My first day of school

School has finally arrived! Today at 11 a.m. I took a bus over to Camberwell College of Art. I wasn't that nervous, actually. Probably because I didn't know I actually had class. I thought it was a meeting with my course director. Come to find out, I had class. Thankfully I brought my sketchbook with me - we'll get to why later.

So I got there a little early, and sat outside on a bench until about 10 'til 11. I walked up to the room my paper told me to go in, only to find no one there. So I stayed there until this bald British man walked out of an office I didn't realize was there.

"Can I help you?" - man
"Oh, um, I was supposed to meet here for my graphic design course?" - me
"Oh, yes, well, I told everyone to meet in the lobby - you know where that big desk is?" - man
(obviously I know where the reception desk is, I found this room)
"Oh, ok, all right, I'll see you down there then!" - me

That was my first introduction to Patrick Roberts, head of the Graphic Design course. I went downstairs and found a pretty large gathering of students, who had apparently gotten some sort of message that I did not. But that's all right. So I stood there, and this guy came up to me and asked me my course, we were both in graphic design. He asked me where I was from, and I told him the States, Texas, and he said, "That's somewhere in the middle, right?" No, but that was a funny answer. It made me smile. Anyway, he asked me about voting and if I was honored that my President was from my state, I laughed and said not really. Not that bad of a conversation.

Then Patrick came down to greet everyone, and I lost the guy I was talking to, so off we went to a new studio I hadn't been to. He called roll, but my name wasn't on the list, so a few others and I had to go sign a sheet. Next, he had us all get our picture taken with us holding a sheet of paper with our names on it - kind of weird, but ok. And then Patrick gave us a project. Threw us right into it! We had to pair up and make a map of the college.

Right when he said go, someone actually asked if I had a partner - which was weird, usually I ask, but it was kind of nice to be asked, made me feel a little more welcome. My partner's name was Tom, and although he was nice, he really didn't have any concept of what we were doing. We went off on this tour with a guy named Ed, also in our class, and as he was showing us around the fire alarm went off. The building actually smelled like smoke, so it was no drill. So we had to evacuate, but Patrick gave us an extra 30 minutes on our project, so that was good.

This is why I was glad I brought my sketchbook - because we weren't given any materials, and everyone else brought their stuff, too. Phew! I was throwing some ideas out there, but Tom seemed so lost, I gave up on that. Then Ed decided to join our group, and we all got a good idea together. We were going to each take a floor or two, start from a point, then map out our movements with a series of lines going left or right, up or down. Got it. So I had the ground floor and basement. I finished, came back to the meeting spot, only to see that Ed and Tom had each done something completely different. Ed had some rectangles on his page, while Tom had done a few straight lines.

We only had about 30 minutes, and we had wanted to draw it on tracing paper so all of the lines interlapped, but now there was mine with the lines, Ed's boxes, and Tom decided to use coffee sticks for his lines. It looked weird. We had to present these for critique, too, by the way. It was really too late to change anything. So when it came time to present, it wasn't too bad, because we obviously didn't finish, but Patrick said it was interesting because it was a very Japanese-like approach. Sure. I'll take it! By then it was about 2:30 and we had a meeting down the street in another building. I just grabbed our timetable - a syllabus of sorts (although I still don't know the classes I'm taking - it's not very clear) - and headed out alone. I kind of lost Ed and Tom.

When I got there, I realized how hungry I was. I missed breakfast, and there was no lunch break, so I was ready to eat! But we had the meeting. So I listened to the dean speak, and then the undergraduate advisor, then some funny British lady who told us a story of how she put off a writing assignment, and then freaked out. I think it was supposed to motivate us to go to the learning center if we ever need help with a paper. Thank goodness I'm a journalism major! But I did notice that I am one of the oldest students. Most of them are only 18 or 19. Just starting college. There's kind of a gap there. But that's ok. I just hope I make some friends.

Anywho, the meeting ended and I headed home to get some food! And that was it. I got back and felt pretty lonely. I realized how far away a sense of family is. I missed that. But I felt better after a while. I need to do laundry tonight. I have class again tomorrow at 10. Hopefully it will be good! Maybe I'll meet someone new. I probably will.

Before I head out, though, I wanted to thank all of you for reading this. I really didn't think as many people would keep up with this, as there have been. It's so nice to know that yall want to experience with me. So I will keep writing - hopefully interesting things! I love you all and I'll talk to you soon.