This past weekend was our first weekend of rehearsals for New Student Cab, and I'm beyond excited to open next weekend. Yesterday we got our two group numbers and they sound absolutely fabulous! The people in my program continue to amaze me with how talented everyone is. The opening number sounds so cool, it's very Rent-esque and it sounds kind of like rock-pop. My teacher described it as the musical theater piece, and our closing number is our classical piece, because the two songs are such opposites of each other. But it's cool because it shows versatility and that, in her words, we're effing awesome.
Today we ran through the show from top to bottom, except for the group numbers. We basically just ran everyone's solo pieces in order. There are four groups, and I'm in the last one. They alternate between Classical Voice and Music Theatre. For the most part the people in my group are good friends of mine; there's just one guy who I don't know very well. I like my group the best because everyone stays on stage throughout each other's songs, and the way that my teacher organized our group is that everyone's song pairs up with someone else's. My song is called "I Think I May Want to Remember Today" and it's about wanting to remember a particular day, a particular moment, and then the song that comes after me is my friend Dexter's, and his is about looking back and wishing he'd appreciated the little moments more because moments are fleeting and you don't realize what you had til it's gone. There are two other pairs of songs in my group, and then my friend Mitch sings "Something's Coming" at the end, which actually pairs pretty well with our closing song, "Hope".
This week we have rehearsal every night from 7-11 in preparation for Friday. I'm not too concerned about the short rehearsal process because I've had to put a show on in about two weeks before, and it's not like we have many super involved dance numbers or anything. There's some movement but this performance is more about showcasing our voices. Plus it helps that two of the four group numbers we're doing we learned in choir, so we already had some of the work done.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Weekend in Pennsylvania
This weekend I had the opportunity to go home with my roommate Caroline to Pennsylvania. Even though it wasn't my home or my family, it was still really nice to be out of the city and out of the dorm, and to be in a non-college environment.
We got on the train around 2 pm on Friday after my last class of the day and arrived in Lancaster at around 5. Caroline's mom Elaine picked us up from the train station and took us into downtown Lancaster to walk around their First Friday. Lancaster is a really pretty town, it's bigger than Los Altos I'd say with a more historical feel. Caroline's mom told me that Lancaster was the nation's capital for one day a long time ago before Philly got it. They have some cute little shops and we stopped in at this one really yummy ice cream shop. I got black raspberry oreo and it was delicious!
I think we got to First Friday before it really started because it wasn't super crowded but Caroline's mom mentioned how it was more crowded than she'd ever seen it before. Caroline got tired after a bit so we drove over to their house.
They live in Litiz, which is a small town outside of Lancaster, and she literally lives in the suburbs. I thought Los Altos was bad, in terms of having to drive to get to most everything (e.g. malls, food, etc) but where Caroline lives they absolutely have to drive just to get to the heart of Litiz, and then to Lancaster. It's about a ten minute drive to the nearest Starbucks, if that says anything. They also have a lot of drive-through Starbucks', which is pretty cool in my opinion. There's only one drive-through Starbucks that I know of and it's over by Bellarmine. Caroline's backyard is HUGE!! There's a small stream behind their house and I guess their backyard is considered a flood zone, which is why their property is so large. It's all grassy and pretty because the leaves are turning color on the trees and it was so refreshing and nice to see green and to be able to breath in country air. They built their house in 2008 and it's by far one of the nicest houses I've seen. Think Los Altos Hills worthy, but slightly larger and more land in general. They have two stories and a basement, and in the basement is a really neat movie room, in which we watched Admission on Friday night. Caroline and her siblings' rooms are on the second floor, and I stayed in her brother's room. They all have their own bathrooms, and the entrance to their rooms are cool because they've got a set of glass doors in addition to the glass doors that lead into the rooms themselves. Caroline's room is really pretty because she has something similar to a four post bed, except all the posts are connected at the top, and she wound lights around the top so it looks really pretty. All of their beds are huge, and it was really nice to sleep in a bed other than an extra long twin.
The kitchen area is also really nice, they have lots and lots of windows which look out over the backyard. Caroline had mentioned how everything is white, and that the only walls that are painted are the ones in her sister Olivia's room. Walking into their house I definitely noticed that; everything was white and clean and open. There was just a lot of open space in general, which was nice. I think what was really cool was that the way that most of the windows in their house faced, you saw the backyard. Not many of the windows faced the other houses in their court, which is nice because it feels a bit more private.
When we got back to Caroline's house on Friday, I met her dad and sister again. We hung out for a bit in their living room, just talking about various things, and then Caroline drove us out to dinner at this restaurant called Fiorientino's. It was pretty good! I really liked that place because it's attached to the smallest airport I've ever seen. Caroline's dad used to fly out of there a lot and he says it never has many direct flights for what he needed so he always had to connect in Baltimore or somewhere. It was so cute though, the security area was maybe the size of my room at home, not even.
