Blizzard Demos

Happy Thursday!
I hope everyone is staying inside and safe from the terrible snow storm that is taking Wisconsin by storm these days.
We don't have a storm here in NYC yet...I hear it will be coming soon although, but it looks like when it gets here it'll be nothing but a few flurries.
Instead of a snow storm, we're having a different kind of storm. Storm Demos. It's snowing, raining, thundering, lightening, etc. demos. It's all every AMDA kid is thinking about since it's our last week of classes.
It's strange to think that I have already had the last of my regular classes for the semester. It's putting everything into perspective, the end is upon us.
Demos started on Tuesday and since then, life has actually been pretty chill, which is weird. I have had my sight singing final, which went fine and was nothing too serious. Yesterday, I had my musical theatre demo which went fantastic. I performed Practically Perfect and apparently it's one of the first times it's being done at AMDA. I was really proud of how I did. After Musical Theatre we had our individual voice demos in where I performed Thy Hand Belinda. It's a really difficult song that usually only upperclassmen do, so I was very happy with the fact that the demo went very well.
Besides that, I haven't had any other demos. I was lucky and had no demos today, I just had to work at the library.
Everything is winding down, and it's crazy to think soon 1st semester will be done with. It feels so much longer than just a few months.
Tomorrow will be a crazy day for demos though, an acting make up in the morning, then our 5 hour jazz/tap demo and to finish off the day our Musical Theatre Films demo, that will probably be the hardest. I guess the reason is because it's memorization and paper test oriented, not like our other demos which are about performing.
This weekend will be pretty chill though, the library will be closed and I only have a ballet make up on Saturday. But before I leave there are a few things I'd like to do. I 'd like to see Cinderella and head to time square to get a dress for my birthday party that will be happening when I am home!
I'm so excited to be coming home in a week. Around this time next week I'll be going through security. I love it here but it'll be a nice break from everything!
But with the semester coming to an end, so is our J1 group and other friendships. While most of us are staying to continue here at AMDA, there are some great members of our group leaving. It's sad to think about. I really have enjoyed them in my life. I wish them all the best. As well as those who are leaving are some LA transfer students who only were able to do one semester here in NYC, I'll also miss them.
I can't wait to see what comes from those who are leaving AMDA NYC because everyone is so talented.
I am so excited for break! I just have to make it through blizzard demos first!
LOVE,
R

Winter Blues

Hi everyone!
It's been a few days since I've posted, but a lot of things have happened since then! Well most importantly I have had two performances in musical theatre, which has been crazy!
Monday I performed "Practically Perfect" as Mary Poppins for a grade. It went pretty well, I would say! It was challenge because of all of the props I needed to use as well as having the children in my scene, but it was a blast!
Then on today I performed again, performing my free choice song "The Fire Within Me" from Little Women.  I was one of the last people to go, so the anticipation was killing me. My teachers kept talking about how "Astonishing" was such a hard song to act and sing well at the same time, it just so happens that, that song is another song from Little Women that Jo, the person who sings Fire Within Me, performs. What a pressure to put on me. It was really funny when I got up and introduced my song. I did it, and I knew that my voice could have sounded better, but my acting was pretty good. I looked up and saw my musical theatre teacher in tears.
They commended me on the job well done. I don't want to sit here and brag about it...but overall it went very well.
I got really great grades on both of the performances as well as my first song. Now it's up to Kathy and Chris to decide what song I'll be doing for my demo. It really could go any way.
Besides Musical Theatre, I've also been working on my scene with my friend John for our acting final, and it's come a long way.
When we preformed it today, it went really well, but during the workshop Jim, my acting teacher, told me we needed to work on the ending of the scene where John, playing my brother, tells me he's dying from AIDS. So today, after John said his line, Jim said "Your dad, Denis, has been in a car accident." He kept saying things like you can't go home to say goodbye and such while we were still performing the scene. It got me really emotional and was the first time I cried at AMDA thus far. So thanks dad for getting me emotional.
Other than that the week has calmed down now that the crazy performances are over.
I'm excited for the weekend, it's my birthday! I'm excited! I've made plans with friends and it sounds like a lot of people are coming out to dinner with me. I hope we'll have enough room for everyone! :O
Overall AMDA is great!
I also got my demo schedule on Monday and it's looking like I might be coming home earlier than I thought, which is really cool! Not that I don't love it here, I miss Wisconsin and my family and my animals and of course Zack. One thing I don't miss though is the cold! :(
Well that's it for now, hope this will satisfy you until my next 4 hour library shift! :)
LOVE,
R

