The End of Our First Term… it’s only just begun!

With the approach of Christmas came the close of college and a long awaited and deserved break from my landscape architecture course.

Although break isn’t quite the correct terminology as the workload has actually increased but within the confines of ones own home. So, me and the cats and have set to taking photos. They have come out particularly well despite being scared of the flash!

Two plant identification exams and technical drawing assignments later I was still battling on.

My colleagues and I had gone on a tour of London’s South Bank learning how to differentiate between granite, slate, basalt and every other hard material known to my tutor. I think there may be an awful lot more on the agenda in the Spring walkabout’s warmer weather, as by the time the sun set we were so frost-bitten we couldn’t give a damn between one bollard and another!

My dedication was rewarded the following week by a horrendous cold, but on the upside I talked my boss into buying me a new laptop so I have now managed to download AutoCAD in preparation of January’s crash course. The new techy toys nearly make it all worthwhile! Just eight hours of tutorials to undergo before then. Well, Christmas visits to relations can get extremely tedious so now I have the perfect excuse!

College stuff to do by January:-

• Fill my sketchbook - visit Tate Britain, visit Tate Modern, visit De La Warr - take notes and sketch.
• Watch arty films and review in sketchbook. Find images of Jan Svankmeyer & American Gangster.
• Take loads of Indigenous Colour photos of Hastings and print them - fill sketcbook.
• Print La Majorelle photos for sketchbook & match paints if possible if have enough time!!
• Collage from Norway Exhibition for sketchbook
• Mount photos of Sensuous, Nightmare, Memory
• Make a film . . . . . . . .argh!!!! 
• Complete Plant Design Assignment - 12 sheets of A1
• Take photos of model and mount.
• Find images of plants through the seasons to add to Seasonal sheet.
• Sketch quarter plan within whole garden plan and photocopy endlessly.
• Annotate all pieces North.
• Name and label all sheets - yes I know that sounds obvious!!
• Read everything I have been given so far!!!

Don’t dare go to the library as it will become glaringly obvious what you don’t know. Be grateful for the little you do know.

In the meantime must remember to dress the tree, do the Christmas shopping, cook the turkey and have a holiday!
The first term’s called the "Honeymoon Term"! Yes, you know what that means, it can only get more intense!