Death of a Salesman and last day of classes!

4.27.08
I made my theatre professor cry. I made Daina, my director, tear up. There is no better satisfaction for an actress than when you can make people cry. Pretty much, performing scenes from Death of a Salesman went really well. My theatre professor came up to me afterwards and said, “You know, Daina told me you were going to be great, but I didn’t realize how great you would actually be. It was spectacular.” Other kids also performed scenes from Raisin in the Sun, and they went right before us. At first, I was pretty nervous because I knew they would be a tough act to beat, but we definitely were up to par. There are a few reasons why I’m particularly excited/relieved that it went so well: 1. We only had three rehearsals, the last one being at noon the day of our performance 2. None of the rehearsals went very well 3. My part was a serious role, which I am less comfortable doing in the first place and therefore get more nervous about 4. I couldn’t even really practice outside of rehearsal on my own because my theatre professor kept taking my script from me after each rehearsal to “make copies” but would forget to give it back to me 5. It’s been a really long past few weeks and I’m pretty exhausted and worn-out from theatre (which in turn ended up working well for my character). Unfortunately, I do NOT have this one recorded. I’m out of tape to record on, and Melanie’s camera ran out of battery. However, the memory is enough. Christine (my roomie) said she was sitting next to two professors, and as they were leaving, they kept saying, “Oh wasn’t she just wonderful? She was so fabulous. She was just so good.” Considering I’m the only female character in the show, we assumed they were talking about me. I’ve had tons of people come up to me to tell me what a good job I did, and it wasn’t just the fake ‘you’re all so good’ bs, a lot of it was very sincere. Dave, the kid from Berkeley who I’ve gotten to know through Meghan, Kate and Amanda, was genuinely impressed, and I know he has a lot of background in theatre and whatnot so I really appreciated hearing that from him. Also, people still come up to me and tell me how much they liked me in the last show too. A lot of kids and adults keep saying that they pretty much watched me the entire time and couldn’t stop laughing. Ok, so I’m done with my little ego trip now.
In other news, today is the last day of classes. YAY! Yippee! Tomorrow is the last global studies exam, and I’m currently debating whether or not I’m actually going to study for it. They’re dropping our lowest test grade, so when I figure out my average I’m getting a B in the class; it’s just a matter of a + or – so I’m not sure I care enough between the differentiation. The following day is a study day before our A class day exams. I have archaeology and poetry. I’m not worried about poetry; it shouldn’t take too long to study and I already have a good group of kids to study with. I’m a little worried about archaeology bc I didn’t do so hot on the first exam, but I have done well enough in her class otherwise that as long as I do study for a bit I should be able to pull off a B. Then we have another study day before our B class day exams. Those two exams I will probably have to put a little more effort into my studying. Theatre shouldn’t be too hard but we will have to write four short essays, so I just need to make sure I review all of the necessary material and notes so I have enough to bs about. Art and Econ is probably my hardest class and I will have to study for her exam, but I still think I should do pretty well in all of my classes. I mean, it’s not going to be all A’s, but when you’re traveling around the world I feel that a few B’s are justifiable. Then we arrive in Costa Rica for Saturday and Sunday. I’m not really sure what I’m doing there, but my guess is that it will include shopping, walking around, and hopefully some hiking. After Costa Rica, it’s only four more days till we arrive in Miami! Those four days are all for ‘relaxation’ and ‘reflection’ though, so no more work! Our arrival day in Miami is going to be a very long and tedious process, but I’m not too worried. We found out what order we get to get off the ship: they’re dismissing us by seas (you know, like for Sea Olympics…it’s the cabins near you), which is good news because most of my friends are in my sea. And my friends who aren’t in my sea are in seas that are getting dismissed around the same time I will, so I should be able to spend my last day with the people I like most! Our sea is getting off third to last, but you know what—at least we’re not last. Or even second to last.
