Audition Extravaganza Rounds 1 & 2

I was originally going to post these separately but life got in the way this week...yeah. I need another nap. Because so many people have said "Let me know how it goes!" and to save my thumbs from injury by sending out that many text messages, I thought I'd blog my auditioning adventures.

Last weekend I made the trek out to Chicago to audition at Northwestern University. I took a red eye flight on Friday morning (I do NOT recommend this...blech!) and sat next to the most wonderful woman. She asked me how I was getting to the university and I told her I had no idea. Turns out she was renting a car and driving to Evanston to see her family and she offered me a ride. We chatted like old friends and by the end of the flight we were BFF. Her rental car fell through so we shared a cab driven by an Albanian immigrant...in a snowstorm...I was afraid for my life...

Anyway, a picture's worth a thousand words so instead of telling you how pretty the campus is...

I know, right?! I can totally see myself here. I loved the town too. It's about a half hour outside of Chicago (unless your Albanian cab driver decides to "avoid traffic" and take all backroads...). Evanston is your typical university town. So cute! It was an adventure. I stayed in a little hotel about a 10 minute walk from the school of music. And when I say it was a 10 minute walk, it was literally a walk up the street and I was at the school of music. Good choice, right? It was SUPER cold (coming from the girl who survived the winter from you-know-where in Sweden...) so I hung out in my hotel room A LOT. I was warming up in my room the morning of my audition (and when I say morning I mean 11:00) thinking that it was the middle of the day so I wouldn't be bothering anyone. I'm justified in thinking that, right? Because at like 11:45 I got a knock on the door and it was the hotel manager telling me that she had gotten some complaints about noise...seriously?! Because it's the middle of the day and I assumed normal people would be out and about...did I disturb naptime or something? Oh well. I guess you're not a singer until someone complains about you at a hotel...

Anyway, the audition went well. I was able to meet with a few of the professors the day before, which I totally recommend. It was awesome to see some familiar faces in that audition room. I feel pretty good about my performance and was actually kind of bummed when it was all over. You know that feeling you get when your birthday is over? That's a little how I felt.

Oh my gosh and coming home...I had no idea how to get to the airport from Evanston using public transportation and I had to check out of my hotel at noon (seriously, my flight didn't leave until 9:45) so I wandered around Evanston with my little suitcase for a while. Found a library and played with my computer a little. Anyway, I talked to the clerk at the hotel and was able to get a ride to the airport. I asked if they had like a shuttle and she was like, "Sure, when do you want to leave?" So I set up the "shuttle" and come 6:00 I found out that the "shuttle" was actually two African American guys and  Lincoln Towncar. I didn't know if I should've been scared. I guess the hotel uses them pretty frequently so I probably didn't need to worry so much. I couldn't understand a word either one of them said...it was a dialect I've never even heard before. I may need to look into that if I end up at Northwestern...

Speaking of familiar faces, today I auditioned for ASU's grad program. I have to admit there is a huge part of me that wants to stay at ASU just because it's territory I already know. I don't do well with change and it was so comfortable...must resist the urge to avoid change...I felt really good about things today, except for the part where I spit and had it dribbling down my chin for the rest of my song...ç'est la vie...oh and the part where I choked on my own spit. But whatever. I sang well and gave a good representation of myself which is what these auditions are really about. Stay tuned for more adventures! I've got three more and I'm so excited! Next week is UCLA!