The Fire Within Me

Hello Everyone!
It's been a long week at AMDA filled with a lot of crazy things, especially with all the prep for final demos, which are coming up fast. In all truthfulness, I only have two weeks left to normal classes before finals begin. Its crazy to think about. Besides finals though I've had lots of assignments to prepare. The third song is coming along nicely. I've chosen, along with the help of some accompanists here, to sing "The Fire Within Me" from Little Women. It's a fantastic song and it's extremely deep. I just need to find an 1800s costume for my performance day. Blah! Another thing to add to my crazy weekend. I also had a VPS test yesterday, which I got 12/10. :) We also had our MT dress rehearsal and acting workshops, it was insane. This week looks about the same as of now. Lots of paperwork: song charts, dossiers. But its alright, all of my hard work will pay off.
It's one week until my birthday and for the most part I have it planned out, unless I have a makeup class :(. If I don't though, my friends and I are going to eat breakfast at the strat, and then make our way to 5th avenue to do some light shopping and window shopping. Then we will probably head back to the dorms and change for dinner in Time Square and possibly catch a show before or after. I am really excited! I just hope that I don't have a class, that would kind of suck.
Also I booked my plane ticket home this week. I cannot wait. I will be home from Feb. 15 (late night) to Feb. 24. It's going to be such a nice break! I wish I had more time though, like I always do! Its kind of sad although that next semester I won't be home at all, but it's okay because I've decided to take the summer off. It's for a couple reasons though. It'll be sad to leave some of my classmates since they are going straight through, but it's something I feel I need to do.
I am looking forward to it immensely!
I am doing a five hour shift in the library! :) It's time to do homework! I'm talking to Zack inquiring about the horse show that I am missing :( Shout out to the New Heights Crew!
Hope Wisconsin is great and not TOO cold, it's like 30s here!
LOVE,
R

I know, I know, It's been a while...

I know, I know, it's been forever since I posted last. I think it's actually been since Halloween, which seems like years ago! But now that a lot of craziness is over with midterms being done, I'm in the home stretch to the end of my first semester, which seems insane!!! Things, though, are starting to pick up again as I head into finals. Everything is piling up, finding new songs for this class, new scenes for that class, memorizing dance combinations and poems, etc. It gets a little nuts at times, but I really enjoy all of it so at the same time it's both stressful and exciting. Classes are going great. In musical theatre I have completed my first song, which I did for my midterm, If I Ever Loved Him from Angel! :) It was a blast and went really well. Now we are currently working on our second songs. Mine is Practically Perfect from Mary Poppins. It's amazing and I have such a fun time with the role!!! My two friends John and Caitlin are playing the roles of the Banks children, Jane and Michael, in my scene so it should be a ton of fun acting and blocking, but we haven't gotten there yet. At the same time we're preparing our third songs which are free choices, this provides the biggest problem to me, which is surprising. Most of my friends, as soon as we found out about the fact our third song could be anything, knew what they were going to do, or at least had a few ideas...me, on the other hand, am kind of clueless. Since I've now become the crazy soprano ingenue, I'm taking a little time to get used to it, but it's such an amazing blessing. It's opened my eyes to so many possibilities and roles I can play one day. So as I'm working in the library, as I'm writing this, I'm printing sheet music and getting ideas from my fellow librarians! I'll post later on what I decide.
In acting we have just performed our final scenes for the first time, and I love my scene. It's from the play Eastern Standard and it takes place between a brother and sister when the brother is telling his sister he has AIDS. I mean its so tragic, but it really has great potential, not to mention I get to work with one of my great friends John, who is playing the brother.
VPS we're currently working on the world of Shakespeare. Over break I read the play Merchant of Venice, which was alright, and then we were given a monologue from the play to do for our final. It's memorized, now I just need to get that "Shakespearean" feeling into the text so it sounds very believable! Besides that though, we've learned everything we need to know for the final. So our task is perfecting it before the end of the semester. As well as intense yoga...yey! :)
Well, as far as dance goes, it's all about learning final dance combinations, memorizing them, and then making them neat and polished before the big day when we perform them all. I believe we have 3 combinations for jazz, 2 for ballet, 3 for tap, and 4 for theatre dance. I'm not sure, it might be more or less for each class. But dance class is a blast, especially theatre dance, I love it!
So as you can see, I have a very busy schedule here at AMDA, not to mention I work three jobs (library intern, hall monitor, and usher) so my week is nuts!
I love New York although, it's an amazing city to live in, especially the upper west side. I think tonight my friends and I are going to see a movie in time square, how amazing is that? :) It's things like these that really make this whole experience worth it.
It doesn't hurt to have some of the most amazing friends a girl could ask for! Everyone I've met here is so kind and caring. My group is amazing, we're all so different it's really interesting! Each of us possess something another person can learn from. I can't express how happy I am to have met all these wonderful people. I would list them all, but I'd probably forget like 20, so I might as well not. I just know I am blessed to have them come into my life!
I hope to post more in the coming days and weeks until my return home in February to make everyone back home happy! And myself to remember all the wonderful experiences I have had!
It's two weeks until my birthday, and I CANNOT wait! :)
I also can't wait until I come home in Feb., it'll be a much needed break!
LOVE,
R

