The mother of all blog posts...

Ahh! It's been almost a month! Wow, what a crazy few weeks - we have a LOT to catch up on!
Here are the highlights:

-- Han --
Alright, picking up where I left off in The COPA Games: it was down to the final 9 when I got back to campus... On Friday morning I knew I had to kill my target, Ellie, but I had no idea how I'd manage it! She was a dancer and I'd never spoken to her - I didn't even know what she looked like! I had two dancer friends in my first class on Monday, though, and asked them about her. They couldn't give me any leads but then as we were leaving class, with AMAZING luck, Carolyn turned to me and said "That was Ellie, she just walked right past you!" I turned around, ran back down the stairs, and loudly said her name - I figured the girl that turned around was her and I got her with my crayon! Wooo!! Then came a hitch; my new target was Chase. Ahh I reeeaally didn't want to kill him!! We'd made an alliance and on top of that he's one of my best friends. I decided to tell him and to agree not to get him - I'd play on the defensive and hopefully we'd make it to the final two!!
We were down to 6 just in time for me to get picked up by Mum and Q for the weekend! 

-- Luce --
I honestly have absolutely NO idea what I was doing 3 weeks ago!! It was definitely a lot of schoolwork... aaaaannnddd working on finding my final scene with my wonderful friend Alisa! Most of my time was spent at school, studying, or sleeping..!

-- Han and Luce --
Friday night was our first night all together in the new house and it was just lovely! Mum cooked up a delicious roast dinner - much appreciated after eating cafeteria/college student food for a few months (although Luce is a very good cook). It was so fun to unpack (well, Han unpacked anyway) and just relax at home again, such a luxury!
Saturday was Q's birthday AND the perfect day to see the Christmas overlay in Disneyland for the first time EVER!! 

We rode all the Christmassy rides, saw a couple shows, soaked in the magic, and had a delicious dinner at the Blue Bayou - the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride! A perfect day, we felt so lucky that we got to celebrate Q's birthday all together!

Sunday was a lazy day. We weren't too bummed leaving because we knew we'd be back in just a couple days for Thanksgiving!

-- Han --
I can't really remember the chronology of everything, but at some point I was in two short films! It was really fun! It also gave me a good look at myself on camera, an idea of some things to repeat aaaand some things to fix. Anyway, when I got back to Chapman on Sunday it was down to the wire in The COPA Games with only two days to finish before Thanksgiving! Chelsea killed Jeffrey on Monday then, in an epic cornucopia-like showdown on Tuesday, and Chase got 3 targets, landing us in the final 2!!! We were so stoked! We asked Lord Ryan (our RA) if we could have the final battle after Thanksgiving break and he agreed. Everything was wrapped up for Thanksgiving break and I was seeeriously hanging out for stuffing and pie!!

-- Luce --
More scene work, school work, and exhaustion! And also I was finally reimbursed for my debit card fraud, so that was a huge weight off my shoulders! Before I knew it, I had made it through the short school week and it was time for Thanksgiving! YAYYY! I left my apartment at 3:30 and steeled myself for the hour and a half drive to Corona... But little did I know that with all of the Thanksgiving traffic, the drive would actually be well over 3 and a half hours!!! I was going crazy in the car all by myself oh my goshhhh! Serious cabin fever! It was stop-start traffic for the whole 60 miles and I only got my speed above 30mph once! Oh man. It was such a relief when I finally made it to Mum & Q's and they had dinner ready and I could just flop onto the couch! It was lovely to settle in for the weekend.  

-- Han and Luce --
Thanksgiving was a glorious day of relaxing and eating. SO MUCH FOOD! Mum cooked up a mouth-watering storm all morning and we pigged out on an amazing Thanksgiving lunch!

Turkey, stuffing, corn pudding, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, homemade cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and strawberry wine made for one incredible meal!
On Friday afternoon we went and saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and it exceeded our expectations! It was PERFECT!! Ahh SO true to the book, exciting, amazingly acted - Jennifer Lawrence is such a star - we were wonderfully satisfied with it! After that, we went into LA for a Korean BBQ dinner with Chambers and had a really good chat about what we want to do moving forward in our careers. This seems as good a time as any to announce it: the two of us have decided to take a break from school after this semester to focus on pursuing our careers in LA! It'll be a huge adventure and we cannot wait to get started! We've had the most incredible college experiences and we're so appreciative of everyone's the love and support - we couldn't chase our dreams without it!
Anyway, back to the blog! On Saturday we went to the cinema in Downtown Disney and saw Frozen - 2 movies in one weekend, we're so lucky! - it was also PERFECT and Lucy and I were feeling some sister love and channeling our inner Anna and Elsa. To make the night even more perfect, we went into Disney and saw World of Color: Winter Dreams, the holiday version of World of Color with all sorts of holiday cheer and Frozen inspiration. 
Sunday came and neither of us reeeaally wanted to face the next couple tough weeks at school, but the time came to say goodbye and we were on the final stretch!

