AMDA is like Hogwarts because ...

• Much like performing spells and brewing potions, doing your homework is actually fun.

• At Hogwarts, they have 1^st Year, 2^nd Year, 3^rd Year, etc, and each year is assigned special classes and privileges.  At AMDA, we have 1^st Semester, 2^nd Semester, 3^rd Semester, etc, and each semester is assigned special classes and privileges.

• The teachers are insane.

• Kids complain about going to class and doing homework every day, even though they are perfectly aware that studying theatre (or magic) is literally playing around all day long.

• At Hogwarts, you have to give the password to the people in the portraits.  At AMDA, you have to show your I.D. card to the people at the security desk.  Either way, if you forget it, you’re doomed.

• Hogwarts has four houses, and AMDA has three programs.  The students within the sections are biased, separated, and rarely interact, but at the heart, they’re all learning the same thing.

• The ghosts that haunt the corridors of Hogwarts and the non-student residents that roam the hallways of the Stratford Arms dorms are essentially the same thing.

• After your school days end, you are kicked out into the wilderness to fend for yourself.  Don’t worry, though.  You are always welcome to come back and teach.

If only we had a cafeteria and a meal plan where food could magically appeared in front of us via kitchen (elf) worker …

Love,

Little Me

Grocery Shopping = Narnia

Grocery shopping has quickly become one of my favorite activities here. Trader Joe’s is a magical place filled with reasonably priced food (by NY standards) that absolutely delicious, and bound to be good for you.  I could spend hours inside that store.  

It's a like going to Narnia.  

My shopping trip yesterday caused me to come to a realization, though: for some reason, it is physically impossible for me to spend any more than $35 each week at Trader Joe’s on groceries. 

Other kids talk about their expensive $70 grocery trips, and I just have to wonder what it is they’re buying.  First of all, how does one even carry $70 worth of groceries home?  This is New York, after all, and anything you buy has to be small enough that you can carry it home by hand.  

Second of all, if I can buy everything my heart desires and eat a balanced diet on $35 a week, what is everyone else buying that I’m missing?  I must be doing it wrong ...

Here’s my brain when grocery shopping.

1: Necessities – bread, cereal, milk, bananas, vegetables

2: Replenish My Supplies – chips, apples, peanut butter, jelly, salad dressing, granola bars

3: Dessert of the Week – ice cream or cookies, usually themed for the upcoming holiday
4: Meat – every once in a while, I’ll buy chicken or beef, depending on whether I think I’ll actually have time to get down to the kitchen and cook it.

5: If I See It – anything that I see and will probably eat before the expiration date.

It’s so much fun to only buy the things that I like to eat, and since the grocery store is only two blocks away, I can buy food whenever I need it!

I still say that college in no way will ever defeat the glory days of high school, but I have to say doing independent things like grocery shopping and doing laundry is actually a lot more fun than people told me it would be.

It’ll probably lose it’s appeal soon enough.

Love,

Little Me.

Dorm Room Transformation

The rooms at the Stratford Arms are small, to say the least.  There's a twin size bed, mini refrigerator, closet, sink and mirror, desk, and two sets of drawers cramped into a very small space in each room.  The small size, linoleum floors, and hastily painted white walls can be somewhat depressing, but I was determined to transform my asylum-esque dorm room into a fairy wonderland.

Before  

After

The bathroom may be down the hall, the shower may be just big enough to step into and step out of, the sink may not actually be able to drain all of the water that comes out of it, but at least I can go to sleep in the dorm room of my dreams.

After all, sleep is the only reason I actually ever go in there.  I'm too busy running around between campuses to spend much time in my personal fairytale wonderland aside from grabbing granola bars on the go and switching out my dance shoes.

Love,

Little Me.

Showcase Saturday

There is never a dull moment in NYC.  Even on the weekends.