Cabin Fever

Day 15- More and more cards
So Tuesday was another pretty boring day. It started off waking up late since I stayed up pretty late the night before. But when I did wake up I instantly went to cleaning my room. Crazy how dirty your room can get in such a short time. So I swept, mopped, and dusted my room from top to bottom, it took like a good chunk of time.

Which brought us to dinner (crazy how time flies when your trapped in your dorm.) For dinner we all headed down to the kitchen to play another 6 hours of cards. Over the course of time we made grilled cheese and played a ton of different card games. That of course was fun and we laughed a lot. Afterwards we booked our dorm dance studio for an hour and half and danced our butts off! It was great to practice our dance routines since there would be no dance classes for the weeks.
We practiced our theatre dance routine to "One" from Chorus Line and then we basically freestyles for the rest of the time. It was so much fun :)
After the dancing we all took showers and headed down to the kitchen again to play yet again more cards! The only bad part about playing cards was I lost EVERY single game of speed :( But it was all in good fun!
Afterwards a few friends and I realized we weren't tired and proceeded to a friends room to watch Cinderella, the version with Brandy and Whitney Houston! It was a great movie and I have a feeling we'll be watching it many more times.
Once Cinderella was done one friend and I headed to my room to watch a movie called Dirty which was about corrupt cops. (We watched the movie until 6 am).
That is when I went to bed, I was exhausted afterwards!
Day 16- Halloween
When I woke up on Wednesday I barley even remembered it was Halloween. It didn't cross my mind what so ever, but it crossed my friends minds. So after I woke up, late, again we headed to the Halloween store to get costumes for that night and our Halloween party this weekend. We made it to two different stores to find the perfect costumes. I chose to go as a female version of the mad hatter :) It was a really cute costume!

My other friends went as Mr. and Mrs. Krueger, Alice in Wonderland, Dorthy, and my other friend dressed up as Sexy...wearing his normal clothes. LOL!
Once our costumes were set we made a plan that we would all wear our costumes to time square that evening and see a movie, only some friends would see Sinister (OMG NOT GOING TO HAPPEN) and some would see another movie (like me)!
So the next couple hours we spent getting ready, doing our hair, our makeup, etc! Once we were all ready though, we looked awesome; especially, my friends who dressed up at the Kruegers.

We then made our way to Time Square. Some people took a taxi, I chose to walk with my friend there. It was actually not to bad of a walk, it was a little chilly in my costume though! Otherwise the walk was really nice. 

Once we made it to Time Square, we were supposed to meet up with two friends who were also seeing the non scary movie, but when we got there they told us they were opting on seeing the scary one. That was not going to happen with me, so my friend I walked with and I chose to buy tickets for Cloud Atlas.