-- Han --
Only two weeks left of school!! WOW! The semester went by SO FAST! The last week of regular classes was completely insane and busy, but there was definitely a light at the end of the tunnel. 
I started the week off right with a Sunday night Disney trip with Tosh and JT. We saw World of Color and went on the Tower of Terror twice! The second time truly was terrifying because I thought it'd be fun to pull out some slack in the belt so I wasn't held in as tight. I realized, a little too late, that I'd pulled out A LOT more slack than I'd meant to! The guys, fearing for my life, held onto me and kept me from flying too far off the seat haha. I think they were more scared than I was! It was a really fun night and it was great to experience Disney's holiday magic with two of my best friends, awww.

A highlight of the week was Chase and my Assassins finale! We, as only theatre majors would, choreographed a whole epic battle and invited the whole hall! (We also advertised the event on our hall's facebook page)

 (Video of the finale to come!)

We had SO MUCH fun aaaand I didn't mind the win haha the first ever female victor Lord Ryan's had! 
Another fun event was my last RAD self-defense class! We all geared up and took out the officer/aggressor. I felt kind of bad, though, because he's been really sick, he's a little on the older side, and the girl before me kicked him REALLY hard in the nuts, so I just couldn't bring myself to give it everything I had. It was still a lot of fun though! A video may be coming soon...

I had my last two Performing Techniques classes and they were really wonderful, more collaborative than they have been and I felt much closer to my classmates afterwards. The weekend mostly involved studying for finals, last little hang outs and boba runs, and creating a piece that involved all the techniques from the semester for the Performing Techniques final. 
Then... Finals week.

-- Luce --
Oh my goodness one week before finals!!!! Which also meant my last week of actual classes because my acting final was on the Tuesday of the next week. There was a lot of reviewing in my theory classes which was pretty boring, but luckily my other classes were very exciting! My acting class was spent rehearsing my final scene with Alisa, and so was my voice class! In movement class we all learned a bunch of cool tricks and lifts leading up to our final class... And in our final movement class, the students were split into 3 groups and we each had to make up a circus routine/scene as our final! It was so fun! we got to utilize a bunch of techniques we'd learned like head-stands, hand-stands, miming, elephant walks, bird lifts, and a lot of other stuff! We all had a great time :) After my last classes on Thursday, my classmates and I had our first rehearsal for our final performance! Our performance was a 2 hour long show where each person in the class shows their final scene as well as some people showcasing their work from throughout the semester. I was chosen to do two pf my pieces from the semester which was really cool! So I did my clone scene as well as my Autodrama. I was also in another person's clone scene, so I had a lot on my plate! I wasn't too stressed, though, because the first rehearsal went so well! Friday was another rehearsal, and my classmates and I were starting to work out the kinks, thank goodness! And it was all leading up to the final performance.....!!!!!

Livin' that Cali College Life! :)

-- Hannah --
These last couple weeks have been crazy busy! I've gotten into a great routine and the time's flying by. Some days I sleep in, some I go do homework by the pool, I've been auditioning at Dodge - I got my first callback! YAY! I didn't get the role but it was a step in the right direction! - and I'm learning heaps in my classes. Two weekends ago on Friday night I watched Present Laughter, the first play of the season at Chapman, and it was really good! The acting was great and the show was super funny. Sierra and I went out to a couple parties afterwards and had a great time with some of her sorority sisters. On Saturday, there was a Cirque du Soleil acting/dance workshop on campus which was awesome! We learned about the give and take of energy and being connected to your scene partner - and we also clowned around a bit and played with slapstick comedy. There are just so many cool opportunities here! Sunday was a lazy morning, and I had every intention of doing homework and being productive before a spontaneous Disney trip beckoned! I went in with a few friends and it was a great afternoon! 

We rocked out to ACDC in the car on the way there, did all the big, thrilling rides, hoped to see Steve Carell cause he was there that day (but didn't), and finished the arvo off with Indiana Jones - so cool! It was my first time in Disney without Luce, though, which was a little tough. Two weeks was a long time to be apart! We got back to Chapman around 7:30 and I left for church at 8:30! It's such a great group of people that go and it seems to grow every week! This time Sierra and Matthew came with and it was so nice to share the experience with them.
I had a pretty uneventful week, gearing up for midterms and writing papers, then last Friday night I went to a Delt party with some theatre and dance friends at "The Bayou". 

