And we’re back!

When the 34 of us broke away from school in the middle of December, its fair to say we were all in serious need of some time off.  It had been an exhausting last few weeks trying to get two major projects delivered in time, and most of us just needed to sleep and eat something that wasn’t wrapped in wax paper.

We were told at the time that the first semester of the first year of the MDM is its most intense, and that while the curriculum keeps you busy for the remainder of the 20-month program, it does tend to let up a little.

After just the first week of the second semester, that’s seemingly true. We’re now back to eight-hour days at school instead of the 12 to 18 we were serving last month, and that alone has been a relief.

But the big change so far is that we’ve split up from this one big, dynamic group that did seemingly everything together into these smaller factions, spread out around the building.

Firstly, this is when we all decide which elective course we’d like to attend for the semester. And so some students in our class are off at some of our sister schools (UBC, Emily Carr, Simon Fraser and BCIT), while the rest are taking a variety of courses on the GNWC campus.

And secondly, this semester is when we begin our industry projects, essentially the crux of the MDM program. We all work on three-month projects creating digital products for such companies as Microsoft, the Arthritis Research Centre, Kelowna Museums and the Media Awareness Network.

It’s fantastic that these organizations would want to enlist our services, and we’re all looking forward to the challenge of working towards a shared vision for the remainder of the academic year.

But as for the split, that’s been a little strange.

 “You guys are my family away from my family,” Ryan Klesc told me when I ran into him in the washroom. “So this setup is gonna take some getting used to.”

Yup, that it is. Then again, the first semester had that feeling too, initially. I think this is a great opportunity for us to work together in small clusters towards something that excites us all.

Plus it makes getting together as a group all that more exciting. Like last night, which after a long day at school included playing some Rock Band in the Games Room, heading out to Subway en masse for dinner, and then onto the Brickhouse for some drinks and laughs into the wee hours.

Ah, it’s good to be back.