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Surviving: Safety Seminar

Let's Learn How Not To Lose a Finger on School Property

If you're a design / theater / architecture / any-subject-that-involves-studio-classes student [in the future, present or past], you probably will have/have/had to go through the safety seminar. It is basically a class that teaches you to avoid sticking your hands into electric sockets, and to stay off the roof.

Please note: all of the tips in this posts are based on my own – fortunate and disastrous - experiences.

Pros 

Let's begin on a positive note, and discuss the clear advantages of this shindig:

• Eating your BK on the go. As the seminar is a morning class, you will probably have to wake up early. Namely, at the time range between sunrise and lunch. Also, since it's probably your first time attending any sort of class after a while, you'll be quite uncomfortable with time management. Hence, you probably won't have time to eat your breakfast at home. The fix: treat this occasion as an excuse to eat a cupcake. 

Chocolate chip oatmeal cupcakes from How Sweet It Is 

• A lecture hall filled with potential new friends. During the seminar you'll get to meet everyone you're going to study with for the next couple of years. So, get your niceness flowing! The course is a great opportunity to meet everyone before classes officially start, get familiar with names and faces, and make some new friends. 

Cons

• Waking up at an ungodly hour. It was quarter to six when I woke up. The number "5" on the clock startled me. The street lights were still on, the roads were empty, and it was 5 a.m.! [Talk about over-reacting]. Rolling out of bed was a real challenge, and I have yet found the fix for it. That also explains why it's the cons section. 

Hedgehog Clock from Etsy 

• Final exam. Designed to make sure that you didn't spend all of the time on Facebook, the exam asks you the most trivial, between-the-lines questions. So you'll have to listen up, and let your common sense play a leading role here. 

Tips

• Locate the nearest coffee stand. The day is long, the brakes are short, and there's much to be done. You are going to need a hot, comforting drink, be it a double espresso, or mint tea. Please note that Irish coffee might not be the best choice – but that depends on your goals for the day. 

Coffee Guide from Pinterest 

• Prepare a packing checklist the night before. I forgot my glasses at home. I can see pretty well without them, but not well enough to go all day without them. I had to call everyone who has access to my house, go back and forth, take a gazillion buses, and still make it on time. To say it was a hectic experience would be a brutal understatement. So please, learn from my mistake, and write a little checklist before you go to bed. You wouldn't want to realize on your half-way-there that your left shoe is somewhere under the bed. 

How do you introduce yourself to new people? Do you befriend new people easily?

Footnote: This morning – the day after the seminar – as I was enjoying my normally-timed a.m. routine, my food processor exploded in my face. Despite the fact that I still have banana pieces in my hair, I actually knew how to get the electricity back on. Thus, I'm declaring the seminar quite useful.

Surviving: Commute

I live about an hour-drive away from campus. Hence, I cannot escape the need to commute, namely, to take the bus. In any weather conditions. Daily. It is just as little fun as it sounds. However, to attend one's classes, one has to adjust and survive.

Survivng: Commute

Bad smells:

Overflowing trash bins, garlicky foods, people with physically demanding jobs - when they all add up at the end of the day, on the same bus, during the jammed hours, you can't help it but curse the sense of smell. The key to survival here is location - place yourself as close to the exit door as possible. Every stop you'll get a breeze of fresh air [or a bit of rain and mud, depending on the weather]. And don't make disgusted faces – it's just rude!

Traffic jams:

They seem endless, as long as your to-do list, and make you feel doomed for pointless waste of time. And yet, with a slight shift of attitude, traffic jams can become a wonderful leisure time. What's the secret, you ask? Flânerie! Use the jam as a way to explore the city, enjoy the view, observe the people, or count the cats. Anything you choose to do is better than just sitting there, frowning.

Source

Plain boredom: 

You've been through it all – the stops, the turns, the jams, the loud phone conversations – and you feel like you can't take it anymore. You have to get off this bus, right here, right now. Then do it [given that you're almost at your destination, you know how to get there by foot, it's a safe neighborhood, and it's neither freezing nor hell-like hot outside]. Get of that bus, breath in the fresh air, and enjoy a small walk. You might even consider smelling the flowers [unless you're allergic – in which case, ignore their pretty existence].



Source



The commute playlist

It cannot be just a random array of songs. The commute playlist must rather be convcptional, and fit various situations. But instead of talking, let's listen to some tunes.

