The first week of classes went splendidly! Building Virtual Worlds is the class that’s going to consume every waking hour, I can tell, but all 50 of us are in on it together, so it should be a bonding experience if anything. Everyone in the class is assigned a “role” based on their past experiences and the like (you aren’t limited to only doing your role, you’re just the person responsible for it. For example, someone assigned to modeling could still program, as long as they made sure the modeling got done).

I was very curious as to where they would put me, because I could have done any one of the roles (3D modeler, programmer, painter, or sound designer). I was assigned to painting, which basically means I’m a texture artist. It is exciting, because it’s something I’ve never done before and I’m learning a lot of new things! I’m going to try and dip my hands in the other roles as much as possible, though. There is so much cool stuff to learn!

So for this class, every two weeks we are put into groups and we have to create a virtual world for one of five platforms. When it’s finished, we get put in another group and another 2 week round starts. (Apparently when they first formed the class, they gave the students 6 weeks to build a virtual world, but inevitably students would just goof off for 4 weeks and then panic and churn out all the work in 2. So they just cut it down to 2 week rounds ^_^)

The first “round” was one week, where we basically just learned our tools for our roles. We’ll get our first group and assignment on Tuesday, and I’m super excited!

Having gotten a good grasp on my role, I fled home to Louisville for the long labor day weekend. This is mainly because I know I’ll be so busy that I won’t be able to return until Thanksgiving at best. All the wayward ballers returned to Louisville for a reunion of sorts, so I got to see everyone and feel quite refreshed! I’ll be anxious to get back to Pittsburgh on Monday and finish off my texturing assignments.

YAY SCHOOL!

So ETC Orientation was all day today, and I was so excited last night that I could hardly sleep. My excitement was not disappointed! Granted, most of the day was devoted to introductions and nitty gritty need-to-know things, but…

…my God you guys, this place is cool. I am going to have so much fun here! It is like the Science Center, only times 1000.

Also, my classmates all come from such a diverse background. Computer scientists and artists, yes, but also mechanical and electrical engineers, business majors, history majors, medical electricians (I don’t even know what that really is, but it sounds awesome) and of course people are coming from all over the world. I tried to be social today and sit with and talk to different people, but I’m not too worried, because as I understand it I will be working intimately with all 50 people in my class. They throw us into teamwork based projects right from the get-go.

The opportunities and industry names they bring in seem boundless. They told us that if we have anyone really cool in mind, let them know and they’ll try to get them in for one of the seminars (we have seminars every week from faculty and industry professionals alike. Neil Gaiman is coming in the spring. Hooray!). Anyone cool that I should ask to get?

I am exhausted but deliciously excited and super happy. I’m really glad I chose this course of study, and I already know the financial sacrifices will be well worth it. Weee!