This morning, I woke up naturally at 8:00 a.m. because my biological clock hates me.  It doesn't matter that I went to bed at two in the morning.  I am cursed to rise early.  

It has it's advantages, though.

I love that my homework is singing a song, but unfortunately belting in my room like I used to would probably cause my entire floor and the ones above and below me to hate me.  So, when I woke up so early this morning, I made the walk to campus and took advantage of on of the dozens of practice rooms located on several floors of the building, all completely empty due to the weekend.

Note for the future: most sane college students don't go to school when they don't have to.  This is the perfect time to get things done!

My Personal Favorite Practice Room

 When I left the building and walked into the crisp November air, I noticed that the leaves on the trees had finally turned a different color.  The entire reason that Fall is my favorite season is that the leaves turn all different shades of orange, red, and brown, so I thought I'd capture the moment.

When I returned to the Strat, some girls I knew were getting ready to go to one of the Fourth Semester Musical Showcases, which happen very frequently throughout the semester, and since it was free, I decided to tag along.

It's amazing how much talent and skill can be cultivated in only four short semesters at AMDA.  The showcases are basically a mishmash of about twenty songs, all from different musicals, that are fitted together in such a way that they actually tell a new story.  The show we saw was called "The Right to Remain Silent," and it was basically a prison theme.  The Fourth Semesters were fantastic, and the whole experience got me so excited for my own showcase in a couple of years.

After that, I went home to work on our current etude with my scene partner for a bit, and I hope this time we came up with a situation that will satisfy our overly picky instructor who never really seems to know what she wants from us.

Finally, I went to work.  It was four hours of listening to both musical showcases over the intercom backstage while we sorted through every piece of clothing imaginable and tried to find a spot for them to live.  Not nearly as easy as it sounds.

The job included a lot of climbing up and down a ladder into the loft area, where all of the costumes  and props are kept.  As with everything in New York, storage includes stacking.  This loft is located in the backstage area of the theatre.

A Glimpse Backstage at the Ansonia Theatre

If you look behind the chairs that are stacked on the walls, you can see the dresses hanging behind them.  That is only a small portion of the loft in which the costumes and props are kept.

And now I'm here, sitting in the hallway by the elevators on my floor in the Strat as people walk past me, sending me odd looks.

It's the only place I can connect to the WiFi, stop judging me!

Love,
Little Me

Friday Night Fun!

Times Square

After class today, as I was walking home with one of my friends, we made the spontaneous decision to go to see Les Miserables on Broadway tonight.

It's these kind of decisions you can only make when you live in New York.

It was the first Broadway musical I'd seen since moving here, and it was definitely super exciting.  It was beautiful and breathtaking, but honestly?  I didn't feel a whole lot.  Everyone goes on and on about how amazing Les Mis is, so my expectations were high.  And it was a good show, definitely worth seeing for the $57 we paid sitting in the front rows of the mezzanine.  Just ... not the most amazing thing in the whole world.

That being said, it was afterward that the real excitement happened.  We were about to walk home when we walked past the If/Then theatre and saw a huge mob of people.  When we realized they were waiting for the cast, it was only natural that we join them.

Anthony Rapp came out first, and though I only saw what I think was the top of his head, I was filled with satisfaction that I was within mere feet of him.

And, of course, when Idina Menzel came out, the whole crowd pushed forward to see her, and I even wove my way in far enough to catch a couple actual glimpses of her face with my own eyes, knowing that she was literally three feet away from me.

I called my best friend while I was trying to get a good glimpse of her and we squealed together at the amazingness of the moment.  We've been Idina fans since the very beginning, after all.  

This was my first celebrity sighting in NY.  It's been a good night.  

How could I possibly go to sleep now?

Wishing everyone a good night,

Little Me

10 Things to Accept When Moving to AMDA (and NY in General)

#1: Your living area will be small.  Just remember, there’s always someone living in a smaller space than you.  Like the rooms meant for one person that have been stuffed with furniture for two.  It can always be worse …

#2:  Everything is done by alphabetical order.  If you’re at the beginning, like me, get used to being called first … always.

