Abroad in Baltimore #18
Rubber Meets the Road
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Like a duck to water, we return to our familiar shores and once again plunge back into a life of early mornings and long nights. This second week showed me just how much work I have to wrap my head around. Because of a few lucky breaks, I was able to get my homework done and organized in time but there were definitely a few nights of frantic work. Avoidable frantic work.
In preparing for this week I did my level best to start the work as early as possible. But even with a three day weekend, Thursday becomes your Friday and all of a sudden it’s Saturday afternoon and you’ve not actually started anything. I’ve made some steps in the right direction since week two, but I can tell this semester is going to test my appetite for work.
The thing that makes me most nervous is hands down printing. Not since my Foundation year card project have I really had to contend with the unwieldy beasts that are printers. Like a monster under your bed they lull you into a false sense of security before refusing to print your perfectly formatted pdf just when you least expect it.
Since coming to a mutual understanding with the infamous printer in the PCA computer lab (the one on the 2nd floor is still beyond me), I can appreciate all that printers do for us, but I still get nervous whenever I have urgent printing needs. You never want to leave that up to chance.
Thursday brought my first in person life drawing class, and despite a few hiccups out of our control, it was largely enjoyable. Since coming off Anatomy class, I wanted to keep my drawing skills alive and this seems like the perfect class for that. The focus in Anatomy was very technical and I loved it, but now I look forward to loosening up and getting more comfortable with faster drawing and dynamic poses.
This week I plan to reunite with Emma. I have a lovely 2 hour window between my morning and evening studio on Wednesdays so it’s our plan to use that time to explore more of Baltimore’s restaurants during our lunch break!
When we went around Baltimore recently, Emma introduced me to a plethora of vintage and antique shops that had me dying to return ever since! I’d never undersell the Paris vintage scene, but being the seasoned vintage connoisseur that I am, I had to admit that these Baltimore stores had some serious treasure.
One thing I did not miss about returning to school is the relentless nature of it. No matter how well prepared you are or how ahead you get, the work does not stop coming. There’s an exhaustive nature to school, it doesn’t let up. Only on the weekends do we get enough sips of freedom to keep us going one more week, but even then weekends are usually spent tackling homework or putting in some hours at a part-time job.
I acknowledge that after nearly three years of college I’m somewhat jaded, but having weathered nearly two decades of education in general, it does start to get to you. Luckily it doesn’t take much for me to remember the high points of all this. The critique that goes better than expected. The project that develops your style. The class that pushes you towards your artistic goals. It’s not guaranteed that every student enjoys what they do, and I’m always grateful that we’re a part of the lucky ones who do.