Lesson Day!

No longer sick! Yay hooray! Let's all breathe a sigh of relief, mostly out of happiness that we can all breathe through our noses AND our mouths! How novel!

On a completely different note...

I feel like sometimes this blog ends up inadequately describing this New York experience. I think it comes across as slightly random and haphazard (obviously a rather apt way of describing my life), but that isn't necessarily my intention.

Living here is amazing and scary and exciting and exhilirating and inspiring and exhausting and might be the best thing that has ever happened to me. Part of me is actually slightly upset that I've kind of set into a routine, because I'm scared that it means that I'm not actually truly taking advantage of everything I possibly can.

Part of me knows that the fact that I have seen so many shows and made so many great new friends and learned so many things from my teachers and that I go to bed truly exhausted every night means that I'm taking advantage.

But there's another nagging part of me that thinks that I need to stop staying in every Wednesday so that I can watch Glee, or that I should literally only be at home between the hours of midnight and eight AM. Which is obviously impossible, but I still think that.

But, I give you...

Things I Have Learned From Living in New York (Part I):
1. Everybody smokes.
I say this with no exaggeration. Literally. Everybody. It almost makes me want to take up smoking so that what I inhale isn't second-hand. At least then it'll be my choice! But it is impossible to walk down the street without walking behind, next to and in front of someone smoking. Classes have cigarette breaks. People are incapable of doing a task for more than an hour because they need a cigarette. I feel a little left out, until I remember what it is exactly that they are doing (breathing in tar).

2. Everybody looks beautiful, all the time.
It doesn't matter where you are going, or what you are going to do when you get there. Going to the theatre requires the same outfit, shoes and makeup as going to the grocery store on a Saturday morning. Walking around in sweatpants Just Isn't Done.

3. All stores have multiple floors.
This one took me a long time to learn, actually. I had some confusing days when I simply got angry at stores. I walked into a Duane Reade (a store similar to a combination of CVS and Target that's only in New York) just after arriving and REFUSED to believe that it did not sell Ziploc bags. I actually got completely unnecessarily furious and stormed out. True story. I also got mad that the KMart on 34th Street only sold women's clothes. Turns out in both of these stories if I had just ventured downstairs I would have located the Ziplocs and binders I was seeking.

4. Everything costs money.
This one is slightly self-explanatory. Things that wouldn't cost money at home are paid for here. These include but are not limited to: bathrooms, cups of water in restaurants, every ride individually at Coney Island.

5. Walking a mile or so to work is not only common but expected.
In high school, I drove the two and a half miles back and forth everyday. Today I walk 1.4 miles to work and back again at the end of the day. This is not uncommon. Blows my mind.

6. It is harder to make a meal than I originally thought.
At home, a meal consists of a Main Food, plus salad, rice, vegetable and bread. When I eat here, I eat macaroni and cheese. Or pasta. Or cereal. Or a quesidilla. No side dish. It's always too much work. At that point, I don't even care anymore. Being an adult is HARD. Besides, I'd rather spend money on seeing shows than eat.

7. Having "Broadway" in the location venue does not necessarily imply quality.
We have seen many off-Broadway shows that were AMAZING, but we have also seen some that made me think, "Well, OBVIOUSLY I can make it in theatre because THAT ACTOR got cast. If they can do it, so can I." While this is slightly comforting in the sense of job security, it's also disheartening that somehow things that aren't very good manage to make it and reflect on the rest of theatre.

8. When telling someone you like their outfit, one does not say, "Where did you buy it?" One says, "Who makes it?"
This is a concept completely foreign to me, taught to me by the women at work. Brand names? No thanks. Target? I'm there!

9. I like rain, except when I walk to work.
Even though I am stylin' and profilin' in the rain (rockin' argyle rainboots, pumpkin orange raincoat and umbrella adorned with flamingos), walking to work in the rain means that you feel damp for the rest of the day. It means a seeping cold that just doesn't go away. It means runny nose, wet knees and a gray settling over everything. Rain is better when I don't live in a walking city.

10. Ignoring the homeless does not get any easier.
This is very hard for me. But if I gave money to every homeless person I saw, I would literally not have any left. It's incredibly difficult to just stare straight ahead as you walk by someone begging, "Any spare change, miss, help me get something to eat?" I comfort myself by giving to charitable organizations that help the homeless, knowing that were I to give cash to a single person it would probably be spent on alcohol and crack or something they don't need, rather than a hot meal. But I've had some strange encounters with the homeless. Once a man approached Nick and me just as the Walk light changed so we could cross the street. As this man asked if I had any change, I began walking and said, "Sorry, I don't have any." (This is often the truth - I don't usually have cash.) But he called after me, "I wasn't talkin' to you, I was talkin' to him," and went after Nick instead while I escaped. Eeek. But yesterday was the worst, when Nick and I were walking home. As we walked, Nick and I got slightly separated by a group of people. As I walked by a homeless man, he asked if I had any change. I ignored him, and he called after me, using two four-letter words in particular, one of which began with an F and one with a C. Very upsetting.

Essentially, New York is not all about seeing shows and going to class. And while the things I am learning are kinda ridiculous too, they're all things that I have legitimately noticed and thought about. And it's only a partial list. I have learned and realized more, and hopefully will continue to do so. Ideally I'll come home not a completely different person, but more of a person.

Beka is coming to visit me this weekend, so I'm sure you'll all facebook stalk the photos later. :) It's gonna be AMAZING. I'm going to attempt to cram ALL OF NEW YORK in three days. We'll see how it goes, haha. That's a lot to cram.

Bee tea double U: I love Nick's new job. I am reaping the benefits in the form of comp tickets. We saw a fabulous off-Broadway show today called Circle Mirror Transformation. The acting was amazing and the story was very poignant. I actually teared up at one point. Not that this should be shocking. I'll cry at traffic. Literally anything, haha.

I have a play to read before I go to sleep (I have started keeping a list of every play that ever gets mentioned, even in passing, during classes. My goal is to read them all. I realize that this is going to be a long-term goal, but I'm excited about it.) which is sad because I'm literally falling asleep over my keyboard.

Still miss you all MUCHO. Keep in touch! Mail me letters, leave me comments, write on my wall, mail me cash, any combination of the above. All are welcome.
Love, Kelly