After dinner we drove around Litiz so that I could see a bit of it (even though it was dark outside) and we stopped by a grocery store so that Caroline's mom could get some fruit and other food for us. She got us something called whoopie pies, which are supposedly a Pennsylvania thing. They're so yummy! They're like oreos, but the cream inside is more like whipped cream, and the cookie part is fluffier, kind of like cake. Then Caroline and I went downstairs to watch a movie. Her mom made me this mint white tea that I really liked. I should ask her what kind it was, I kind of want to get it for myself.
The next morning I woke up and got a shower and then headed downstairs. There was a note at the bottom of the stairs that said "Melissa, be right back!" so I thought they'd all gone. But I walked into the kitchen and saw Caroline's mom sitting at the kitchen table. They'd gone to the drive-through Starbucks and brought me a dirty chai latte, which was so sweet of them. I was touched that Caroline remembered what I order at Starbucks. We were originally going to go to yoga, but the night before Caroline changed her mind, so we just went to Pita Pit instead. Oh my goodness. That place is so good. I need to find the one that's supposedly near us in California because it was absolutely delicious.
After that we headed back to the house and got ready because Caroline's dad was picking up her sister and her sister's friend Olivia so that we could go to Hershey Park. First we went to Chocolate World and went on this ride similar to the Haunted Mansion ride that took us through the history of Hershey and showed us how Hershey chocolate was made. As we left the ride they handed out little packs of Rolos, which was awesome. Free chocolate! Then we walked over to Hershey Park. I told myself that since it was highly unlikely that I was ever going back to Hershey Park, I might as well go on all the rides they drag me to.
My overall impression is that the rides on the East Coast are SIGNIFICANTLY more intense than any I'd riden on the West Coast. My favorite was one called Lightning Racers. I've never heard of a ride that does this. There are two tracks with two coasters than run side by side simultaneously. They race each other! Apparently the ride ops can decide to start one slightly later than the other, and they can speed them up to a certain extent throughout the ride, which is how one wins over the other. I rode on Thunder with Caroline's sister Olivia, and Caroline and other Olivia went on Lightning. Now, Caroline is extremely competitive, so when Olivia's and my side won, Caroline's reaction was the best part of the night by far. We went on again and switched sides, and Caroline's side won that time. We think they rigged Thunder to win because it won something like ten times total while we waited in line to get on both times. I also really liked this one ride, Comet. It was a pretty standard rollercoaster, but I thought it was pretty because they had Christmas lights all along it and it was dark outside so the track was lit up by the lights.
The ride I liked the least was Stormrunner. Ugh. This ride has a very large incline at the beginning, and then drops you almost straight down into the rest of the ride. Caroline had told me about another ride called Fahrenheit that does the same thing, where it takes you up at a ninety degree angle and then drops back down almost into itself, that's how extreme the angle is. I hadn't seen that ride yet so when we were on Stormrunner and I saw a really tall, extreme drop in the distance, I said to Caroline, "That isn't us, right?" and she looked at me and said "Yupp." I just about died. It was one of those rides that brought you around to the starting point and stopped for a few seconds before launching you, and those seconds were the longest, scariest seconds of my life. I was so scared. I kept saying "No no no I don't want to do this anymore" and Caroline laughed and said "Too late now!" The ride went backwards a little bit before shooting you forward and as soon as we went backward I started screaming my head off. I absolutely, one hundred percent, hated that ride, and I'm never going back on so long as I live. But hey, I did it! Sure, I might have been shaking really badly and had to hold back tears, but I survived.
As I mentioned before, Caroline is super competitive, and she's also super good at skeeball. There was a little skeeball arcade attached to the food court we ate at, and Caroline went crazy! I've never seen that side of her before. She had this technique down pat where every game she played she won at least one ticket, and to win one ticket you needed to get 240 points. She won enough tickets to get one of the bigger stuffed animals on the wall.
Before we left the park, we stopped in at a shop toward the entrance to the park and I got a Hershey sweatshirt and some chocolate. We also got some candy to bring back for the rest of our suite.
The rest of that night was pretty mellow, we just hung out in their kitchen and had tea. SNL was on and Caroline loves that show so we watched. I've never really sat down and watched that show, but it's really funny. I think at some point in her life Caroline should try auditioning for their show or something, because she's hilarious.
This morning I woke up and went downstairs and had English muffins with Caroline. She's also obsessed with Keeping Up With the Kardashians so we watched that too. Her parents came in with Starbucks again and got me a caramel brulee latte. On the ride over to Hershey Park the day before I'd mentioned how I love those and wait the entire year for Starbucks to bring them back, and I even called Starbucks to see when they'd start selling them again. Turns out they were selling them that day! So this morning when Caroline's mom walked in with a caramel brulee latte I was so happy and so touched that they remembered! Caroline's mom made a funny comment, she said "Yeah I was talking to you and as soon as you took your first sip you had this look on your face like Ohhh I'm so happy right now!" and she wasn't at all wrong. The first caramel brulee latte of the season was absolutely amazing.
