Chipotle

The only time I was able to get off-campus was to go and get dinner at Chipotle with Jackie Hines this week. It was the first time I went to Chipotle down here in Sarasota, so I guess I discovered something new this week. We’ve had Chipotle back home in Minnesota for quite awhile now and I was super excited when I heard there was one being built down here. Granted, that was last year, and I haven’t had a chance to go down to the one down here until now.

I love their burritos, but I always feel bad when I eat it, and any fast food really. I’ve been trying to eat healthier, along with buying my groceries at the organic grocery stores like Whole Foods. I like to try and buy my food from places that at least sell some local foods because that’s becoming a problem now a day. Food is almost all so processed and manufactured, that it hurts the local economy.

No Such Luck

I tried to find some free time to get off campus and enjoy even only a few hours outside, but I just wasn't able to. This week was extremely heck tick for the animation students because of all the assignments due at the same time. I were only given a week to do an animation to test our character rigs, plus having a full-faculty critique for our pre-pro stories and the development work.

The closest I got to going off-campus was down to the Academic Building because I normally only venture that far south on campus if I have Ecology of Sarasota on Thursday nights. So I’ve just got to say how annoyed I am at all of the smokers on campus. I was so happy when Ringling changes their policy and became a smoke-free campus, except for a few designated smoking areas scattered around. What’s worse is that they smoke RIGHT outside the doors to buildings so as soon as you step outside you’re greeted by a waft of smoke right in your face. I really want public safety to reinforce it, because I’ve seen them zoom right by students smoking on their little security golf carts and not even stop and say anything.

Library

I have to say; I am a complete bookworm when I’m not at school, which is mainly because I never have time to read while schools in session. I decided to take a day and go to downtown Sarasota and visit the library for the first time. I don’t have a car and couldn’t find a ride, so I ended up taking the bus. I haven’t taken the bus since freshman year, and now I remember why exactly. That first year I didn’t really know any better and I had a lot more time to spare and always wanted to get off-campus.

I learned the SCAT bus routes and I still remember it, and how terrible it is. One of the things that stood out most to me about the transportation system is that there are lots of bus stops, but they’re located in the worst possible places. Many of them simply consist of a sign on the side of the road where there isn’t any cover or even a bench for people to sit on.

Anyway, I went to the library to have a look around and ended up getting myself a library card. It was different from the libraries I go to back home, but mainly in the layout because I’ve never been in one that had two floors instead of one main room.

On the way to the library a homeless person asking me for some quarters for the bus fare had stopped me, and I didn’t have any to give him. He ended up going over to a couple that was walking in the park and got some money from them. Then when I left the library over two hours later I saw that he was still in the park, and still asking for money for the “bus.”

Beach

I was so excited I was able to go to the beach! My roommates told me they were planning to head out and asked if I had time to come with them. I didn’t know if I could because I had some character and environment designs due, but I ended up going anyway. Sometimes you just need to take a day, or even a few hours, to relax and have some fun. All work and no play makes Alex a psycho girl.

So we packed up a few sandwiches and drinks to have a picnic lunch on the beach at Lido. The last time I’ve been to the beach was last August before school started while moving my stuff down here. The water was pretty cold so I didn’t do much swimming, and instead just soaked up some vitamin D. I spend hours upon hours a day in the third floor of the Student Center where there are no windows whatsoever, so I’ve really missed the sun.

I didn’t really see anything all that interesting while I was at the beach, it was just the regular families and people out and about. The annoying and ever-present seagulls were there of course and got too close to stealing my food. It’s strange how they aren’t scared of people whatsoever; it kind of reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds in a way.

Alex Boatman at a Glance

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Alexandra Boatman, but I like to go by Alex. I'm a junior Computer Animation student here at Ringling, so I'm pretty much always busy. I call Rosemount, Minnesota home and I try to suppress my "accent," but of course it leaks out every once in a while. Nowhere near as horribly exaggerated as in the movie "Fargo"...

I went to the School of Environmental Studies, which is a public alternative high school that's partnered with the Minnesota Zoo. I attended there for my last two years of high school, and absolutely loved it even though I never planned on a career in the sciences. I have a link posted on the right sidebar of my blog for my high school. What I loved about the school was that instead of learning about certain things from a textbook in a classroom, we would actually go out and learn from the outdoors. Like going out to a lake and taking samples and readings to test the health of the lake, or going to Fort Snelling to excavate some buckthorn, which is an invasive species of weed that looks very similar to a tree since they can grow up to 25 feet tall. I know all about the health of the environment where I live back home, but it's completely different here in Sarasota.

I have no idea how many of the plants that I see everyday on campus are native or not, but I never really have the time to find out even though I've been curious. I never really get a chance to get off campus, but I’m going to try and get off at least once a week for this class. It’s just REALLY difficult with the amount of work that I have to do for CA, plus I don’t have my own car and I really don’t like taking the bus down here.