An Educational Summer Vacation

A Starbucks on every corner, a blackberry in everyone's hand, cabs flying down busy streets, and looking up to see the sky covered by sky scrapers. It is quite apparent that this describes New York City, particularly Manhattan. It is called the city that never sleeps because it truly never does.

Monday through Thursday I rode the train into the city for a course called, "The Fabulous World of Fashion Forecasting" at the famous Fashion Institute of Technology. On my morning trips into the city I noticed it was surprisingly quiet. Everyone chose to either listen to their ipod, read a book, sleep or email/text on their blackberry. No one had a conversation on the train. How are people supposed to network without saying even a hello or goodbye to the person sitting next to you?

I learned to network and I received a gift for it. On Monday I went into the city with my father and we sat next to a man reading the newspaper. We spoke for a minute, I gave him a smile and at the end of the trip the traveler gave me his last train ticket. "It's nice to be nice" that's my motto! Walking up the stairs to exit Penn Station, every morning I was greeted with a woman yelling "Good Morning New York!!" handing out newspapers which was exhilarating to me! Arriving early for my nine thirty class I witnessed businessmen dressed in slacks, ties, and crisp collared shirts holding briefcases, while women in skirts, blouses, and heals held large cups of coffee, all heading to work.

The class lasted four days and each day ended at four thirty, with seven hours of fashion. Class trips entailed walking to Barney's Co Op, the FIT fashion gallery, Meatpacking District, Manhattan Mall and surrounding stores. Clothes in the Meatpacking district were amazing! Main places we used for our assignments were Alexander McQueen, Scoop, Stella McCartney, Anthropologie, Hugo Boss and Jeffery. (Jeffery is the most expensive store in the city!)

It was an exciting course where I learned how experts use future trends to forecast fashion in the next season. The main "watering hole" for trends is none other than blogs like The Sartorialist or Bill Cunningham's snapshots of upcoming styles featured in On the Street.

One of the projects we had to do was complete a write up on a certain designer. I chose Giorgio Armani. We had to analyze one of the designer's recent shows using the internet. Then we had to write about the silhouettes, colors, details, fabric and overall appearance. A keen eye for detail and a passion for fashion was the main idea of this course.

What I favored most in taking these classes is meeting new people from everywhere. Diverse people from Upstate NY, Long Island, NY, Short Hills, Toms River, to people from out of state such as Massachusetts, California and even the country of Columbia. Everyone has their own sense of fashion and if a snapshot of the entire classroom was taken, it would be clear each of us had our own distinct and unique style.

Every time I venture into the city it is a memorable experience. I enjoy going to the pre-college programs at FIT because I love the city's atmosphere and learning something new. Although FIT is not my choice for college in the future, it is a hobby of mine to attend different courses at colleges and expand my knowledge. It is important to explore all options, learn more about various fields and what opportunities are out there not only for fashion but communication, publicity, advertising, business and more. I believe it is the experience that matters the most above all and I strive to have as many worthwhile experiences as possible.

Editors Note: Christina is a high school student.