After breakfast we hung out for a bit watching tv, then Caroline, Olivia, and their mom and I left to go get lunch. It took us soooo long to decided where to eat, because Caroline and Olivia fight like cats and dogs (not unlike Katherine and myself), but we finally ended up at Panera. After lunch we drove over to their mall and shopped around for a few hours. They've got some cool stores over in PA, they have something called Bon Ton, which is like crossover between JC Penney's and Macy's. I ended up getting my dress for New Student Cab there. Caroline took me to this one store she'd mentioned before called Francesca's. It's dress heaven. And accessory heaven. Oh my goodness they have sooo many dresses. And when I walked in the first thing I noticed was how much jewelry they have! They have necklaces and bracelets and earrings in every single color you could imagine. I really wish I'd found something there that I liked because I can guarantee there are no Francesca's near us. It's a little boutique-y place, kind of like something you'd find on Castro St in Mountain View.
We left the mall around 5 and headed back to Caroline's house for a bit before we left for the train at around 7:10. It was a 7:40 train, but we left early so we could stop at Five Guys to pick up some food for the train. I felt bad taking a family of vegans and vegetarians to a burger place, but Caroline's mom made brussel sprouts (which were suprisingly amazing) and soup for Caroline to eat on the train. I kept trying to pay for things this weekend but they refused to let me pay, because I was their guest. I paid for the stuff I got at the mall though. This entire weekend Caroline's family was so sweet, and I kept thanking them profusely for letting me stay in their home and for taking me places. It was just so nice to be able to get away from the city for a bit, and to be in a family environment again, even if it wasn't my own. And I was also just constantly amazed by their house.
So now Caroline and I are on the train on our way back to NYU. We've got about an hour left to go, which isn't bad. There's wifi on the train which is awesome, so I can surf the interwebs and whatnot.
We got on the train around 2 pm on Friday after my last class of the day and arrived in Lancaster at around 5. Caroline's mom Elaine picked us up from the train station and took us into downtown Lancaster to walk around their First Friday. Lancaster is a really pretty town, it's bigger than Los Altos I'd say with a more historical feel. Caroline's mom told me that Lancaster was the nation's capital for one day a long time ago before Philly got it. They have some cute little shops and we stopped in at this one really yummy ice cream shop. I got black raspberry oreo and it was delicious!
I think we got to First Friday before it really started because it wasn't super crowded but Caroline's mom mentioned how it was more crowded than she'd ever seen it before. Caroline got tired after a bit so we drove over to their house.
They live in Litiz, which is a small town outside of Lancaster, and she literally lives in the suburbs. I thought Los Altos was bad, in terms of having to drive to get to most everything (e.g. malls, food, etc) but where Caroline lives they absolutely have to drive just to get to the heart of Litiz, and then to Lancaster. It's about a ten minute drive to the nearest Starbucks, if that says anything. They also have a lot of drive-through Starbucks', which is pretty cool in my opinion. There's only one drive-through Starbucks that I know of and it's over by Bellarmine. Caroline's backyard is HUGE!! There's a small stream behind their house and I guess their backyard is considered a flood zone, which is why their property is so large. It's all grassy and pretty because the leaves are turning color on the trees and it was so refreshing and nice to see green and to be able to breath in country air. They built their house in 2008 and it's by far one of the nicest houses I've seen. Think Los Altos Hills worthy, but slightly larger and more land in general. They have two stories and a basement, and in the basement is a really neat movie room, in which we watched Admission on Friday night. Caroline and her siblings' rooms are on the second floor, and I stayed in her brother's room. They all have their own bathrooms, and the entrance to their rooms are cool because they've got a set of glass doors in addition to the glass doors that lead into the rooms themselves. Caroline's room is really pretty because she has something similar to a four post bed, except all the posts are connected at the top, and she wound lights around the top so it looks really pretty. All of their beds are huge, and it was really nice to sleep in a bed other than an extra long twin.
The kitchen area is also really nice, they have lots and lots of windows which look out over the backyard. Caroline had mentioned how everything is white, and that the only walls that are painted are the ones in her sister Olivia's room. Walking into their house I definitely noticed that; everything was white and clean and open. There was just a lot of open space in general, which was nice. I think what was really cool was that the way that most of the windows in their house faced, you saw the backyard. Not many of the windows faced the other houses in their court, which is nice because it feels a bit more private.
When we got back to Caroline's house on Friday, I met her dad and sister again. We hung out for a bit in their living room, just talking about various things, and then Caroline drove us out to dinner at this restaurant called Fiorientino's. It was pretty good! I really liked that place because it's attached to the smallest airport I've ever seen. Caroline's dad used to fly out of there a lot and he says it never has many direct flights for what he needed so he always had to connect in Baltimore or somewhere. It was so cute though, the security area was maybe the size of my room at home, not even.
