I chose LCF because I have had a strong interest in design since I was a child. I was going to apply for Level 4 at the beginning, but after a in-depth communication with my friend who was a Level 3 student at that time about courses and study life in Level 3, I decided to apply for it. So before I came to IISF, I already had a general understanding of what we need to accomplish at each stage.
My life in London is absolutely amazing and it’s better than I thought it would be. I made a lot of friends from different countries, it’s so good to feel the diversity of the world. And most people here are nice, I don’t have to worry about anyone judging what I do or what I wear every day, and when I am walking on the road, there are always strangers who say to me, “I like your outfit”. At the same time, I became more independent. When I was living in my home country, everything was arranged for me, but when I came here, I had to do everything on my own, so I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know before.
I think it is an exciting thing to have the opportunity to learn about courses in other pathways. In term 1, in addition to design, which I am most interested in, I also have courses in media and business, which enabled me to have a preliminary understanding of these two pathways. Doing fashion photoshoots, going on the street to interview people’s outfits to make a customer profile, and so on were precious experiences for me. But the most significant achievement for me was that I got to learn something I had never tried before. Before I changed my first choice to knit, I planned to apply for womenswear, so I never tried knitting. But since we have to make fabric samples by ourselves, it pushes me to learn all the woven and knitting techniques.
I think I am quite prepared for the next three years of undergraduate study. I wouldn’t say this last year, but I am sure I will be more effective when doing my homework after this foundation year. And I became more explicit about how to complete a portfolio independently.
If I have more time for my term three projects, I think I will find more materials to make my fabric samples and to learn other knitting technics. Also, I will have more time to consider different ways of making the draping part more interesting.
In general, I had a very happy year at IISF. With the help of every responsible teacher, I was satisfied with the work I did each term. And I am looking forward to the new three years that I will start at LCF.