Saturday, March 14, 2009

Trip to FIDM

Yesterday I visited the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. It was amazing. I'll start rightfully at the beginning. My aunt and I got lost because that's just how San Fran works. Streets go in directions that people pay amusement parks to go in. Not to mention the abundance of one-way streets, random breaks and askew signs. We were supposed to be in downtown SF and somehow ended up on North Beach, where Pier 39 was. To spare you the details of getting lost for over 30 minutes, my aunt went off to park and I was a half hour late. FIDM was located literally in the middle of a shopping center. There were stores in every direction, Macy's being the biggest. If I had not been blinded by the sun's reflection on the shiny FIDM sign, I would not have seen the dark, glossy glass FIDM doors. The actual building looked small until the desk guy/greeter pointed out the obvious elevator. The campus was deceptively big. There were 8 floors, only some of which I later saw. Thankfully, tardiness was not a problem. The next appointment had been pushed forward and my advisor understood how crazy San Fran was for my aunt and I. My aunt seemed more amazed than confused compared to me as she calmly walked into the lobby. Soon, we met with my adviser. She was informative, bubbly, and quick. She had definitely used her communications degree to its utmost potential. I had never seen someone pack so much necessary, interesting information in the time she was given. In the middle of the meeting, a girl named Pony (probably not spelled that way) took my aunt and I for a quick tour. Overall, I was impressed. FIDM offered everything a fashion design major could dream of plus all of the required things to really make the most of education. I was there to look into the knitting design degree. After calming down, I have realized that FIDM is perfect if I do decide to go the knitting design route, but I think I'm going to stick to my gut and go with psychology. I don't feel like I need a knitting design degree to innovate or just enjoy knitting. My aunt loved FIDM yet she understood my point of view. My sister, a high school freshman currently, will fit in perfectly in the fashion design program though. That's actually what my aunt and I kept thinking as we walked through the stylish, white, green, blue, and gray rooms and saw the costume displays. I just have to visit a couple more colleges to see where I'll fit in now. I'm happy with the college systems so far. FLC is perfect right now because I can get the general stuff out of the way, change my mind at any time, and recover from the high, middle, and elementary school years. Somehow, I think everything is going to work out. I can use my artistic skills in my hobbies and my science skills for my career, possibly. Not bad considering how indecisive and nervous I often am. Not bad at all.

Oh, yeah. I only have one regret from my visit to FIDM (and the rest of the day in San Fran); I left my camera in the car when I needed it. Oh, well. You'll just have to take my word for it that FIDM is really that incredible.

Happy Pi (3.14) Day!

2 comments:

  1. I didn't know there was a FIDM campus in San Francisco, though it certainly makes sense for there to be one. I visited the one in Los Angeles - not because I was considering going there, but because they were doing an exhibit on costumes from fantasy movies and I wanted to see the costumes used in "Harry Potter" and "Lordof the Rings".

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  2. I've heard that one is amazing. I only saw a handful of the pieces passed on from the L.A. campus. They made me want to visit the main campus just to see the whole exhibits. The "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" costumes must have been incredible in person.

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