Sheffield
My week started with a trip up North to visit my friend Niamh who is currently studying History at the University of Sheffield. This was a journey which involved a lot of 'firsts' for me; it was the first time I'd travelled that far on my own, the first time I'd ever been to Sheffield, and my first experience of Uni life! All three of these things were great!
I think I mentioned in a previous post that I've struggled with bad travel anxiety for several years now. Travelling on trains has been one of my worst fears. If at any post over the past six years or so, I knew I was going to have to use a train or the tube I would dread it for weeks and would often have panic attacks when in train stations or when on a train. However, it's something I've been working on and - mainly thanks to LP - I managed all my train journeys last week with zero panic or anxiety!!! I don't think I could possibly express in words just how much of an achievement that is for me. WOOOOHOOOO. So, much to my surprise, I actually quite enjoyed my journey up to Sheffield (except for the bit where I had to change trains at Birmingham and had only 3 minutes to get from Platform 5 to Platform 8 so ran through the station like a lunatic, but I think anyone would find that stressful!)
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| Oxford Station |
I had a lovely time with Niamh - we went shopping (I spent too much money), I met her flatmates who were lovely, we went out for drinks, ate the best jacket potato I've had in a while, and went to see 'Boris: The Musical' which was 'interesting' to say the least. It was a musical all about Boris Johnson and was quite possibly one of the most hilarious and also mentally scarring experiences of my life haha!
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| So cute! |
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| Beautiful Sheffield |
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| Lift selfie with Niamh! |
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| Girl Power |
My trip was finished off by a lovely walk through the woodland park. We saw many a squirrel!
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| Candid shot of Niamh walking through the winter leaves |
Sheffield was such a beautiful city and I loved my time there (more than I was expecting too if I'm completely honest) - as a place to visit I don't think it's given enough credit. My first taste of Uni life was also a success - I have no horror stories to report lol. Niamh's accommodation was fab and the Sheffield Student Union was great too. I shall be back (sorry Niamh, you thought you were rid of me).
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| Sheffield Station |
London
On Wednesday I had my second drama school audition, this time at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This of course meant another tube journey into Central London. Now that I'm overcoming my fear of the Underground, this part wasn't too bad. What was horrible was the fact that I had to leave my house at 5:30am when it was -7°C!!!!! Pretty sure I nearly died.
This audition was another good experience. What was especially nice about Guildhall was that there was a warm-up/workshop session before the individual auditions started which gave me a chance to loosen up, meet the panel, familiarise myself with the audition room, and to get my head in 'the zone'. It also meant that although I didn't get through to the next round, I really felt that I got something from the day.
The panel were lovely and the interview section of the audition was a real pleasure as it was a conversation rather than an interrogation. However, something that was frustrating was that I had changed the way I did one of my monologues and after I had finished performing it, the lady on the panel gave me some re-direction and what she asked me to do was LITERALLY WHAT I HAD BEEN DOING BEFORE I CHANGED IT. So annoying. But I think it's a lesson learnt that I should go with my instincts in future and not overthink things too much. The other thing was that I felt the man on the panel had almost made his mind up about me before he'd even seen me act. This was due to the fact that in the workshop he talked for about 5 minutes about how he tries to discourage 18/19 year olds from going to drama school as he feels they need more life experience first. I hope this wasn't a factor however, as I think that it is a subjective viewpoint and that other professionals would hold the opposite opinion. Who knows!
Beautiful sky views as we drove home listening to Lewis Watson's new album
Bath
The end of my week was spent in beautiful Bath! I was there visiting my wonderful friend Beth who is studying Pharmacy at the University of Bath. She met me at the station and after many hugs and squeals at being reunited, we spent a couple of hours going round the Christmas Market and the shops. I got some Christmas shopping done and also bought a few treats for myself!
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| Katie and the Small Blue Suitcase hit the road again |
Like Niamh, Beth's accommodation was great and her flatmates were so amazing and made me feel very welcome. I joined them all for an evening celebrating the birthday of one of Beth's course-mates: dancing around to 'Cheap Thrills' was the main activity of the evening which was, of course, fine by me!
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| Gals |
I miss Beth again already and can't wait to see her when she comes home for Christmas in a couple of weeks!
Phew. So last week was a bit mad. I conquered fears, rode a rollercoaster of emotions, and explored three fab cities.
Thank you for taking the time to read about my lil' adventures.
Love,
Katie xxx
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