New York City: Part 1

For those unfortunate few who haven't been inducted into the "I know everything about Rudi's life" club,
you should know that I love my school and my school has a pretty good way of telling me that it loves me too.

What I mean is Stephens sent me to New York City for one week. It was President Lynch's idea, and she set up a week's worth of interviews and lunches with Stephens alum who have had experiences that I hope to one day have. Dare I state the obvious and say this trip was amazing, and a huge inspiration for me? More on that later.

First thing's first in the city: Visit your friends!

My good friend Dylan (read her Stephens blog about life in our theater here) is interning at Pineda Conservatory of the Performing Arts in New Jersey, so she was just a train ride away! We met in Greenwich Village for lunch and some catching up, and found a restaurant that not only sells the "Esty Sald", which we pretended was named after Stephens dance goddess (I mean teacher) Carol Esty, but also sells FaFa's Chicken! My baby sister has called me FaFa since she was teeny tiny, so it was such a symbolic welcomingon NYC's part to name my very first meal there after me!

I had tea with Mara McEwin, who cofounded her own theater company Treehouse Shakers with her friend Emily Bunning. Isn't that neat?! I got to pick her brain about how she accomplished this amazing feat, from the funding to the bravery to start from scratch,
in New York nonetheless. It completely blew my mind that it's even possible for for people to say, "Well, let's start a theatre company. And let's make it really successful and live out our dream." and then actually achievethat particular goal.
I definitely learned a lesson about bravery during our tea date.

Oh, and I bet you wish this picture was in focus! So do I. 

Part II coming right up!

love, rudi