discovered while printing my midterm project that some of my pictures looked better cropped into a square. I don’t usually crop, so it took me a while to figure that one out. But since my final project is a continuation of my midterm, I was left with three different shapes, you see? So. How to make them a cohesive body of work in terms of displaying them? Because size and shape is really important to that. So I was trying to figure out how to balance the size of the squares to the size of the rectangles and it was giving me all sorts of problems until, to make a long story short, it occurred to me that I wasn’t only limited to changing the size of the pictures themselves, but that I could also change the paper. The paper is arbitrary, you buy 11x14 because that’s what they sell. But what’s to stop you from making it a thin rectangle? Or a square? A square! That’s what I did. So. My pictures will all be printed on 11x11 square paper. And then I figured out the proportions of the square photos versus the regular rectangles. Essentially, they have the same areas and that’s what makes them cohesive. Cool, huh?! If you’re not quite following me, you’ll see what I mean shortly. I’ll take a picture of them all hung as they are intended to be, and you’ll get it. But it’s neat because I love problem solving like that and then coming up with such a fabulous idea! Whoot whoot! So. Where am I with this project? Actually, almost done! On Monday I printed after world civ. and then again on Tuesday after black and white. But I was exhausted by 10 last night, so even though I could have finished the last two prints I need and want to do, I figured it would be better just to stop and go back and do those last two later. A brilliant plan. I was sooooo tired. But then I didn’t get to sleep until midnight anyways, hehe. Oh well. But YEAH how cool?

So. World civ. Same old same old. I discovered on Sunday when I was back from Canada that I had an essay due Monday. Cranked that out along with my artist’s statement and my cross-processed prints. Yup. We’re going to have one more essay due, and of course, the final exam. Yeah.

So. Black and white photography. For my final I’m also doing nature and landscape stuff. Unfortunately for this class, I still need to actually TAKE pictures… I love that I’m almost done with color, but I have much more to do for black and white. Not too too bad though, because I have about 1/2 of what I need. I mean, those still need to be printed big for the final critique, but I have the pictures themselves. Hopefully this weekend I will be shooting. Scratch that. This weekend I WILL be shooting. Sam and Nikki invited me to go with them to Long Island City to shoot on Saturday. Dunno what’s there or where that is, I have to admit. I’ll look it up. Otherwise, Central park it is! Or maybe Prospect park. But I hear it’s dangerous. I’ll bet it’s not, and people just don’t know what real danger is like. But don’t worry, I’ll definitely go with someone. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Maybe I’ll shoot pictures both Saturday and Sunday. In fact, I probably need to, because I can’t really be shooting the weekend after because I’ll need to be PRINTING and studying and doing other final project things. Hum…

3-D. I’m basically done with that class. Just a few minor things left to do. We have to bring in all of our stuff on the last day. That’s all. Yup.

Silk screening. So. The sketch I had was not quite working. I could feel it, and my teacher told me so. Also. It was going to be a really time consuming project. I don’t have time. I have two weeks (TWO WEEKS!!!). So I brought it with me to Toronto intending to work on it, but because my heart (and LOGIC) wasn’t in it, I couldn’t bring myself to work hours and hours on it only to know I’d want to start over. So I sat on it and slept on it and all those silly things we say we do to projects but we don’t actually do, and I finally came up with a better idea that has the same elements I want but does them so much better. Plus. It’s small. Plus. It’s not as complicated to print. It’s funny because it runs in the same theme as what I’m doing in my photography. Street lamps and trees. Hehe. I’ll show you it just as soon as I actually draw what’s in my head. It should be good. And enough of that wanting to draw it in ballpoint pen stuff. That was just making my life way more complicated than it needed to be. This doesn’t have to be my life’s masterpiece. It only has too be a good final project. So using the materials I know how to use and know work, perfect. Also perfect? Being almost done with 3-D because that means I have Wednesdays to print, which are the days the studio has the most open hours where there aren’t classes so I can use it. Yup.

