Fall 2016: Breakdown of My Classes at USC

Hey all,

This is a real tradition now, isn't it? But yes, for the third time around, you can read all about the classes I've taken at USC this past semester! I've had some really fun ones this year, though Fall 2016 also brought about that one dreaded class I just couldn't stand, so I can sadly no longer say that I've loved all of my classes at USC. Those bragging rights will be missed. But anyway, every cloud has a silver lining or some happy shit like that, and at least I'm done with it now, so without further ado, let's get into it.

I swear it wasn't as bad as it looks based on this schedule. 

CORE 101 | Thematic Option Honors Program | Symbols and Conceptual Systems: Icons

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. This class was just as great as I expected it to be, though it took a while for me to actually recognize how much I was learning. The professor is one of those people whom you either love or hate, but she definitely knows what she's talking about and was deliberately trying to get us to challenge her. It's difficult to put this class into a category, but if I had to, I'd say it's a mesh between art history and popular culture. We looked at more general art theory, religious icons, urban icons, celebrity icons, fictional icons, iconic photographs, the interaction between high culture and low culture, and ended the class with Andy Warhol and Walt Disney. And, of course, a field trip to Disneyland, with free donuts and a complementary stay at the Disneyland Hotel. The best thing about this class, though, was that there was so much overlap with CTCS 464, and that I could apply so much of what I had learned during my winter break trip to New York. Also, my TA was the best. 💕

Grade Received: A

CORE 103 | Thematic Option Honors Program | The Process of Change in Science: Searching for Life in the Universe: Mars and Beyond

Again, this class was phenomenal. The professor is the funniest and kindest and most knowledgable person you'll ever meet, and he even wrote us a song at the end of the semester, titled the Lowdown Irritating Melancholy Aggravating Life in the Universe Blues. And he performed it. With a banjo. We also took a field trip to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and had some crazy amazing guest speakers. Now, the first half of this class was mainly geobiology, and we learned about things like extracellular electron transport and layered microbial communities, which are sure interesting, but I'll shamelessly admit that I had no idea what was going on. The second half, however, was when things got good, and -- again -- although I definitely won't remember everything I've learned, I now sure know what not to invest money in (hint: don't move to Mars, it's pretty miserable there). Also, did you know that there are such things as orphan worlds, which are planets that don't orbit a star? And that there are places called water worlds and-- Okay okay, I'll stop.

Grade Received: A

CTCS 200 | History of International Cinema I

Well, at least I'm done with this class. The professor isn't nearly as bad as her reputation, but the class is. I don't even know how I got an A, as my TA was the harshest grader and the assignments were impossible. I wish I had gotten more out of this class than I did, but it just simply wasn't happening. It also didn't help that I fell asleep during pretty much every screening. Tbh, the only thing I remember from this class is that in China, they called moving pictures electric shadows. That's kinda cool.

Grade Received: A

CTCS 464 | Film and/or Television Genres: Shot on Location

This was such a fun and easy class! We watched films like Rome, Open City, Double Indemnity, Safe, She's Gotta Have It, District 9, The Fall (2006) and The Darjeeling Limited and discussed some really interesting concepts, like the opposition of centrifugal and centripetal space, heterotopias, orientalism, and Third Cinema, while also talking about the business of location shooting and runaway productions and such. It also helped that for our midterm, we basically had to analyze a Coldplay music video, and for my final, I got to write about my favorite of favorite films, Paris, Texas. Also, the professor is very friendly and an easy grader.

Grade Received: A

LING 210 | Introduction to Linguistics

This was a GE for Quantitative Reasoning that I started out taking Pass/No Pass and felt rather apathetic about. However, it turned out pretty interesting and I was doing really well, so I soon changed that P/NP to a letter grade (then proceeded to get a 77 on an assignment lol). But yeah, the professor is funny and friendly and ngl very cute and explains everything very clearly, so I'd definitely recommend it. Also, this class made me use the suffix -ception far more often than it is okay. (Seriously, just head over to my NYC posts to read all about artception).

