The other blog entries are essentially photo entries, but I am having a hard time getting text in a way that looks nice. I actually like the look of a string of photos with very little text in between. But maybe I will push out and try to put some of this text into the photo entries as well. I want to start this entry by saying that I have done other group/ class tours of places, and this one was by far the most fun and interesting. I really expected to go to NYC and not be particularly impressed (that seems a little silly now... that city is impressive by definition) but I expected to feel uncomfortably small in such a big city. I thought I might find myself nervous of the crowds and get upset by rude people or streets that smell bad. I love Milwaukee, but I consider myself a bit of a small town girl, I certainly grew up in the middle of nowhere and Milwaukee is the first city I have ever really explored. So I thought I would not like New York, that I would enjoy visiting but be relieved to leave. But I wasn't, I just wanted more. I wanted to stay there longer and explore more... and lets be honest I wanted to eat more. There is so much interesting food in that city!
But the city its self was not the only reason I loved this trip. The first amazing part of it was the focus on theater. If I had traveled to New York on my own or with my family, we would have seen one, maybe two plays, and they would probably have been Off-Off Broadway shows, which don't get me wrong I think a lot of new and interesting stuff is going on outside of Broadway and I would like to plan another trip for myself focused around more alternative destinations, but this trip I got to do and see things big Broadway performances I would not have been able to otherwise. The other, and actually more inspiring part was all of the tours we did. It made the trip personal and relate able. I think everyone learned a thing or two about the importance of staying in touch with people, you never know who is going to open doors later on :). I know it is not always a sure thing, but it was amazing how informative and useful talking to everyone was, and I liked being exposed to a lot of aspects or theater, for example I have never really thought about producing and how people get there. Although I would not say no to an all tech trip, I thought the variety of backgrounds and interests that we explored and that the group showed was really interesting and really added to the trip.
The group of people we went with was another thing that I thought worked quite well. It wasn't perfect, 24 people is a lot to haul around and expect everyone to get along, but I thought there was enough variation that I was able to both strengthen old friendships and start some new ones. I new a lot of the actors by face, and some by name, but it was really cool to get to know them a little better. And it was great to spend some quality time traveling and doing things other then stressing out about studio with. I was sure to have new people to get to know and old people who had similar interests to mine. I am going to say this very carefully, because I know the arguments on both sides, but it worked really well for me to choose who to room with. I am often awkward, and especially because we were sharing a bed, it helped to know the other person.
What else can I tell you about my experience in NYC. It was a trip that had I the money and the time I would do again in a second, and it is a city I am very interested in doing again on my own/ with friends. It was not perfect, but it was damn close, so I want to thank you Pam and Raleen from the bottom of my heart for such an amazing trip. I know you both worked very hard to make it happen, and you both did an AMAZING job!
