Drowning in the Ocean of College

Finally, at the end of the fifth week of school, here is my post about how school is going this semester. That's a pretty good indication of how school is going. In short, I feel like I'm drowning. As soon as I finally feel I've got a bit of a handle on things and I can get my head up to take a breath, the current of senior year pulls me back under and I just wind up with a burning mouthful of salt water. I've carved out about two hours on Friday afternoons (aka, right now) to just give myself a break and do whatever I want, but I spend the whole time feeling guilty that I'm not doing schoolwork.

A brief rundown of my classes this semester:
Collaborative Studies in Theatre - This is affectionately known as the class from hell in the Theatre Department, mostly because of the amount of work it requires. Over the semester, we have three projects on three shows, and we work with different people for each one. Currently, I'm the "director" for a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and I have to work with my "scenic designer" and my "costume designer" to choose a spine (the main action of the show) and a concept (we're doing Cirque du Soleil) and then do all the research that our "job" requires...so I'm researching Forum (its history, significant productions, its authors, dramatic criticism), directing musicals and farces, Ancient Rome (with particular emphasis on slavery and women), social history of the 1960s (when Forum was written), and anything about Cirque du Soleil that I can get my hands on. Then I have to use my "scenic designer's" sketches and outline the blocking for the entire show. Everything has to support our spine and concept and the playwrights' intentions. For someone who hates group projects, this class is a joy.

Tap III - I love this class, it's just exhausting!! My tap technique has really suffered over the last couple of years, so I'm getting the chance to go back and review some basics. It's taught by the new dance teacher, Greg, who is completely wonderful. I sweat buckets every time!

Seminario español - This is a really interesting class so far. The focus is on immigration and everything that that entails: the decision to leave home, the journey itself, adjusting to a new world, cultural and subcultural identity... We get a very interesting perspective on it because the professor, my adviser, grew up in Puerto Rico and came to the U.S. for grad school in the early '80s. The class is very small and I'm friends with everyone in it.

Dance in America - One of my least favorite classes ever. It's like dance history for non-dancers, and I'm in it because I missed the Dance History class required for my minor while I was in Ecuador. The teacher is odd and super-pretentious and tries so hard to be politically correct that he often comes off as racist. At least he'll admit he's a snob about what constitutes "good dance," though. It's super boring and the teacher picks on my friend Loee and me all the time because he knows we're dancers.

Ballet IV - Another class that kicks my butt every single time, but I'm loving it! It's also a return to basics for me, in a way, and the teacher is really wonderful about making corrections, explaining things, and answering questions. I'm now regretting most of my high school years, when I put way less effort into my ballet classes than I should have.

Dance Production and Performance - This is another class taught by Greg, the new dance teacher. It's a lecture class, but he gets sidetracked all the time into awesome stories of the years he danced with the Rockettes or various national tours he's been on. We have one project for the semester that keeps building and building on itself. Each person has to act as the producer for a show (a dance concert, a recital, a musical, whatever they've chosen) and plan the entire budget and logistics. It's really interesting so far, although it's a bit frustrating because I usually don't have time to call places like hotels and rental companies during business hours.

In addition to all that, I'm working in the scene shop in the theater four hours each week for Backstage Experience credit. I get to do everything from putting together spiral staircases to taking seams out of curtains to painting sets to bringing lights down from the catwalks. It's fun some days, but it's also exhausting and usually dirty, sweaty work.

I also have my senior Honors thesis, which I haven't really started on because I'm feeling kind of lost about it. My project is essentially developing a business plan for a small dance company, because my sister and I have a dream of starting our own company someday and neither of us knows anything about business. And that's the issue with me getting started: I don't know anything about business. And because the thesis is not something that's due immediately, I never seem to find time to work on it, so I feel like it's constantly looming over me. It's just so frustrating. I joke about wanting to drop out of school all the time, but there are days when I really wish I could.

To end this post on a happy note, something fantabulous happened on Wednesday. I was packing up my things after Collaborative and I heard one of my classmates, Annika, whom I don't know very well, talking to someone else about a book called Looking for Alaska. I freaked out and asked her if she'd read any of John Green's other books, and she said no, but then she said something about being a Nerdfighter, and I shouted, "You're a Nerdfighter?!?" and then she said, "YOU'RE a Nerdfighter?!?" and it was completely fantastic. Everyone was staring at us like we were nuts, and we just kept babbling on about John and Hank and YouTube and pizza and LeakyCon and everything. That was most definitely the highlight of my week!!