I learned when I got there that the house got its nickname because the pool is so terrifyingly dirty and murky, with leaves and random objects in it (I'm pretty sure a chair was lost forever in there...), that it looks kinda like a swamp and everyone's afraid to go in it! Haha at least they have a sense of humor about it! It wasn't a super late night, though, because the next day Luce and I were hitting up, you guessed it.... DISNEYLAND!


-- Luce --
Oh my goodness it's been a crazy couple of weeks!!! In the last week of September I did my final performance of my Autodrama and it went well - I got a really good grade and was voted one of the best in my class! :) 
The day after that was my first time ever seeing myself on tv!! It was on the second episode of New Girl and I was so excited!!!!! Ah!

On the Thursday of that week I ushered for the show that my theatre program was putting on and I actually had a really fun time! It was kinda cool to be the person checking tickets and showing audience members where to go! I also had some time to bond with some of the people that I hadn't talked to very much out of class which was lovely.
The night after that I went to a friend's 21st birthday party in Hollywood! He rented out a hotel suite on Hollywood Blvd and invited heaps of people! It was really fun for a while until hotel security showed up because there had been noise complaints! Oops!! So they proceeded to kick everyone out of the room which was pretty stressful.. We all hung out by the pool for a bit and then decided to go our separate ways. When I left I went out and got some calming tea with a friend and then went home around 2:00 in the morning - it was a great night!The next day I had to wake up at 5:30 to get ready to be on the set of Veep by 8! Oh my gosh I did not enjoy only getting 3 hours of sleep! I was exhausted but it was still an amazing day on set!! The cast of Veep were so funny and I think I definitely made it into the shot which is cool! I also got to shake Julia Louis-Dreyfus' hand like 10 times in the scene! Ah it was so awesome - I was starstruck! Another cool thing was that I made friends with a guy who looks EXACTLY like young Leonardo DiCaprio..! I literally couldn't stop staring at him haha :)
Then on Sunday I went to church and MeMe couldn't go which was sad but I organized to meet some of my other school friends there.. But just as I got to the church my friends texted me saying that they actually had to stay home and study that night! Oh no! So I was there alone!! Usually I would have completely freaked out, but I just took a deep breath and decided that I was going to be okay! And, as luck would have it, I was getting some coffee and a nice guy started chatting with me and it turned out that we were both there alone so we decided to sit together! So everything was fine - phew!! I got home that night feeling ready to face the week and also feeling very confident and independent! Yay!
The next week was really rough for both Han and me because we were having some serious separation anxiety! We decided that 2 weeks is far too long for us to stay apart!!
On Thursday Emily, MeMe, and I all went to see the premiere of Don Jon and it was hilarious! Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great and a bunch of scenes were filmed at my school!!! It was crazy!! The girls and I were so excited! The next time we got to school we went to all of the places they had filmed at!! (This was one of them!)

That Friday I ushered again and had some great girl talk with my friend Alicia - it was very therapeutic! :)
Then it was the weekend and I saw Han again!!!!!! Woohoooo!!!!!!


-- Han and Luce --

Saturday was another fun Disney day! It also happened to be Gay Day, which was unexpected, so everyone was wearing red for LGBT pride/awareness. We watched this cute Tangled show with a guy who looked EXACTLY like Flynn Rider it was crazy - unfortunately, he was a bit of a mumbler or maybe drunk? Hopefully not haha but his performance wasn't super compelling. The two narrator guys were hilarious, though, and Rapunzel was perfect! We snuck away from Disney for a couple hours to have lunch at Chapman (including the world's most amazing peanut butter-banana Jamba Juice creations) and do an open call audition together at Dodge.We went back to Disney, we're terrified on Space Mountain again, and - because we just love it - watched Aladdin. We sat right down the front, swooned over Aladdin, and giggled at a hilariously inappropriate moment when one of the guards meant to push Aladdin's shoulder but actually just slapped him right on the man boob hahaha. After that we decided to do a late night Grizzly River Rapids! Apparently 5 years is about long enough to forget how SOAKED you get on that ride!! We were in a raft with this group of Portuguese people, all of us shrieking and getting sloshed with water - too funny. Luce then made quite the fashion statement and changed into Han's sporty shorts she was wearing under her skirt with her cute black blouse, kind of two worlds colliding, but it didn't even matter. We left a little later and crashed at Lucy's place.

