My apologizes

First of all let me apologize to Grammie for not updating on the blog when I said I would months ago! Life has been pretty hectic and although it has slowed down considerably, it is about to pick back up again.

I also just noticed that my last post was in January so I have a lot to catch everyone up on. Let me just say that this has been an awesome first year of college! I couldn't be happier!! I finished off the year with a 3.7 GPA, all A's and a couple B's. My study habits and work ethic toward school have improved immensely since high school. I actually really enjoy being a student. My boyfriend and I are both feeling weird and out of place being back in Little Rock without any homework deadlines or tests to cram for. We are both complete nerds!!

After dropping my French major during the fall I picked up another major this spring. I am now a double major in Drama and Classical Studies. Classical Studies is the study of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations through language and literature. This spring I took intro to Philosophy which was one of my favorite classes and in the fall I begin to take my ancient Greek language classes. I can't wait!

This spring has been stressful but great. While taking Biological Anthropology, Algebra, Philosophy, Acting I, and Stage Technology II, I also spent most of my time being the assistant stage manager for our spring musical, West Side Story. My responsibilities included opening and closing the theater every night, being at all rehearsals (6 days a week, 4 hours a day), taking blocking and line notes, keeping time and attendance, and taking care of any injuries or other problems. Those are the main things a stage manager has to do. But because I was the assistant I also had other responsibilities. During the show I sat backstage and was in charge of the stage hands and fly crew, which meant anything that flew on to or off the stage and any of the scenery that moved onstage was directed/choreographed by me.
This is a picture of the stage hands and me. The things that we are sitting on are the set pieces that they moved during the show. And they moved a lot! The show turned out a great success and the show was big enough that it wasn't performed on campus but instead at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. It was an extremely stressful but very rewarding experience. Next year I plan to audition for the shows and not just do tech work although I love it.

At the end of every school year the drama department hosts the annual Gala. It is like drama prom without the dancing. Everyone dresses up, looks at all the designs for the theater season, a slide show of pictures from the year, and they give the awards for the season. I was nominated for best stage management for Danny and the Deep Blue Sea but it went to my friend Rachel who was the stage manager for West Side Story.
This is a picture of my friend Kathryn, who is my roommate next year, and I at the restaurant after the Gala. It was a really fun night. After the Gala all that was left was final exams, packing, and hanging with my crew in Fayetteville. Finals went smoothly and packing only took me a few hours so all that was left was my buddies. We had a great last night together hanging out and at 2 in the morning we had a water balloon war! It was awesome!

My boyfriend surprised me the next day by coming up and helping me move out! It was very nice of him. After finally getting home and boxes taking up most of my room, needless to say I fell asleep.

The next day I spent catching up with Jeremy since I hadn't seen him in a few weeks. Since we have a long distance relationship it is usually 2 to 4 weeks between the times I get to see him. He cooked me an awesome lunch and as we were making beignets we started to have a flour fight.



You can see the flour on our shirts and faces. Jeremy then went to California for a week to visit a friend so I spent the week hanging with family and catching up with all my friends from high school. This week I have spent with my family and Jeremy. In just a couple of weeks Jeremy will be a Residential Assistant at Arkansas Governor's School where David will be a theater student for 6 weeks in Conway. David is very excited about that since he looks up to Jeremy. He has stated many times how much he can't wait to play Risk or Star Wars/Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit with Jeremy while at AGS.

My summer on the other hand will be spent a little differently. I will be taking two summer classes at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, World Literature and US History. The first one starts next week. Funny thing is that I will be taking the US History class from the same teacher I had in high school. But that class isn't until July. Also starting next week is my job at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. I will be working on the lighting crew on their summer musical The Full Monty which runs from June 8th until July 1st. I will begin rehearsals at night and I will have a class in the morning. It will be a full day. Fortunately the History class that starts in July will be after my job is over and it will be online so that will free up some more time to spend with people. I guess that about sums it up. Tonight I am going to see the band Smash Mouth at Riverfest with Jeremy which will be fun.

I hope everything is going well with everyone and I am sorry again for taking so long!! Have a great summer everyone!!

Love,
Lauren