Fire Breathing and the First Week of School...

Well, this has certainly been an adventure already! My voice is slowly crawling back and I'm losing the cough thanks to the socialized medicine and an inhaler. I was diagnosed with asthmatic bronchitis. Joy of joys. However, I am healing...Drama, as always.

The High Holidays were strange. Rosh Hashanah was nice; I went to services and was taken by the Rabbi to his house for lunch on Sat. and to another couple's place on Sun. - it was so sweet of those families to take me in. Once again, my faith in the world-wide Jewish community was revived. Yom Kippur pretty much came and went without any fanfare for me. It felt really strange not to be in shul and not to fast. But I thought that fasting on my first day of drama school probably wouldn't be the brightest of ideas.

This first week of school was a bear. My schedule is rigorous to say the least. 9am-6:30pm every day except for Thursday which is 11:30am-4:30pm (not too bad). There is an insane amount of reading and preparing of presented work already. It's a kick in the pants, but a really cool one. It feels so great to be back in school, having lectures, taking notes, debating, sharing...I love it and am thrilled that I am older and better equipped to handle it. I mean, there is so much to do - 4 hours of singing a week, 2 hours of contextual studies, 2 hours of our MA Tutorials (writing essays, and hearing lectures that lead us to our MA final projects and dissertations), 4 hours of movement, 4 hours of voice (different from singing), and the topper...20 hours of acting!!!

I have met the most wonderful people. Everyone on my course is a gem and we have created a really safe and creative space to work in. I have cried almost every day in acting class, we all have (it's nice to know the old drama school cliché still holds true). And we went to a big blowout party last night to celebrate a friend's b-day. I am getting too old to stay out until 5:15am, let me tell you. It's been stellar, to say the least. It's more than I could have ever hoped for or expected, it really is. I looked around the room on my first day and I couldn't help but smile. I am finally here. Doing it. Working hard for something that I care more about than anything. What a dream.

PS - We hosted a BBQ/party last weekend and in the wee hours, our neighbors (also E15 students) taught us how to breath fire. So cool and so bizarre. I love my life. Check me out:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1231472868