The long, never-ending drive:

The early A.M. drive:

The pre-interview / exam / presentation drive:

The traffic jams:



The Monday drive:

How do you survive long drives? Which songs are on your commute playlist?



Surviving: Application Test Prep

Application Test Prep Mishaps 

A few months ago I took the entrance exams to a few architecture programs. Wishing to bring my best, I prepared. Oh I sure prepared. Getting all exited and caught up in the moment, I've experienced several ... how to put it nicely ... calamities.  

My Top 5 Fails

1. Declaring my infinite and unconditional love for foam boards [white, thick, cardboard-like crafts material]; aloud; in public.
2.  Singing "One way or another I'm gonna get'cha ... " completely off key after getting the correct angle of a model for a sketch. This, luckily, occurred in private. Oh, and did I mention that there was a little dance involved as well? 
3. Having "whatever" for lunch, and actually finding it delicious! 
4. Looking for 20 minutes - literally, 20 minutes - for the pencil I was holding in my hand.
5. Finding the quote "A house is not zero city" very sensible.

Encore? Fine, as you wish:

     6.  Losing the original piece of paper I've written this on. It was a page in a spiral notepad and I have no memory of ever tearing it out.  

 

Source

 

 

 

 

Have you applied to creative degree programs? What was your biggest funny fail?



About Page Update

 

Reality Check

As October rolls upon us, it becomes apparent that things have changed. Time has passed, and I am no longer the same person I was when I started the blog. I have given up the birdy-swirl design for a black, white and yellow geometric one; my personal style has changed; my personality has developed ; I've experienced new things and met new people; and my everyday reality is also about to change tremendously.

In short [if you don't want to read all the mumbling above, this is for you], it's time to update my about page.

Reality Check, by Julette Gold

 

 

 

 

What were/are /fantasize-to-be you like during your college years?

 

Back to School!

The deets:

When: Starting on October 21-st

Where: Tel Aviv University [that would be referred to as TAU, because it sounds cooler] 

What: Bachelor of Architecture [that would be shortened to B.ARCH in any further reference]

Since these are the last days before a 5-year-long period of cramming, cardboard-cutting and gluing, test-taking, and construction-site-watching, I decided to spend them in the most appropriate way - by doing absolutely nothing. Bothered by the thought of wasting precious time, the idea evolved into "watching a lot of college-related movies". And what is a goal without a list?

Mona Lisa Smile

Art related, portraying the 50's, and starring my two favorite Julia's [Julia Roberts, and Julia Stiles] this movie is a must-see.

Starter For Ten:

A little reminder that book-smarts isn't enough.

An Education:

Since I'll probably be the youngest in my class, this film passed the bar as well. 

Which university-related movie is your favorite?

September Issue - Back Cover

Fin

Source: Pinterest

September is over, and likewise, so is my September issue. From front cover to back cover, the issue included everything a self-respecting publication should have. It started off with a touching letter from the editor [myself] and continued with an interview with the cover girl [also myself]. Proceeding with a lighter tone, there was a Fall trends cheat-sheet [it included a puppy]. And then, going back to serious, yet awesome, there was an art review, and a designer review. And finally, it finished off with the thing September is all about - fashion design. Featuring the designs of a anonymous designer-to-be [who's also surprisingly, myself].

Inspired by the city of Tel Aviv,   the designer-to-be [I sound cooler when spoken about in third person] presented not one, not two, not three, not four, but five garments which she is also currently sewing.

I think it's time to wrap things up, and move to the next step of my designer-formation. Can you guess what the next chapter will be?

Which magazine did you enjoy reading the most this September? 

Fall 2012 - Design #5

The "Traffic Jam" Dress

The "Traffic Jam" Dress, by Juliette Gold

The "Traffic Jam" Dress, by Juliette Gold

Fall 2012 - Design #4

The "Peper Cuts From Love Letters" Cropped Jacket 

I was walking home one evening, when this song suddenly came up in the shuffle: 

And after four minutes, the "Paper Cuts" jacket was born .

The "Peper Cuts From Love Letters" Cropped Jacket , by Juliette Gold

The "Peper Cuts From Love Letters" Cropped Jacket , by Juliette Gold

Fall 2012 - Design #3

The "Starry Night" Top

The Starry Night Top, by Juliette Gold

The Starry Night Top, by Juliette Gold