Uhm. Digital. Yeah. So I printed out a bunch of stuff that I scanned in, hoping to just be done with it. But he only really liked two of them, and even those, he was like run with this idea because these are what’s working, but implied I could hopefully get better ones of the same idea. I dunno. But I guess that means I technically have 2 out of 6 done. But hey, I was hoping I could get away with it being super easy. Instead, I still have to do the same amount of work I should have, hehe. So that’s what else I need to take pictures of this weekend. Digital stuff. But it’s all the same content, so I can do it at the same time which is wonderful. And since I don’t need to shoot anymore for color, that doesn’t complicate my one camera, I can only shoot black and white. Problem. I didn’t shoot any film in Canada. Nothing was interesting. I mean. There was nothing I wanted to take pictures of. It’s a city, like all other cities. I don’t shoot cities. So that means for class on Friday I once again wont have anything to work on. Oh well. I’m not worried about getting it done outside of class. What else can I do? I’m shooting this weekend and that’s how it goes.

Art History. Uhm. Yeah same old same old. Hopefully we’ll be getting out paper’s back this week because I believe I did really well and I love that good little feeling you get when you get something back and you did as well as you thought :) Grama, did you read it? Did you like it? Interesting, no? And then of course, we have our final exam on the last day of class. For which I will obviously need to study. There are A LOT of pictures to memorize… a whole semester’s worth… yikes.

So. Toronto. Was quite the experience. It was pretty exhausting, you know, traveling a million hours by train and such and being in a completely new place. But. Things of note. We went to see belly dancers, which were the most fantastic dancers ever, it was fabulous! And we went to a ballet, called the Merry Widow, which was even more fantastic if that’s even possible! There were three acts, and three sets, and a million (okay, 20) dancers who each had three beautiful costumes, in a beautiful theater with a live orchestra and we paid on $20 for good seats because we got day-of student tickets! IT WAS GORGEOUS! Both of those things were so much fun! But it was good to get back and I am looking forward to finally catching up my sleep tomorrow morning. Canadians are so nice, it’s crazy. It was actually really confusing. But some of them stiffen a little when you tell them you’re from the U.S. Lol. I don’t blame em, except that they need to realize that there are TONS of us who couldn’t disagree more with our government, and they shouldn’t stereotype until they’ve talked to me. But seriously. Nicest people ever. I’ve noticed that about other countries. We’re mean here :(

What else is new… Well my birthday’s in ONE WEEK! Cool. Birthday’s aren’t as much fun as when you were little as you get older. But they’re still excellent because for a day everyone you love and who loves you tells you so, and it’s awesome. I know I’m getting at least one package from home, and I am hoping for some others maybe and some letters and phone class from friends. It’s on a Wednesday, but at least it wont be a completely 3-D filled day. It will probably be a silk screening filled day. It’s too soon to know. My days kinda form as they go along. :)

So it’s super weird because the sun goes down at 4:30. FOUR THRITY! I don’t remember it ever going down so early! Did I already say that? I don’t remember. But the point it, garsh, I’ll bet this happens every year where I’m like what the hell? It’s so early! And then over the lovely summer I forget. Hehe. It is also getting colder. I am crossing my fingers that the snow waits until AFTER I’ve gone home so that I don’t have to deal with it until next semester. But. It might snow in the next two weeks. Which would be lame. But I dealt with snow in Toronto already, so I’m ready, I would just prefer if it didn’t come yet. And eash week it is slightly colder. That’s why I think it might snow next week, because it rains like once a week, and it’s about to be freezing temperature…

So of course, I can’t wait to come home! It is going to be fabulous. I’ll spare you repeating all the fabulous things that are going to happen. But I am pretty surprised, because this semester really hasn’t been stressful at all, except for short occasions when I am tried. It’s gone pretty well! And I even thought, well at least the last three weeks will be, but actually, I don’t think so! So far so good, they should go just as smoothly as the rest. Part of that is that I’m super on top of things. Only 18 days until I fly home! Actually, I think if I say 2 and a half weeks, that sounds shorter. So. Two and a half weeks until I come home! Yay!

