Home for the Holidays!!!

December is always a fun month. How could it not be, with Christmas approaching? Family, friends, food, fun (the 4Fs), holidays and presents…. The list goes on and on. But, of course, with the 4 nice Fs, comes the one nasty one…FINALS.

Finals are no fun. Who wants to stay up late at night studying algorithms or memorizing the Greek alphabet? (Fun fact, I don’t have to do either of those things, but they sound like the most terrible things to have on an exam, so that’s why I mentioned them).

But in order to have holidays, we have to suffer through exam week first…and that is a sad essential in our university lives.

Seeing as holidays are much much much more fun to think about than finals, I chose to write today’s blog post about packing for the holidays instead of discussing finals. I mean…everyone needs some assistance when you’re planning on going home, whether its five minutes away by car or 48 hours away by plane (that’s how far my home is, but I’m not going back to Malaysia this Christmas).

One of the problems about packing is the fact that the majority of us are not going to be back in Iowa for a month. Not only must we pack everything we need, but we also need to make sure that our belongings left behind are not covered in dust when we return! (Ewwww….)

Now I recognize that packing lists change for everyone, especially being different for long-distance travellers as opposed to short-distance ones. Also, if you’re going to stay with your parents, you probably already have a toothbrush at home that you can use as opposed to staying with family friends, where you would probably have to bring your own toothbrush or buy a new one. So this packing list won’t be applicable to everyone, but I think everyone knows that they have to bring clothes. (Lame, I know, sorry…it sounds more funny out loud, I promise…).

Emily’s Packing List for Christmas Break 2018

1. Clothes. (Duh!)
   But pick clothes based on the location that you’re going to. So if you’re going to sunny Malaysia or something, bring shorts and T-shirts. Bring one pair of winter clothes for coming back, but pack based on the weather that you’re going into!If you’re going home, you probably don’t need that many clothes. So just bring along your favourites. But if you’re going some place else on vacation, then you should pack more. It also depends on laundry. If you have a chance to do laundry, great! You can pack less. Also remember that you want to bring stuff back, which means that you should leave some space in your luggage for those Christmas presents and souvenirs….
2. Makeup and jewellery. (For girls, mostly!)
   Okay, so we’re going into the Christmas season! Tons of parties, hangouts, celebrations etc. Everyone wants to look their best! Pick your favourites and go from there. Remember, you don’t want to make your bag too heavy, so be sparse with your choices.
3. Books
   Not everyone is an avid a reader as I am, so books may not be placed in a very high priority on your list. But my book list isn’t only my fun-reading novels, but also schoolbooks for next semester. (Now I just sound like a nerd. I’m not! Honest!). You might want to get a head-start on all those readings. But then again, if you aren’t sure whether your professor really wants you to use all those books, maybe you should refrain from ordering them too early. Your choice…
4. Hobby Stuff
   Everyone has different hobbies and passions. For me, because I’ll be taking dance classes at a ballet studio near my aunt’s house, I had to pack my leotards, tights, dance shoes and hair stuff. For people who want to do sports over break, they should bring their sneakers and sports clothes and so on. You know best for your own activities…I can’t give advice to a football player…I’ve never played football. Soccer yes, football no. (Those different American words are really tripping me up…)
5. Hygiene Stuff
   Again this is dependent on whether or not you’re going home home, but everyone needs their deodorant, perfume, toothbrush and paste, razor etc. Just make sure you have them wherever you’re going and you’re good to go!

Now one of the more frustrating things about leaving was the things I left behind. I’m sure everyone has a whole ton of stuff in their dorm rooms, but because no one is going to be in their dorms for a month, dust collects. Seeing as all our clothes spaces are open-air, I had to put them all in plastic bags to prevent clothes from becoming dusty. I also took down all the clothes that I had hung up, put them on my bed and spread a towel over them. I put as much of my belongings into the drawers in the desk; those that could not fit ended up covered in another towel on my desk.

Piece of advice: buy plastic covers at Target or Walmart.

This blog post seems to be getting longer and longer, but I should really stop here. I’m sure my ramblings are not exactly what you are interested on reading when Christmas is almost upon us! But for those of you who still have exams, good luck and all the best!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Ho, ho, ho…

Emily

The First Snow

Coming from Malaysia, I haven’t experienced seasons like the four here in the United States. In fact, we don’t have fluctuating times for the sun to rise and set. Back where I’m from, the sun rises at seven in the morning and regularly sets around seven or eight at night. So when the sun set at five in the evening yesterday, I was shocked. When I’d originally come in August, the sun was still shining at nine at night!

