The New York Adventure

My trip started at 2am on Thursday morning, when I went to the bus station in Madison. After a few busses, planes, and shuttles, I arrived at my hostel. I ended up in a room with 2 British girls and a Japanese girl. I just crashed Thursday night, as I had gotten very little sleep the night before.
On Friday, I had my audition. They taught us a combination before we went in, and then we were thrown to the dogs. The company director, a few teachers from the school, and a couple company members were all present. With all those people there, it seemed like it would be a pretty big deal. But turns out, it totally wasn't. First, we stood in a line. Then, we walked. Yes, walked. On the beat. Then, we did leaps, just one pass across the floor. Then they made a cut, and sent everyone above about 5'3'' home. Awesome. So my first big audition, and I lasted a grand total of 10 minutes. But it wasn't cause I was a bad dancer, or because I'm super fat, or anything else. It was just because I was too tall for the spot they were looking to fill. So I didn't make it, but it was a good experience, I guess.
I spent the rest of the day hanging out in NYC, one of my favorite things. I just wandered around, drank hot chocolate in a million different Starbucks, looked in a million stores without buying anything. It was great. I also went to the modern art museum, which was cool. I like to call myself an artist, and it was interesting to see how much a baby artist I am compared to the amazing artists on display at the museum. I had no idea what almost any of the pieces meant or represented. It was good to see some real mastery of art, sometimes in all the work that as a goal gets lost.
The next day, I spent some time at an international food festival, 20 blocks of food, cheap clothes, advertising booths, and random other stuff. There were 10 minute massages, face painting, crappy jewelry. It was awesome. Thai food for $1, and roasted corn on the cob: yum.
I also saw a dance show, the company Momix. You can see them in Hanes commercial now-adays. It was a sweet show, lit all in blacklight, with some super cool eye tricks from the costumes and the lighting. Amazing stuff you can do when only half the body is visible. Plus, it was a family matinee, and the 400 kids in the audience with me were so amazed the whole time. Every trick that would be cool to normal people was just the coolest thing ever to these kids.
On Saturday night I went to the show Avenue Q. It's a musical, but half the characters are puppets. It was pretty good, really really funny. There was tons of "stuff" in it, like they grappled with practically every social issue at some point in the show. A little overwhelming after a while. It wasn't my favorite show I've ever seen, but I enjoyed it none-the-less.
My trip back was long and arduous, consisting of sitting in countless public transportation hubs. I ended being awake for about 36 hours straight, as I don't sleep well on busses or airplanes. That wasn't all that bad, until I woke up on Monday morning with the plague. I've had a fever for a day now, and can't stop coughing. Wierd, as I had pretty much no close human contact the entire weekend.
I really had fun, though. I didn't get a job, but I got to hang out in one of my very favorite places all by myself with nothing to do but just enjoy myself. I got to walk and walk, sit and stare at all the people going by, see some great art and fun shows. I got some alone time (which I'm always in need of). And I made it through my first big audition without being super upset about not getting it. A wonderful adventure overall.