So I registered for classes for next semester and my schedule is as follows:

Monday: 3-D with my same professor
Tuesday: World civ. in the morning with my same professor, Modern Political Thought in the afternoon with a professor I and hoping will be good
Wednesday: Color Photo II in the morning with the professor that will be teaching all three sections so I have no choice but I’ve heard she’s really hard and possible mean (they’re not re-hiring Kate which is sad to all of us!), and Studio I in the afternoon also with my only choice for a professor, but I think she’s pretty good
Thursday: I have no classes
Friday: Art History in the morning with the same professor, Advanced Black and White Printing in the afternoon

So I am really really hoping that politics class goes well because it has the potential of being horrible, not horrible but incredibly boring, neither but all stuff I already know, or fantastic. Fantastic, please! I am also annoyed that I have Thursday free because I would have preferred one class Tuesday and one class Thursday to balance it out. That’s how this semester is, and it works well for me to have my classes spread out like that. Oh well. I’ll get used to it because I’ll have to. I was going to take intro to science on Thursday morning, but god, that class just sounded so boring. Everyone said it was just 8th grade science all over again, I was like okay c’mon guys, no thank you. I am really really disappointed in the liberal arts classes at this school. They’re pretty awful. But. What can you do. I hope to take some good classes abroad and possibly in the summer. Maybe this summer I’ll take a class at UC Berkeley. That could be cool because I could choose ANYTHING. It would be fun. Yeah and it’s too bad about Kate, my color photo teacher, not teaching next semester because I really like her! But I can’t really take Monday morning again anyway because I need to take studio Wednesday which means I need to take 3-D on Monday if I want the same teacher. It’s complicated, but it’s all a huge puzzle of good teachers, required sections, sections you want, and the over all kind of week you want. You make it the best you can when on top of that Pratt doesn’t really have its act entirely together. Yup. So that’s that. It’ll be fine, I’m trying not to worry about it.

Anything else? I dunno. Oh haha yesterday I went to the home depot to get some woof for 3-D and you know how stores always put things right up by the cash register so you buy them even though you didn’t come to the store intending to? Well. Christmas lights! So, what was I going to do? I had to! So now I have two sets, and just as soon as I’ve posted this, I’m going to string the second one up and hopefully they’ll reach all the way around my room. Yay! What fun.

I am excited because this Friday Shabbat dinner is FINALLY at Simcha’s house again! Yay! I haven’t been to his house in a good long while and I love it there because there’s so many of us all crammed into this tiny space and it’s so happy and cozy and wonderful. It should be good :) Chanukah is coming up on Tuesday too, so that should be fun too, seeing what goes on with that around here :)

Okay, that was good and long as usual. I think I covered most things… I’m trying to think if there’s anything else… Oh yeah, so I didn’t really have a Thanksgiving, which was really sad because I love Thanksgiving! But it wasn’t Canadian Thanksgiving while I was there, and plus, I don’t think it’s as big up there as it is here in the U.S. But it was sad because everyone else I knew was having tons of tasty food and everything! Oh well, we’ll make up for it on Christmas Eve and Christmas :) Maybe I’ll get to write once more before I go home, hopefully, but I’m not sure because it is final projects and exams time. If not, I will try to write when I get home and post pictures of all the fun stuff I did. Hope you enjoyed reading :) Now I am off to lovely yoga!

Hey all. I have a bit of time (well, technically I don’t, but I don’t have the means to do other work right now so…) so! I am going to try to catch up on the LOTS that has happened.

Letsee… Alright I’ll go through classes. Color photo is going well, I’m doing my landscape stuff and I quite enjoy it. We are also working on a project with slides, where instead of getting them developed so that they are positive images (as slide film is) we have them cross-processed so that they are negative images that we can print from in the darkroom. My last roll did NOT work, so I have to re-shoot and that means I am super cutting it close to when it’s due. But I’ll get it done, no worries. Slide film makes for super saturated and intense and strange colors when cross-processed. So, I’ll need to get over that whole color-balancing thing, because it just wont be possible. I was going to go today to shoot, but it is dreary and I didn’t want to in this weather, PLUS I had another important thing to work on, due today, not later. So. And after the slide project, we only have one other, which is our final. We have to write up a proposal and such, an artist’s statement, and we probably are going to have to have like 10-12 perfecto prints. Fun!

World civ. is dumb. Except this week we learned about the scientific revolution, which is actually pretty interesting. Probably because what he was talking about we completely new to me, and all the other stuff I’ve heard a few times already. I’ll have another short essay for him, and the final exam. Easy peasy… and lame.

