Reflections…On The Rest of the First Week Back Hi all
OK so I have now had all but one of my classes that I will have this semester. I’m equally excited and nervous for all of them, except one, but I’ll get to that… On Wednesday I had kind of an insane day. I had my first jewelry class with a new teacher (new to me, not the program). I’m not going to lie, this teacher is the most intimidating jewelry teacher in the program. I think this is just because I don’t know him or haven't gotten used to his teaching style, which seems to be a bit tougher and a bit more hands off then I’m used to, but with only one class it’s hard to say for sure. The more exciting thing on Wednesday was the Reflection jewelry show. This was a gallery show that celebrated the CCA Jewelry/Metal program that is turning 100 this year! The Jewelry department worked really hard to pull this show together and it’s a great show. There are jewelry or metal pieces from almost all of the faculty in the program over the past 100 years, and also a few pieces from graduates over the years.
The opening was great, the whole department was there plus lots of people from the SF Jewelry community. We are really one of the only jewelry schools in the area, so almost all jewelers in the area have had some contact or connections with CCA – so that’s a lot of people. I was introduced to a ton of people, it was great networking, one of the things that make CCA’s Jewelry department so great is the large community and the connections that come with being part of that. For instance, I was very briefly introduced to the head of the Velvet Da Vinci gallery. This gallery is one of the best most elite jewelry galleries in the WORLD. If you make it in there you have made it as a jeweler, and lucky for me the gallery is located in SF and the head went to CCA as a undergrad. So that was insane.
After the opening there was a lecture given by Jack daSilva about the history of the teaching at CCA and the Jewelry Program. If you're interested, here is a link to a page that talks about the show and the slideshow images.
Overall a fun Day.
On Thursday I only have a history class in the evening. Looking at the course outline it looks like a straight up standard European history class, in fact it sounds like AP Euro but less cool. The teacher is this older guy with blond highlights and “young” jeans. He talked a lot about the Western vs. the Chinese point of view. Everything was fine, I was liking the class until he announced that he did not allow computer use in his classes… Um…I have never had a teacher tell me that at CCA. I talked to him about it after class he was really reluctant to allow me to take notes on the computer, he demanded I bring him my disability form when I get them next week. It looks like the notes won’t be a huge deal after I give him the paper, however he is currently denying me the right to take the midterm and final on the computer, he just can't seem to wrap his head around the idea that he does not have a choice. Both exams are essay based. I have never in my whole school career handwritten a history essay test, I took the SAT on a computer, both of my AP exams on a computer and even the WASL once on a computer. Its in the paper work, he’s just going to have to deal with it, but it means this whole class is going to be a uphill battle. I’m not sure if its worth it, I’m looking into switching out.
On Friday I have a six hour class called “Intro to Interactions Designs”. I tried to take this class two semesters ago and had to drop after the second class because I just had too much to do. So this class this time around was a basically a review of everything I did two semester ago, so it was easy. This is a computer based class but different than the last one I took, it’s going to focus a lot more on design then on the electronic side. I will be using Photoshop and Illustrator quite a lot in this class which means I will (hopefully) be learning some skills on these programs.
That means there is only one class that I have not been to, and that’s my six hour class on Monday; School to market - I’m excited for it but I think it will be a really long class. Ill be sure to tell you more about this class when i know a bit more about it.
This semester I’m going continue to work on keeping my diet healthy, and I’m hoping to start working out on a more regular basis, I think I may sign up for a yoga, pilates, dance, or some other kind of class. Its going to depend on what I can get to easily, fits into my schedule and fits in my budget.
On the food side I’m going to start trying to pack my lunch (and sometimes dinner) for when I’m in school. This will be healthier and WAY cheaper as I’m not eating out at the few places around that I can eat at (all expensive) so I’m going to start making Bento – this is a type of Japanese style lunch, similar to a kids packed lunch but more grown up, better tasting and healthier (they also have all kinds of really really cute boxes) to really understand the process and jump start my food making skills I bought what is one of the most well reviewed books in the community, The Just Bento cookbook.
Wish me well on my new lunch box adventure!