Over a week...

Wow. It has been over a week since I've updated my blog. A lot has happened since last Tuesday and I'll try to fit it all in day by day.

Tuesday:

I had another good teaching day at Streb Trapeze Academy. I really love being in that environment. It gets me away from school work and the craziness of New York City. I have really enjoyed being able to venture to Brooklyn and have another life there separate from NYU. After trapeze, I had to rush to get back to Union Square because I was seeing Inglourious Basterds with my friend from class. It was part of a homework assignment due Wednesday. The movie was amazing...I absolutely loved it (even though I had to rush to get back to my apartment to finish work).

Wednesday:

The next morning I had my art history class. It is always tough to sit through that class because we are sitting in a dark room looking at slides for over an hour, and it's my earliest class. Anyway, after class I came back to my apartment to finish writing an essay due for my 3pm Drama in Performance class. Class was interesting as always. We have the best discussions about the plays we've seen. I find myself raising my hand and talking in class more than I have in any classes I've been in at Smith or even NYU, so far. After class (which ends at 6:10) I walked back to my apartment and did some work for my Sex and Gender class. Every week we have to write an autobiographical piece, relating to the readings we have done in class for that week. I never knew how hard it would be to write about myself.

Thursday:

On Thursdays, I only have one class from 11-12:15 and then my performances to go to at night with my Drama in Performance class. I'm pretty sure Thursday was just a normal day of classes, but then Thursday night was a little more interesting. I met my friend at 9th Street and 2nd Ave. and we took the subway to the dance performance we were seeing with our class. It was at the Dance Theater Workshop on the West Side. To say the least, the performance was interesting. It was a contemporary dance piece by Raimund Hoghe. I can't even call it dancing because there wasn't a lot of movement in the piece. After every performance, we post very casual responses on a class blog (on this same site) so that we can respond to each other's posts. I included my response below to help you better understand what the performance was about. The choreographer and main performer has a hunchback, which made the piece even more moving, realizing that you don't have to have a perfect body to be onstage doing what you love.

"After a couple of days being able to think about the performance, I realize that I appreciate it more and more each day. As a hip-hop dancer, I like to see a dance performance that includes a lot of movement and music. And as Sara asked about her own experience, I guess I figured seeing a dance performance would have more movement. I went in expecting something completely different than what I walked out with. What I think a dance performance is “supposed” to be has changed drastically after seeing Hoghe’s Bolero Variations.

During the first part of the dance when Hogh was lunging around the stage in silence I was very uncomfortable. I get very anxious when I am in a silent room and this part made me sit on the edge of my chair praying that some music would come on in the next piece. Although I was uncomfortable, I tried to think of a meaning for this walk around the stage. He was showcasing and introducing his body to the audience, giving us time to realize that all dancers and performers do not have to have perfect bodies. After the performance, Hoghe said that every time he does that walk he thinks about something different than the time before.

I spent a lot of the performance trying to find the meaning behind each movement and it did not work out so well. I became very confused and almost had a headache by the second act because I had no idea what I was “supposed” to get out of the performance. But, I think that might be exactly what Hoghe wanted. (Well, maybe he didn’t want to give the audience a headache, but he wanted us to try to reflect and come up with our own meaning.) During the reception, someone asked Hoghe what he had told the dancers to think of while they were performing and he responded by saying he didn’t tell them anything. He wanted the dancers to have their own narrative behind the movements as they performed. He didn’t want them performing his life, he wanted the movements to mean something to the dancers.

Even though I was confused during most of the dance, the performance was beautiful. It is so difficult to move your body slowly and have such little movement. As a dancer, movement is very important to me. If I am in one position for a long time, I need to get up and walk around. I can’t imagine how hard it was for those dancers to move the way they did, focusing on every single step. It made me appreciate the moments where they were finally able to move faster, dance, and run. Bolero Variations was a unique dance performance and I am grateful that I was able to experience it. Hoghe was telling a story of his life while letting the audience try to reflect and relate it to their own lives."

After the performance, they had a reception where we could talk to Raimund Hoghe, drink wine and talk with others about our feelings about the performance. When we left the theater, after having a couple glasses of wine, a lot of the students in my class, including me, didn't want to go back to their apartments. I ended up going back to the East Village with my friend, Alexis, to have a drink. We continued with the wine theme and enjoyed more white wine at a bar near our apartments. It ended up being a great night full of conversation, bumping into people I knew through my roommates, and even my roommate stopped by the bar to say hello. I know, I know...I'm not 21. But, really, the only way to survive in New York City is by being able to go out with friends to local bars.

Friday:

I had class at 12:30, so I headed to NYU around then and enjoyed another great architecture class. We walked around Wall Street and then headed back home from the end of our tour. I'm still so happy and grateful to be in this amazing class and have it count for my major. After getting back to the apartment, I got all dressed up and ready to go to NYU's Free Chabad House Shabbat Dinner. Every Friday, there is a free Shabbat dinner and the rabbi's wife home cooks everything. My friend, Barrett, from my architecture class told me to come, so I decided to venture there alone. Little did I know wearing nice pants and a shirt would be underdressed. Every girl in there was dressed up in fancy dresses and skirts. And, of course, everybody knew at least one person there so I had to find a group to sit with and invite myself into their conversation. I'm glad I took the initiative to go to the Shabbat dinner and try to meet new people, but it really did not work out that night. And I was not in the mood to try even harder than I was. After I ate, I saw my friend who had finally shown up, said hello to him, and rushed out of there. I had to hurry up back to my apartment because my roommates and I were going to a party and had to dress up. Our friend, Noah, was having a James Bond themed party at his apartment a block away from us. All three of us dressed up in sexy, black dresses and heels/boots and walked to his place. It was so much fun, girls dressed up, guys dressed in suits. Everyone looked very classy. Since the party started late in the night, by the time we left Noah's apartment it was around 3:30am. My roommate, Liz, and I and a few friends walked to Crif Dogs for some food because we were all hungry. Crif Dogs has the BEST hot dogs. I know a lot of you make fun of me for always saying things are "the best" but I am 100% sure that these are the best hot dogs you could eat. I had a "Good Morning" which is a bacon-wrapped hot dog with melted cheese and a fried egg. YUMMMMMMM! The next time I go there I am getting the "Chihuahua" which is bacon wrapped and has guacamole, sour cream, and salsa. haha. I don't eat this poorly all the time...don't worry. Anyway, after we got Crif Dogs, Liz, her friend Erica and I came back to the apartment and went to sleep.

