Notes From the 6 Train: Getting There

As you may have gathered from the name of portion of the blog, I am a commute student. I currently reside in El Barrio (Spanish for neighborhood) in Spanish Harlem, approximately 40 minutes from FIT. In order to get to FIT, I take several trains, the one on which I spend the most is the 6 Train. It takes me from uptown downtown to 42nd St., where I have to transfer. it’s also a local train, which means it takes longer than other trains because it makes more frequent stops as opposed to the express trains. (Express trains go less places, but get to their stops faster due to the infrequent amount of times they stop.) That being said, it gives me an ample amount of time to think, read, and write.  Often what’s written on this blog will have begun conjuring during these trips. See! One of the many good things about commuting. Below I posted my impression after the first few days at my new school. Enjoy

As a commuter student, making my way to campus is a bit like finding my way to the sequestered land of Oz. Except there are no yellow bricks, just golden MetroCards and yellow taxi cabs. Instead of some sketchy con artist posed as a wizard, we have our teachers. (I know that sounds super corny, but bear with me.) They aren’t classroom illusionists, but people who have labored in that field and know what’s necessary to be successful in such a competitive field in one of the most competitive cities. I can already see that my classes will be rigorous, but I prefer to be challenged now, so when I graduate I don’t find myself lost, clicking my heels, begging to go home.

Speaking of home, FIT’s campus is so different from my last school. My first week at FIT has been a world-wind of color and language. The campus is bursting with color. Ranging from the posters and displays in the building, it also comes in living, breathing color from my peers. Everyone’s style is so different and by the end of the week I can almost guarantee that I would have seen every hue, tint and tone of hair color wafting through the hallways.

I’m not just talking about hair color though, as a racial minority, true diversity is important to me. There are people on campus and in my classes from all over the world. FIT is a microcosm of New York City, just more fashionable. I could estimate that I’ve heard a dozen languages breezing through the Breezeway on the way to class. Maybe by the end of semester I will be a little closer to being multilingual. I wonder if knowing the terminology of textile development or learning the formulas in merchandising math counts as a foreign language… I hope so.

All things Color Love & Fashion,

Ayanna L.