On Sunday we had another photo shoot which went really well and was super fun! We'll post pics once he sends them to us. The best part of the weekend, though, was going to Mosaic. The pastor, Erwin, talked all about happiness and how to become happy and it was just incredible, exactly what we needed to hear! Feeling inspired, we drove to Chapman and said goodbye - which wasn't a terribly sad one because we knew we'd be seeing a lot of each other this week because Q's in town! YAY!! This week's excitement will be in a new post, though, and (G'pa, this is for you) we promise to try to be better about updating more regularly!

xoxo

Highlights of the Week!

-- Hannah --
I had an AWESOME week full of socializing, classes, socializing, homework, food, and uhh, socializing! Haha dorm life is crazy and I'm making the most fantastic friends, especially in the performing arts! Hands down the best bonding experience so far was COPA midnight fountain hopping!! Fountain hopping is a Chapman tradition, sort of a right of passage, where students go to campus at night and swim in the fountains. So on Wednesday night Sierra and I, entirely disregarding quiet hours, ran around the entire floor in our swimsuits knocking on doors and spreading the word that all the theatre/music/dance kids should go fountain hopping! The response was amazing - and way more than we expected - EVERYONE came! It was incredible!! 

We went to three different fountains, then back to the first because it was the warmest and stayed for ages. It was so fun and carefree! At one point one of my friends, Chase, baptized me in the name of the stage, the screen, and the performing arts and I knew I was with the right group of people. 

This week I also had my first audition at Dodge for a student film which was a great experience. It was a really good first audition and, even though I'm pretty sure I didn't get the role, I had a fun time and learned a lot. I was also in a short film for someone else in Dodge! Yay! It was a lower level film, one about action and telling the story visually, so there weren't any lines, but it felt great to be back in front of a camera - and this time I was actually the focus of the shot!

One of the other highlights has been solidifying an awesome smaller group of friends within COPA. There're about eight of us that hang out a lot and I feel so lucky to be forming such amazing friendships! 

Friday was the best day of the week for so many reasons! One of which was: Lucy came to visit! 

-- Luce --
I've had a very busy week settling into having long days at school! My classes have all really ramped up and I am already learning so much! 

In my Voice class we are starting to learn some very relaxing yoga - it's so fun! It really helps with controlling breathing and becoming centered at the start of the day!

My Movement class has become really intense because my teacher just got back from Edinburgh and London where she directing a show!! After the calming yoga we go straight into a full-blown workout and I am starting to realize how unfit I truly am haha.

Acting class has also been amazing over the week because we've been doing exercises that form great bonds within my class and I'm discovering a lot about my classmates!

On Thursday night some girls from my class invited me over to their place for a girl's night and it was so lovely! We all talked for hours, ordered Chinese food, and watched Now You See Me which was actually a pretty good movie! I left theirs around 12:30 and got home to bed as quickly as I could so that I could be ready to go see Han the next day! Even though it'd only been 4 days since I'd seen her, I still missed her so much!! Ahhh being separated is so hard...

-- Han and Luce --
Luce got to Chapman around 10:30 and Han gave the Chapman guided tour and shouted lunch and Jamba Juice, yum! After that, the two of us and a bunch of Han's classmates went to Disney together for Dapper Day!! 

Dapper Day was so magical!! We all went looking our best and it was so lovely to see everyone else in the park dressed up too. We also ran into three of Lucy's classmates right as we were entering the park! How's that for some Disney magic?! Feeling oh so dapper, we went on a couple rides, met Tianna, then had to duck out back to Chapman for an audition at Dodge that we were both doing! 

The audition was for three student films, one comedy, one sci-fi, and one coming of age story. It was great that Lucy was allowed to audition too! We're so much stronger when we're together and it felt like a great precedent of helping each other out to set as we start a long career together in this industry. We both learned SO MUCH, there really is nothing quite like an audition to prepare you for the next one, so the more experience we can get, the better we'll be for sure!

After the audition, Han treated Luce to a buffet dinner in the cafeteria, then we decided to head back into Disney for another hour and a half of Dapper Day! We took in the ambiance of Main Street at night, went on Star Tours, then, with only five minutes till the park closed, ran across to frontier land to finish the night off on Splash Mountain! We JUST made it and Luce ended up getting SOAKED, too funny! 

Then it was time to drop Han back and say goodbye. It was a perfect little top up visit, though, and we're probably going to see each other next weekend - and we feel no shame! Thank God we ended up at schools only 45 minutes from each other, though, because this whole "getting some independence from each other" plan hasn't been quite what we were expecting...

