Monday, May 9, 2011

Personal review of the first year

The year I spent in university had a big impact on my life. The things I learned and parts of life I understood made me more mature and responsible in the end. The fact that I was thousands of miles away from home helped me to grow more independently as a person. The university taught me that the best education is self education, although some help form time to time is appreciated. I learned a great deal from my many lessons and lectures, and I feel they are the roots for something bigger to grow in the future.

Even before I arrived in Leicester and at university, I was imagining what it was going to belike; fun, though hard, or ridiculous, but not knowing it would be all of them. Being so far away from home, from my family and friends, certainly changed me. The fact that it was my first time flying to a distant country all alone, and not knowing anybody did make me panic a little bit in the beginning. But all I could do is man up and deal with it.

When the studies in the university started, I imagined it was going to be really fun and easy, though I was certainly wrong about that. At the beginning, yes, it was quite easy, as we began with fairly simple work, and thus had a lot of free time. But after a while the real work set in. The very first steps I took in the 3D area were both difficult and painful. But little by little I got the hang of it, though my progress was slow at first, but everything takes time. Overall, I think I improved a great deal in 3D modeling for the time I had, even though I knew nothing of it beforehand.

The visual design parts of the studies were quite enjoyable. Having an artistic background, it was quite easy for me to catch up on drawings, although I’m more of the type produce less work with higher quality, than a plethora of low quality work. Most enjoyable were the life drawing we had, although sometimes it was quite awkward having 48 guys in one small, hot room drawing a naked dude…but all in the days work I guess.

I enjoyed the lectures we had which dealt with discussing and brainstorming the basics of a movie or video game, how it was composed and created. Knowing the very basics of them, getting inside the art of the creation of a game or a movie, is a very important consideration for an artist. The movie lectures in which we just gathered around and watch some good movies were also quite interesting. The essay writing part wasn’t the best for me, English not being my mother language, and the fact that I’m not very good at their structure is kind of a bummer.

I had no idea what I was in for when I decided to study far away from home. I knew it was going to be hard, but at moments I wasn’t prepared for the problems I had. Dealing with them, projects for the university, balancing with money, and several other things were quite a burden from time to time. Maybe they were one of the reasons I couldn’t concentrate on my projects at some points, but the work I gave every time I was quite happy with. It wasn’t the best, but I tried to the best I could. Knowing that I could do more, I have the urge to improve myself in everything I do, it’s in my blood. But the lazy factor is in my blood too…kind of an oxymoron.

Overall, the year spent at the university had a big impact on my life, in that it forced me to grow more mature as an individual, and take more responsibilities. The work I produced was hard but at the end enjoyable. I have no idea what’s going to come in the year to follow, whether it will be more difficult or somewhat easier, but I guess I’ll just have to deal with it as it comes.