The movie wasn't until 8:45, so we had time to kill. We proceeded to the Shake Shack for my first experience there. It was really tasty! :)

While the two of us were there our friend who didn't come with us texted us to see if we were still in Time Square. We told him yes and that we were seeing a movie in 45 minutes.

Needless to say our friend ran to Time Square (42nd street) from our dorm building (70th street). He made it though! So we proceeded to the movie.

The movie was great! I really enjoyed it, and it wasn't your typically movie. I would recommend it if you like movies with a deeper meaning, because that is defiantly what it was. My friends and I who saw it agreed it would take us a few days to really grasp the movie's concept.

We walked back to our dorm building and when we got here I went to get my mail. I got a package from my aunt and uncle! It was a really great thing to get! It was filled with lots of goodies :) I was thankful!

My friends came into my room and got pizza so we chilled for a while talking and eating! But then we all realized how tired we were, which meant bed time!

So here I sit! Tired, but I wanted to write about my past couple of days and let everyone know that the hurricane did not even touch us and that with my days off of school were still managing to make the best of it.

Thursday, AMDA is running a limited number of classes, which are determined by if the teacher can make it or not. I personally don't have any classes, but my friends do. 

I am making myself organize tomorrow because even though I cleaned my room Tuesday, when you have a tiny room it doesn't take much to make it a mess again.

OH AND I GOT A JOB AT THE SCHOOL! :) I'm not sure what it is, but I'm excited to see!

Well, it's bedtime for me! Lots to do even if there is no school!

LOVE,

R

Hurricane Sandy....

Day 14- Where's the hurricane?
What a day, what a day. It's Monday and there's no school. It's nice but the reason it's closed is because there is a crazy storm outside.
I didn't wake up early this morning, not by any means, because I was hoping to sleep through the hurricane, but that didn't happen.
After I woke up I did my laundry to get it out of the way... it took like an hour to do all of my laundry because the machines go really, really slow.
But once that was all taken care of, I took my clothing back to my room and organized my doors to accommodate for al of my clean clothes. It's sad that after only a week my doors have blown up, but now they are nice and neat. :)
My friends and I decided that we would go to the kitchen to make ramen noodles. When we got to the kitchen though, there were so many people trying to cook we decided to play cards in the meantime. (At this time it's about noon).
Finally we got access to the stove so we could make our delicious noodles. But we still continued to play cards.
We played all sorts of different games, everything from Crazy 8's, to B.S., to Spades, and etc. I couldn't even tell you all the names of the games I learned to play today.
It was a blast. It really helped the time go by and forget about what was happening outside.
Beside the like hour I left to take a shower, we played cards from 12-3 in the morning. So I really haven't had an exciting afternoon/evening/early morning. But playing cards was amazing!
I think this might have been one of the best days at AMDA so far, just because I got to spend it with my friends chilling and playing awesome games, laughing a lot, and making memories. I will defiantly never forget the time the hurricane hit NYC and we played cards all day long!
Well I pretty much just got in my room from playing cards. And now my friend is sleeping on the floor of my dorm because they don't want to go to the 10th floor during the hurricane with the winds. LOL!
Sleeping on a yoga mat must be really, really comfortable!
So tomorrow I'm going to get everything ready for school on Wednesday. I really can't believe we don't have class again tomorrow (it's not even really that bad here as far as weather) but oh well. Now we have to make up class on the weekends or whenever our teachers want us to. Oh joy!
Well it's time to head to bed! Ready for another boring day where we can't go outside!
LOVE,
R

My first weekend off...

