Voices

It’s interesting that I’m at Lafayette and my mom is in London for work. It makes me miss the city lifestyle that I took for granted.  I will hopefully be going back for New Years with my best friend since middle school. We’ve been saving for this for what feels like forever. I really cannot wait because she has never been to London and this time around I’ll finally get to be a tourist, that happens to know where everything is! So keep your fingers crossed that this flight stays inexpensive please.  However, that’s in the future. Let me update everyone on what is going on in my life now.

It’s almost time for midterms at Lafayette. However, the concept of test taking seems like a distant memory.  As I review my notes from my classes I realize that I don’t know how to study for these exams. In the past month we’ve covered so much material, basically a new chapter every day. For my music and history literature class I didn’t know where to begin. When it came to my Economics class all I had to do was memorize specific concepts, examples and graphs. So I type up my notes for one class and make flash cards for another but honestly, I am still stressing.

I cannot wait for fall break! Even though I am getting my wisdom teeth pulled I have never looked forward to sleeping as much as I do now. For the first three weeks I would receive maybe three hours of sleep a night. I know for a fact that I am not alone because all of my friends are saying the same thing. Now maybe to some people that sounds amazing but for me it’s been a nightmare.

I think the worst part is when you know you’re tired, you can see the bags under your eyes deepening, and people still telling you that you look exhausted. I mean I know haha! But yes, I found out that something in my schedule had to give. Because being up until 4 am doing homework or studying after a long day comprised of class, work, a singing lesson, Solfege rehearsal, Cadence rehearsal, and Noises Off rehearsal was not my cup of tea. A part of me felt as if I had no time to even breathe or get dinner because everything was back to back. I also noticed this little amount of sleep is affecting my voice and my concentration. Mentally, I was running on empty, which was affecting my piano lessons and my attention span in class. Certain concepts were flying over my head because I kept zoning out in class.

So unfortunately, I had to leave Cadence for this term, which gave me two hours to either eat, practice voice or piano or do homework. It was so hard leaving the acapella group because the girls are amazing and we just got our new members. Overall, as a senior and human being, I still need time to myself so hopefully I’ll see the girls around campus but I’ll most definitely be at their concerts cheering them on. Nowadays I think I’m up to getting 5 hours of sleep a night. Soon I’m hoping I get the recommended eight. Either way after my surgery I plan to have a long-term relationship with my couch and/or big bed! I shall not be moved!

On other news, I am off voice rest. Slowly but surely my third octave is regaining strength and I’m enjoying singing again. This semester I am working on polishing three songs with my singing teacher: “Purlie” (Purlie), “Fabulous Baby” (Sister Act), and “Colored Women”  (Memphis). Since all of these shows are potentially the next regional shows after they leave Broadway and they play to my castability we figured I should really nail them. Not for audition material but general knowledge as well as putting my own stamp on them. It’s a lot of fun and work but I know it will pay off in the end.

When it comes to my future after Lafayette, I couldn’t definitely tell anyone where I will be as of yet.  It is kind of scary to think about because in all honesty I don’t want to fail. I know there are so many people in this industry thinking and wanting the same thing as me but seriously failure is not an option. My current advisor Professor Michael O’Neill and I have been discussing my senior project. This project is to essentially prepare my future because it works out my audition material for acting and singing in addition to picking out all of the audition cattle calls and graduate school programs that I’d potentially attend. Basically, we discovered that everything is really in the spring but applications are in the fall. This is also going to cost some money to attend or register for some of these auditions thus I’m thinking that I’m going to need to apply for some scholarships to fund the occupational endeavor. As much work as this will be my big dreams are worth it. But yes, there is talk of graduate school, which my Pop Pop (grandfather) would love, moving back abroad, or a city like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. I’m keeping my options very open and most likely I’ll go wherever the school or the job is. I’d really like a touring show be it a musical or a play just so I could travel the world or something in TV Film. Either way I will be content. I just want to have something concrete by the end of my senior year.

Show wise, Noises Off is shaping up beautifully. We’ve finished blocking the first act and have begun working on the second. The show still makes me laugh every time. Each time we run it we find new things in the text and between the characters. It baffles me how many times you can read a script and still make new discoveries.  A part of me still doesn’t know how I am going to remember all of these lines since they change as the play within the play script goes out the window due to the characters’ conflict. Also, the fact that this is my first whole straight play makes me nervous. Another member of the cast and I discussed having a line run with the cast one night that we don’t have rehearsal. We thought it could only be beneficial and in truth I hope everyone else thinks so.

This past Thursday I randomly had an allergic reaction to something in my room. I’m pretty sure it was the air freshener but I’m not one hundred percent sure. Whatever it was, my face was completely swollen and I couldn’t open my right eye.  The strange thing was that I wasn’t aware of any of this until I walked in the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I didn’t scare myself but I was pretty close to jumping at the site of my own reflection. Immediately I starting putting warm compresses on my face hoping the swelling would go down before my 9:30 am class.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Then I called my mom, who is working in London. I really don’t know how I thought she could fix this from across the pond. Then again, there is nothing like my mother’s voice to comfort me when I’m in a crisis. Those of you who don’t know, my mom and I are thick as thieves, more like sisters/best friends. Still, she always has the answer. So she told me to go to the health center. I know the most logical response and yes I did think of it beforehand. It’s just that they don’t typically accept walk-ins after 8:30am. Still I called them anyway around nine and they told me to come in immediately.  I emailed my professor hoping that he would believe me and not just think that I was skipping but I don’t skip class. With no sun, I walked around campus with a pair of shades and a hoodie, as I was trying to be incognito but I think people misread that as if I had a hangover. It was a little awkward to say the least. Luckily, the doctor confirmed my suspicion and told me that I need to start carrying an epi pen just in case. Also I need to get another allergy test to figure out exactly what I am allergic to. Feeling groggy from the benydrl I attended the rest of my classes. It was a very long day. Now I feel as though I am having some sinus pressure on the right side of my face. My eye hurts a little and my cheek is still slightly puffy but I’m hoping everything will subside soon.

This is my life at Lafayette haha. Sorry if it sounds really dramatic, I’m still getting into the swing of things.  I’m taking it one day at a time. I just hope I do well on my midterms.

Until next time!