Perhaps because I enjoyed the summer so much is why this semester came up so short. The summer had created a new standard of what amazing really was. Or maybe it was because for 10 weeks I was able to do something I truly loved, instead of taking classes in subjects that the university finds important for me to take (Biology, I'm looking at you).
Regardless of how or why it happened, I found myself clinging on to the dog days of summer. The days of the hot subway, the smelly garbage on the sidewalks, and the five flights up to my apartment. And those were the things I didn't like about New York City, so you can see how seriously I missed it. It was rough. I mean, I'll go ahead and label this semester the worst of my entire college career. But being the glass-is-half-full kind of gal that I am, I must recognize some beautiful moments that did indeed take place (and I'm not just talking about seeing Ryan Gosling TWICE).
1) French 601c: For whatever reason, my beginning French class quickly became a community. Maybe it was that we all bonded over how hard the course material was, the witty comments coming from a darling girl named Felicia, or the Godess of fun classes just blessed us to have a good time, but we had so much fun. I became SUPER good friends with an RTF major named Kylie, and here's the video we made for one of the projects:
Nous parlons bien francais, n'est-ce pas?
2) Her Campus Texas Social Media: The other exciting part of this semester was being knighted the "Social Media Editor" for Her Campus Texas. As the SME, I'm in charge of the content and copy for facebook and twitter, and started our pinterest! It's seriously confirming my love for social media, and I now know the secret to marketing to college-aged girls is Mean Girls and 90s nostalgia. I'm also still a contributing writer for HCTX, and I love it!
3) Ragtime Dramaturgy: At the beginning of this semester, I began work on Ragtime dramaturgy with the intelligent and talented Andrew Carlson and Isaac Gomez. At first it was really hard, I felt intimidated and inadequate. However, as the process went on, I became more comfortable and created some great work! We also facilitated 20 post-show discussions (you read that right) with the amazing cast and the audience. I became surprisingly attached to it in early November, and was oddly emotional when it ended. It made my love for theater intensify and grow!
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| Ragtime with Isaac and Andrew Foote who played Tateh! |
Which brings me to my favorite part of the semester: 4) Theater and Dance Dept UT's Department of Theater and Dance. I seriously can't get over how much I'm OBSESSED with the kids who are so insanely passionate, talented, and loving. There would be days where I felt like I had just watched the scene of Mufasa dying in The Lion King (and trust me there were a lot) and would walk into Winship (theater building) and would be immediately uplifted. It was like taking a five-hour energy without the disgusting taste. I would look around and say, "Wow, I'm seriously in love with this department."
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| Theater kids after "And Then Came Tango"! |
5) Movement Improv Class: The theater and dance department also provided me with a way to deal with NYC separation anxiety. In my movement improvisation class, we were required to create a personal solo for our final piece. "Alright!", I thought, "Now's my chance to choreograph a two-minute, one-woman Nutcracker!" But as we did composition work, I found my narrative wrapped up in my New York summer experience. And there it was. Set to Florence + the Machine's "Dog Days are Over", it was a cathartic process where I was able to release all my feelings about that experience and the events that came as a result of it.
The dog days are officially over. I no longer need to cling to the past, so I can make room for more wonderful memories that are headed my way <3
