Sara Bareilles

This past friday, Orange Night Live (ONL), a community that holds free live performing concerts for students, had a free Sara Bareilles concert at our Student Schine center. I fell in LOVE with Sara Bareilles's album last summer but her live performance made her cd sound like chicken scratch. Her voice dominated the whole auditorium. Not only was her voice beautiful but she had a strong personality. She said that we were the second university that she's visited. She was hilarious and improvised jokes as the crowd shouted great comments about her voice. She was very passionate and looked like she was just having fun as she sang.

This sort of made me think about the illustration department in our university. I'm really blessed and thankful to have a great department to work in. The reason why the illustration department is so great is because the professors are very happy when they do their work and the students really learn from that. When you walk into the junior and senior studios, everyone is very enthusiastic while they do their work. It's a really fun atmosphere to be in.

Anyway, although I didn't get a lot of work done this weekend, I had a lot of fun thus I have no regrets.

What do you mean what are my plans for the summer?!

If you think that you're on top of your work, you are "oh-so-very" wrong. Actually, I apologize for assuming that everyone is lazy as I am. I just tend to be behind things once in a while. I didn't really think about my summer plans until this spring break. Maybe it's because I was too busy with my school assignments and whatnot but I never really thought about my summer plans. Originally, this summer I was going to take a class with one of my favorite professors in our study abroad programs at Florence. Working with my professor was my primary reason to go away this summer. Though I was pretty settled with this plan, I was still had interest in interning. Little did I know, last week my professor announced that he cancelled his study abroad class. After this declaration, I lost interest in going away this summer. I realized that I was more interested in exploring internships related to my future career while being with my close friends back at home.

So... I started my real research for internships this past weekend. Let me just tell you right now that there won't be much left to be researched by the third week of March. My advice to you is, whether you have high interest or little interest in something, go for it. My mistake was not applying for many internships while applying for the study abroad program. In present time, it always seems to be too busy to plan for the future but in the bigger picture, the future is just as or even more important than the present. By this, I do not mean that whatever you do now is not important. If anything I advocate you to worry more about whatever you do now than something that hasn't happened yet. My point basically is to not take the future so lightly especially in a fast paced world because the future is just a day ahead.

To whom this may concern

My name is Gina and I am a sophomore at Syracuse University. I am majoring in illustration and minoring in psychology. Currently my home is in Jericho, New York (which is located in Long Island) but plan to live in NYC after I graduate. Many ask me why I chose to come to Syracuse and my answer has always been because there are many opportunities to experiment and experience here. Though college pressures us to get good grades and pursue a high-end money making job, college is really about making mistakes and trying new things. I've been here for barely two years but I've already tried many things that I never would have. I was fortunate enough to get opportunities to try competitive ballroom dances, attend Juice Jam events, cheer from the floor seats of basketball and football games, dance at concerts and many more. I think it's very important that art students expose themselves to a city-like campus filled with different people with different majors.
How I decided to be an illustration major is actually kind of funny. Exactly a year ago, I hated illustration or just the concept of illustrating. I was infused by the stereotype that all illustrators are old fashioned children's book artists with no avant-garde set of mind. On March 7th last year (yes, I remember the date because it is my birthday), all the Visual Art majors had to go to a forum where all the majors and professors were introduced before students made final declarations of their majors. I was BLOWN away by what the illustration professors had prepared for us. There were so many things that I didn't know about illustration. Because the University exposed me to different options, I was able to wisely chose what fit for me. I love illustration and I don't regret picking it as my major. I also enjoy studying psychology and the way people think in a deeper perspective. I feel like art and the science of behavior go hand in hand because in order to create something, one must know different aspects of the world.


Anyway, I can rant on and on about art but I'll restrain myself and get to the point. As a human being in a competitive and changing society, I ENCOURAGE YOU to let go of everything you know and make yourself vulnerable in an environment with many opportunities and choices. I think Syracuse University really advocates these ideas.

Take a chance and try something new today.


-g