Grade Received: A

What the future holds:

CHEM 205 | Chemical Forensics (GE, taking Pass/No Pass, apparently on the easy side, sounds interesting)
CORE 104 | Change and the Future: Church, Sex and State (last Thematic Option class, about the changing perceptions on marriage)
CTCS 192 | Race, Class and Gender in American Film (major requirement, professor apparently a little dramatic, but amazing)
CTPR 290 | Cinematic Communication (the infamous film production class simply known as "290," you basically make films all on your own and then people shit all over them)
CTWR 321 | Intro to the Hour-Long TV Writing (writing a spec script for an already existing TV drama, should be current on about 20 TV shows, none of which I've seen so far, so fml)

And that is all for now, everyone!

One Second(ish) a Day

Well hello, my friends!

Long time, no see, right? Have you been dying to know what I've been up to these past six months? Have you been worrying that I've abandoned my precious little blog? Do you even remember who I am? And if you do, are you as sad as I am that I haven't updated in so long? If you are, then here's your long sought-after update, only half a year after my last one, but the first of many to come this summer! Without further ado, let's get into it:

On January 1st, I started a little project, affectionately titled ‘One Second(ish) a Day,’ in which I film around one second of my day, every single day. Back when I started, I didn't really know where I was going with it, I thought it would just be, for the lack of a better word, fun. As it is, however, my friends over in the Production division were coincidentally given a similar (OK, the exact same) task this semester, giving the whole project an entirely new meaning. They had to do it, it was an actual assignment for them, and if filming snippets of your day is an actual task in film school, then I'll definitely be getting something out of it. The only difference was, of course, that while I casually got to document whatever ridiculous/boring/amazing/stupid thing I was doing that day, they were stressing over their shots not being cinematic enough, or their projects not telling a story, meaning that most of them were relieved to have it over with when the semester ended. I, on the other hand, absolutely love filming my seconds, and decided to continue it indefinitely! Yet since I cannot post a video that is still currently in production, please lay back, grab your popcorn, and enjoy part one of my project, starting on January 1st and ending the day I boarded the plane back to Budapest (sadly) in May.

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE. I'D PREFER YOU WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE, HONESTLY. ON FULL SCREEN.

Yes, on days when nothing happened, I just made stupid faces. Don't judge.

Also, yes, I know about the app. I don't use it, though, because sometimes my videos are longer than one second, cuz YOLO, and sometimes I use more than one video for one day. And because that would be too convenient and I don't do convenient obviously.

USC Class of 2019

I've been rewriting this post for the past three months. It just never sounds quite right, it's either too lengthy or too choppy, or I feel like I'm bragging or I go off on tangents, so for this reason, I've decided to keep it short and sweet.

I am more than proud to announce that I am officially a member of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts Class of 2019!

I am in the 17.5% of students accepted to USC and in the 4% of students accepted to SCA. I am one of the 75 people accepted to major in Critical Studies. I am also one of the approx. 100 Trustee Scholars this year, meaning that I get a full-tuition scholarship for my four years at USC. And, additionally, I am also one of the 200 students who has been accepted to the Thematic Option Honors Program.

It has happened, and even though all of this might seem surreal, or even impossible, it has, and I'm so grateful for every single person who has helped me get here!

It's all about getting ready now (be on the lookout for posts on that), but I'm doing good. My visa has been approved, my plane ticket has been purchased, and although I still don't know how I'll be shipping 15 pairs of shoes, my rollerblades, and a memory foam pillow, I'm all set. More or less anyway.

So, introducing my new way to bid farewell to you all,

Fight On, Trojans!

Also, if you guys would like to know more about USC, the application process, and why I ended up choosing it, leave a comment below!

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PS. Just FYI, my other options in the US were Kenyon College and the University of Pennsylvania, and although it was a tough choice with Penn, I decided that USC would be the best place to study film.