#3:  You will question your decision.  It’s going to happen over and over again, especially at the beginning when orientation, placements, college classes, and starting your own independent life can be very overwhelming.  Stand strong and remember the reason you came, because tomorrow will be better.

#4:  You will meet a lot of different people.  Some you will not befriend, and some you will.  There are people like you.  It’s okay if you don’t find them after the first day.  It’s fine if you still feel lonely after a few days.  Even if you haven’t made any friendships within the first two weeks and have completely regretted your decision to move here, don’t worry!  You will find your people, and you will make great friendships.  Just relax and let them come.  No one is alone in New York City.

#5  If you’re late, you’re fired.  No excuses.  Get used to it.

#6  There is a grocery store on every block.  Do a little exploring.  In general, Trader Joe’s is your grocery store.  Duane Reade is your stop for milk, eggs, sandwich necessities, other snacks, and also your general store for notebooks, bathroom products, etc.  Price Discount on 84^th and Broadway is where you buy your yoga mat and, if you don’t mind the walk, it is also your cheaper general store.

#7  If you don’t do your homework, it will not be accepted.  This is not high school anymore.  The work isn’t hard, just tedious.  If you love theatre with a passion, trust me, it doesn’t feel like homework.  It feels like you’re getting a grade for having fun.

#8  If you have free time, you are failing.  Go to Dance Review once a week.  Go to morning warm-ups as often as possible.  Go to American Standard once a week.  Take the free extra classes.  Get a job.  Go to the library.

#9  Practice makes perfect.  Get a free ten-minute session with an accompanist when you can and practice your music.  Practice your dances at dance review.  Go over your etudes and monologues often.  Research Broadway shows.  Who else gets to say that their only homework is memorizing a tap sequence and watching Kristin Chenoweth perform on YouTube?

#10  People are judging you.  Whether it’s your teachers or your fellow students, they are judging you.  Don’t show up with a bad attitude or get an idea into your head that you already know about theatre.  There is always something to learn, no matter who you are, or what your past experiences are.

Lots of Love,

Little Me

AMDA Week 1: Orientation

I told you I wouldn't leave you in the dark.  Let's play a little catch-up, shall we?

Welcome to AMDA.  Week 1: Orientation.

Wednesday:

We arrived at the Stratford Arms at nine o'clock in the morning after a full day of recovery from the trying twenty-two hour journey from Nebraska to New York City.  We then promptly unloaded a giant pile of boxes onto the sidewalk and my parents drove away less than ten minutes later to allow the next kid to repeat the process.

A team of current AMDA students helped pile my stuff into what was basically a giant rolling bucket.  We dragged this up the elevator to floor seven twice to accommodate all of my things in my room.  After the boxes took over my bed, desk, and most of the floor, I left it to be tackled later and took the walk to 61st street for the beginning of orientation.

First, I stood in a long line for two hours for someone at the end to tell me my paperwork was done and check a little box on my paper.  I did get a free AMDA tote bag and water bottle out of it, however.  Hooray.

Then, we were directed to a room to buys the remainder of my textbooks and, of course, to be bombarded by discounted AMDA merchandise.  I tried to remain strong, but in the end, I did need black tights, and the jacket I bought has proven to be very useful.

Finally, I had a break for a few hours to settle in and tackle the monster of unpacking, a process that took several days and truthfully is still not totally finished.  It's difficult maneuvering my entire life into a room the size of a closet.

The "Before" Picture

"Placement Prep" began at 5:30, and from what I had heard, I had thought there would be a nice session with an accompanies in a little room for ten minutes to go over my placement song.

Wrong.  Instead, it ended up that it was yet another paperwork session including, but not limited to: a dorm room survey, a music theory test, contracts, allowed visitors, and other paperwork.  As this was happening, we were called up one by one to perform our placement songs in the same room with forty kids with an accompanist so he knew what to play.  It was sheer chaos.

