bring it, NSCAD!

This past week, I finally got around to registering for courses for next year. In the Fall semester, I'm taking three courses--about half of what my NBCCD course load was, which has meant that I've had to adjust my post-secondary education (PSE) mindset. I'm used to having most of my days filled up with courses, and taking six or seven courses per semester. This time, I just have classes in the afternoons on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with a morning class on Wednesday. Tuesday's and Friday's courses are the same one. Add to that the fact that the campus where I'll be spending most of my time uses several sets of letters: some of the rooms where I have classes start with D, some with G, and one with N. I thought they were all different campuses, but then I looked at the floor-plan: they're not.

And as I've been looking at courses, I've been thinking about how, if I'd gone to NSCAD as a Foundation student back in '09, I would've had to take my future plans into consideration when choosing courses. For example, one of the courses that I'm picking up from a previous year, Introductory Photography, lists Foundation Computer as a prerequisite. Of course, I would've taken Foundation Photography, but doing it NBCCD's way--sampling most of the studios through Media Explorations--really benefited me, and I gained an appreciation for different media that I didn't have prior to that year. And although I was about ninety per cent sure that I wanted to do photography, there was that other ten per cent that was eyeing metal arts. Also, at that time I wasn't thinking past 2010: a year or so previously, I'd decided that yes, I did want to go to college or university (between the ages of sixteen and nineteen or twenty, although I was very happy overall, I was very confused about what I wanted to do "when I grew up", including whether or not I wanted to go to college or university--and the fact that there were all these options available only served to confuse me even more).

All but one of my Fall courses are in the afternoon, so I'll have to force myself to get out of bed early if I'm to get any work done before class. Winter currently has a similar set-up: three afternoon classes and an evening class. One of those afternoon classes is at a different campus, but thankfully, the other campus is only 0.4 miles (0.6 kilometres) away, meaning that it's closer than NBCCD is to the place where I stayed in F'ton (that was 0.75 miles/1.2 kilometres). It took me twenty to twenty-five minutes to get to NBCCD every day with a full backpack, about fifteen minutes without the backpack, so I don't think it'll take me very long to walk from one campus to the other. I'm hoping to add another course that I don't yet have the required prerequisites for in the Winter semester.

And then there are the history courses... I need to do nine credits of art history--three courses--which I'll do in the summer semester. Most of the history courses require the same prerequisites--but those prerequisites list a foundation writing course that I'm going to do in the winter (the Fall classes are marked as "closed"). I'm going to talk with administration when I get to Halifax in September, and see if it's possible to do the prerequisite at the same time, as a co-requisite. If not, then I've picked out three history courses that don't require the prerequisites that my first-choice set does, as a worst-case-scenario plan.

I have to admit, I'm looking forward to being a NSCADian and NSCAD Photog. I'm looking forward to the overall experience. I'm looking forward to expanding my definition of "art" and my understanding of it. I'm looking forward to being the second generation in my family to go to that school (Mom was the first). I'm looking forward to seeing if I'll be as loyal to NSCAD as I am to NBCCD, and if NSCAD will be as important a part of my identity as NBCCD is. I'm looking forward to rocking two of the three campuses. I'm looking forward to exploring Halifax. I'm looking forward to going to lots of gallery openings (NSCAD has not one, but three galleries: Anna Leonowens Gallery, Port Loggia Gallery and Seeds Gallery, which is a commercial gallery). I'm looking forward to exploring the nooks and crannies of the two older campuses--Granville Campus and Academy Building--and checking out the creative mischief that my fellow students at all three campuses are getting into and seeing the art that is the result of said mischief. And I'm looking forward to the creative mischief that I will get into.

For the first time, I'll close this with GO NSCAD PHOTOGS!