First Day of "Classes", Sorted.

I just got in from my first day at Uni (which is what they call university here, by the way), where I had my first class! Well, it wasn't really a class. I'm not quite sure what today was honestly. An introduction class, I guess. And I'm not quite sure what sort of "classes" I have either.... or if they are classes. They certainly aren't referred to as "classes" on my schedule. My schedule looks like I have one class a week, followed by an odd series of tutor-led open labs. But I think the open labs are mandatory? I'm not sure. If they are, I have classes every day of the week. Which is unusual, as every other student I live with has class no more than three days a week. I guess I'll just go with the flow and see what happens.

Today I showed up at 10am and received a packet of paperwork with my course schedule. I sat around talking to these two really cool girls from China and South Korea, and I met a really cool girl from London too. She is as tall as me (I'm 5'11"), also a Virgo, and has what seems to be a good head on her shoulders. She and I got along immediately.

The room full of fashion students suddenly went quiet when the heads of our departments gathered us into a group to introduce themselves. The three people who are in charge of my program seem REALLY cool. We were then split up into our programs (my program has about 25 people or so) and we got a quick tour of the rooms we'll be using.

The CSM building that I'll be centered in is perfect. It's old, full of stairways and odd back alleys, and made of brick and painted wood. All over there are huge dirty windows, and hallways with bright white walls and heavy doors, and it is incredibly confusing to get around in. It looks and feels exactly the way an art school should. I love it.

The tour over, we were told come back to get our first group project briefing at 4:15. It wasn't even 11am yet. I asked my new tall friend if she wanted to get a cup of coffee, and we ended up spending the next 5 hours together wandering around Soho so she could show me some of her favorite clubs while we talked about art, schooling, boyfriends, fashion, religion, our families, and what we want to get out of our time at university.

At 4:15 all 25 of us were shuffled into a little room where we were arranged into groups of five and given a briefing on our first group research project. It is a pretty simple project. Really it's just an excuse to meet new people, use the school library, and get us all back up to speed on what student life is going to be like. I have some nice girls in my group, we all exchanged info and plan to meet tomorrow after a stupid 10am "safety and rules" lecture. (One of the girls asked me if I was American. I said yes, and that I was from San Francisco, which seemed to surprise her. Then she said, "you don't seem to be American. You don't have a terrible American accent or anything. You sound very international to me." I was flattered, and told her so.)

As we were getting our project brief, the guy who is one of the head tutors in my department talked about projects. He told us something about how we are graded and then said, "it's not like your marks really matter though. But, you do want to make sure you get the mark you deserve, right? This course is more about being graded on your own progress anyhow..." Shock! And relief! And more shock! A TEACHER just said that our grades aren't the most important thing!?!? What the....??? Wow.

To have the freedom to try crazy things, safe in the knowledge that is okay if your ideas don't turn out... I have always wanted that. It is both terrifying and exhilarating. It sounds like CSM is the type of place that encourages you to reach incredibly high, even if you are going to fail miserably, because your grades are largely based upon your own personal progress. They seem to want to ask you how far you are willing to step outside of what is comfortable and easy for you.

This could be an amazing school for me...

So all in all I think it was a successful first day! I met some new people and got a sense of what my next ten weeks are going to be like. Still not sure about "classes", but I sort of don't care right now because I am incredibly excited! I am nervous as well. But mostly I am excited!


I also need to finish this summer homework project tonight since it's due on Wednesday and someone waited until the last minute to do it....*ahem*

So off I go to draw skinny women in unrealistic clothing....


Ta ra!

Stinky

By the way, nothing starts the day off right quite like having no running water in the building. Perhaps I should just strip and go run in the lovely rain outside. Ahhhhh, England!

Johnny Rotten Does Butter

What the...?

I Miss Him

As I watched my boyfriend on webcam choose a Tshirt to wear today, I was struck by how much I miss the little things about being with him. I miss the routine of our mornings, especially the ones where he dragged me out of bed before I convinced him to snuggle for "just 5 more minutes....zzzz". I miss how he always grabbed me around the waist when I was putting my makeup on in the mirror. Or just being around him while he put on socks and boots and packed up his laptop to go to work.

I miss making breakfast with him (on mornings that my "5 more minutes" hadn't made us too late to eat). And I miss our regular Sunday brunches. I miss how he used to wake me up on Sunday mornings when he came over to my place by climbing into bed for a few minutes, and how he'd often pass out while spooning me and sleep long after I'd gotten up to shower and dress.

I miss his appreciative looks whenever I was dressed in something cute, and how he was the best clothing shopping partner ever. (I hate shopping for myself, but he was SO good at finding things that look great on me. And in turn, I was great at shopping for him.) I miss the starved-child-looking-at-a-sumptuous-meal stare I got from him whenever I wandered around in my underwear trying to decide what to wear. I always made fun of it, but I really do miss feeling like someone appreciates me as a whole package, even after many years. And he knows me too well, really. He's seen me at my worst. Many times. And he still likes me... I miss that.

I miss our particular brand of awful humor. (I guess I should say humour now, hm?) I miss our excellent taste in food. I miss how he always wanted me to watch movies that were possibly too scary for me. Most of the time they weren't, but I was always sure they would be.

I just miss him. It makes me want to move home I miss him so much sometimes.

It's Saturday night and I am home working on this summer homework project. Tomorrow is Sunday and I didn't even notice until just now. Sunday used to be my favorite day of the week because it was the day I got to see my boy all day long with no interruptions. But now Sunday means nothing to me, really. I wish I had something to look forward to tomorrow.... I wish he would come over and crawl into bed next to me for an hour before we would go out in search of waffles and bacon and mimosas....