The moment we were set free, I went home and fell asleep.

The End.

Thursday:

Upon waking up to the morning light of New York City, I ate oatmeal out of my one bowl and proceeded to get ready for placements for the next three hours.  This was difficult, because my mirror is plastered to the wall at a height that was obviously meant for someone who is much taller than little ol’ me.  My solution: a command hook stuck to the actual mirror that I strung my own hand mirror from.

The Cierra Solution to The Mirror That is Too High to See In

Placements were a very laid back version of the AMDA auditions.  We had to prepare a 1 minute monologue and sixteen-bar cut of a song.  They told us over and over, “No pressure.  We already have your tuition money, we can’t kick you out.”

It stopped being funny the sixteenth time they said it.

Anyway, we had a good long warm-up that prepared us nicely to perform for a panel of 3 judges.  It was very relaxed, and I had a lot of fun in the process.  And it was a time for me to bond with my group, which was important for poor, socially awkward little me.

And … the end.  I was free after that, and I went out with my family for their last day in New York. 

Friday:

We sat in hot rooms without air conditioning for hours while they drilled us on Nutrition, General Safety, Dorm Regulations, Library Rules, etc.  And none of the lunch we were supposed to be provided.  Why?  Because they finished with us by dinnertime.  We had been there for six hours, but we were out by dinnertime, so we obviously didn’t need food.  Never mind that none of us had eaten since breakfast.

I think AMDA was just making excuses for having run out of food …

The End.                                                                                         

Saturday:

Dance Placements.

This is the most trying part of orientation, because it is a nine hour process that will have you ready to pull all of your hair out, lay on the floor, and die.  We began with tap …

Dance tryouts work like this: they herd seventy students (less than a third of the entire class) around like cattle into a small room to stretch before handing out numbers. Then, they take the herd to a new room to learn a simple combination in jazz, tap, and ballet to be correctly placed in one of five levels of dance.  This takes nine hours.  AMDA provides unsatisfying granola bars.  

Let me just say that the last tap experience I had was when I was six.  I quit ballet after six years, when I was eleven, and jazz was off and on for a few years somewhere in between.

That being said, I made Level 3 Jazz, Level 3 Tap, and Level 4 Ballet.  I don’t know how I pulled that off, but needless to say I was very happy with my placements.  Guess those early years of dance lessons really paid off in the end.  And the thirteen years of figure skating didn’t hurt either …

After the longest nine hours of my entire life, the day still hadn’t ended, because one hour later, just enough time to stuff dinner down my throat and get back to campus, there was another seminar thing where some successful AMDA alumni came in to tell us their life stories and answer questions.  And I’ll admit, it was actually very inspiring, so I won't complain.  

And ... famous people.

Then they passed out cheap lukewarm pizza and sodas and set us free to attend the social.  Which I attended, because I’m that dorky kid who likes school functions.  And I met other dorky kids who also like school functions while I was there, and made a few friends, which was kind of a big deal for me.  

Can I just say that watching theatre kids participate in karaoke is the most amazing experience anyone could ever have ... ever.

So it was a good night.  And there was free ice cream.

The End.

Sunday:

At 9:45 a.m. we had the very last part of orientation.  It was a long and inspiring speech given by this really awesome staff member about remembering why you are here and working hard to achieve your goals. 

We are starting our professional careers now.  Our behavior at AMDA reflects us in the future, and our teachers could one day be our employers.  Yes, enjoy New York City while you’re here.  But never lose your focus. 

That was the basic outline of the two hour speech.

And thus, orientation had come to a close.

And … then it was time for school to begin.

No rest for the Wicked … (that was intended as a pun.)

The End (of the end,)

Little Me

Remicade at Mt. Sinai

Waking up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning is always fun.