Black and white photo is going good. Last week we went to a bunch of galleries, and that was fun! The first and the last were my favorites, especially the last. I should go find the websites so you guys can look… hold on…

http://www.christiancravo.com/flash/ingles.html
http://www.fazalsheikh.org/
http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/essaydi_exhibition.htm

The middle one was my FAVORITE and if you know me, you’ll immediately see why. (hint: Steve McCurry is in my top 5 favorite photographers). So yeah, that was fun, my teacher recognized that we needed to get out of the classroom because all we ever do is have critiques because we can’t use the darkroom because there are two photo I classes at the same time who need to use it. Plus, there are three really bitchy girls in the class who drive the rest of us insane, and make the whole class un-fun. So this week we had one on one crits for like 15 minutes each with our teacher, again, to avoid the whole class situation. It was good. I am also working on my final project for that class, 10-12 final prints for the final critique, and I’m doing nature stuff as well, but also some neat glass and sunlight things, and who knows what I’ll get up in Toronto! I love black and white, it’s going well. I still like it more than color. On Monday I printed about a bazillion pictures. It was awesome.

3-D. Nothing much to say there. We have one final project we’re starting after thanksgiving. He loves me. That’s that.

Silk screening. Oh man. We are getting frustrated with our teacher. He’s a really nice guy, but goddamn annoying sometimes. He talks too much, he’s always late, he hasn’t taught us everything, and we’re only doing 3 projects all together the WHOLE semester. But. We’re starting out final project which is supposed to be awesome, because duh, it’s the final! So that’s what I had to draw up today. I have a sketch of it, and I LOVE it! I really hope he likes it. It’s way more complicated than my other ones, and I’m so excited I have to figure out all the colors and make the plates and all that, it’s going to be SO MUCH WORK but a lot of fun! I don’t have much time to do it. I’ll work on the plates for it on the train up to Canada and such. Should be fun fun. Crazy work and crazy in general, but I’m really excited about it! And isn’t that the way it should be?

Digital. We went to a printing shop, or whatever you call it, last week. Where you can print digial C-prints. Now. What on earth does that mean? C-prints are what we print in the color darkroom, so it’s the classic paper you expose to light etc. So digital c-prints are where it’s a digital image on the computer, but you print it to this awesome machine that prints it with LIGHT onto the paper!!! As apposed to ink-jet or whatever! HOW COOL IS THAT?! A lot of the seniors do their final projects at this lab. It’s super neat! The look of c-prints is just SO MUCH NICER than ink. It really just is. So that was super cool to see! And then, we also are working on our final projects, which for me is again, nature. Cool beans. We also are finally going to do something with our breakfast pictures. Like I said way long a go, those are for organizing and such. We’re going to learn a few more things over the next few classes too, and that goes for all of my classes, even though we are beginning to work on our final projects.

Art History. I wrote a kick-ass essay comparing Claude Monet’s “Landscape at Zaandam” and Paul Signac’s “Concarneau: Finshing Boats.” It’s due tomorrow. You should look up those paintings, they’re both on the Met website, and they are awesome. You also should let me know if you want to read my essay, because it’s REALLY interesting! I really enjoyed researching it (some of the time anyway…) because the stuff I learned was just fascinating! I love art history! The last thing for that class is our final exam. Oh, and I should be reading each week, but I’ve found I’ve run out of time. Oh well…

Yoga. Always awesome.

So moving on to Toronto! I’m leaving in TWO DAYS and no, it had not hit me. But me and Allison are both so excited!!! I’m gunna take a million pictures, or try anyway, and we’re gunna do so much fun stuff YAY. The train ride should be fun, though I must admit I’m super nervous about how early it leaves, delays, and crossing the border. I just want it to go smoothly, that’s all. And Allison will be waiting for me at the station, she knows exactly where it is. Whoot! I can’t wait to see her and talk a million miles a minute and take tons of pictures and see Toronto and ride a train and get the hell out of the city for a week and not have class YAY. When I get back the last three weeks of school are going to be CRAZY!

So, last night I went to a super Jewish wedding. It was tre interesting and fun! It was Rabbi Simcha’s brother David’s wedding. The food was outstanding. Oh man. Seriously. Crazy good. I could go into details, but all that really needs to be said is that there was butternut squash soup and it was the best. Soup. I have ever had. In my entire life. And butternut squash is my FAVORITE kind, but this… it was like candy! Or pie! Dessert! It was FABTASTIC you have no idea how good it was! I stuffed myself, it was all so tasty. But5 the wedding itself was really interesting, because it was an orthodox wedding. What does that mean? Well first of all it means that the bride and the groom were semi-arranged by a match-maker, and have never touched a member of the opposite sex other then immediate family in their entire, whole, lives. Seriously. And they went on a few chaperoned dates. What? I know. Then it means that the bride’s veil was completely opaque. What? It was strange. Then. It means that at the party, there is a divider that divides the room in two. One side is for the guys, the other is for the girls. They don’t mix. They don’t touch each other and rarely cross sides, let alone dance. The bride and the groom do not dance. Other husbands and wives do not touch each other in public. What? It was straight out of that famous play that I’m forgetting the name of right now. I know you know the one. I knew what to expect because I know a lot of orthodox Jewish people because that’s the synagogue I’ve been to, and there are tons in Brooklyn. But as much as I of course respect their religion, I have a few problems with it. But I wont discuss those now. But all in all, it was really fun! They lifted them up on chairs and everything, just like the movies. Hehe.

