Apologies...

Apologies to those (few) readers of this somewhat lame blog. I have been absent because of frantic discussions about getting to the festival, rehearsing for the festival, and ultimately going to the festival! The festival was a complicated affair that I learned a lot from but also had my contentions. But, as to not spoil or speak ill of things, I would like to highlight what I learned and loved:

1. Spending a week with what has become the best large university social group I have had was wonderful. Bonding times, living in a somewhat obscure town for a week, and raucous nights were highlights.
2. I think I've learned a bit of what it's like to be on tour - get a new venue, have little time to figure out how everything works and then do a show! This gave me very little time to freak out.
3. I love the theatre. So much. I love it in its messiness, when we're all kind of doing a show on a prayer and yet it happily turns out better than it ever was.
4. I have learned that if I truly believe and trust in myself, normally my mind and body will follow. Let's put it this way: my performance, technically, this time was solid. In comparison to the show in December, I did not mess up the counting in my individual, difficult pieces. Was it because I relearned things? Partially, but I set my mind to not letting me psyche myself out and I accomplished that. That sounds cocky... but I am proud of how I overcame my psychological barrier.
5. I would love to do a show forever and ever. BUT, being in the midst of school work, in some ways I feel that if I were to really grow the next time I (hopefully!) play Cinderella I would need time to grow as a human being.
6. Not everyone is going to like you and that's life. Actors are notoriously insecure. I am most definitely an insecure human being. Acting is a very emotionally risky business because you invest your heart and soul into a character that in one sentence a critic can destroy. I've learned that that will happen and that I need to develop a tougher skin.
7. There's no spirit like team spirit. UCL won the pub quiz. And it was, possibly, one of the happiest moments of my life. We cheered like we won the World Cup or £1,000,000. We truthfully won neither.
8. I will cherish this experience for good and for bad for my entire life. I'm just so happy I got to do the show again and with people that I love.

Post-show I had the opportunity to see more of England and Ireland. Pictures, adventures, and thoughts to come... especially as we get closer to - yes, my return home.

And by home, I mean New York.

New York I have missed you loads.
London I will miss you when I am in New York.
It's a Catch-22.

Lastly, what I've learned the most about the above experience and about my time in London: the importance of friends. Friends are so important. Cherish them because at times, I feel they are the only thing holding me together.