Student in a suitcase

I'm in my second to last semester of my bachelor of fine arts [BFA] in graphic design. Today I'm looking back over the last four years of my strange and wonderful time as an adult student back in the halls of a university and also all the really crazy arrangements I've made to fit schooling into our nomadic life.



In my first semester ever I had just arrived in SF and was alone (Joel had gone to LA for four months). It was just me in my little car getting lost in the tangle of streets in the downtown area. I swear every day was a new driving disaster. San Francisco to this day is the worst city I've ever driven in but it did make me a more defensive driver. School-wise I found classes easy, students and teachers friendly and it provided the perfect place to start out as an expat as well as a wife suddenly flying solo.

In second year I tried out being a student in a suitcase. I flew back and forth between LA and San Francisco for four months in the Spring semester. Three days in SF to attend classes, four days in LA to play and do homework. It wasn't a strong semester for me but it did teach me that this can be done.

I took liberal arts classes in the intercessions through the online school. In third year I started to wonder if I should be taking more classes online since the 40 minute commute into the city was slowly inching up to being an our and a half each way with traffic. But I really did enjoy the friendships at school and felt I'd be too isolated.

By the end of third year I was ready for a change. This coincided with our move to Singapore and as nervous as I was about finishing my degree 100% online I was also excited.

It turns out that online is really more like the real word. I get assignments, I present my work in PDF form. I schedule my weeks and am in control of how anxious I want to get about deadlines. I don't do many "all nighters" and I think in general I've figured out how to work faster/smarter to get things done. What's changed? Well here are all my secrets. I use a time counter to log hours spent on each project and I try to limit my work time to 8-9 hours a day (6-7 days a week). There's really only so many hours a day you can create creative work. After 3-4 hours on one project I take a break and come back to a different one. Pushing past the 8 hour mark only yields time on a time sheet, not work completed so I don't do that anymore. Working in shorter chunks and having a schedule has meant all my work gets done, on time and with much less stress than ever. I've managed to fit in work-outs, a social life and dinners out with my husband. I even take weekend holidays with my laptop and sketch book.

All in all being a nomad I think has taught me to work faster, and more efficiently whenever I get a chance to. To plan ahead and make sure my lifestyle doesn't effect other people I work for. Upheaval and varying landscapes made me a better student and I hope one day I can look back and also say it made me a better designer. Time can only tell.