After dinner we drove around Litiz so that I could see a bit of it (even though it was dark outside) and we stopped by a grocery store so that Caroline's mom could get some fruit and other food for us. She got us something called whoopie pies, which are supposedly a Pennsylvania thing. They're so yummy! They're like oreos, but the cream inside is more like whipped cream, and the cookie part is fluffier, kind of like cake. Then Caroline and I went downstairs to watch a movie. Her mom made me this mint white tea that I really liked. I should ask her what kind it was, I kind of want to get it for myself.
The next morning I woke up and got a shower and then headed downstairs. There was a note at the bottom of the stairs that said "Melissa, be right back!" so I thought they'd all gone. But I walked into the kitchen and saw Caroline's mom sitting at the kitchen table. They'd gone to the drive-through Starbucks and brought me a dirty chai latte, which was so sweet of them. I was touched that Caroline remembered what I order at Starbucks. We were originally going to go to yoga, but the night before Caroline changed her mind, so we just went to Pita Pit instead. Oh my goodness. That place is so good. I need to find the one that's supposedly near us in California because it was absolutely delicious.
After that we headed back to the house and got ready because Caroline's dad was picking up her sister and her sister's friend Olivia so that we could go to Hershey Park. First we went to Chocolate World and went on this ride similar to the Haunted Mansion ride that took us through the history of Hershey and showed us how Hershey chocolate was made. As we left the ride they handed out little packs of Rolos, which was awesome. Free chocolate! Then we walked over to Hershey Park. I told myself that since it was highly unlikely that I was ever going back to Hershey Park, I might as well go on all the rides they drag me to.
My overall impression is that the rides on the East Coast are SIGNIFICANTLY more intense than any I'd riden on the West Coast. My favorite was one called Lightning Racers. I've never heard of a ride that does this. There are two tracks with two coasters than run side by side simultaneously. They race each other! Apparently the ride ops can decide to start one slightly later than the other, and they can speed them up to a certain extent throughout the ride, which is how one wins over the other. I rode on Thunder with Caroline's sister Olivia, and Caroline and other Olivia went on Lightning. Now, Caroline is extremely competitive, so when Olivia's and my side won, Caroline's reaction was the best part of the night by far. We went on again and switched sides, and Caroline's side won that time. We think they rigged Thunder to win because it won something like ten times total while we waited in line to get on both times. I also really liked this one ride, Comet. It was a pretty standard rollercoaster, but I thought it was pretty because they had Christmas lights all along it and it was dark outside so the track was lit up by the lights.
The ride I liked the least was Stormrunner. Ugh. This ride has a very large incline at the beginning, and then drops you almost straight down into the rest of the ride. Caroline had told me about another ride called Fahrenheit that does the same thing, where it takes you up at a ninety degree angle and then drops back down almost into itself, that's how extreme the angle is. I hadn't seen that ride yet so when we were on Stormrunner and I saw a really tall, extreme drop in the distance, I said to Caroline, "That isn't us, right?" and she looked at me and said "Yupp." I just about died. It was one of those rides that brought you around to the starting point and stopped for a few seconds before launching you, and those seconds were the longest, scariest seconds of my life. I was so scared. I kept saying "No no no I don't want to do this anymore" and Caroline laughed and said "Too late now!" The ride went backwards a little bit before shooting you forward and as soon as we went backward I started screaming my head off. I absolutely, one hundred percent, hated that ride, and I'm never going back on so long as I live. But hey, I did it! Sure, I might have been shaking really badly and had to hold back tears, but I survived.
As I mentioned before, Caroline is super competitive, and she's also super good at skeeball. There was a little skeeball arcade attached to the food court we ate at, and Caroline went crazy! I've never seen that side of her before. She had this technique down pat where every game she played she won at least one ticket, and to win one ticket you needed to get 240 points. She won enough tickets to get one of the bigger stuffed animals on the wall.
Before we left the park, we stopped in at a shop toward the entrance to the park and I got a Hershey sweatshirt and some chocolate. We also got some candy to bring back for the rest of our suite.
The rest of that night was pretty mellow, we just hung out in their kitchen and had tea. SNL was on and Caroline loves that show so we watched. I've never really sat down and watched that show, but it's really funny. I think at some point in her life Caroline should try auditioning for their show or something, because she's hilarious.