To add to the strange weather that I’m trying to get used to, we had the first snow today! It was magical, there was no other word for it!

The cast of Iphigenia came out of our performance and were shocked to discover that while we’d been in the David Thayer Theater, it had started snowing! Some of us were upset about the snow; snow equals cold. But some of us, including myself and one of the other soldiers, Jose, were extremely excited! We even ran out into the snow wearing nothing but our costumes: a T-shirt, cargo pants with holes on the sides and a loose button-up shirt! Jose was barefoot and I was wearing loose slippers that provided less warmth than socks!

For the next ten minutes, I was as giddy as a five-year-old about the snow. Before we left the Theater Building, some of us cast members ran outside in the snow and threw small bits of snow that we gathered off benches and dustbins at each other. The mock mini snowball fight was the first I’d had in six years! Jose had never even seen snow before! We were so excited, we definitely looked and sounded NUTS.

On the walk back to my residence hall, I kept stopping to take pictures. Part of the thrill of being in Iowa is the changing seasons; I’m so excited that it’s actually snowing in November! I can’t wait till the snow sticks and we can have a proper snowball fight. It’s thrilling that for the next four years at least, snow will be a regular part of my life. Even though other Iowa residents seem to have become accustomed to and even bored or annoyed the snow, I don’t think I ever will be. Snow is magical…like our Nutcracker Snow piece that my Ballet Pointe class will perform at the end of the semester. ;D

Christmas is coming…and I’m gonna build a snowman! Wanna join me?

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…. Premature because Thanksgiving has yet to come, I know!

Happy holidays!

Emily

Freebies!!!

Since coming to Iowa City, I have discovered how exciting the arts scene is here. If you’ve had the good fortune of having read my previous blog posts (hint, hint), you might be aware that in the three short months that I have been here, I attended over ten live readings at Prairie Lights Bookstore, watched several performances and productions, both hosted by and in collaboration with the University of Iowa and watched at least six events hosted by the Englert Theatre thanks to participating in the Honors: The Green Room course.

Just this weekend, I have been extremely lucky to participate in two free dance workshops and to have watched an amazing dance performance by the Ailey II dance company that stopped in Iowa City for about 24 hours before continuing with their tour. All of that was free! And AMAZING!!!

The first workshop was a contact improvisation masterclass led by Heidi Henderson, the artistic director of elephant JANE dance. Seven dancers, a combination of undergraduate and graduate students, attended and it was so much fun just letting loose and trying to dance the most ridiculous duets we could ever create. Seeing as dance is so much about perfection and looking our best all the time, it was wonderful to be able to dance without caring about being picture perfect all the time.

Three of the Ailey II dance company members, Corrin, Amarachi and Leo, taught us the second masterclass, on the same day as their performance at the Englert Theatre. I was one of the nine dancers there; two of them were even from a neighbouring university! The coolest part about the workshop was that we learned parts of the repertoire choreography, both those included in the live show and some “retired” ones. We even got to put together parts of their choreography in our own pieces that we performed in front of one another; it was very fun to show our individualism in the set choreography.

The Ailey II performance that night was fantastic. There were twelve dancers, all extremely muscular, lean and athletic in their dancing. The pieces that they were performing were extremely varied in choreography, emotions, partnership, costumes and so on. During the first few dances, the majority of the partnered dancing consisted of men with men or women with women. I found it very different from the norm and very liberating. The last piece consisted of more traditional partnering, but the dancing was so fast, clean and precise that it didn’t feel boring; the grins on their faces the entire time were so infectious!

Although participating in so many workshops and watching the Ailey II dance production in addition to the two Iphigenia musical shows that I had to perform put me behind on my homework, but it was definitely worth it. The theatre was crowded with the excited Iowa community, including many of my fellow dance majors at the university and professors!

And now…I gotta go and finish that homework that I neglected. I have an exam this week and two papers due… busy times.

Till next time! 🙂

Emily

Okay, here is my semi-shameless self-promotion for Iphigenia Point Blank, a film opera, and the first production that I have been cast in at the University of Iowa. But, hey, a girl has a right to celebrate, right?

All jokes aside, the University of Iowa is a wonderful place where hundreds of productions are performed every year. Just in the past week, I watched Dance Gala (choreographed by the Dance Department and a guest artist and performed by both Graduate and Undergraduate Dance students), Love Bird was performed (by the Theatre Department), followed by the upcoming Pastoral Play (also by the Theatre Department) and Iphigenia (by the combined efforts of Dance and Theatre). These performances are far from the last this year, there are so many more to come! The best thing is that these shows are either free or cost only $5 for University of Iowa students; as someone who loves the arts, Iowa is an incredible revenue for a wide variety of productions.

