The Graduate School Adventure

Feb. 5-10 - (Chicago) I found out about this audition Feb. 2 so I got a 5am flight that got me into Chicago by 9am on the 5th so that I didn't have to pay out of the nose for a flight so last minute. Well, I worked that night until midnight, then packed, 2 hours sleep, off to the airport at an hour no mortal should be getting up at and on top of it all I was getting sick! Head stuffy, achey, headache, soar throat, mucus, sick! Thankfully, Emily was able to pick me up and I spent that Thursday sleeping at her place and getting sicker and sicker! Emily was an amazing host and nurse though and she brought me medicine, had all the tea I could drink, humidified her room, and let me sleep in her bed. The next days I like to refer to as my rubber band days because I felt like I was being stretched in two opposite directions, a part of me was just plain sick and hurting and wanted to crawl in a hole and not emerge until I felt better and the other part of me was so excited to be in Chicago and finally be reunited with Emily and Olivia and I wanted to see the city, have fun, and party! Olivia and I hung out at Lincoln Square, went downtown to Michigan St. (which was beautiful!) saw "The Reader" (Fantastic movie but I still think Slumdog Millionaire should win for best picture) stuffed out faces, shopped, made a movie, watched Emily's Merry Widow rehearsal, played the Sims, jammed to Lady Gaga, and all in all just had a blast being our goofy selves! Though I was no where near 100% and didn't end up auditioning, this trip was still a great success in my book, I got a good feel for the school and explored a good bit of Chicago, all thanks to Emily and Olivia, my saviors, whose presence I'm pretty sure is what made me get well faster.

I was home for 2 days.

Feb. 13-16 - (Boston) Feeling like myself again and optimistic about my trip and audition I flew out Friday morning. It got a little complicated because I was supposed to stay with Audrey and her mom at the hotel but I was in a masterclass so I spent 2 hours in the lobby of the hotel because my name wasn't on the room. Her mom came and let me into the room but now I had to get a taxi to the school were I was taking a practice lesson with Rebecca Folsom at 5pm. *note: the cab drivers in Boston think that Boston Conservatory is New England Conservatory. After attempting to drop me off at New England Conservatory he drops me off at the Berkley School of music which is still not where I'm supposed to be, thankfully the students at this school were able to tell me where BC is and I walked two more blocks in the blistering cold. Once in the school no one seemed to know where Rebecca Folsom's room was so I spent another 10 minutes getting completely lost in a labyrinth of rooms that is BC until some poor soul took pity on me. At 5:22 I arrive at Prof. Folsoms office and no one is there, destitute that my crazy travels have been in vain I slump against the door and curse the day i was born. As I'm about to leave, who should walk around the corner but the woman i have been seeking, it was fate, and I was so happy I could have farted gold pieces! The practice lesson went very well! That night Audrey and I went to see our friend Patrick, who goes to BC, in a production of Cendrillion in English which turned out to be very enjoyable, here I was also reunited with Morgan Davis, a friend from the Florida high school performing circuit who is now studying at BC too! The next day is Valentine's day, I brought Fun Dip Valentines for everyone and Morgan, Patrick, Audrey and me grabbed some grub before my 3pm audition. The audition went well I thought but it was the questions afterward that caught me off guard, they wondered why my grades where so low on my transcripts...I told them that I now had my head screwed on the right way and was ready to focus, get serious, and become a professional...I don't know if they bought it. I couldn't really tell them I refused to dance at 8:30am, but i did admit to lots of the grades being low due to my tardiness. The rest of Valentines was spent eating chocolate and fun dip while watching romantic comedies on TV in the hotel room, it was bliss, Audrey and I went downstairs later that night and shared a couple glasses of wine in the bar connected to the hotel, and caught up. The not so cute boys across the bar bought my second drink;) Next day was brunch at the Restaurant Patrick works at, and Sheree came and met up with us at the end and helped take Audrey and her mom to the airport before whisking me away for the day. We went to the GYM, planet fitness! It was so much fun and we got to catch up while toning up! That night Sheree and her sister took me to all their favorite haunts in Boston including Carraba's where they make the best pomegranate martinis! Gah...so good to hang out with these girls, we had an amazing time! At the end of the night Sheree drove me to meet up with Patrick and I crashed at his place that night. The next day, I took the T to BC (I am now a pro at public transportation) and sat in a few of Patrick's classes and he played tour guide so i got to see more of the school. I then took the T to the airport to catch my 7pm flight back to O-town! Sheesh what a trip!

I was home for 1 day and had to work a double at the Ale House!

