New York, New York, it's a helluva town

It's strange visiting New York right now, knowing that I'll be moving here in August. I don't feel the pressure of having to go see the sights. This time I'm actually enjoying just being in the environment and figuring out the strange irreglarities of the subway system.

So far, I'm loving the warm 80-degree weather that lasts way into the evening, the diversity of people, and the bustling activity that exists through every part of town.

When I say "diversity," I don't mean just ethnicities, but I also mean their ages, styles, and the industries they work in. I am staying with my cousin, the psychiatrist, and his wife, the filmmaker. We had dinner with his friend, the writer, and my future roommate works in the insurance business. My classmates come from various educational backgrounds, ranging from Biology, Illustration, and Fashion. None of them work in tech, and I find that to be rather refreshing. As a creative person, I crave this kind of diversity in perspectives and inspiration. So I'm looking forward to living here for school.

I've been kept pretty busy with my school workshop this week, in perspective-drawing and marker-drawing classes. We've had homework, and even after today's last class, they assigned us homework to work on over the summer. I have to design three more toys and color a 3-d shape in markers to practice my blending/shine effects.

But in my free time, so far I've visited Pinkberry two nights in a row, eaten some tasty ramen with my ol' college girlfriend, walked in the rain at night without an umbrella, pigged out on Korean food with ex-coworkers, played with a friend's two little daughters while walking up 5th Avenue, gone on a sushi-&-drinks date on the upper west side (I know! I haven't even properly moved here yet, and I got a DATE!), and gotten lost on the subway (I have to pay more attention to the local vs. express trains).

Today, on my last day of the school workshop, my class had a picnic lunch on the rooftop of FIT with the dean, one of the Toy Design graduates, and one Toy Design senior who was at an internship with Fisher Price. They have all warned us that the program is crazy-intensive, and basically I won't have a life outside of school. Hrmmm. Well, if I'm not going to have a life, at least I'll be busy learning how to design TOYS!

Okay, I'm off to go meet my future roommate in Central Park, in my purty summer dress in this beeeyootiful weather.