Narrowing down my choices

From what I remember about the process of joining university, I know I got accepted for my firm university but decided to go to my insurance university instead. I attended open days for both but, as I talk about later in this blog, I found some bad points with my firm choice in the exams/tour which led me into labs/side rooms not disclosed on open days. 

I chose my universities and courses based on location, course and personal opinions. I did attend open days for the main university I got accepted into, but after sitting my interview exam and learning more about that specific course I learnt that it wasn’t right for me. On the open days there wasn’t really anyone technical around so I personally couldn’t ask the right questions. So at my interview I learnt what OS/Software they preferred which wasn’t my first choice. I know I could learn this new OS and software but, because I was familiar with another platform, I wanted to pursue that path.

Another reason the interview and exam helped is because we toured the building, and I noticed how poorly its upkeep was. I won’t say which university it actually was, but I remember not being please how unhygienic and basically overall how the building wasn’t cared for on the inside. There was  paper/wallpaper peeling off in the waiting room. In the labs only 50% lights were working and there was dirty/muddy carpets in those rooms too. Open days only show the latest builds and the cleanest rooms, yet because I was actually touring/taking an exam for the position I noticed how bad the conditions where. 

Location is a factor too. Living costs change from place to place and there are certain areas which are extremely costly and it will affect your decision. As well as if you want to live at home. I lived at home while at university and I do regret it. I would move out if I did a masters/PhD and would recommend others to do so too. It might be costly, but it’s possible to live. 

 

Preparing to come back

Happy Easter!

I’m coming back for the last term at university now, it’s the busiest I’ve ever been. The amount of work I’m doing now is punishing. I even make sure I’m doing something while sleeping, it’s a good time to be rendering. Some bizarre reason it’s around now you should be applying for universities and internships. As every student is probably at their busiest especially exams and end year assignments. So I’ve been applying and researching different routes to take while working on my projects. I don’t have a social life as I don’t have time for one at the moment, I feel guilty enough as it is just going shopping so I’ve not been out of friends for weeks now. I do Skype with them, for a few hours and generally then we only talk work and assignments. 

Very mixed emotions and very mixed thoughts at the moment, coming back for my last term is sad as university has been a life changing experience, yet part of me is happy to finally be almost complete.  Though, I thought this Easter break was a perfect opportunity to grow a beard. I’ve never done so before and I thought if I do get a job/internship in the summer I’ll never get another chance to try it. That’s an accomplishment, somewhat. 

Looking forward to seeing the progress of everyone else’s final year project too, I’m generally interested to see what everyone else has come up with.  Also it’s probably my peers that would sway my grade. I want to make sure my artefact is par with everyone else’s /better if possible.

Thought I would post my latest render here too.

Scene 1 of my animation, coming along well

So I’m just trying to finish my artefact for when I go back on Thursday then focus on my poster and then written work. All on task! Still a lot to do though.  We have to do a poster day in a few weeks and need to create an A1 poster of our artefact and information about it. Not sure if that’s course related or something all departments do.

What I'm doing

Honestly I’ve been doing 1 thing... University assignments. So I thought I would update you on what I’ve been doing. I’m modelling one of the lecture theaters inside university, this is because I’m actually using it in one of my assignments.

It’s rather simple so far, but there’s going to be characters sitting in the chairs as well as a main character which will have a voice actor talking over it.

I’ve also been adding to my final year project, this is a character called Flik that was in the bugs life. I remodeled him as I’m somewhat doing a parody of Bugs Life at the start of my animation.

Here’s the ostrich, rather western looking. I’ve still not added his feathers, there’s a lot of progress on the animation side.

I did upload my schedule, I somewhat changed it on a day to day bases. But at the moment my stagey is to basically complete a task every single day. For example my task for today was creating that Bug’s Life character I posted above. Yesterday was to research and learn a new video editing software. So I’m generally busy every day and hopefully I’m staying on task for my university assignments. 

On a side note, I’m catching up on series I haven’t seen! Being at my PC for a big chunk of the day, I watch a lot of movies/series. I’ve finished watching Idiot Abroad, Moaning of Life and Breaking bad. Now I’m watching Games of Thrones and the Walking Dead! All of them I recommend watching (albeit they are very different from each other).