Feb 18-22 - (Rochester and Tallahassee) Wednesday I was on the road at 10:30am and drove 4 and 1/2 hours to Tallahassee Regional airport where my plane departed for Rochester at 4:48pm with a layover in Charlotte. Exhausted from my travels with no where to stay (my friend Sean wouldn't be out of his rehearsal until midnight) I decided to find a hotel and randomly picked up at hotel brochure that said Distressed passenger rate $65.00 a night. Clearly, I considered myself a distressed passenger, even though it only really applied to people who had a flight get canceled on them, when they asked me if this was the case I just said "I'm just very distressed!" The hotel was kind of ghetto, the first room they gave me had beer cans and jewelry laying around and the TV was on, when I alerted the front desk of this fact, they got worried looks on there faces because apparently there shouldn't have been anyone in that room...homeless man or ax murderer? The room I finally got was decent and I relaxed and watched movies the rest of the night including "Children of the Dune 2"...hehe, nerd. The next day I took a taxi to Sean's place where I could leave my stuff for the day, I know Sean from CLOC, along with Audrey and Patrick, he is finishing up his masters at Eastman, but also got a professional gig at one of the local theaters being in "Sweeney Todd", unfortunately the show opens this week and he has to be at the theater pretty much all day and night. Fortunately, I also know James from CLOC who is at Eastman getting his undergrad in piano performance, we were able to meet up for coffee and then I sat in on a lesson with Carol Webber and Rita Shane. It turned out that the student Carol Webber was teaching had played for me in Nats one year and is from Pittburgh...ahh. Small freakin' world! James then had to go meet up with another friend so i killed a couple hours in the very nice Eastman library. That night I had a nice dinner with James and Sean was able to pick me up and take me to a dress rehearsal of Sweeney Todd! It was glorious, and full of people who've performed on Broadway, amazing voices, amazing lighting, thankfully there is not really a role suited to me in Sweeney so for once I was able to watch in peace without craving to jump on stage with the performers:) The next morning started at 9am with a 30 minute Eastman welcome gathering and then I got my schedule for the day which included 2 meetings, an interview, and an audition. (As I exited the building that morning I was approached by a man holding an orange ticket and inviting me fervently to come with him to a chorus concert that night, I politely told him i wouldn't be in town and as I walked away I hear him say, "you sure are beautiful"...this poor crazy man had just made my day.) Thankfully I was able to get everything done by 4 when I had to catch a plane back to Tallahassee. I rocked the audition, even the accompanist told me I had a beautiful instrument, and then Carol Webber passed me and made a point of stopping and saying "Wonderful job in there young lady". AHHHHHH! it was glorious and just the kind of positive feedback I've been craving. Now for the complicated part....I had left my cell phone in Sean's apartment and he was at the theater until later that night! I had to get a taxi to drive me to the theater to get his key, drive back to his apartment to get the phone, and then drive back to the theater and give him his key back before heading to the aiport...ughh...story of my life. Luckily the caby was young and chatty so I just flirted with him the whole time and gave him nice big tip for his trouble, it should also be noted it was snowing buckets the entire day! I had an hour layover in Atlanta where I met a Romanian who went to UF at the Sam Adams bar in the Airport. He was so chatty and said it was refreshing to meet someone who he could actually talk to, apparently there is a lot of bimbos at UF. He was so cute and foreign in his little Adidas track jacket and I had a blast talking with him and getting a little bit tipsy off my Sam Seasonal and as we parted he told me he'd facebook me. I got into Tallahasse at 11:30pm and drove 25 minutes (after getting lost) to a friend of a friends house where I was able to pass out for the night. The next morning Jon drove me to my audition which I had scheduled for 10:50am...once I got there and signed in I was told me audition had been moved forward to 10:30, a.k.a in 5 minutes. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time and immediately ran to a bathroom to warm up. In the audition the overweight gentlemen who for some reason had sticks shoved up their asses asked me in a very condescending manner if I'd read the audition requirements online. I apparently didn't have the proper rep for them, they wanted a recitative. I politely told them that this was the rep. I had brought to all my auditions at the other much more illustrious schools I'd auditioned at and that they had been quite satisfactory for them, so they could deal. Okay, maybe I didn't quite say it like that;) Despite the circumstances I thought I sounded pretty good, but it's just really hard to sing for a bunch of snobby pigs so I can't say I left the audition feeling good about it. It was nice to see David Oakerland though and I waved at him, he is not a pig, but a delightful big warm bear that I would sing for any day of the week. That night I went to a big private party in an upstairs bar with my friends Jon, Jenny, and Sarah and we danced the night away. There may have also been a young tall handsome man and I may or may not have hooked up with him...hehe...perfect ending to my adventures if i do say so myself!

oaistillmighthavetoflybacktochicagothisweekendo, Caitlyn