This morning I woke up and went downstairs and had English muffins with Caroline. She's also obsessed with Keeping Up With the Kardashians so we watched that too. Her parents came in with Starbucks again and got me a caramel brulee latte. On the ride over to Hershey Park the day before I'd mentioned how I love those and wait the entire year for Starbucks to bring them back, and I even called Starbucks to see when they'd start selling them again. Turns out they were selling them that day! So this morning when Caroline's mom walked in with a caramel brulee latte I was so happy and so touched that they remembered! Caroline's mom made a funny comment, she said "Yeah I was talking to you and as soon as you took your first sip you had this look on your face like Ohhh I'm so happy right now!" and she wasn't at all wrong. The first caramel brulee latte of the season was absolutely amazing.
After breakfast we hung out for a bit watching tv, then Caroline, Olivia, and their mom and I left to go get lunch. It took us soooo long to decided where to eat, because Caroline and Olivia fight like cats and dogs (not unlike Katherine and myself), but we finally ended up at Panera. After lunch we drove over to their mall and shopped around for a few hours. They've got some cool stores over in PA, they have something called Bon Ton, which is like crossover between JC Penney's and Macy's. I ended up getting my dress for New Student Cab there. Caroline took me to this one store she'd mentioned before called Francesca's. It's dress heaven. And accessory heaven. Oh my goodness they have sooo many dresses. And when I walked in the first thing I noticed was how much jewelry they have! They have necklaces and bracelets and earrings in every single color you could imagine. I really wish I'd found something there that I liked because I can guarantee there are no Francesca's near us. It's a little boutique-y place, kind of like something you'd find on Castro St in Mountain View.
We left the mall around 5 and headed back to Caroline's house for a bit before we left for the train at around 7:10. It was a 7:40 train, but we left early so we could stop at Five Guys to pick up some food for the train. I felt bad taking a family of vegans and vegetarians to a burger place, but Caroline's mom made brussel sprouts (which were suprisingly amazing) and soup for Caroline to eat on the train. I kept trying to pay for things this weekend but they refused to let me pay, because I was their guest. I paid for the stuff I got at the mall though. This entire weekend Caroline's family was so sweet, and I kept thanking them profusely for letting me stay in their home and for taking me places. It was just so nice to be able to get away from the city for a bit, and to be in a family environment again, even if it wasn't my own. And I was also just constantly amazed by their house.
So now Caroline and I are on the train on our way back to NYU. We've got about an hour left to go, which isn't bad. There's wifi on the train which is awesome, so I can surf the interwebs and whatnot.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
College Update.
The daily life of a college student is pretty boring, there's not much to report. I go to class every day, and do homework at night. Nothing extraordinary has happened this week.
Midterms are over, which I guess is a relief. I didn't really have any intense, normal people midterms because most of my classes are music related. I'm doing well though, across the board. All of my teachers are pretty happy with my work so far.
Tomorrow is Halloween, which I guess is a pretty big thing in the city. Apparently there's some big Halloween parade on 6th Ave but I was just planning on staying in and watching tv. I've never been a huge fan of Halloween.
This weekend I'm going home with my roommate Caroline, she lives just outside of Lancaster, PA. I'm pretty excited because on Friday we're leaving around 2 and then when we get off the train we're going to their town's First Friday, which should be pretty interesting to check out. Then on Saturday we're doing yoga and checking out something called Central Market, which is apparently one of the oldest markets in the US. And there's lots of Amish people there. Caroline's excited for me to see an Amish person for the first time. Also, her parents are treating us to a trip to Hershey Park which I'm soooo looking forward to. I'm not sure if we're going to the amusement park area of it but I know we're going to Chocolate World which sounds amazing. This weekend should be a lot of fun. I'm actually even looking forward to the train rides, because I love the train. We'll get back in late Sunday night around 11, so I'll be in PA all weekend.
Not this weekend but next weekend, we start rehearsals for New Student Cabaret. I think we're going to have rehearsal every night from 7-10, in addition to the hour we have on Wednesdays in New Student Seminar. I'm really looking forward to this, I've missed rehearsing for a show. And I'm also looking forward to finding out what group songs we're doing and to hear everyone sing. I don't think I've heard everyone sing yet, just some people here and there. In my English Diction class we've started performances, where everyone brings in an English art song and performs it in front of the class, and then we critique their diction based on what we've learned so far. We had our first day of performances today and I'm somewhat impressed by the talent level. Well, I'd say I'm neutral. We had one girl perform for whom English is her second language, so we spent a lot of time with her on her diction. I didn't realize until now how difficult some words are to pronounce properly.
Midterms are over, which I guess is a relief. I didn't really have any intense, normal people midterms because most of my classes are music related. I'm doing well though, across the board. All of my teachers are pretty happy with my work so far.
Tomorrow is Halloween, which I guess is a pretty big thing in the city. Apparently there's some big Halloween parade on 6th Ave but I was just planning on staying in and watching tv. I've never been a huge fan of Halloween.