What a weekend it has been.
Day 12- S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y
When I woke up on Saturday, I was so happy I got to sleep in. But once I woke up I went with my friend down to the dorms outdoor patio. It was a great wake up call since it was beautiful outside. We then proceeded to my friends room where we slowly woke up by watching a couple of TV shows before starting our day.
We took it easy, talked about what our weekend plans were and about our classes.
My friends and I hung out for a while together, but then it was time for me to get ready for my interview. I was really nervous because the email I had gotten on the interview told me I basically had a minute to sell myself, due to the fact we had to cram all of the interviews on one day due to the hurricane coming.
After I was all ready we headed towards AMDA's second building, where my interview was, but we had some time to spare. We all decided to walk around and get something for lunch. This is when I experienced my first New York slice of pizza. It was in this little restaurant, hid on the street, and it was pretty yummy. The only downside was, I couldn't buy it with my check card because the purchase wasn't more than 10 dollars, so my friend payed for me.
(Everyone at AMDA is so extremely nice!)
We then sat down and ate our lunch before continuing to mosey down Amsterdam street some more. We walked past a lot of shops and restaurants, looking to see if there was anything close that we'd consider going to in the future. Through our walk we ended up at the Ansonia, where the interview was, but quickly we stopped in the North Face store that was right on the same corner. I saw some really cute jackets and it really made me sad that most likely I'll have another skiless winter :(
So then it was time to head to my interview. One of my friends came with me to sit with me. I tried to stay calm, because that was the most important thing.
The interview went really, really well, I thought. I hope I get a position! After my interview my friends and I went to get supplies for the hurricane that is headed this way.
I stocked up on bottled water, and dry foods like tuna, chips, cereal, etc. things I don't need my fridge for.
Everything was pretty much gone and all the stores we went to. There were also lines of people waiting to enter the store. I guess this is what got me to really realize that we are going to be hit by a hurricane.
I started getting nervous, but for the most part I tried to remain calm.
That night, my friends just chilled and we watched more episodes of Family Guy. Mostly everyone left though because it was pretty late.
The friend's room we were in was really tired which caused two friends and I to relocate to my room. This was like at 12ish.
We stayed up until maybe 3:30 talking about our futures and our pasts, what we were scared about and such. It was a lot of fun! But I was exhausted afterwards!
It was time to go to bed!!
Day 13- Unlucky Day 13...
So this morning when I woke up, I really, really wanted to stay in bed, but I knew I had to get up and begin my day. My friend and I woke up early to make our ways to the store to get breakfast foods (eggs  and cheese, mostly) so we could all have breakfast together. I was really excited to hang out with my friends. Only downfall was, for the most part, everyone was out of everything. Thank goodness we were still able to find eggs.
When we got back it was around 11. We rounded up the troops and made our way to the kitchen. There weren't too many people down there but slowly it got more crowded.
The eggs took forever to cook, so while we waited we watched the news. This is when things started to get serious. The news was preparing people for the storm and informing people in some areas to evacuate. I started to get really scared at this point.
A lot of people who were either from New York or New Jersey started heading home after we all got the news that AMDA would be closing Monday. My friends and I just tried to stay calm for the most part. But truthfully, the hurricane does scare me.
After breakfast I went to my room because I was practicing with my scene partner our acting scene. It went super well and was super easy and fast. The only thing was that everyone kept knocking on my room, it probably happened 3 times in the course of our half hour practice.
Why does it always seem like when you're busy people want to talk to you but when your board no one comes around?
Anyways, when practice was over I headed to a friends room to check up on everyone, but I didn't stay long, I was extremely tired.
So I headed back to my room to take a little nap before going to the floor meeting at 6. Needless to say, my nap was much needed.
The floor meeting was pretty boring, and totally self explanatory in four words..."Don't Do Dumb Things."
But there was free pizza, so it was totally worth it.
After the meeting I went to a friends room and watched the newest movie of FAME. How I love that movie!!!!!
But I didn't stay long because I wanted to talk to Zack! Which I did, but not for too long because I wanted to take a shower. :)
After my shower I made myself some tomato soup (first soup I've had since I got here!) and it was really tasty. Sadly all I had for cheese was string cheese, but I made it work!
Then Zack called me again and I got to talk to him, and some of my family; Chad, Amanda, and my little cousin Connor. It was great to hear from them!
But every since then, I've been chilling in my room, playing guitar...typing on my blog...just trying to relax.
The storm should be hitting tomorrow around 2 AM. I'm scared, but I truthfully have no clue what to expect. I hear a lot of mixed things. Some people say it's going to be terrible and the news say it's going to be horribly close to the worst storm we've seen, but then others say that it won't be really bad and we're over reacting. I'm not quite sure what to believe. But I'm pretty prepared. I have lots of dry foods and water. I also have lots of lights everywhere (thanks to my parents and brother!).
So I guess I'll just wait and see.
I'll blog again tomorrow since I don't have class.
Hope it will be a safe night!
LOVE,
R