New York state of mind...

On June 28th, I packed my bags and headed up to the city. The flight was uneventful (save for a little turbulence, which was fun). We landed a little late and I had to check in for my shuttle. The woman working behind the check in desk at LaGuardia Airport was an excellent specimen for a character study! She was so stressed and frazzled, and had a hard time multi-tasking! The shuttle finally came and the radio played Michael Jackson for the entire trip. We drove through Queens and into Manhattan and a couple hours later, I was at my residence. I guess now I understand why the shuttle is so cheap!

When I checked in, I was a little unsure about the place. My room is very small and basic, no AC, shared bathrooms, etc. But now that I've had a day to adjust, I am growing to like it! Couldn't do it long term, of course, but everything is taken care of. Maid and linen service once a week, two meals per day (though unfortunately I might become a vegetarian while I am here...), and a 24 hour attendant who has to buzz you into the building, so I feel pretty safe. It's been pretty cool up here so far so the no AC thing is not a problem, yet (knock on wood). Also, free internet access which I am using right now! I took some pictures of my new surroundings.

This is my room:

This is my street!

I live right by Edgar Allen Poe St., which I just thought was cool...

I have more photos, but I'm having technical difficulties.

Today I woke up at the butt crack of dawn (6:15 AM, it's amazing what you can do when you actually WANT to go somewhere), got breakfast and hopped on the subway to make my 8:15 orientation. The school is a very lovely old building on Madison Avenue. They said it was built as a boarding house for "proper" women. Anyhoo, we got our schedules and I am happy with it. I have acting Monday through Thursday, Voice & Speech Monday and Wednesday, Vocal (singing) on Tuesday, and Movement on Thursday. I will have 2 electives starting next Friday but we don't have that schedule yet (I'm taking Musical Theatre and Career Counseling).

After orientation, I went to acting class which was held in one of the theatres. My teacher is very nice, laid back, and says the F-bomb a lot :-) I like him...I think I will like the class too. It seems it will be mostly Meisner-based, which is perfectly fine with me, because strangely enough in all my acting classes in college I never really studied this method. It's weird, more improvisational, and kind of fun. I was somewhat relieved they're not teaching Stanislavski's System, because that was what I mostly got in college. It's a useful technique, but now I'll get to see if old Mr. Meisner was on to anything! We also did a relaxation exercise where we laid on the floor then walked around the room shouting at the walls like total lunatics...yep, I've chosen the right career.

Next I had Voice and Speech. The teacher is a younger woman who went to AADA herself but she was very smart and knowledgeable in the subject. She said we will be correcting speech problems in the class, and working on breathing. We have to memorize a very long tongue twister by next Monday. We also did a relaxation exercise where we laid on the floor...I am seeing a pattern here! I think this class will be useful.

After classes, I spent some time looking at job listings and trying (unsuccessfully) to find the library - I'll go tomorrow. In the evening I went for a run/walk in Central Park...it was so cool! Some great views of the city, happy people, dogs, and a lovely running trail that winds around the lake. Then it was back home for a spaghetti dinner, blogging, and now bed! Blogging is exhausting!!