For the last month, every single day from 7pm to 10pm, sometimes 11pm, the Iphigenia Point Blank ensemble cast has been rehearsing the musical for our upcoming performances from November 1 to 11. Although it has been exhausting at times (look below for a photo of “Dead Fish” Faces of Dhari and me!) it has been a fabulous experience and a really fun time. The musicians, actors and dancers are not only incredibly talented, but are also super fun to be around. All of us have bonded; some of my new friends have driven me home after late-night rehearsals, which is extremely kind of them to do so.

Iphigenia Point Blank is a film opera directed by Marion Schoevaert and choreographed by George de la Pena (assisted by Graduate student Jeremy Cline and the rest of us dancers); the film was created by Irina Patkanian and the music composed by Kinan Asmeh. It is a 90-minute theatrical production about the refugee crisis, seen through the eyes of the Iphigenia myth. The musical follows Iphigenia, a teenaged girl, and other women and children, tangled up in the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the journeys they travelled to escape danger and the tales they carry with them.

And now, after that introduction…please come and watch the fruits of our hard work! Iphigenia is on in the David Thayer Theatre in the University of Iowa Building from November 1 to 11. Buy a $5 ticket…and bring a friend!

Hope you enjoy the show….

Let’s break a leg!

Wow, okay, disclaimer before we start this post. When I arrived in Iowa this August to start international student orientation, it was my first time being at the university in person. I know that quite a few of my readers visited or will visit Iowa before making your decision about which university to go to, but my choice was based on reviews, websites, emails with some faculty members and basically my gut.

So when I say that these dance auditions for the prospective incoming freshmen wanting to major/minor in dance next year were exciting for them, they were even more thrilling for me because I got to experience the auditions without the stress of wondering if I got in!

Members of the undergraduate dance organization, led by Alyssa Simpson and assisted by Erin Evans, were in charge of running the undergraduate auditions, making sure that the day ran smoothly. (The professors were the ones judging the applicants, but UDO was responsible for ensuring that the auditions progressed as they should). Our jobs varied from setting up the registration desk to checking in the auditionees in the morning, calling out numbers for the solo auditions, managing music, filming dances, selling dance department merchandise and answering questions from interested parents. I ended up helping with registration and desk duty, in between dance and academic classes that day; I can say with conviction that that Wednesday was the busiest day I’ve had in Iowa yet!

 

The auditionees were divided into two groups, one consisting of the BFAs and one consisting of the BAs and Minors. One group did the Modern Dance portion of the auditions first while the other did the Ballet. After that, most of the auditionees had a break while those attempting to get the ICA Scholarship performed their solos in the Gym. Then everyone had an hour off for lunch, followed by a Q&A session for both parents and prospective students. The students had the next half-an-hour devoted to a written examination and finally finished the day with an improvisation session that ended at 3:30pm. (Wow! Long day….)

I got there at 8:40am to help with registration. Several other UDO members were already there, having set up the table already. It was super exciting ticking everyone’s names on the list and telling them which studio to go to. Some of those auditioning were already students at the university, but not in the dance major program or were minors. I recognized three University of Iowa students, but the coolest thing was that one of the applicants was the sister of our UDO president and our president was with her to help her register! (Lowkey made me miss my family but it was super sweet of Kira to come with her sis…).

The auditions were extremely thrilling. Even though I didn’t get to see any of the auditions, it was really fun to help out behind the scenes and appreciate how far I’ve come in a year since my auditions last year.

Helping out at the auditions made me realize yet again how lucky I am to be here. Even on a hard day, there are always friends and family who have helped me get here. I really enjoyed talking to my fellow UDO members, learning more about the auditions process and generally having a good time as a UDO rookie and Dance major newbie.

I hope this blog post helps some of you prospective Dance BFA/Major/Minor auditionees out there…and feel free to comment below if you have any questions about the process! As an International Student Ambassador as well, I can totally help with any queries or just in general talking about the university….

Till next time!

Tons of smiley faces,

Emily

 

Seeing as Iowa is a UNESCO City of Literature, it’s hardly surprising that I see books at every turn. As I love reading, that’s just another bonus of the University of Iowa.

When I left Malaysia, my book collection was one of the things I most regretted leaving behind; I miss my books more than anything aside from my family and friends. When I went to Kuala Lumpur for two years to study my International Baccalaureate, I transported two whole bookshelves of books from my hometown, Kuching, over the course of the two years, requiring more than five trips to bring all of them (including new ones accumulated in the meantime) back. But when I came to Iowa, I couldn’t bring any of my books with me. They are something that I am definitely homesick for!