This weekend I'm going home with my roommate Caroline, she lives just outside of Lancaster, PA. I'm pretty excited because on Friday we're leaving around 2 and then when we get off the train we're going to their town's First Friday, which should be pretty interesting to check out. Then on Saturday we're doing yoga and checking out something called Central Market, which is apparently one of the oldest markets in the US. And there's lots of Amish people there. Caroline's excited for me to see an Amish person for the first time. Also, her parents are treating us to a trip to Hershey Park which I'm soooo looking forward to. I'm not sure if we're going to the amusement park area of it but I know we're going to Chocolate World which sounds amazing. This weekend should be a lot of fun. I'm actually even looking forward to the train rides, because I love the train. We'll get back in late Sunday night around 11, so I'll be in PA all weekend.
Not this weekend but next weekend, we start rehearsals for New Student Cabaret. I think we're going to have rehearsal every night from 7-10, in addition to the hour we have on Wednesdays in New Student Seminar. I'm really looking forward to this, I've missed rehearsing for a show. And I'm also looking forward to finding out what group songs we're doing and to hear everyone sing. I don't think I've heard everyone sing yet, just some people here and there. In my English Diction class we've started performances, where everyone brings in an English art song and performs it in front of the class, and then we critique their diction based on what we've learned so far. We had our first day of performances today and I'm somewhat impressed by the talent level. Well, I'd say I'm neutral. We had one girl perform for whom English is her second language, so we spent a lot of time with her on her diction. I didn't realize until now how difficult some words are to pronounce properly.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Cinderella!
This past weekend a few friends and I decided to rush a Broadway show. We had just finished brunch and were sitting around trying to figure out what to do, when my friend Javi said, "Hey, let's go rush Big Fish!" It was just after 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon and Sunday matinees start at 3.
We basically bolted to the nearest subway station (which was a struggle for my short legs) and as our luck would have it, an R train pulled up right as we went through the turnstiles. We hopped on and as soon as we did, we realized it wasn't stopping at 49th due to maintenance, and we needed that stop because the theater was on 52nd. But as we pulled into the 42nd St stop, we noticed the N train pulling in as well. My friend Will was like, "why don't we get off here and get on the N, see if it stops at 49th?" We hemmed and hawed but when our train stopped Javi went "Oh what the heck, let's do it". So we got off and hopped onto the N, which, amazingly enough, did stop at 49th. Luck was on our side that day!
We booked it to Big Fish's theater, only to be harassed by some guy trying to sell two tickets and to learn that there were no more student rush tickets available. As annoying as that guy was, we weren't discouraged. We just walked over to the Broadway theater to see if there were any student rush tickets for Cinderella, and there were! We were all so excited, we were going to see a Broadway show! It was the first one I'd seen since moving out here. My friend Jack made a funny comment, saying that when he woke up this morning he didn't think he'd be seeing a Broadway show.
The show was absolutely magical, I'm so in love with it. It wasn't one of those shows that if I didn't see it I'd be devastated, but I'm so glad I did end up seeing it. The costumes were so so pretty, and Laura Osnes is beautiful. We actually just got her right before a vacation; that was her last show before taking a week off, so we just caught her. After the show we rushed out of the theater so that we could be the first ones at the stage door. We were such nerds. We got pictures with Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana, who played the Prince. It was so exciting and awe-inspiring to meet them and to get their autographs. I really hope that one day I'll be the one coming out of the stage door to a bunch of fans asking for pictures and autographs.
We basically bolted to the nearest subway station (which was a struggle for my short legs) and as our luck would have it, an R train pulled up right as we went through the turnstiles. We hopped on and as soon as we did, we realized it wasn't stopping at 49th due to maintenance, and we needed that stop because the theater was on 52nd. But as we pulled into the 42nd St stop, we noticed the N train pulling in as well. My friend Will was like, "why don't we get off here and get on the N, see if it stops at 49th?" We hemmed and hawed but when our train stopped Javi went "Oh what the heck, let's do it". So we got off and hopped onto the N, which, amazingly enough, did stop at 49th. Luck was on our side that day!
We booked it to Big Fish's theater, only to be harassed by some guy trying to sell two tickets and to learn that there were no more student rush tickets available. As annoying as that guy was, we weren't discouraged. We just walked over to the Broadway theater to see if there were any student rush tickets for Cinderella, and there were! We were all so excited, we were going to see a Broadway show! It was the first one I'd seen since moving out here. My friend Jack made a funny comment, saying that when he woke up this morning he didn't think he'd be seeing a Broadway show.
