FCP sketchbook

As a part of the Fashion Communication & Promotion course at Nottingham Trent University everyone must have a sketchbook, in which one basically has to research various things related to the course or the fashion industry. When I first heard about the whole sketchbook thing, not gonna lie I had mixed feelings about it, since I’ve never done anything similar to that before. But now I quiet enjoy it and even find it relaxing. I usually sip on tea and listen to my favourite songs while cutting and sticking down various imagery to my sketchbook.

Students were able to choose whatever format or appearance they prefer their sketchbook to be. Hence me being kind of a minimalist, I chose a simple A4 grey notepad – it looks clean and sophisticated.

What I like about it the most is that there are no strict rules – students can respond to lectures/seminars or do any kind of their own research in their sketchbooks. As the tutors said, they aren’t going to grade it by its looks or anything like that, it only has to be visible that one is engaged with the course.

 

 

Do I regret the decision to study abroad?

Since I haven’t posted anything in a while, I’ll tell you some details about a massive change in my life that has recently happened. Basically, I moved to Nottingham, United Kingdom from Klaipeda, Lithuania to study Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University. I’ve been living here for almost 4 weeks now so I finally managed to fully settle in (even though I still haven’t bought a saucepan and a lot of other necessary stuff yet).

First of all I want to share some of my thoughts that I had before coming here. So half a year ago this whole university thing seemed a bit unreal so I didn’t even bother worrying about it too much. Time passed quickly and about a month before I had to start studying it all suddenly became real. I was feeling very anxious about the change that was coming to my life. I would think that I’m not good enough for university, that I’m too shy to be able to meet new people, especially when they do not speak my native language, so I’ll end up with no friends and will feel miserable and homesick all the time. I started considering whether I chose my course right and I was even thinking about turning down my offer to study at NTU just so I could stay in my hometown and avoid these situations that I mentioned earlier.

However, after a lot of thinking about my goals and future I decided that this is an opportunity that I cannot miss and even though I love my hometown, after living there for over 18 years I felt that there was nothing left for me to see and experience so it was the perfect time for me to step out of my comfort zone.

Right now I am in Nottingham and what can I say – I love this place. So do I regret the decision to study abroad? Not at all. Of course there are a few downsides of living abroad – it’s pretty hard for me to bond with people or get involved in a conversation hence English is not my native language. I sometimes don’t understand what people tell me, nod my head and smile with hope that wasn’t a question. And yeah, I have to google a lot of stuff and constantly ask people to repeat questions. But other than that it has been a really great experience so far, I haven’t been homesick, met some really lovely people and have been enjoying my time here. It’s really exciting to get to know another culture and meet new people. If any of you who are reading this post right now are considering the option to study abroad I highly suggest to do so. There is a brilliant quote that I found somewhere in Tumblr the other day that fits the topic really well

“If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is”

 

thank you for reading! x