In all honesty, I didn’t find going to the Art Gallery helpful. It felt like some sort of a waste of time. The only thing I did get out of it was that we had an Art Gallery which I never knew before. It was interesting watching all the images that were taken and seeing the stories behind some of the photographs that were taken. Other than that I don’t think I’ll be going there anytime soon.
The last couple of months… first started out with my parents constantly on the phone with me, asking if I was in Baruch on time… to me being completely on my own through it all. Waking up to the same sound of the my alarm clock everyday at 5am, getting dressed and sleeping on almost every train ride was what I’ve been dealing with these past couple of months. But I loved coming to the city, and the new things I encountered. It was defiantly hard getting adjusted to this kind of change, but gradually I realized where I needed to be. My transition in Baruch, I would say was a sense of reality. College isn’t at all like how high school was. Although we had block schedules that made it seem like high school, the work in each given class wasn’t at all the same. However, seeing the same faces over and over again made it feel comforting and easy– in a sense, but trying to manage my time accordingly was difficult. I’m not going to lie, it was a challenge adapting to the changes as an incoming freshman. The amount of work my math teacher gave me felt almost impossible to complete. The turnstiles were a pain in the neck and the elevators, I could swear to you was about to fall one time, from the amount of people that were on it. But you have no other choice but to get used to it. Fro class on the other hand, was more of a laid-back kind of class. I mean we had blogs like these to post but it wasnt so bad. Oh and lastly, I’ve never been so addicted to coffee ever since I started coming to Baruch. I just gotta say thanks, my heart has never raced so fast.
I feel that enrichment workshops are waste of time. I have not gone to anyone of them. I did not if they even existed in Baruch. Reading the blog posts, many people when to the Rubin Museum. I really do not like art museums, I am really into science and stuff like that. I feel like going to an art museum would be a waste of my time.
I felt that the enrichment workshop was pretty boring. I mainly think this because art is not something that i have a strong like for. The Rubin museum was probably not somewhere that I would visit or recommend someone to visit. Some of the art was nice but not something that I enjoyed. I just simply do not have a passion in art so Rubin museum was not the best place for me.
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So I feel that these eight pictures describe me pretty accurately. I included a picture of a computer and keyboard because I am usually on my computer. And the keyboard is a Das keyboard that I use. I am very picky about my keyboard and I usually spend a good amount of time looking for mechanical keyboards to buy online. Next to it, I included a picture of NY because it is where I was born. And next to the picture of NY, I threw in a picture of coffee. Coffee is something I drink at least two cups of a day whether it is at home, walking to school, or at school. I also included a picture of Pikachu and a duck. Those are just my favorite pokemon and animal respectively and red is my favorite color. And next to that I threw in a picture of a samsung galaxy s4 because I am usually on my phone everywhere I go.
My trip to the Rubin Museum is not one I will particularly remember in years to come. All my life I have pictured art as being amazing portraits of people or landscapes, I do not really appreciate or have the level of understanding to find a photograph as being art. Seeing pictures on the wall knowing that all it took was a click of a button and basically some lighting adjustments do not stand out to me as being raw talent. I did however find what was happening within the photographs interesting. Seeing photographs of the olden times in New York mainly stood out to me, I enjoyed analyzing the dress sense of the era. Furthermore, it is fair to say that I am not profound admirer of modern art. I would much rather see a remarkable sketch of the New York City skyline than simply a photograph of it with a spokesperson trying to convince me that what I am looking at is art. If somebody has to tell me what to specifically look for within a piece, it is not very effective. That being said, there are people out there who appreciate and enjoy analyzing this type of work and if I were to go again, I would try my best to understand what the photographer/artist was trying to portray.
The enrichment workshop at the Rubin Museum did not have much of an effect on me, probably due to the fact that I don’t care much for art. Unlike people who enjoy art, I’m not able to look at pictures in a different perspective and analyze it. Also, the small size of the gallery and lack of exhibits in the museum was a bit disappointing. I would have preferred to see artifacts rather than just pictures. The woman who explained the significance of each picture seemed liked she really enjoyed art and knew what she was talking about though. I personally liked the vintage picture of NYC because it showed how much things have changed over the time. I don’t remember much of the other pictures because it was so long ago. I hope the museum becomes a bit more diverse so I can go there again. Then, I might gain a new outlook on art and become inspired by it.
Visiting the art gallery for my enrichment workshop, it rekindled my love for art. Being an artist myself, I do appreciate art in someone else’s lens. College has diluted that appreciation due to busy work, but just the relaxed time to tour around the gallery kept me enlightened. Trying to decipher their meaning of art beyond the first look, i see the chaos, or serenity, the shapes, the contours, just seeing art again greatly pleased me. Even though the gallery was small in size, it offered great diversity for what it is. One of my favorite pieces is probably the view of the twin towers from Greenwich, and the kissing couple in front of the busy theater. For the former art, i really appreciated the perspective that the artist took when he/she took the picture. the purposed blurriness reflected the wreckage and havoc back then when the towers fell. For the kissing couple, I like how how the photo was composed and its setting. From the photo, I took the meaning of slowing down in life and enjoying the scenery. From our everyday lives, a lot of times we forget to appreciate the little things, we want results immediately and sometimes we develop tunnel vision to that goal. the documentary photos really has again broadened my perspective in both art and socially.
For my transition in Baruch, it was surprisingly not too bad. Amidst through all the college scary stories all my high school teachers told me, my first semester was pretty good. This is thanks mainly to the Block schedule I chose. Thanks to it being a monday-friday having a consistent time schedule, it made the transition seamlessly, integrating me to the school with a high school-like schedule for the first semester. The disparity between the educational difficulties between high school and college isn’t too great either. I guess the hardest part to get used to is self studying and the classes in the lecture hall. Being in a room of more than 100 students, it’s hard getting used to not have your professor personally be able to talk to you and help you in your troubles. It is encouraging self studying which I personally am not used to before as I had no trouble passing in high school. The routine of waking up and getting used to commuting to the city also took some time to get used to. The first three months of college really did fly by though thanks to the Fusion student organization of this school. Being Filipino, the club also made the transitions easier as well. Meeting fellow students with similar interests and cultural backgrounds, I fitted in really well. Going to their school events and even other school events that other clubs hosted made my college experience my college experience more whole. Some of the events include the Price of Life event, the Fear Factor, The Moon Festival, and even other very enjoyable events.
This image perfectly describes my past few months studying at Baruch. Baruch life is a bit harder for me than for other typical commuter. Being that I come from far away, and my trains have wide gaps in them, I often find myself waking up early to take a train to a class that in reality, isn’t really that early. After classes I find myself staying late nonetheless, to either sit in the library and try to get some of my work done, or to participate in the activities of the many clubs I signed myself up for. If I don’t have any club activities I find myself on the first train back to Jersey. Once I get off the train, I go home, and straight to work. No matter what I do, it seems that it’s impossible for me to even consider going to sleep before 12:30 in the morning only to wake up at 6:45 for my trains.
I do not seem to make it seem like I am not enjoying myself at Baruch because that wouldn’t be true. I am meeting lots of new friends and getting to know some very interesting people. Some of which are older than me and will eventually become mentors in life once I move on with my college career.
However, I am really upset with myself for underestimating the amount of work that really came with college. I packed my schedule so tight that when I need some free time to do things like work on a paper, I find it very difficult to find that time. Especially when everything is down to the wire, I get stressed and find that I’m incapable of doing anything and just stare at my computer screen not knowing what to do. Other than that, I have had a blast at Baruch and look forward to making my next semester a little easier on myself.
Image source: http://www.explodingdog.com/drawing/nosleep.gif
