Traveller in An Antique Land

Week 1

The first week of classes is over, and for the most part, I'm excited. I'm really going to be stretched artistically, I think. A rundown:

Globalization: Nothing artistic here. There will be mental stretching, though. I think a lot of the concepts are over my head. I also felt like the instructor expected us to have some background in the subject, which I obviously don't. It's kind of frustrating. I have to write one 2500 word paper for this class, and prepare a 2500 word report as well.

Image and Language - Film: This is actually a media class, but not media in the sense of news media. It's used in the sense of artistic media, e.g. film, photography, etc. It's definitely not what I expected when I read the description. I'm working in a group to produce a 1-2 minute film about the concepts of image and language. Horribly, horribly vague. The really exciting thing about this class is that we're working with real, i.e. 60 mm, film. It's the kind you literally have to cut. No computers or anything. It's going to be a huge challenge, especially since the film is due Nov. 9. The module runs from 10-5 on Thursdays, but it only lasts the first six weeks of the semester.

Foundations in Photography: This is just what it sounds like. I'm learning photography from the start. Black and white, to be specific. That's just thrilling to me; I've never done any black and white photography before, but I love looking at it. I'm learning how to develop and print as well. By Dec. 15, I have to have produced a series of 3-5 images that deal with the theme 'Interaction.' Again, horribly, horribly vague. I think this will be my favorite class.

I'm taking one more module, but it doesn't meet until week 7.

It's really weird to be an international student. People ask me all the time about the States, and I don't know what to tell them half of the time, because they mention NYC or LA or some huge city I've never been to. It's okay, though. I do the same thing to international students at home. :)

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On a completely unrelated note, I just got an e-mail from the guy on the tube. Weird. I don't know quite what to do with that.

posted by Jennifer @ 4:15 AM