NYSID

I love Montreal and McGill, however, I am planning to transfer next year to go to design school for a degree in interior design. As of right now, my heart is set on NYSID -The New York School of Interior Design. "Interior Design" strictly speaking is really more like interior architecture, and while the architectural aspect of the career is necessary to pass the NCIDQ (National  Council for Interior Design Qualification (test)) my interests lie more in what is technically interior "decorating." For whatever reason I find that the term "interior decorator" inspires less confidence than "interior designer," and apparently I am not alone in thinking so- so I shall use the latter nomenclature. NYSID is the only school I have found which really caters to my interests; textiles, furniture, lighting, color, space and object placement and history of interior design. Plus it's in NYC baby!

So, in pursuit of my dreams I spontaneously decided to take a trip to New York two weekends ago! On Tuesday of the previous week I was feeling a bit low- most unusual since my quality of life here is quite high. "What am I doing in my life?!?!" I asked myself. I called Sister 2 and left a desperate message, the subject of which was the irrelevance of my current studies to my future life. Something, I determined, had to be done.

I have met some other Choaties here and one, an '06 grad, had invited me to drive down with her for Deerfield Day! Well, on Thursday morning I checked my facebook to discover that she had messaged me with an invitation to go to Wallingford that weekend: "hey! just wanted to let you know that i'm driving to CT this saturday.... in case you want to go visit [Choate]?" she wrote. I checked the texts on my phone because I was fairly certain that this was the very same weekend that a day-student friend of mine studying at Hopkins was going to be home. It was! The proverbial light bulb was beginning to glow... Canadian Thanksgiving was Sunday, so I had Monday off from school... Perhaps I could ride down on Saturday, see Choate people and my friend.... and then visit Parson's -The New School for Design(!) in New York and stay with friends right outside the city if need-be before heading back up to Montreal. I checked amtrak.com and found a return train (my Choate '06 friend was not driving back.) Greyhound.com provided the security of an alternative route home so... "Mom, Dad, may I go to New York for the weekend?" The answer was an affirmative one.

8:00 a.m. Saturday morning I took a seat outside my dorm with my bag on my lap. Choate '06 picked me and a classmate of mine up, we got lost for about 1 1/2 hours trying to get to Vermont, were helped by a number of Quebecers, got coffee, got a speeding ticket, got a little love pat on our front fender from another car, and then sat in line for customs because of our delay in getting on the road. It was an eventful morning. In the afternoon I bought some good bread at the Putney Co-op in Vermont to bring to Mr. Yanelli and, sandwich in hand and gas tank full, I resumed my place in the passenger's seat. I should mention that every second on the road offered a new, postcard-perfect view of Autumn in New England. It was gorgeous and the three of us kept exclaiming about it. At 5:00 p.m. we arrived at 333 Christian Street and I from then on I wouldn't be alone for several more hours. Teachers, last year's freshmen, sophomores and juniors, dogs, faculty children and even this year's freshmen whom I hadn't previously known all kept me busy :-).  I had dinner at Archie Moore's on Main Street with a former freshmen and the Kaprophones leader (my a cappella group!). I spent the night with some friends, staying up until 3:00 a.m. ish, woke up and returned to Choate for more of the same, plus quality time with my friend who was home from Hopkins. I spent that night with Mr. Yanelli, who drove me to the train station for a 7:00 a.m. train to Pelham, NY where another Choate friend on fall break picked me up. I washed up, took a big breath and found myself on another train heading to Grand Central. (By the way I sat down across the aisle from a guy who lives in my dorm at McGill. Small world, eh!) I arrived at 42nd Street around noon, got a tourist's map of the city and started walking towards Parson's; the energy that comes with a life-pivoting experience inspiring every step.

The famed Parson's of, most notably, Project Runway, unfortunately did not live up to my expectations. Primarily aimed at students of fashion, housed in a few ugly buildings and lacking the focus on interior decorating I sought, it just wasn't going to be right for me. I flipped through some of the literature they offered and then continued walking around the city, a little more slowly than before. On the train ride back to Pelham I wondered if I had better just stay at McGill for the requisite four years of undergraduate work that everyone I know does. I was mildly disappointed- but don't get me wrong, I still had high spirits and was grateful form my visit to Greenwich Village; had I not gone I would have applied and possibly gone to Parson's, only to discover later that it is unsuitable for me. 

My humor was soon fully restored: my friends in Pelham are a lively bunch. We enjoyed a delicious and convivial dinner and afterwards watched "The Sting" on tv. I went to bed late that night. I woke up at 5:30, grabbed a train to Grand Central, took a cab to the bus stop (the train was booked. Darn)  where I bought three cheap scarves from a street vendor (Winter in Montreal is fast approaching) and then caught my bus to Montreal. Given that I hadn't slept much the previous three nights I welcomed the ordinarily ungodly 12 hour trip. I pretty much slept the whole way, except for the Albany bus stop (a little sketchy, but according to one sign it had "Restaurant Quality Soup!") At the border I stretched, yawned and opened my eyes again, and then remained awake to watch as we pulled into Montreal.

Interestingly enough, I actually felt a bit homesick for Montreal. I have really great friends here and I like the city itself, though I only know a bit of it. I was genuinely thrilled to get off at the bus stop and set off on foot for my dorm. It was very gratifying to start running into some people I knew as I approached New Rez and when I got to my floor several people I ran into asked about my weekend. I easily fell back into my routine of listening to funny stories, eating in the caf and "studying" after dinner (don't worry- the academic scene is under control, but my friends and I often sit together with our books over a long period of time, 80% of which is spent talking and 20% of which is spent actually working.) It was nice to be home.

In case you're still reading, I'll write this conclusory paragraph. Once I got caught up a bit with my studies (I had to sit for a Linguistics midterm two days after returning) I started searching for design schools in earnest. I narrowed my search to those schools accredited by NCIDQ so as to expedite the process of becoming licensed as a designer. I further narrowed my search to cities I might want to live in (I am fairly confident that city living is for me while I am young,) and voilà- I hit upon The New York School of Interior Design. It has everything I want, it will offer housing starting next year, I don't need a portfolio to apply; the list of good things goes on. Some of the classes assign homework to be done in the awesome museums around New York; ie; the Met and the Frick. There are great contacts in the city and thus good job placement. AND: 30 credits of their four year program are general liberal arts... so hopefully I'll be able to finish in just three additional years if my credits transfer. All this to say that as of right now I plan to apply to NYSID, and though I'm keeping an open mind about applying elsewhere, I really really hope that this dream comes to fruition. I'm confident that it will.