Potential

So my dorm flat feels very much like a hospital. It is not a happy or welcoming place. This is our hallway:

We have all lamented the fact that the only hang out space we have is our pathetic little kitchen in the middle of the flat.

This evening (perhaps fueled by entirely too much wine with dinner) I had a thought as I walked to my room. See that green fire exit sign in the photo above? It points to a door that opens to a hallway to a fire escape. I pass that door every day and never before noted the fact that there is a little room off of the hallway.



Hmmmmmmmmmmmm........

Yes, we would get into all sorts of trouble if anyone found out. But it could be full of a shag rug and a coupla bean bags and, like, a lava lamp, dude. I mean, come on, it wouldn't even be in the way of the hallway to the fire exit, so it's not dangerous...

However, that green key-like thingamy on the door is potentially problematic as none of us know if it will set off the fire alarm. But being the bad person I am, I might find myself consulting the flat mates before trying it just to see what happens.

Or maybe I shouldn't drink so much.

Dorm Progression, week 2

Ok it hasn't been exactly two weeks yet, but I had a moment of artsy craftsy clever-ness and wanted to share the cuteness that is now my window covering:

"But wait," you say, "you are not allowed to put up curtains or hang anything on walls!" You would of course be right, and this is where my arsty craftsy-ness came into play. As I was drifting off to sleep last night I had an idea about how to hang some fabric over my window. I happened to find that red scarf at a vintage shop today and the whole thing came together a few minutes ago. (I also found the awesome/hideous/fabulous scarf that is hanging over my chair at the same store.)

I pulled some thick elastic very tightly across the wooden frame of the window and put a snap into the two ends to keep it in a nice tight loop, thus giving me a way to hang some fabric over the elastic band. I can also tie the scarf up in the middle with some ribbon I happen to have, giving it a nice draped look that lets more light through.

And now I'm sitting at my desk enjoying the warm toned light coming through the scarf while I refine some of the sketches I did in my new favorite local coffee shop.

Go me!

In Theory...

In theory this is my plan for today:

Get out of the house
Draw in a cafe and get some work done
Look for a desk lamp
Find a place to fax something to the united states
Shop for foods (as I currently am down to a potato and a jar of peanut butter)
NOT buy shoes or boots instead of food or lamp <---that's the hardest one.

but they're pretty! And cute with dresses and tights!

Laziness or Lonliness

Low key day. I should be out, but I feel kinda shitty.

I've been working on my homework but I'm feeling a mite distracted and bored.

I got some mail today that was the second (and third) super extra annoying customs charge for a box I shipped. All in all, they've charged me an additional £250 or so for three boxes on top of the shipping fees I paid in the US. Is that trashy to talk about money? I don't care right now, I'm too annoyed to be classy about it.

It feels like I've been here longer than ten days. I suppose they have been very full days, though. Still, I wish I had more things sorted out. A real cell phone for example instead of this crappy thing I have. Or some storage in my room. Or the homework finished. Or a few more friends made. I feel like I've wasted my time here, somehow.

I really wish I had more friends. Loneliness is on the fringes of my psyche, closing in. I keep it at bay by leaving my door open to hear the sounds of my room mates, keeping my window open so I can hear street noise, and being online whenever I'm home. I start up conversations with people, but they never go anywhere. "Weird American," they must be thinking. And I've found that a little retail therapy hasn't hurt either. But when it comes down to it, I am desperate for companionship of some kind.

I feel sort of pathetic that it's only taken me 10 days or so before I've started to notice a need for other people. I was really hoping I'd find my own independent nature here. Maybe I have in some ways. No, I know I have in some ways. But I still crave a social life.

I'd like to think that I'll feel a little better if I get a big chunk of this homework assignment out of the way. But maybe it isn't the best thing for me to be sitting alone in my dorm room drawing all day.

The Mundane, and Something Exciting

Now that some of the adrenaline fueled excitement of the move has worn off I am faced with the realities of day to day living in a new city. It's amazing how much mental work is involved in setting up life from scratch.

I never realized how much I relied upon my friends with cars, and the occasional taxi until now. San Francisco is a small enough city that I could trust that a $15-20 cab ride could get me from one side of the city to the other. But London is anything but small- 7x7 this aint. Today I am faced with questions like "how do I get from one place to another when I have to carry a very heavy, awkward box all the way across the city?" for example.

I spent last night drawing and trying to get some ideas for my summer homework assignment. In case I haven't mentioned this before, I am sketching a mini collection based upon my most potent summer experience- having my wisdom teeth pulled while I was awake. I have some interesting ideas on paper, but my scribbles are probably incomprehensible to anyone but me. If anything good comes out of this assignment I'll post them here for you to see.

However in the midst of all this boring blathering, I do have some very exciting news! My boyfriend bought his tickets to come see me in early November! WEEEEEE! He will be here for a week, and I will get to show him the sights around town, and generally ignore all but the most important things at school that week. The weather will be crappy, but I can't wait to show him all the cool stuff I've seen!

It will be so good to see him. I talk to him online most days, but it's not the same and being able to touch him, or feel his presence next to me while we go about our day. I feel very lonely sometimes, and waste a lot of idle time online hoping he'll be on. Just seeing the little green "online" dot next to his screen name makes me feel a little better. A little. Obviously it can't compare to warm skin against yours as you drift off to sleep each night.

And now I should go get my day started. I'm being lazy this morning because I can be and because I have no schedule right now. *yawn*

Happiness

Happy: walking past my local strip club and hearing Goldfrapp's "Happiness" playing loudly from the open door.