My first week as a New Yorker

Hello world! I thought this might be the easiest way to document and share my experiences while I am away, and I hope to keep up with it- no promises though! Many of you have wondered how my first week in the City went, so here ya go:

TUESDAY, 2/17
I left OKC at 8:20 in the morning. Yes, there were tears, but I was proud of myself for keeping it under control :) we flew to DFW, where for some reason there was not a gate prepared for us, so we sat on the runway waiting forever! I was really nervous, because my layover was only 45 minutes, and I spent most of it sitting on the plane not being able to get off. We finally pulled up to a gate and I ran to my next flight (DFW is huge.) I was the last one on the plane- but I made it! My luggage, however, did not. I arrived at LaGuardia on time, then waited an hour for the next flight to come in from Dallas- luckily my luggage was on that one! It was a really long day full of waiting, because I then had to wait on a shuttle to pick me up and we had to go all over Manhattan before I made it to my apartment, but finally around 6:30 I arrived! My apartment is really cutely decorated, and my roommates are very nice and welcoming. I didn't do anything my first night but sleep- it was an exhausting day!!

WEDNESDAY, 2/18
I slept in a little bit, which was wonderful! My good friend Terren lives only a block away from my apartment, so I walked over there to hang out with him for a while. We went and bought my metrocard and headed to midtown to have lunch with anotherUCO friend, Savannah. Ate a tasty sandwich at a cute diner called Galaxy Diner. Later that day I went to the grocery store to get a few important things to have on hand (ramen, PB&J, bread...) then went to bed early again. By Wednesday I was starting to develop a cold, which is still very present but I am a little less stuffy today!

THURSDAY, 2/19 - Audition Day #1!
I got up at 6:45, showered and headed out to Nola Studios for an audition! Unfortunately, when I got on the subway nearest to my apartment, someone was sick in the train in front of us and they stopped running the trains! I had to walk pretty far to find another subway line, but I made it and got myself down to midtown. I felt like a big dork because I got completely confused in Columbus Circle (which is really cool, by the way) and walked around the circle for a while having no idea which way to go. I finally got to Nola at 8:45, and there were a ton of people there. I signed up on the list nad was number 317. Insane. The audition was for Merry Go Round Playhouse, which is in upstate New York and their season is: Full Monty, High School Musical, No No Nanette, A Chorus Line, Life of Tony Bennett, and A Buddy Holly show. I sat and waited for 8 and 1/2 hours to sing! Pretty crazy. I sang "I Can Cook Too," and they asked me to come back the next day to dance for them! I was pretty ecstatic to have a callback after my first audition, even though the day was extremely long and tiring. That night I came back to my apartment and rested by watching a movie with my roommate, Karen.

FRIDAY, 2/20 - Audition Day #2
Got up much earlier this day to head to auditions. My callback for Merry-Go-Round wasn't until 10:00, so I got up at 5:45 and went straight to Ripley-Grier Studios to sign up to audition for Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Media Theatre (Media, PA) This time I was signed up for #20, and headed home to get ready for the day. (We'll come back to this audition)
Callback: I arrived back at Nola at 8:45 to discover that they were not, indeed, having a separate dance callback for the singers from the prevoius day- they were seeing their called back singers in the open dance call. Now, I am a good mover, but when I see 300 dancer dancers in a small room and realize that I am being judged against them... well it was a little intimidating :) There were so many people there that I was asked to come at 1:45 to dance, so I went and did the audition that I will write about in a minute in the meantime. Fast forward to 1:45- We were seen in groups of 30, and they taught a High School Musical combination first. It really was pretty easy except for one turny jumpy to the floor part... he just taught it fast. I know that if I had a few more minutes to process the information I would have been much more successful, but I suppose that's just how dance calls go! I was in the first group of 4 that had to do it, so I literally learned it and went. I smiled a lot and had a good time- and it was really fun watching all of the great dancers that were in the room with me! Needless to say, they didn't ask me to stay and dance for A Chorus Line. haha.
Millie open call: So, as you know, I went to check out the callback before returning to the Millie call. Luckily, I made it back to Ripley-Grier just in time for typing! Woo! For those of you who don't know, sometimes when there are a ton of people at an audition and they know what body types they are looking for, the directors will bring you in to look at you and decide if they even want to hear you sing or not. It's really awkward, but I guess it saves everyone time in the long run. They brought us in 10 at a time, and asked us to step forward and say something when our name was called. It was really awkward, but I just tried to be as perky and relaxed as possible. I guess it worked, because i was typed-in and they asked me to stay and sing. I sang "I Can Cook, Too" again (Note: I have this cold, and at least I knew that those notes had come out the day before!) The accompanist was... less than wonderful... but I kept singing and got through it! They didn't ask many to stay and dance, and I was not one of the few. Good experience though! Once again, I got home that evening and crashed out.
Ohh a really fun thing from this day is that I made a new friend from Oklahoma! Her name is Parish and she went to OU. We met on the elevator and it was so funny how much we had in common! She also just got engaged, her fiance lives in Oklahoma, she is in town auditioning til May... pretty funny! We spent the day running back and forth together, and it was really nice to not have to go it alone.

SATURDAY, 2/21
I don't know about you, but 2 days of auditions made me tired. I think being in New York with a cold in general made me tired, too... so I had a very restful Saturday. I got out to the grocery store to get a few things and had some lunch, but other than that I stayed in and relaxed most of the day. In the early evening Karen took me to a nice little restaurant down the street called Cafe Largo for happy hour and we had a nice time just chatting and hanging out. Karen actually knows Tucker's family from church growing up- it's a small world! I went to bed early, once again.

SUNDAY, 2/22
My "aunt" Jana lives not too far away from me, and she offered to pick me up for church this morning! She goes to a Disciples church on the upper east side, so I was happy to join her. They have a beautiful sanctuary with Tiffany stained glass windows and a huge pipe organ. Everyone was so welcoming and nice, and there were a lot of Oklahoma people there! I really enjoyed the sermon and the music and the fellowship, and I am sure that I will be returning there. After church I headed to brunch with Karen and her friends that live near us. It was great to meet some new people! They are all dancers who went to school together in PA. After brunch was naptime, and then the Oscars! We had a full apartment of Oscar-watchers, and it was a really fun evening :) A great end to my first week in town!

I hope that wasn't too much of an information overload! I'm sure my posts won't always be this long, but I just had a lot to report! I already miss home, but am enjoying myself and am really happy that I finally made the leap. It doesn't quite feel real yet, but I'm sure everything will eventually settle.

It's going to be a fun few months! Love you and miss you all-