The show was absolutely magical, I'm so in love with it. It wasn't one of those shows that if I didn't see it I'd be devastated, but I'm so glad I did end up seeing it. The costumes were so so pretty, and Laura Osnes is beautiful. We actually just got her right before a vacation; that was her last show before taking a week off, so we just caught her. After the show we rushed out of the theater so that we could be the first ones at the stage door. We were such nerds. We got pictures with Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana, who played the Prince. It was so exciting and awe-inspiring to meet them and to get their autographs. I really hope that one day I'll be the one coming out of the stage door to a bunch of fans asking for pictures and autographs.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Fall break, short week, and roommate adventures
This past week was quite a busy one! It started out with fall break, which was lovely because I got to go home and visit my family and see my super talented sister Katherine in her best role to date, and I brought back warm clothes and fuzzy socks (always a plus). Classes started back up again on Wednesday, which meant we had a shortened week, woohoo! It felt weird though because classes that I normally have Mondays and Wednesdays I only had once this past week, so it was a little disorienting.
My friend Griffin came to visit two colleges in the area, and he stayed with a mutual friend of ours who lives on the fifth floor of my building. My roommates and I had a blast showing him around and hanging out with him in the dorm room, chatting about California and colleges and all that jazz. We all reminisced about how horrible the college application process was and how we're so glad to be done with all of that. We took Griffin to the High Line, which is this old elevated train track that the city of New York decided to turn into a park of sorts somewhere around the 1930's and was opened to the public in 2009. It's absolutely gorgeous, they put a lot of trees and greenery along the sides of it, and it's pretty neat to look out over the city. It makes for some good photos. Then we took him to the Grey Dog, which is a local cafe near NYU that my roommates and I love. The table we were sitting at had a mini map of the San Francisco area which Caroline and Dan-a thought was really cool, so we spent the next twenty minutes or so talking about the geography of the Bay Area and where everything was. They're convinced that the Bay is in central California, but Griffin and I are adamant that no, it's in northern California and everyone knows that. I think the people sitting at the table next to us had a very interesting conversation to listen to.
Then yesterday Caroline and I (literally) dragged Dan-a out of bed to go to Battery Park for an hour or two. I'm not kidding when I say that we had to drag her kicking and screaming out of bed to force her to leave the dorm at least once that day (if we hadn't, she probably would have spent the entire day studying indoors). Once we got there it was such a gorgeous day. It was chilly and a bit windy out, but the sky was clear and the air was crisp and fresh. I brought along some homework to try to get some work done but we just ended up taking silly pictures and people-watching. I got the work done later though, don't worry. Then we went to Palladium for dinner and more roommate bonding. It was pretty nice to get to spend some time as just 710-A, because I feel like so often we're all so busy with class and doing our own thing that we don't really get to spend much quality time with each other, so it was nice for all of us to hang out and enjoy each other's company.
My friend Griffin came to visit two colleges in the area, and he stayed with a mutual friend of ours who lives on the fifth floor of my building. My roommates and I had a blast showing him around and hanging out with him in the dorm room, chatting about California and colleges and all that jazz. We all reminisced about how horrible the college application process was and how we're so glad to be done with all of that. We took Griffin to the High Line, which is this old elevated train track that the city of New York decided to turn into a park of sorts somewhere around the 1930's and was opened to the public in 2009. It's absolutely gorgeous, they put a lot of trees and greenery along the sides of it, and it's pretty neat to look out over the city. It makes for some good photos. Then we took him to the Grey Dog, which is a local cafe near NYU that my roommates and I love. The table we were sitting at had a mini map of the San Francisco area which Caroline and Dan-a thought was really cool, so we spent the next twenty minutes or so talking about the geography of the Bay Area and where everything was. They're convinced that the Bay is in central California, but Griffin and I are adamant that no, it's in northern California and everyone knows that. I think the people sitting at the table next to us had a very interesting conversation to listen to.
Then yesterday Caroline and I (literally) dragged Dan-a out of bed to go to Battery Park for an hour or two. I'm not kidding when I say that we had to drag her kicking and screaming out of bed to force her to leave the dorm at least once that day (if we hadn't, she probably would have spent the entire day studying indoors). Once we got there it was such a gorgeous day. It was chilly and a bit windy out, but the sky was clear and the air was crisp and fresh. I brought along some homework to try to get some work done but we just ended up taking silly pictures and people-watching. I got the work done later though, don't worry. Then we went to Palladium for dinner and more roommate bonding. It was pretty nice to get to spend some time as just 710-A, because I feel like so often we're all so busy with class and doing our own thing that we don't really get to spend much quality time with each other, so it was nice for all of us to hang out and enjoy each other's company.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Decorating! And some weird weather..
So after a month of living in my dorm, I finally started putting serious effort into decorating my side of the room. I had already put up these mirrored decal words that say "Sing, Dance, Love" on my headboard, but I needed more than that because I have a very bare, very plain white wall next to my bed. So I got some Christmas lights and put them up around my headboard and I absolutely love it. It adds a nice touch and it's nice soft lighting so I don't have to have the harsh overhead lights on all the time. I also ordered two wall prints from this website called Dormify.com that specializes in dorm room and apartment decorations. I got this really cool one that is an M and is purple, black, and cream and looks kind of mod. I think it'll go well with my color scheme.
