Did you ever have to write an essay in school about how you spent your summer vacation? Here’s one I’m happy to write !
This summer I got the chance to attend a summer course at the Arts University, Bournemouth! Considering my love for art, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to explore the world of art and myself as an aspiring artist. The real journey began when I reached my host’s house, Mrs Felicity Green, a lovely old lady who made me a wiser person just in those three weeks I spent at her house. With me, I had two other girls staying at Mrs Greene’s residence, who despite belonging from miles apart managed to become just like my sisters. After a lovely weekend spent with Mrs Green and the girls, it was finally time for the first day of school!
Not being quite fond of school back home, I was very anxious about whether or not summer school was a good idea. I pretty much followed the same drill I did back in Delhi (just a little better, I guess). Mrs Green set the table for breakfast every morning, I usually had a toast and a glass of juice and I was good to go. I walked to the bus stop with my housemates and caught the bus which dropped us directly to the University. Here it was, the first day of summer school at Bournemouth, the deciding day of whether or not I was ready for the three-week ride in the same classroom.
Even before I knew, the very first day of the Portfolio Development Course was over, and I had already done much beyond I thought I was capable of doing. Just the first day and I had made a wonderful bunch of friends who I usually hung out with during lunch break, and around the beach, after we got free from class. The best part about the friends I made was that they weren’t just my classmates, but I had found a friend in every teacher who was a part of my learning experience. I learnt much more than I had expected myself to in just a few hours I spent in class in those three weeks. At the end of the course, I was not the same girl confined to just some paint and a canvas. I explored the technological world of art, I learnt how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and many such apps. I discovered my love for working with ink and how I never knew I was fairly good at it.
Besides what I learnt at university when I had to buy my groceries and iron my own clothes, I emerged as a more confident and independent person.
For all the times my parents called me lazy, summer school gave me a chance to prove them wrong and show them how I was capable of doing everything all by myself. At the end of those three weeks, I was left with much more than my very own portfolio. I not only emerged as a better artist with higher goals to achieve, but I also emerged as a self-reliant, confident and a finer version of what I was earlier.
My summer school experience was well worth the investment in time and money and made for a very different but quite enjoyable summer vacation. It shall remain a memory always green in my mind!
If you too wish to attend a Summer School abroad, you could get connected with Ms Charushilla Narula who mentored me too for the same.
– Written by Tanisha Jain from Modern School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. Now studying at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Illinois, USA
