Getting busy!

Me, Jess and Jana at with the Panther - UWM's Mascot

So, another chunk of time has gone by, and I need to update!!! Things, as always, are going fabulously, and I am still totally in love with America – I think if there were going to be problems, it will be when it gets bloody cold (its starting to get chilly now!), but at the moment, I still just love what I am doing over here, and all the new stuff I get to do and everything! The majority of the time, I am happier here than I was at Kent – and I was pretty happy at Kent! There have been quite a few people this year that have dropped out of being in America, and I can’t even imagine doing that – anyone thinking of doing a year abroad should DO IT!!!

So, what have I been up to? Not a lot it seems, apart from rehearsals!!! The schedule is intense, and it is still the balance of boring and fun, but it is bordering on the so much fun and will be sad when its over part now – I think I’ll miss the social side more than anything, but hopefully that will continue! Tech week is next week, and i am a little bit worried about it, because its quite formal here, and i'm worried i will have done something wrong or something, and people will shout at me - but, as i'm still learning over here, i will have lots of supervision, so that is good. The only bad thing about being in rehearsals all the time is that i have to eat at Palms (or nowhere on Fri and Sat nights as nothing is open!) which only really serves fast food - it feels like i am poisoning my body a little bit. C'est la vie. I try and balence it out by going to the free gym every so often! In other news, I have just taken on another play, this time as Stage Manager! Its called ‘Paradise’ and I’ve got my first meeting tomorrow, so I am looking forward to that – soon I will be as busy as I was in Kent, and it will be fabulous!! Classes are still going pretty well – I got some well good marks for my last assignment, over 100% (:-P) which isn’t physically possible, but still! It made me happy! Maybe this year i have a chance of getting a 2:1 or first after all! Although, being snowed under with homework really isn't that much fun!

I have still been doing some exciting stuff! Last weekend i met up with some of my friends from Leadership camp (and John), and we went out for food, and played funny board games, then went out for ice cream, then rented Sweeney Todd and watched that - it was so much fun! Ice cream over here is AMAZING, and the ice cream shops are even better! I wish they existed in the UK! Hopefully i will meet up with them again soon, although my schedule has just got crazy, so my social life is going to have to wait a little bit (gahh!). Tomorrow (Saturday) i have a day off, so i am going to go round to my friend Meghan's house and we are going to cook savoury pancakes and something sweet, which is very exciting, as i haven't been able to cook since August! Its surprising how much i miss it!

I am starting to become neutralised to the American accent - i no longer can tell when people are speaking with one!! It is really wierd - it didn't take long for it to become normal! I haven't really managed to pick it up, apart from the odd word - i am never calling Candy 'Sweets' ever again!! I have found that my structure of speaking has changed a little too - although it is said that if you talk to someone, you imitate the way they talk so that they understand! Many, many conversations i have had are centralised on differences and simerlarities - today we had the ladybird/ladybug discussion, which was funny!

There are a couple more exciting things coming up for me in the near future! On 13th-15th November i will be representing UWM as part of a leadership team at a leadership conference in Michigan! I am very excited about this, as it means i will be able to visit a different state, and meet people from all accross the 'Great Lakes' part of America - and do fun things for a weekend too! Although it does mean squeezing it in to my very tight schedule, i think things will be ok! Also, this week, i am going to visit a local milwaukee children's theatre company, one of the biggest in the mid-west, with the possibility of being a teaching assistant and gaining some work experience with them, which is very exciting! I might have a meeting with them tomorrow, which i am definitely looking forward to! If not, i will be meeting them later this week! They want to hear about my experiences in the UK too, so that is a little bit exciting - finally, some children's theatre to learn about and enjoy, rather than just the methods class i am doing! The final exciting thing is that i am hoping to go to Canda on 24th-29th November - YAY!!! That has yet to be finalised, but i will definitely be going at some point!

Anyway, i better go now, its probably time for me to sleep, or do some more work, or something crazy like that!

Ciao Ragazzi xxx