Oh My God, SO BUSY!
There are days when I sleep at like 3:30 AM and have to wake up by around 7 or 8 in the morning. Being a person that has always made sure to have at least seven hours of sleep a night, it's horrible! And I'm not even partying the night away or anything... I'm working.
I don't think that the course is so demanding that I have to work through the night all the time though; it's just that I'm a slow worker, trying to make sure every little thing is perfect before going further. I'm able to keep up intellectually with what's happening, no problem, and I understand what I have to have done. It's DOING them that's making me hate the world.
With practice, though, I should get better.
At least it's fun. I mean, it's time-consuming work, but the majority of our time is spent in the studio, completing our projects. And since there are so many people doing the same thing, you can spend the time chatting away as you work, so it doesn't seem that tedious. The people are fun to be around, so it's all good on that front.
Mum's already in the process of booking my flight back for December. With the way things are going, the months are going to fly and I'll be home in no time. Woo!
Anyway, just thought I'd do this quick update. I have to get back to working in a minute.
Ja ne!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Freshers' and Architects
I'm awfully sorry that I've taken so long to update - a few people have asked about it, but I honestly haven't had the time to spare. It's a Saturday tomorrow though, so woohoo!
Let's see, in my last post I mentioned that I was going to flying off the next day. While the journey from Dubai to London to Dundee was interesting for me, it's not interesting enough to go into detail here. The most memorable moments were:
1) As we were about to land in London, there was this massive sound and the tail end of the plane suddenly dipped. I was convinced that this was it, it was all over, we were going to die. This fear of flying is a serious thing for me - tears came out of nowhere and I started finding it kind of difficult to breathe, plus I ended up with my face buried in Aehshaan's sleeve (thank God it wasn't a stranger sitting next to me) with my eyes tightly shut. Turns out it was just the wheels coming out or whatever - but still, in my defense, I've flown all my life and I don't recall the plane ever tilting as a result of the wheels coming down.
2) Mum introduced me to everybody that I could possibly be introduced to - friends of friends, neighbours, cousins. She basically wanted me to contact them in case of emergencies, but I couldn't help but point out that they were living in London, and it was a bit unrealistic to expect them to come rushing to a stranger's aid when said stranger lived hours away. Not that that fact deterred her.
3) Shopping. We did a lot of shopping for uni, and in the end found that it didn't quite fit into the car's boot. Aehshaan and I had to squeeze into the back seat with the bags, but it was alright in the end because they provided some warmth in the car once we reached Scotland.
I've been here for two weeks now! Freshers' Week was fun, but kind of a blur. Mum and the family stayed on until the 7th, so I did spend quite a bit of time with them as well. When we were saying our goodbyes, I swear I was fine. I hugged Dad, and he kind of gave me a gruff pat on the back and told me to take care of myself. I hugged Aehshaan, and he gave me a quick squeeze before pushing me away and telling me sternly not to frolic with boys when I should be studying (realize how very reversed the roles of my father and brother seem to be). And when I turned to hug Mum, I felt pretty calm. But as I hugged her, she squeezed and told me to stay safe and that she loved me, and her voice broke. And then I broke too, and started crying out of nowhere. And then we were both crying and hugging, and Aehshaan was standing there awkwardly, asking after a minute if we would like a tissue or something.
I'm okay now though. Like, seriously. I love Skype, it's a life-saver. And once I started making proper friends here, I felt much much better.
Speaking of which - the people here are really nice! I cannot say this enough. I was really pretty nervous at first about talking to everyone (seeing as I'm international and all), but it's quite alright! I think the main thing is that you have to be the one to step forward and say hello first. These people are new, and they're nervous too! Don't be afraid to smile and offer your name. They almost always smile back and offer their own, and voila, new friend!
The architecture course has already gotten a bit stressful, although our Head of Year did tell us not to stress about it. Our first class was on a beach, which was actually loads fun and got you bonding with whoever was in your team. The stressful part was the lesson following the beach, the next day. We were told to go out into Dundee, find someplace that inspired us, and to then present our inspiring place to our respective tutor groups by Friday (which meant only three days of work, including the day we were told of the project).
I've stayed up until 3:30 AM for the past two nights in a row, trying to get this stuff done. And I'm not even procrastinating (much)! The thing is that I'm a fairly slow worker when it comes to drawing and all, because I like things to be done well, not quickly. And, as any of my friends will tell you, I'm far fonder of Maths and Physics than I am of art (although art is good fun too).
The hard work paid off, I think. My tutor group seemed to like my presentation, as did my tutor. I got positive comments, and the critique didn't make me feel like I wanted to kill myself, which is always a plus. I'm pretty sensitive when it comes to my work (as I'm sure most people are), but the criticism was put across in a way that made me feel like it was a genuine improvement to the piece rather than just saying, "Well, your work is crap."
And you know what? I overslept! The presentation was due this morning, and I'd set my alarm for 7:00 AM after falling asleep at 3:30 AM. I woke up, turned off the alarm and went back to sleep! Next thing I knew, I was shooting out of bed in a panic, convinced that it was 10:00 AM (we were supposed to have presented at 9:00 AM) and that my life as an architecture student was already over. Luckily, though, it was only 8:20 in the morning. I had just enough time to quickly wash up and change, grab a mouthful of cereal and set off running to class.
