The Rock Tour

A few weeks ago I made this video from pictures and short clips we took while on a tour in the Red Centre. Near the end of our time in Australia, Katie, Diana, Angela and I flew out to Alice Springs and joined a tour group to Uluru. We camped under the stars and did a lot of hiking. The video is a little long, around 15 mins because I originally made it as a memento for those of us who went on the trip. Eventually I'll be making another one with stuff from the entire trip.

Senior Year

This past Wednesday was the last first day of college that I will ever have. So far everything is off to a fantastic start. Already I'm way more stressed/busy than I ever was in Australia, but I still have really high spirits and I'm extremely excited for the semester.

My class schedule isn't too taxing. I'm taking five classes, although most of them aren't in my major. To fulfill an art history requirement, I'm taking a class called Perspectives in the Creative Arts. Although it's mostly about 2D and 3D art, I think it's going to be a valuable class. I think the class will help sharpen my artistic eye, which will be helpful for directing. We are even going to get to create three different projects.

The worst part of my schedule is my Astronomy class. It meets everyday and we've got a 2 hour lab once a week. Science is not my cup of tea and apparently this class is full of math. . . another not-so-strong point of mine. Luckily another senior theatre major is taking the class as well, so hopefully that will make the class a little more bearable. I am kind of excited to get to look through the telescope.

One of the coolest classes I'm taking is Video Editing. (Which reminds me, I haven't posted the link to my video yet. It should be coming soon.) I'm hoping this class will help me improve my video editing skills and help me decide if this is something I'm interested in pursuing.

My two theatre classes are Stage Movement 3 and Stage Management. Unfortunately, I might have to drop the Stage Management class because we are required to SM a show this semester and I really don't think I'm going to have the time. I was really excited for Movement because that class usually puts on a performance, but I guess we aren't going to this year. Melli always has really good classes so I'm sure it will be awesome anyway.

Katie and I finally (after 3 years!) have a class together. We are taking a Spanish class which is based on experimental/avant garde poetry/literature/music, etc. The professor is Argentinean and doesn't speak much English. I have little trouble understand her, but I have the worst time attempting to communicate myself. I'm hoping Katie will be able to help me struggle through. It's my last Spanish class I need to get the minor.

I'm also working as a Lab Assistant again. I tried to cut back on the amount of hours I'm working, but I also want to make sure I'm making some money. The job isn't bad, especially because I can do homework most of the time.

The majority of my time is going be taken up by my senior project. The cast list for the main stages go up on Monday so I'm going to hold my own auditions sometime next week. I'm a little nervous, because I'm not super confident in my directing abilities. I'm really passionate about the play though.

My living situation is still going great. We are all a little messy and since we are all so busy the place has been a bit of a disaster. Tomorrow is going to be cleaning day. Luckily my job is mowing the lawn, which I don't mind doing. We also have some new additions to our household. Amanda originally had a little bunny but had to return it because her boyfriend was allergic. She now has a little guinea pig. I decided to get two little gerbils. I haven't really named them yet, because honestly I can't tell them apart. I just call them 'my girls'.

It's going to be a crazy busy semester, as usually. I'm having a really great time meeting the new first years, reconnecting with old friends and taking advantage of all the opportunities I can.

New Beginnings

It's been a little over a month since I left Australia. The trip home went fairly well, although people got noticeably ruder once we arrived in San Francisco. It took awhile to get re-adjusted to simple things. Light switches, flushes on toilets, traffic direction. And of course I had jet lag for several days.

It was good to be home, but it quickly got boring. I was happy when I had the chance to go down to Indy for the weekend and then shortly after that we left for our family vacation to Michigan. I really love Conger family vacations. I feel really lucky that we get the opportunity to spend time with our grandparents and cousins on a fairly regular basis.

While on vacation, I got an offer for a part in an Indy Fringe show. The play is rather strange and my part is small, but I jumped at the chance to have something to do. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to move into my house until the 15th, so I've been spending the past couple of days at Jeff's house. My second day in Indy, my new MacBook Pro arrived, which has provided me with hours of entertainment. I LOVE my new computer. Of course I stayed up way too late, playing with imovie and now have a sinus infection. I hope I can get rid of it before school starts.

Tonight I was able to move into my house early. I haven't unpacked much yet, aside from kitchen items. The house is a lot older than I remembered, but it's a good size and the landlord is really nice and helpful. This year I'm living with Katie (again) and two theatre majors, Shivani and Amanda. I think (hope!) that we will all get along well.

My plan is to try and keep this blog updated throughout the year. So be sure to check back periodically. I'd like to update at least once a month and I'll probably write more often when I need to procrastinate :)

My original intent was to post the video I made. . . but for some reason the music is a little off. Once I fix that I'll post it ASAP