A Big Cheer From Iceland
By: Bobby Beck
Hi Everyone! I just wanted to share a very inspiring letter I received from one of our students in Iceland. We are so blown away that we're able to help other people achieve their dreams. Thanks so much, Ævar, for sharing your story.
Letter from Ævar Gudmundsson:
Hey Bobby
We haven't spoken before, but my name is Ævar, and I am a student at your awesome school. I wanted to thank you for the impact you have had on my life.
About 2 years ago I made a decision that I would become an animator, at any cost, and since there are no animation schools in Iceland there was only one option for me. I had to return to a high paid labour job, working around dead fish which I had promised myself I would never return to again. But with travel expenses, cost of living expenses in a foreign country without a work permit and tuition, to be able to make my dream come true I knew I would need to save up the money I needed in 3-4 years, by cutting away every expense in my life. And that is how I have lived since. Saving up every last cent with a dream to one day be able to move to a place where I could have the opportunity to learn about the thing that has inspired me since I was a child.
With no understanding from people around me and a lot of people telling me to stop being silly and consider doing something constructive with my life, I kept at it, and was at a point where I had enough money saved up to actually start browsing for schools, and start applying. I don't know what made me start searching that week, or even why, but after only browsing for 2 days, I ran into a news section on 3Dtotal.com that talked about this new animation school that was about to start on-line. I checked out the website and my direction was set, no matter what school I would get into, I would eventually want to study at AnimationMentor. But this all being still a distant dream in my mind, I decided to do something silly. I would send in an application, and when I would get rejected, I would use the basis of the rejection to get a better view of how to apply to a school in this area. You can imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail saying I had been accepted.
This has been a complete rollercoaster ride since. I wrote in my essay that if I would be accepted I would make up for my lack of experience with double the dedication, and that is exactly what I have done and will keep on doing. Being a complete beginner, every single week has been a wealth of information and I put in between 40-45 hours a week into learning stuff related to each week's assignment. (I did 7 different versions of Tailor for example.) With this e-mail I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for making a young Icelanders dream come true, and to have created this society where I can interact with people that share my passion on a daily basis. For all the work you have put into creating this, I consider it to be my duty as a student, to repay you for that work, by doing the best I can and to have my future skills reflect what it truly is that AM teaches us.
Big Cheers from Iceland. Keep up the awesome work, and thank you. -Ævar
Letter from Ævar Gudmundsson:
Hey Bobby
We haven't spoken before, but my name is Ævar, and I am a student at your awesome school. I wanted to thank you for the impact you have had on my life.
About 2 years ago I made a decision that I would become an animator, at any cost, and since there are no animation schools in Iceland there was only one option for me. I had to return to a high paid labour job, working around dead fish which I had promised myself I would never return to again. But with travel expenses, cost of living expenses in a foreign country without a work permit and tuition, to be able to make my dream come true I knew I would need to save up the money I needed in 3-4 years, by cutting away every expense in my life. And that is how I have lived since. Saving up every last cent with a dream to one day be able to move to a place where I could have the opportunity to learn about the thing that has inspired me since I was a child.
With no understanding from people around me and a lot of people telling me to stop being silly and consider doing something constructive with my life, I kept at it, and was at a point where I had enough money saved up to actually start browsing for schools, and start applying. I don't know what made me start searching that week, or even why, but after only browsing for 2 days, I ran into a news section on 3Dtotal.com that talked about this new animation school that was about to start on-line. I checked out the website and my direction was set, no matter what school I would get into, I would eventually want to study at AnimationMentor. But this all being still a distant dream in my mind, I decided to do something silly. I would send in an application, and when I would get rejected, I would use the basis of the rejection to get a better view of how to apply to a school in this area. You can imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail saying I had been accepted.
This has been a complete rollercoaster ride since. I wrote in my essay that if I would be accepted I would make up for my lack of experience with double the dedication, and that is exactly what I have done and will keep on doing. Being a complete beginner, every single week has been a wealth of information and I put in between 40-45 hours a week into learning stuff related to each week's assignment. (I did 7 different versions of Tailor for example.) With this e-mail I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for making a young Icelanders dream come true, and to have created this society where I can interact with people that share my passion on a daily basis. For all the work you have put into creating this, I consider it to be my duty as a student, to repay you for that work, by doing the best I can and to have my future skills reflect what it truly is that AM teaches us.
Big Cheers from Iceland. Keep up the awesome work, and thank you. -Ævar