What else? I’m sure there’s more. Well of course, I cannot wait for Christmas! Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday! It is the best the best! Last night I started my Christmas list. Molly asked if I meant what I wanted or my list of what I was getting people, and I said what I was getting people OF COURSE! I never write a list of things I want, but I ALWAYS write lists of what I’m getting people, and I usually start in mid November. Hehe. I love it I love it! And I’ll be home in a month! Time as FLEW. Hehe. Time has flown, rather. I can’t wait to see everybody, my friends and all you people! YAY. Oh Christmas break is my favorite time of the whole year it is! I love getting people presents! I love the love! I love the cold, but your inside by the fire and hot chocolate and covering the WHOLE HOUSE in lights and getting the tree and decorating it and apple pie and ice cream and It’s a Wonderful Life and no school, just friends and family time OH MAN OH MAN! Hehe.

It’s still bearable weather here, but I know before I get back it’ll get pretty cold, and it’ll be even colder in January. The sun is going down at like 4:30! I didn’t remember that it ever did that! I wonder if I do that every year, forget how early it goes down in the winter and am shocked. Haha. Probably. But it’s already dark! It’s strange!

I just read the Nanny Diaries, and I strongly recommend it. It was quirky and witty and a really really good story with really excellent characters! I’m going to bring it home for Molly to read. It was really good! I’m sure I told you about my book list of like 35 books that I want to read! It is awesome. The next book I’m reading is The History of Love. Fun fun. I LOVE READING AND I’M SO GLAD I HAVE A BOOK LIST BECAUSE NOW I’LL BE READING ALL THE TIME YAY!!!

Alright, I wonder if that’s it… I think so. So, take care everyone! Maybe I’ll be able to write when I’m in Toronto! I’m headed off to print my essay and then to silk screening. Ta-ta! :)

Oh yeah, and sometime soon I promise I am going to try and post my new photography work, I’ve just been so busy! I’m bring my portfolio up to show Allison and I’m and JUICED! :D

Hey so my weekend was good! I just wanted to let you know :) I did some gallery hopping with awesome friends and some color printing, and today I did some black and white printing and it all went fabulously! Maybe tomorrow I’ll have time to write about it, but I am a busy girl these days. *love*

Gush

So I have no idea how it got to be Friday… that was weird…

I’m procrastinating right now, and my file of all my blogs was open so I found it and I remembered that I keep forgetting to keep up with this now because I haven’t in a while. I wrote only 2 or 3 posts last month. But anyway, this is PERFECT because I can catch up on two fun days no problem and procrastinate all at the same time!

So I didn’t go to the gym yesterday or today, but that’s okay because I did fabulously with eating well this week, and I had a good reason yesterday and I went Wednesday before yoga, which I don’t normally do. Hey okay so I got completely distracted from even this haha, I guess this is just an internet surfing, procrastinating, distracted night. I was looking at classes for next semester, I had my advisement meeting today, but we’ll get there.