However, in the six weeks that I have been in Iowa, I have already bought nine books. In my defence, seven of them were for class…but then again, the entire Harry Potter series is so much more than textbooks for me!

Since J.K.Rowling’s latest book in the Cormoran Strike series, Lethal White, came out on September 18, I have been desperate to read it. To my excitement, the novel appeared in Prairie Lights (one of Iowa’s bookshops) the day of its release! Only downside…it isn’t autographed (Grrrrr….). Although if it had been autographed, I wonder if it would say “Robert Galbraith” or “J.K.Rowling”!

Since I am a student of the Literary Readings course in which the students are supposed to attend readings all around the city, I have been to Prairie Lights many times in the past few weeks; I appreciate its beauty. But one day, I took the opportunity to explore it, as opposed to just sitting down and listening to a reader and really got to relish how books make me feel like I’m at home.

(This was after hunting through the Main Library of the University of Iowa and going up and down the many flights of stairs at least four times because I couldn’t find the books that I wanted…)

Even though both the Main Library and Prairie Lights are further than I would like from my dorm room, I really appreciate them both for what they are worth. The Main Library has five floors of seemingly endless books with increasingly quiet floors the higher you get, the Food for Thought Cafe where flex meals are accepted (yay!) and comfortable tables and seats. Prairie Lights has posters signed by authors, the latest books filling three floors, tasty hot chocolate that you can drink in a cafe where Robert Frost and Sherwood Anderson once sat, drinking their favourite drinks and sharing their writing.

I’m really grateful to live in a town where books are almost as plentiful as air. And if I can’t find a book that I want (doubtful), Amazon awaits….But now I gotta go, because books awaits..

Happy reading!

Signing off,

Emily a.k.a. Hermione Jean Granger…(I wish!)

The New Beginning

(OMG, did I really pick that as my title? It sounds seriously cliche….)

So, welcome to my new blog! I am now posting after one week of studying in the University of Iowa. This city is not only the first place that I have stayed with any degree of permanence aside from Malaysia, but it is also the place where I have officially turned 20.

20 is such a unique number. Not only is it the first year that our age starts with a “2” instead of a “1”, but it’s also a more “grown-up” age. But for me, it was also my first birthday away from my biological family.Instead of with my Malaysian family, I got to spend it with my Iowa family.

The morning started out with my second of four dance auditions…all during the first week of school! The first one had been on Monday; it was the 2nd Round for the Dance Gala auditions. The ones on the 25th (my birthday) were for the Dance Graduate Thesis and the dance auditions for Iphigenia Point Blank the musical (Part 1 of auditions). The following day would consist of Crash Dance auditions and the singing auditions for the musical (Part 2). Phew! I feel exhausted just thinking about the auditions all over again!

Anyway, my day started out fabulously; not only were the initial auditions improvisation, but I was also dancing with my new friend, Dhari (see the picture below). The auditions were in the gym studio (see the next picture below). This is also where I have Major Ballet 1 and Major Modern 1 classes every single weekday.

After the dance auditions, we went to the musical auditions. Since it was my birthday, I had convinced Dhari to try out for the musical, even though she had never sung for an audience before. These auditions were in the North Hall, the building next to my dorm hall, Catlett. These auditions were so different from the morning dance ones; we had to be aggressive soldiers and happy people praising the mythical gods. In both auditions, I had an amazing time learning new improvisation techniques, unique combinations and dancing with both familiar and unfamiliar dancers, and the good vibes certainly paid off because I got into the musical! (Actually, I found this out on Sunday night, not on Saturday…spoiler alert!)

After the seemingly never-ending auditions, I went back, showered (thank goodness, I know) and went out with my roommate and Illinois sis, Evie; my other BFF/sis and Sri Lankan native, Mishma; her roommate, Mandi; Mandi’s boyfriend, Zion; my “son”, Abdullah a.k.a. A.B. from India (he says Mishma is his mother and I am his father because of our tendency to “look after him”); A.B.’s roommate, Mayberry; and Camellia, a Vietnamese friend who came all the way from Mayflower to wish me happy birthday!!!

We had dinner at Noodles & Co. and ice cream from YoTopia afterwards. (Look at the food below…I feel hungry all over again.) The night ended with a WhatsApp video call to my Malaysian family back home. (Aw…that’s sweet…I know.)

My 20th birthday party might not have been with my biological family, but even though it was so different, I was not alone. My birthday was with my new family, my Iowa family, my Hawkeye family. And we might come from different backgrounds, have different interests, different passions, but we are here for one another and that is what made my 20th birthday so special…. and having my actual family here in spirit of course!