Creative Digital Media

College

Going into my 30th year to college, I already have a Psychology degree? Why not... It was 2023, I am more than year in Ireland. I have found friends, stable accommodation, my mind is calmer. I was looking for a job, but unfortunately can’t find any. I just finished renovating the new flat. I didn’t have anything except volunteering in the charity shops. It has been clear that I need to get new skills, something where I don’t need so much knowing of English.

In September 2023 I was accepted for a college course ‘Creative Digital Media’ in Cork College of FET Douglas Street Campus. It is 1 year course, which focuses on Web Site Design, Video Editing, Digital Image Processing, Interactive Media Development and 3D Graphics.

And it was the best decision I made in my situation.
It is an amazing and exciting experience.

The only problem which I had was distance. I’m living in a small town – Clonmel, which is 100km away from my College in Cork. To get to Cork I need to spend 2 hours each way on a bus, Additionally, those buses operate only a few times per day.

My thought process was next: In Kharkiv I would spend 1 hour to get to the city center, often standing in a bus. Here it will take 2 hours but sitting. I decided to try.

I am waking up at 4-5am to get ready for the 6:30 bus to be at Cork at 8:30 for my 9am classes.

The way back was the tough part. I usually try to take the 16:30 bus (which might be full) or 17:30 train to get home. Normally I would get home at 19 to 20:00.

14 hours away from home. 4 days a week.

I was short of time for my homework and life in general. But I would use all my time wisely to do all my assignments on time. Reading while on the bus, writing on trains, working in the library while waiting for a bus or train.

Even the idea for this website came to me on a train ride home. This website is my final assignment for the Web Authoring course actually.

Digital Movie Processing

Multimedia Authoring

I also learn how to do linear and non-linear animation

Web Authoring

I created 2 websites: 2 for practice, and if you see this site, it is my 3rd.

3D Modelling and Animation

For this class we were working in Blender. Oh, it was tough. But by the end of it I was able to do this animation:

Image Processing

We were learning Photoshop for Image Processing. We did a few cool things during this class.

I came to this class with zero knowledge about Photoshop. By the end of this course, I can say that I can work on it independently.

Work Experience

For my first Work Experience week I was a volunteer at Cork Film Festival. It was so fun, I was meeting people and watching the festival's movies, or listening to lectures.

For my second Work Experience week I was hired by my college to create a video about Erasmus Students.

Communications

Communication was keeping me busy in the library.

See, writing in the English language was my worst nightmare. And writing is 50% of assignments for this class, and I am grateful for this challenge. After this I feel so much more confident with writing.

Design Skills

Here I learned how to design my website.