So yesterday I went to the print fair for my silk screening class. Check out the website, www.ifpda.org, because it was frikkin AMAZING. It was this giant warehouse full of prints! Silk screens, etchings, lithographs, etc. etc. and some were contemporary, some were ESHER or DURUR or other awesome famous people, some were hella old, they were all EXPENSIVE and all way cool, so were really realistic, some were abstract, it was GREAT. I absolutely loved it, and I want to go back. They had these awesome books that had every station listed because about a million places were showing the work they had, so when I found stuff I liked, I marked it down so I can look up the galleries and artists later. It was sooooooo coooool I can’t even explain. It was even cooler than a museum because it just had a million prints that I could look through. No way I even got through 5%, it was great. I’m definitely going to try to go back, and I really have no way of explaining this to you, I wish you were here so I could take you. It was awesome! I wrote down all the best ones and I wish I could just have a book of them… Dad’s right, I would be really good at being a gallery owner or a museum curator, because I really do enjoy searching through art to find the best work, and I feel like the best work just all goes together inherently because it is the best work. And obviously I’m not arrogant, but I really do think I have a particular eye and a very sophisticated way of seeing, and I’m really good at choosing interesting and pleasing images, I’m just drawn to them. However, I do realize that I have a particular aesthetic, which consists of realism, nature, and romanticism, colors, and subtle little twists, but a general overall warmth, and that this isn’t everyone’s aesthetic. I really can’t get into modern stuff, and only very particular abstract pieces interest me… so I just wouldn’t handle that part of the museum! Or if I had a gallery, I’d have a certain kind of work that I dealt with. :D I love art! That’s why I’m in art school! How cool am I? How cool is this? Cool.

Anyway, then I came back and finished up my hyper digital project. The crit today in class went well, I think he liked my work, but he’s a hard grader and it’s hard to tell sometimes. I had a lot of fun with that project, I’ll try to post those soon, but I want to post the files I have, not pictures of them, because since I have them color corrected, why would I bother putting them up not color corrected? Next week we’re going on a field trip. And for black and white too! That’s three field trips in a row! How cool. The semester’s closing in on us, and I only have 2 more official projects for digital. One is the breakfast pictures, and the other is just a final showing of what your work is to you, what you do, what you want to show, tied together, but not necessarily the same. I’m excited, because that’s already what I’m doing, duh, I shoot what I love! And I’m taking pictures for color and black and white, so it’ll be easy peasy to do it at the same time. I’m excited about the trip next week, I don’t remember where it’s too right now. A printing lab. We’re going to make digital C-prints, and I only today was taught what that even means! It’s actually the coolest thing EVER. Basically, you take a digital file and send it to a printer that exposes normal color darkroom paper to light in it’s special magical digital way, so you get a print on color photo paper instead of digital printer paper, but it’s from a digital file. How cool is THAT?! He picked one of our images from today and we gave him the file, so next week we’ll print those and be able to compare. Neat, huh? I’m pretty juiced about it.

So after that, I hung out with Tudor and we watched The Bicycle Thief. Apparently it’s a classic that you all should have heard of. It was made in like the 40s or 50s in Italy, under the new genre at the time, Italian Realism. It was sad, about the harsh life of being poor. But not so blatant, like oh pity us we’re so poor. It was very unbiased, just showing what happened and how much a family’s life could depend on this one bicycle that was stolen. One simple bicycle, and they have nothing left. Anyway, it was neat to see, but it was an okay movie. Tudor’s a film major, he loved it. Hehe.

Today after Digital I had art history. Same old. I have this frikkin paper due in two weeks though… ew. Then I went to my meeting with my advisor to get my classes approved. I register on the 26th. It’s funny cause the website has a countdown. Anyway. Okay I just went away for a good hour because I was talking to mom about all sorts of exciting things! I guess this is what I would have ended up talking about anyways.

So next semester I’ll be taking:

Color Photo II
Advanced Black and White Printing
Studio Photo I
3-D
General Science
World Civ II
Yoga
20th Century Art History

I am NOT excited about world civ. or general science, but whatcha gunna do? I am THRILLED about color, studio, black and white, yoga, and art history. 3-D is in the middle. I have 6 credits of studio electives that I transferred in, so I have less studio electives to deal with and more liberal arts electives, that’s why I decided to take science. Also, they don’t offer a single good science course here (I doubt they offer a sign good liberal art in general…) so I’m just biting the bullet and taking it now. Oh, and by the way, this is my intended schedule… the way I know the Media Arts department and my school functions… who knows? But this is what I’m supposed to take and how I want it. I’m also unsure of when and teachers, so right now I have it set up with what they have listed, though more options may become available. I don’t actually register for classes for another 3 weeks, and even after that, I can switch. So we’ll see, I just have it how it works for now with good or decent teachers.