The weather here has been pretty fickle, and confusing. It's officially fall, and we welcomed fall initially with typical fall weather: windy, pretty chilly, but sunny toward middle to late afternoon. And I love that weather, it makes me happy. Boot weather is the best weather! But the past few days it's been warm and muggy but at the same time chilly and muggy in the morning. For instance, I left my building this morning around noon to go to my coaching for New Student Cab, and by the time I got to the Ed building I was pretty warm. Then later when I left my building again around 1 to meet my friend Mitch to go get my Christmas lights, I was cold! I almost went back upstairs to grab a cardigan or something. I'm really looking forward to when it gets cooler again because I love fall in the city already.
The weather here has been pretty fickle, and confusing. It's officially fall, and we welcomed fall initially with typical fall weather: windy, pretty chilly, but sunny toward middle to late afternoon. And I love that weather, it makes me happy. Boot weather is the best weather! But the past few days it's been warm and muggy but at the same time chilly and muggy in the morning. For instance, I left my building this morning around noon to go to my coaching for New Student Cab, and by the time I got to the Ed building I was pretty warm. Then later when I left my building again around 1 to meet my friend Mitch to go get my Christmas lights, I was cold! I almost went back upstairs to grab a cardigan or something. I'm really looking forward to when it gets cooler again because I love fall in the city already.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Player's Club Date Auction
This past weekend NYU Steinhardt's Player's Club held their annual Date Auction, which was a night of Disney songs and fundraising for our winter musical, which they announced is going to be Once on this Island. Everyone who performed auctioned off a date with them, which ranged anywhere from picnics in the park to game nights. One guy even auctioned off dinner and tickets to a Broadway show of the bidders choice! My date wasn't quite so fancy; I auctioned off hair and makeup services. My friend Jen from my program won my date, and I went for I think $40. In total we raised almost $1400 which is amazing.
I sang "Home" from Beauty and the Beast which was absolutely nervewracking. It was my NYU singing debut and I was soooo nervous!! A lot of people were there from the program, including a bunch of seniors and even a few grad students. I was the first soloist to perform after the Player's Club officers did a little opening number, and I got a standing ovation. I was grinning so big, it was such a rush! Everyone was hooting and hollering and I was standing there thinking "Okay this is really exciting! But what do I do now?" because I was supposed to stay onstage so that they could auction off my date. I'm wondering if I might have gone for more money if I had gone later in the evening, because toward the end of the night the bidding got kind of crazy. I think the bidding bug hit people later on, and when I was auctioning off my date people hadn't gotten warmed up yet. But $40 is a very respectable number and I'm happy I was able to help raise money for the club. I bid on my friend Jordan's date; she's going to take me, Mitch, Javi, and Ben on a picnic dinner in I think Central Park. Not sure when that's happening, but I'm excited for it.
Tomorrow night is Javi's 20th birthday, and a big group of us are going to dinner to celebrate. I'm finally going to find a use for that bow-tie I got in Italy. I was talking to Javi randomly about formal attire one day and he mentioned how he only had one bow-tie which was hot pink. I had been trying to think of what to get him for his birthday and then it hit me. Bam! I'll give him the bow-tie I've been hanging on to! The only thing I'm not super excited about is that we're going out on a school night, but hey, it's college. And my first class on Friday isn't until 10 am so I get to sleep in somewhat, compared to the rest of the week.
I sang "Home" from Beauty and the Beast which was absolutely nervewracking. It was my NYU singing debut and I was soooo nervous!! A lot of people were there from the program, including a bunch of seniors and even a few grad students. I was the first soloist to perform after the Player's Club officers did a little opening number, and I got a standing ovation. I was grinning so big, it was such a rush! Everyone was hooting and hollering and I was standing there thinking "Okay this is really exciting! But what do I do now?" because I was supposed to stay onstage so that they could auction off my date. I'm wondering if I might have gone for more money if I had gone later in the evening, because toward the end of the night the bidding got kind of crazy. I think the bidding bug hit people later on, and when I was auctioning off my date people hadn't gotten warmed up yet. But $40 is a very respectable number and I'm happy I was able to help raise money for the club. I bid on my friend Jordan's date; she's going to take me, Mitch, Javi, and Ben on a picnic dinner in I think Central Park. Not sure when that's happening, but I'm excited for it.
Tomorrow night is Javi's 20th birthday, and a big group of us are going to dinner to celebrate. I'm finally going to find a use for that bow-tie I got in Italy. I was talking to Javi randomly about formal attire one day and he mentioned how he only had one bow-tie which was hot pink. I had been trying to think of what to get him for his birthday and then it hit me. Bam! I'll give him the bow-tie I've been hanging on to! The only thing I'm not super excited about is that we're going out on a school night, but hey, it's college. And my first class on Friday isn't until 10 am so I get to sleep in somewhat, compared to the rest of the week.
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