A Brief Update

Hey, guys!

So, college is really busy! I've discovered new musicals and made new friends.

Okay, so I am just going to start with the friends. Most of the friends I've made have come from my acting class because theatre kids bond with each other. There's some people I could live without, but don't we all have people like that in our lives? But I've made a few good friends already, probably mostly the people in my group for Hamlet (we're performing on Friday and I'm playing Ophelia). We just all really like each other and it's really fun to work with them because there's this amazing element of compromise and wanting to make our performance the best we can, and it's just super easy to get along with all of them.

Okay, musicals. So far this semester, I've really fallen in love with Heathers, Spring Awakening, and Jersey Boys. I'll admit that I'm a little late to the Heathers party, but when the craze was happening, I was in France and not really paying a lot of attention to stuff happening here, so now I'm just catching up and I absolutely love it and I just need more of it in my life. I've liked Spring Awakening for a really long time, but I finally decided to pay it the attention it deserves and I am totally in love with this musical. Like, it's so raw and beautiful and I realize that both Heathers and Spring Awakening have high-school age characters, and considering that I've just graduated from high school, they're both relatable shows, and they're both really excellent.

And I really fell in love with Jersey Boys this summer when I got to see it in Contis. I don't really know why I love it so much, but I really do, and that's all I have to say on the matter right now.

That's all for now, I guess!
Peace out!

Cheerios and American Sonnets

By the title, you have probably already figured out what I'm going to talk about. If not, you're about to find out!

Today, Billy Collins came to campus and gave a poetry reading. It was one of the coolest experiences of my whole life because he's my favorite poet, like, ever. He's spectacular, and today I got to be in the same room as him.

I was really nervous that I wouldn't make it to the convocation because I had a class during the time it was happening, but lucky for me, this is college, and my professor let us leave early since we had more stuff happening this week (like a performance tomorrow, ack!). So, I actually made it to the Great Hall, where it was happening, but of course, it was completely full, and the overflow room was full, too. I was really disappointed because I was so excited to see Billy Collins, but they told us that we could stand outside the doors to the Great Hall and listen.

And then, after the pledge, we were told we could go stand along the walls of the room. And that, dear readers, is how I got my first glimpse of Billy Collins. He read a poem commemorating 9/11, then there were some speeches, and then, he got to go up and read more poems! It was so cool. He read "Cheerios", "The Lanyard" (my absolute favorite), and a bunch of others that just reminded me why I really like Billy Collins. It's because his poems are, as he said today, "public language". He doesn't use a lot of figurative language in his poetry. It is really just observation, and I love the simplicity of the poetry because it doesn't try to be poetic, it is because of the way he writes.

I'm just super happy that I got to breathe the same air as Billy Collins today. I did have to leave early because I had a dress rehearsal for tomorrow's performance, but just being there for the hour that I could was so special, and I'll always remember being a college freshman and being able to be in the presence of my favorite poet and listening to him read the poems and tell the stories behind them.

That's all for now!
Peace out!

Happy September First!

Yes, I am in college. No, I am not too old to be celebrating September first.

IT'S HARRY POTTER DAY YOU GUYS! LET'S ALL CELEBRATE! I AM SO HAPPY. HARRY POTTER IS MY CHILDHOOD.

Here, let's all get on the Hogwarts Express together.

Okay, so yeah, it's September first.

Also, I've been getting caught up on Welcome To Night Vale, and I'm in love with it as much as ever. And Cecil and Carlos are just as adorable as ever, and I'm still wishing I had been able to go to Night Vale Live when it was here, but I was in France. And now that it's going to France, I can't be there, so I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I just want to go back to France. Like, take me back to the most beautiful place on earth.

In order: Honfleur, The Pyrenees, The Pyrenees, Bayonne.

Gorgeous, no?

I want to go back so badly.

Also, I'm pretty much hooked on Mary Lambert's new song Secrets. 

Here's a link if you want to hear it

It's pretty fantastic. Also, I've been watching a lot of episodes of My Drunk Kitchen. Hannah Hart is the bomb.

Okay, enough, I guess. Happy Harry Potter Day!