Conclusion

I'm about to board my flight back the California and it's bittersweet. At first the program was the most overwhelming and difficult work I'd ever done, but as I stuck through the program I realized that I truly learned so much. I improved my skills and I gained so much knowledge about the design process and the fashion industry. I may never be an amazing artist or even a designer but I now have an extremely valuable experience under my belt. I also got to meet so many cool people from all over the world, some people I'll never forget. I'm so thankful for Parsons and my teachers and my new friends, especially my roommates for giving me this opportunity and making it a great trip.

Grabbing lunch at Shake Shack with some of the girls in my class.

Waiting in line to get my copy of the Teen Vogue Handbook signed by Amy Astley and Gloria Baume!!

My roommates and I out for a fancy dinner.

In Other News...

My roommates and I have been making a ton of new friends because most the girls (and some guys) are extremely friendly, especially the group of girls from Egypt who like to have screaming matches at 11 o'clock PM. It's okay, I wasn't sleeping anyways. Yeah sleep isn't a big thing, hence the New York's name "the city that never sleeps" so we haven't done a lot of exploring the city because after a long week of classes all anyone wants to do is get some rest. It's still amazing to be here though, I'm comfortable.

My roommates and I after getting cupcakes at Magnolia's Bakery.

Pros and Cons

The other day I hit a low point. I almost started balling in Time Square but I desperately held back my tears. My fashion concepts teacher was extremely unimpressed with my new designs, first blow, then we did "mind maps" which are ways of generating words for inspiration and helping us to make our collections more personal, I struggled to say specifics and narrow down my goals, wants, likes etc. And after he said "I expect the second round to be amazing." I was completely defeated. I had no ideas whatsoever, I'm not an artist and I don't know what he wants from me. But the I remembered the other day in sketching class when I was daydreaming about being back home in the California sun, driving in my car, when I looked out the window and realized, I'm in New York City, at Parsons The New School for Design summer program, with amazing teachers and an incredibly talented group of girls. How beeping lucky am I? I really can't complain. So I did my best and drew my second round of sketches and the next day, my teacher really liked them. This program is such a roller coaster, the industry is so vast and overwhelming, well art in general is, but I just have to take it one day at a time.