fbpx Abroad in Baltimore #7 — PCA

Abroad in Baltimore #7

Exchange Friends

Out on the Town

With midterms vanquished for yet another year, we can now all breathe a collective sigh and settle back in for the rest of the semester. Joy.

I’ve done a lot of talking about my studio classes, it’s only fair that I give a proper mention of my two liberal studies classes. In Art school, studio classes tend to be the main focus, but I actually feel there’s a lot of value in the liberal arts classes we’re able to pick from. Learning how to make art is all well and good, but being familiar with other areas of culture can only help artists and provide a treasure trove of references to draw from. There are few shortcuts to gaining knowledge and a good liberal studies class can be just as informative as a studio class.

I chose Creative Writing as my liberal studies class this semester and I was not disappointed. In this class, the focus is mainly on short fiction and discussion of various readings and student works, and has so far been a wonderful change of pace from the more intensive studios. I really enjoy the writing process and it’s been a real treat to have a class with other like minded peers.

My art history class for the semester is Modern and Contemporary Korean Art. This was a class I was very excited to take as despite being Korean myself, I know next to nothing about the country’s art history! This class has introduced me to so many inspiring artists and the professor is a very engaging lecturer who actually studied in France too! While reading and writing papers are not everyone’s cup of tea, I rather enjoy having an academic class or two to keep the other side of my brain functional.

The main event of the week was definitely having the exchange girls over for a sleepover/movie night! Like almost all 20-somethings today, we grew up with a working knowledge of Harry Potter, and with Halloween coming up, it seemed like the perfect season for a showing.

After class let out I took them to a town I grew up near and we had dinner at this pub called Beck’s. I felt very proud of my town when they declared that this restaurant had beaten Red Robin for the best french fries they’ve had in America. We went back to my place and managed to get through the first two Harry Potter movies, three hours of Truth or Dare, and one arm wrestling competition (I just watched through my hands hoping they wouldn’t break my kitchen table) before calling it a night. It was 3 or 4am when we finally crawled into bed, I hadn’t stayed up that late for non-academic reasons in a good long while so the next morning was a bit rough.

This rest of the week went by unusually smoothly, granting me enough free time for a solo shopping excursion post sleepover. I often find that in an effort to be social we forget to spend some of our free time catching up with ourselves. This can mean different things to different people, but for me it means going on a leisurely drive to somewhere I’ve been meaning to go and having a dose of retail therapy. In moderation of course, I’m still very much on a student budget.

TJ Maxx is usually my destination of choice as it’s close by and has a nice selection of just about everything. It’s not the cool Parisian thrift stores I love and miss, but it does the job and gets me out of the house. I’m a quality over quantity person, so when I do decide to make a purchase, it’s with the intention of investing in something I can use for a long time.

With Halloween on the horizon, I’m looking forward to celebrating the holiday in style! We tend to make more of an event of it here in the US and I’m excited to see all the wacky costumes only art school students can pull off!

Happy haunting!
Ariel

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