I guess I have mixed feelings about coming home. Well, sort of mixed feelings. Mixed in the sense that I do really miss home and can’t wait to see everyone again, but at the same time I know that I only have TEN MORE DAYS on this ship and that I’ll be home for the entire summer. I am trying really hard to cherish the last two weeks I have on the ship, because I know come mid-summer I’m going to wish I was back on deck 7 laying out with Christine or watching Disney movies with Thomas and Grant or even, yep I’ll admit it, even in a theatre rehearsal for another show to perform on the ship. I won’t miss the food; today was Taco Day, which is pretty much a holiday on this ship. You’d think they starved us here looking at the way kids scarf down the food, myself included. It’s not even that good for Mexican food, and eating it today made me realize that in about ten days I will be able to get real, delicious tex mex! I won’t miss losing an hour of my day almost every other day. I won’t miss a good chunk of the student body around here, but there’s a good group of people that I really will miss…including some of the faculty and most of the awesome crew!
We had the Ambassador’s Ball on Friday night; I know, I thought it was tonight, but alas it has already passed. It was definitely random to have it Friday considering we still had classes yesterday and today, but it was a lot of fun. I got all dressed up; Christine even straightened my hair, which is soooo ridiculously long now, by the way! Christine and Tea decided not to go to it, so I sat at dinner with Meghan, Amanda, and Kate. It was delicious: a fancy sit down dinner where we got a glass of champagne, two glasses of wine, and chicken parmesan. After dinner we headed upstairs for a dessert buffet, which was equally as good. I ended up losing the three of them in the dessert craziness when I found Amy, Thomas and Grant (oh, no worries, I have a picture with them in their green and orange suits. They were definitely the ‘bells of the ball’…I don’t think there’s one person who didn’t get a picture with the two of them! Though, another kid did have a yellow suit, and some kids sported Japanese/Chinese silk suits or saris…). After dessert, we headed in to the ‘dance’, which was pretty lame [just bad rap music and stupid drunk kids grinding—like a frat party but ten times worse because the attendance was so weak and me and my friends were definitely not drunk]. So Amy and I peaced out to join the much cooler oldies dance party in the faculty/staff lounge with all of the professors. That’s where the real party was! It was so awesome rocking out to “Walking on Sunshine” with the Dean. When else am I going to have the opportunity to dance with my professors? When we first got up, only a few professors were dancing and then a small group of students were having fun dancing, but we made sure to change it up. We all dragged the professors onto the floor, and before you knew it the place was packed! Within a few hours, tons more kids joined the party. The dance ended at about midnight, and I had no desire to check out pub night; I went to bed. It was a very nice evening. They had tons of different events all night that I didn’t get a chance to go to either: there was live music performed by students, karaoke, and one or two other events as well. A lot of kids were ridiculously wasted (courtesy of sneaking on alcohol from Hawaii), but the kids I hung out with were all fine. Apparently the drunk kids were a little destructive and did some damage on the ship—throwing up in the hallways, ripping down cabin door signs, breaking a light or two. It was pretty pathetic. Of course, we got another letter sent out telling us how irresponsible and whatnot it was, blah blah blah. The sad part was that they’re taking out money raised from Students of Service (which benefits the different countries we’ve visited, and helps provides scholarships and funds to future voyagers who are less fortunate) to pay for the damages, which cost about $1000, unless students come forward and admit they did the damage themselves. It’s pretty disappointing. In our slight defense, we are college kids and drunk college kids always amounts to some amount of vandalism, so the ridiculously harsh letter was a little unnecessary. I do understand, however, that living on this ship is different circumstances and maintenance is very different (especially when you really get to know the crew and know the people who have to clean up after us every day); kids really should have been more respectful and less stupid. Disappointing but I guess not very surprising. Well that about sums up the last few days or so. I will probably update by blog after Costa Rica and maybe one or two more times before I get home. Then that’ll be the end! No more adventures around the world. Aw sad : (