But moving on to AWESOME. Have I told you that I’m going to STUDY ABROAD?! I know, I haven’t because I haven’t been keeping up with this thing! Well, I am. The logistics? Still getting started on those… first off, where. Hehe. But I’ve made some progress. First of all, I met a kid named David in my silk screening class who went to Amsterdam last semester. The problem is that my school just doesn’t have much to offer in the way of exchange and study abroad programs. So. He proposed his OWN and after 6 months of hell, it happened and it was awesome! So he gave me a copy of his proposal, and I plan on doing the same. And when I asked my advisor about it today, she pretty much told me to do the same thing. So, neat. Hard work, but neat! Really, I don’t know where I want to go yet, what I want to focus on studying, which will also help decide where I go, if I maybe want to go for 2 semesters or only go for one, and I gotta write my proposal and get everyone to approve it and all that jazz. Basically, I’ll let you know when it gets rolling. Right now, it’s still in the mind-stage. BUT what’s linked to that is this…

Me and Allison want to do what every college kids dreams: backpack through Europe for a month (or more!). we realized that we’d be perfect companions. I don’t know how to explain that better… but I know as well as anyone you can’t just go to Europe for a month with anyone, and me and Allison would just fit so perfectly! So we were like yeah! This summer! But that’s probably not actually feasible. Also, I was like… can I do both? Abroad and summer trip? The answer is yes, actually, because going abroad is actually cheaper all around than going to school here at Pratt (fun fact I learned from David) and I have a plan for the summer trip. Right now what I’m thinking is that I’ll go abroad in the Spring next year (so not for a whole nother year) and then as soon as I was out of school, or Allison was out of school, she’d join me, and we’d be off! That way, I’d already be comfortable in Europe and be settled there, you know? So it would just be so much better than going before I went abroad! And that’s why I’m thinking Spring semester, too. Fall just seems lame (I mean, not seriously, Europe with NOT be lame!) because if I go in the fall, then I come back to… Pratt… yay… haha. You know what I mean? But if I go in the Spring, then it leads into an awesome summer. Also, planning on backpacking through Europe two summers from now is brilliant because I most certainly need to work this summer. C’mon, I don’t have money! And I need to work this summer anyway, so it would be perfect because I could start saving up. I also want to maybe get a job at a bakery (something that’s been on my mind for a while…) maybe fall semester next year, and that could save up money too. I don’t have time for a job this year, 18 credits both this semester and next, but this summer I’ll work in the café again! And next year I’ll find a job around here because I will hopefully be taking fewer credits. I have to work that out though, what I still need to take. But anyway, at least I’ll work all summer, and I like the café job.

OOOHHH which reminds me! Because I was thinking the only thing about the café job is that it can be boring a slow sometimes, so I’d bring a book. And I remembered I wanted to tell you about this neat thing I found and got addicted to! It’s this thing on facebook which is called “visual bookshelf!” You can list what books you’re currently reading, what books you’ve read, and what books you want to read, and write your opinions on them and stuff! So once you have a good list of what you’ve read, it’ll recommend books to you! So I spent a few hours just browsing books it was recommending to me like I’d do in a bookstore if I had time to get to one! So now I have a hefty list of all these books I want to read and it’s AWESOME! Because I LOVE reading and I’ve been wanting to read a good book for a while but I don’t have time to chill in a book store and find one, so now I have a list and I can just go out and get them, or even order them online, and vuala! So yeah, that’s pretty exciting! I have a lot of exciting things on my mind right now, what with the print show, Europe x2, books, good projects, did well with eating this week, etc. Yay.

So I was thinking I’d work the morning shift in the café if I could, because it is the best thing ever to wake up before the sun rises and see it rise and have all the morning people all cheery on a bright sunny day come in and get breakfast! And then, yeah you’re tired, but you can go take a nap, and still have the rest of the day ahead of you! And mom already found out that my old boss would love to have me back whenever I was back around to work. Sweet! So I’ll save for Europe yay! I can’t wait to tell Allison!

What else? Okay that might be it, though I could gush about all of these fun things forever! Tomorrow I’m finally going to see Paul’s show (my photo teacher from last year) with Sam and Nikki after I go to yoga. I’m really excited it’s going to be so cool! And Sam might need to go to the ICP (International Center for Photography) for one of his classes, so why wouldn’t I tag along, c’mon now? I love looking at the stuff, I love it… all right, so I’ll go now and probably not work on either of the papers I should be working on, but that’s okay. This weekend I have to get working on those and print color pictures for the project due Monday. Yup. Okay buh-bye!