Reflection Week #5

This week went by surprisingly fast. I thought that with rehearsals for the play, all of my work, and likely not much sleep, the week would stretch out into oblivion. But, I was wrong. We did have a lot of rehearsals (something every night) but since we were basically done with refining everything, we were simply running the show and bonding as a cast and crew. Honestly, this week was probably one of my best yet.

Sunday's rehearsal was long, but afterwards I was able to get back and read all about oil. I'll admit, I was not looking forward to the reading as I thought it would be dry and long, but it ended up being very interesting. Even though the reading gave historical examples, I was able to think about it in the context of modern day and tied it together with conflict in the Middle East. Since there's so much oil in that region of the world, it's interesting to think about different extremist groups trying to take power in that region because with oil comes power, as we've learned from the article. Once we got to class on Monday and were discussing the piece within our small blog groups, I felt engaged and was able to offer insight on the topic.

The next days passed in a blur of me being the master procrastinator that I am at times and fairly productive at others, and soon enough it was the night before our opening show. I struggled through Locke's article, my mind not really being in it, thinking about all that I needed to do before we performed so that I could relax afterwards. Luckily, I was able to accomplish what I needed to on Thursday and opening night went extremely well! I would even argue it was the best of all our shows. Everyone in the cast and crew was hyped and ready to go, and with a full house we fed off the audience and put all of our energy into the performance. I was so happy with how we did, and continued to feel fulfilled when I came back and bonded with some of the other people on my floor.

Our next shows went perfectly fine, but with smaller audiences they simply weren't as good as our first one. After our final show, I realized how close I had grown to some of the members of the cast and how happy I was to be with them. Finding this new community that I fit in with so well has really helped to make me feel like a true AU student, and I can't wait to continue building those relationships!