This morning, after a brief internal battle with my cold about whether or not to get up, I dragged myself out of bed and into some comfortable clothes, and simultaneously applied makeup and ate oatmeal, all the while worrying about my two-and-a-half mile trip to the hospital.

I was out of the dorms by 7:05 and headed straight for the nearby subway station to purchase my first Metro Card.  

It was relatively easy using the subway for the first time, alone.  There weren't very many people, which was both a relaxing and unsettling feeling.  Apparently, even in New York, nobody is willing to wake up at seven on Saturday morning.

About thirty seconds after I reached the platform, the 3 Train showed up which, according to my handy-dandy Google Maps app, was just the train I was looking for.  I took a seat and waited and soon enough, I was at 110th street.  I got off and had a very relaxing walk next to Central Park all the way to 102nd, where the hospital is located.  New York can really be beautiful in the quiet morning hours.

Once I got to the hospital, I wandered around a bit, trying to figure out where to go.  When I got to the fourth floor, there were signs everywhere talking about the cancer center, which got me confused and turned around a bit.  I had to take several turns into side hallways to find the Remicade infusion center, but once I found it, it was very relaxing and spacious.  I have a nice room with a sliding door, outlets to charge my phone and laptop, and WiFi (for the first time since arriving!)

After a couple of hours, there was a big commotion.  People were yelling, they were calling the emergency teams, someone was turning blue, it wasn't good.  Luckily, the problem was solved quickly and by the time the medical team and 911 got here, everything was fine and they had to be turned away.  

Never a dull moment in NYC.

I had finished the infusion, set up my next appointment, and was out of there by 11:30 a.m.  This time on the way home, I took a stroll through central park, which was even more beautiful than next to it.

When I got home, I made some spaghetti, laid down in bed, and found myself utterly relaxed, comforted by the thought that I had no obligations for the rest of the weekend.

Except homework.  And grocery shopping.  And laundry.

It never ends.

Love,
Little Me

Dear World,

I am not dead.  I am back, and ready as ever.  I finally figured out how to turn my phone into a hotspot so I can get on a (really slow) internet connection and quickly update the blog!

Obviously, I am now living in New York City.  I am attending AMDA and studying Musical Theatre, and it has been the best decision I have ever made.

So far.  It has only been three weeks, after all.

Life here in NYC is everything I ever imagined it could be.  I finally have the independence I’ve always wanted, the experiences I’ve always desired, and the key to my future right at my fingertips.  All I have to do now is grasp it.

I will tell the stories of my time here up until this point all in due time, my lovelies.  I may have been on a long hiatus, but I have not forgotten about my faithful (currently nonexistence) readers.  I’ve been writing my blog posts, I just haven’t found a convenient way to transfer them to the internet until tonight.

Tomorrow morning, I will be making the journey to Mt. Sinai Hospital to begin my Remicade treatments here in the big city.  I may have to take my first subway journey in the morning, or I might just be wimpy and walk the couple of miles.  With my current horrible, everlasting cold, however, I’m not so sure that’s an awesome idea, so subway it is!

I promise, I’ll write more tomorrow during my first day off since … a very long time.  I’ve gotta catch everybody up!  Until then, here’s a brief overview:

·         I’m doing a lot of exercise:

o       I take four two-hour dance classes a week.

o       Yoga/Pilates is taught in two of my classes (that’s five times a week) and is also offered as an early-morning warm-up.

o       I walk to school and back every day, and twenty-four city blocks and back on Thursdays to my weekly voice lesson.

·         I got a job on the costumes crew with AMDA.  I help people try on clothes and sort costume pieces.  And I get a taste of what showcases will be like during fourth semester, because I’ll be the on-call costume girl for many of the performances.  And I get paid for this!  Life is good.

·         I have a cold that will never go away.  My voice feels like it will no longer be here tomorrow.  Sadness …

Goodnight!

Love,

Little Me.