I'd planned on rehearsing what to say in the morning, but because of the sleeping in, I had to go pin up my work and then pace in front of it and mutter my speech to myself. I didn't have it written down, and so I had to keep repeating the points in my head and hope to God I didn't forget. I ended up sounding a bit African-American during the actual presentation, but I think it just made my tutor group pay more attention.
So anyway. I'll try and update soon, but no promises. We were told that we were going to no longer have lives of our own, having chosen our fates with the architecture course.
Let's see, in my last post I mentioned that I was going to flying off the next day. While the journey from Dubai to London to Dundee was interesting for me, it's not interesting enough to go into detail here. The most memorable moments were:
1) As we were about to land in London, there was this massive sound and the tail end of the plane suddenly dipped. I was convinced that this was it, it was all over, we were going to die. This fear of flying is a serious thing for me - tears came out of nowhere and I started finding it kind of difficult to breathe, plus I ended up with my face buried in Aehshaan's sleeve (thank God it wasn't a stranger sitting next to me) with my eyes tightly shut. Turns out it was just the wheels coming out or whatever - but still, in my defense, I've flown all my life and I don't recall the plane ever tilting as a result of the wheels coming down.
2) Mum introduced me to everybody that I could possibly be introduced to - friends of friends, neighbours, cousins. She basically wanted me to contact them in case of emergencies, but I couldn't help but point out that they were living in London, and it was a bit unrealistic to expect them to come rushing to a stranger's aid when said stranger lived hours away. Not that that fact deterred her.
3) Shopping. We did a lot of shopping for uni, and in the end found that it didn't quite fit into the car's boot. Aehshaan and I had to squeeze into the back seat with the bags, but it was alright in the end because they provided some warmth in the car once we reached Scotland.
I've been here for two weeks now! Freshers' Week was fun, but kind of a blur. Mum and the family stayed on until the 7th, so I did spend quite a bit of time with them as well. When we were saying our goodbyes, I swear I was fine. I hugged Dad, and he kind of gave me a gruff pat on the back and told me to take care of myself. I hugged Aehshaan, and he gave me a quick squeeze before pushing me away and telling me sternly not to frolic with boys when I should be studying (realize how very reversed the roles of my father and brother seem to be). And when I turned to hug Mum, I felt pretty calm. But as I hugged her, she squeezed and told me to stay safe and that she loved me, and her voice broke. And then I broke too, and started crying out of nowhere. And then we were both crying and hugging, and Aehshaan was standing there awkwardly, asking after a minute if we would like a tissue or something.
I'm okay now though. Like, seriously. I love Skype, it's a life-saver. And once I started making proper friends here, I felt much much better.
Speaking of which - the people here are really nice! I cannot say this enough. I was really pretty nervous at first about talking to everyone (seeing as I'm international and all), but it's quite alright! I think the main thing is that you have to be the one to step forward and say hello first. These people are new, and they're nervous too! Don't be afraid to smile and offer your name. They almost always smile back and offer their own, and voila, new friend!
The architecture course has already gotten a bit stressful, although our Head of Year did tell us not to stress about it. Our first class was on a beach, which was actually loads fun and got you bonding with whoever was in your team. The stressful part was the lesson following the beach, the next day. We were told to go out into Dundee, find someplace that inspired us, and to then present our inspiring place to our respective tutor groups by Friday (which meant only three days of work, including the day we were told of the project).
I've stayed up until 3:30 AM for the past two nights in a row, trying to get this stuff done. And I'm not even procrastinating (much)! The thing is that I'm a fairly slow worker when it comes to drawing and all, because I like things to be done well, not quickly. And, as any of my friends will tell you, I'm far fonder of Maths and Physics than I am of art (although art is good fun too).
The hard work paid off, I think. My tutor group seemed to like my presentation, as did my tutor. I got positive comments, and the critique didn't make me feel like I wanted to kill myself, which is always a plus. I'm pretty sensitive when it comes to my work (as I'm sure most people are), but the criticism was put across in a way that made me feel like it was a genuine improvement to the piece rather than just saying, "Well, your work is crap."
And you know what? I overslept! The presentation was due this morning, and I'd set my alarm for 7:00 AM after falling asleep at 3:30 AM. I woke up, turned off the alarm and went back to sleep! Next thing I knew, I was shooting out of bed in a panic, convinced that it was 10:00 AM (we were supposed to have presented at 9:00 AM) and that my life as an architecture student was already over. Luckily, though, it was only 8:20 in the morning. I had just enough time to quickly wash up and change, grab a mouthful of cereal and set off running to class.
I'd planned on rehearsing what to say in the morning, but because of the sleeping in, I had to go pin up my work and then pace in front of it and mutter my speech to myself. I didn't have it written down, and so I had to keep repeating the points in my head and hope to God I didn't forget. I ended up sounding a bit African-American during the actual presentation, but I think it just made my tutor group pay more attention.
So anyway. I'll try and update soon, but no promises. We were told that we were going to no longer have lives of our own, having chosen our fates with the architecture course.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)