My summer ends on the scene of DigiPen's new campus bright and early after a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast to commemorate the new school year. It's quite different from the old campus, its grey walls and dreary students. There is much hustle and bustle abound, but most notable of feelings is that of energy - a new presence that had not existed at the old campus. Everyone is excited and happy (for the most part). I wonder how long it will last given DigiPen's high demands - it's never lasted more than a week.
Also apparent, this new building makes even us seniors feel a bit freshman-like. We have no idea where the rooms are now, so we must rely on the maps and signs around us, just as those new to DigiPen at all. It's a bit unnerving, but we should have expected it.
Then, Boerkoel happens. My first class of the day is Cryptography with the infamous math instructor, Boerkoel. He will teach you, and you will learn... or else. Much in his expected manner, he begins class by completely blowing every student's mind and making us all question how much we truly understand the field of mathematics as a whole.
For example, how do you define integers? Whole numbers, you say. Well, how do you define those? Counting numbers, you say. Well, what does that mean? Non-fractional numbers, you say. Well, what about 6 / 2? That is clearly 3, which we have accepted as an integer. Numbers that can be written without a fractional component, you say. Well, what about pi? It has no fractional component there, correct? And so on.
The hustle and bustle are still buzzing as we meet with all our friends we haven't seen since the end of the spring semester before exploring our mysterious bookstore - which to my dismay seems to be a remnant of the 7-Eleven we left behind at the old campus. There are no books (unless you count sketchbooks), but rather candies and such.
The day plays out, with each class showing to be interesting, but also the warnings flare in my mind that these classes will be difficult - which I was expecting. Luckily, I have friends in all of my classes, but still nothing truly prepared me for the drain of being at school for nearly twelve hours with classes through most of the day. Tuesdays will be rough, with Boerkoel's Cryptography in the morning starting at 10:30am, CS300 (Advanced 3D graphics) taught by an instructor with a very thick accent that speaks at 90 miles an hour, Sound Synthesis to wrap up the afternoon, and Steve Rabin's Artificial Intelligence at night, ending at 9:20pm - which got out about twenty minutes late this week (so that I didn't get out of class until roughly 9:40pm). Thursday is similar to Tuesday, but without the night class.
Wednesday was much easier. Game class, and only game class... Well, twice on Wednesdays. There's the lecture and the lab separately, but still, a nice refresher after Tuesday. There's an interesting project that Rabin would like to get going at DigiPen, something that could truly push games to a new level - but it's very, very high demand. I've expressed my interest, but I'm definitely forming backup plans, just in case.
Other discoveries of the week include the food in our new (and most definitely wonderful) cafeteria. Since the new campus is an old Microsoft building (from what I hear, the old Flight Sim building to be precise), we have a fantastic full kitchen and proper cafeteria - staffed quite properly as well! While our old caterers were definitely nice people, I'm sorry to say the food was mediocre for a more-than-mediocre price. The pizza is delicious, and I've only heard tasty things about the sammiches.
Something I've noticed is the lack of "the Magic kids" - students that were always in the cafeteria playing Magic the Gathering at the old campus. So far, I've only heard reports of a single MTG game being played, which is quite odd. Usually they gather immediately for the freshmen to argue over what order cards are played in while the veteran DigiPen students just sigh at their naivety before sorting out the matter. By second semester, all of these Magic kids will have calmed down and gained the knowledge of how every type of action and card can be played. Still, they were always there at the old campus - always were there five MTG players in the room with cards out - but now they seem to have vanished.
That's all I've got for the first week of DigiPen. It's beginning to ramp up, but I'm going to try to put in an update each week (aiming at Fridays, but you never know). Wish me luck - hopefully I won't need it.
Oh, and the DigiFunk has already struck - while not the terrible body odor smell seems to have vanished, the wake of random destruction has already hit our new Plato (see below).
This happened on the first day of school. :(
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