A picture of the New York Stock Exchange from our architecture tour.

Me and my roommates at the Bond party. (Liz, on the left, Emma, on the right.)

Documenting myself eating my Crif Dog's hot dog. (with the melted cheese all over my hands)

Saturday:

I woke up at 1:30pm. We all really needed our sleep and were happy to get it. Once we were up and ready to start the day, Liz, Emma and I walked around the corner to meet Noah for a late lunch at B&H. This place has amazing tuna melts and I was told I had to order one. It was made on their freshly baked bread (like Challah toast) and the tuna salad had a bunch of different vegetables in it besides the normal celery and onions. After a wonderful lunch, it was time to clean up our apartment. We had let dishes fill the sink, things were laying around the living room, and our bathroom was looking a little dirty. So, we spent the rest of the day doing a MAJOR clean up. I washed all the dishes and scrubbed the bathroom, while Emma and Liz cleaned the living room, swept the floors, and cleaned their rooms. The apartment looked AMAZING afterwards. We even decided to buy a new shower curtain and bath mat to make it look even better. (The apartment is slowly getting more dirty, but hopefully we'll be more aware of our messes before it gets out of control again. haha) After cleaning, I think I stayed in for the night and tried to start some work.

Sunday:

WORK DAY! I spent the entire day reading, finishing my study abroad application, and finishing writing assignments for classes. It was a productive day, but not very eventful, so I'll move on.

Monday:

I had my art history class at 9:30am, but it was my only class of the day. After leaving NYU, I walked to the post office to mail in my study abroad application. Since it was early in the day, I figured it would be a great time to go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's. (Like I said in an earlier post, TJ's has the longest lines that snake through the store.) I was wrong in thinking that it would be a short line. When I walked into the store, the line was almost out the door. I did my shopping very quickly and jumped in line. I didn't need to get half of the food on my list because I knew on my way through the store, while waiting in line, I would be walking by all of those items. I should've brought my reading for class, though, because I was there for about an hour. When I got back to my apartment, I had to put away all of my groceries and get to work doing my Sex and Gender readings for our weekly Tuesday quizzes.

Tuesday:

Yesterday I had both of my Sex and Gender classes. We spent the first class taking our quiz and then discussing the answers. (AKA figuring out why everyone got the wrong answers because he tries to confuse us!... Clearly, I'm a little bitter about his quizzing style.) Aside from that, I went to my Sex and Gender recitation after and those were my only classes of the day. When I got back to the apartment, I got all dressed and ready to go to work at Streb Trapeze Academy. We only had a couple kids in our 5-7 year olds class and in our 8 and up class there were about 6 kids. It's always fun to goof around with the kids and be away from school. It makes me miss being a camp counselor at the JCC. I was also able to get up on the trapeze myself after each class and do a couple of swings without safety lines. I'll hopefully be learning more tricks in the near future. I decided to stick around for an hour or so after our kids classes ended because I wanted to do some homework in that environment. I watched a trapeze group practice while I finished some homework. But, then they started talking about ordering food and I got so hungry that I decided to head home and make myself some dinner. When I got home I made Trader Joe's Sweet and Sour Chicken with Jasmine rice. After eating, I remembered that my friends, Pete and Will, were performing at a bar on the Lower East Side at Arlene's Grocery. I figured that I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to see my friends perform in New York City and decided to write my essay later. They performed from around 11 to midnight. We got free t-shirts and kazoos and had a great time laughing, listening to music, and just enjoying ourselves. By the time I got home, it was around 1 or 1:30am and I still hadn't written my response essay. So, I sat down and started writing for about an hour. (I knew I would have hours today to add more and edit the essay.) I got everything down that I needed to and hopped in bed.

Today (Wednesday):

I had to wake up at 8:15am because I had my 9:30am art history class this morning. It was so hard to get out of bed and stay awake in class because I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night. But, I made it through and walked back home after. I took an hour long nap and then finished writing my essay before my 3pm Drama in Performance class. Class was great, of course, and I was able to contribute a good amount to the discussion. When I got back to the apartment after class, I started writing this entry for all of you. I haven't done any homework yet, but that will happen in about 30 minutes. In the middle of writing this blog post I was invited by Emma and our friend Emily to go out to dinner. I got chicken, mashed potatoes, and a salad. I really needed some good comfort food. Now I am back in the apartment, sitting in the living room, looking at our christmas lights and goose lamp, and trying to convince myself to start my work.

Well, that was a LONG entry and sort of difficult to remember everything that happened in the past week, but I'm glad I can keep you all updated on my life here in New York City. As much as I love it in NY, I'm excited to go off on a new adventure next semester. New York can get a little crazy, wild, and stressful for me...but for now, I'm having some fun times, meeting people, and creating good memories. (I will try to post more often from now on.)

Love you and miss you.

Love Always,

Jess