-- Hannah --
Friday was a HUGE day and my weekend certainly didn't stop there! This was rush weekend for sororities and I loved the whole experience, it was unbelievable! I missed the start of it, which was on Friday, for Disney and auditions (shhh) but I threw myself right in on Saturday and Sunday. I went into it knowing that I probably wouldn't pledge, just because of the huge financial commitment, but rush alone was such a unique experience! On Saturday I went to five parties for different houses and learned all about them and their philanthropy. I met so many incredible women; everyone seemed really kind and genuine - in a lot of ways they broke the stereotype I was expecting. The parties were so different from anything I've ever been a part of before: all the PNMs (potential new members) got lined up in alphabetical order then walked into the room and the sorority sisters were singing and had a whole routine worked out, there were speeches, then it was time to girl flirt like I've never girl flirted before! After the six hour day, one house stood out above the others for me, Delta Gamma, and I felt such a connection with the girls there. When I narrowed down my preferences last night, DG was at the top of my list and I got lucky enough to get invited back today! There were only two parties to go to and I met more really lovely DGs and Kappas (from Kappa Kappa Gamma, the other sorority I was invited back to). When it came down to it, though, I had to say goodbye to all the beautiful girls I'd met and hope that they'll still want to hang out with me even if I'm not affiliated! Haha I'm so glad I did it, though, it was definitely one of those surreal American college experiences that I'll remember for a long time to come.

Sierra and I got all dressy for rush!



The last highlight of my week was last night, after rush finished, when Sierra, Katie, and I organized a surprise picnic for Grace, Chase, and Matthew who'd been in a show that day. We smuggled desserts out of the caf, scoped out the perfect viewing spot, brought pillows and blankets, downloaded the actual soundtrack they play in the park and set up to watch the Disneyland fireworks!! It was so much fun and they loved the surprise! Katie managed to sync up the music PERFECTLY and we all put on a little extra weight thanks to our yummy goodies.

It's been a wonderful week full of so many precious memories and I'm feeling so confident that what's already incredible will only get better and better!

-- Luce --
On Saturday I was booked for background work on the pilot of the show "Faking It" that could potentially be on MTV! It was so amazing to be back on set - I had missed working so much over the past two weeks. There was a great vibe on this set and I recognized a lot of people that I'd worked with in the past which was great! One problem was that the show was set at a high school in the fall, so I had boots, jeans, a T-shirt, and a flannel shirt on but it was 95 degrees outside!!!!!!!!! I thought I was going to pass out from heat stroke a couple of times! Oh my gosh it was so hot... But there were a lot of times that I could retreat to the air-conditioned indoors so thank god for that! I had also forgotten how amazing the food is on set, so I stuffed my face at lunch - yum! After 9 hours of filming the extras were wrapped and we all got on a school bus (which brought on some serious deja-vu!) that took us back to basecamp to sign out. I went home, made dinner, and got an early night in preparation for today...

Today I had my first ever photoshoot! It was an interesting experience because everything was completely new to me..! The photographer I worked with was really nice and he was relatively new as well so there wasn't too much pressure. The location was great too - we were shooting in Griffith Park at the Old Zoo which was beautiful and very artsy! I think it went pretty well considering that it was my first ever modelling job and I had no idea what I was doing, and it definitely gave me a new appreciation for all of the people who go on America's Next Top Model and shows like that because it wasn't easy!

Tonight was wonderful too because I decided to go to church with MeMe and it was so so amazing. She goes to Mosaic church and it was beautiful! There was really great live music as we went in and the singing just elevated my spirits and made me so happy that MeMe had invited me to go with her! Then the sermon was all about healing and it just resonated so much with me - I had tears running down my face and I don't even consider myself to be a religious person! It was such a cathartic experience. There was a great message and I left feeling inspired and ready to face the week ahead.

Reunited!!!

YAY!! We had the most wonderful weekend together after surviving the longest stretch apart we've had to go through in our whole lives - almost two weeks! It was so amazing to catch up and just relax, it was exactly what we both needed. 

On Saturday morning, Luce drove out to Chapman and picked up Han, Sierra, and Katie for a trip to Disneyland!! It was awesome for Luce to meet Han's roomies and the four of us had a great time running around the park. 

 We had FastPasses for Indiana Jones and were all super excited for the ride. We got more of an adventure than we bargained for, though, when we reached the final thrilling moment where the boulder seems like it's going to crush you then - screeeech! AHH!! Everything grinds to a stop, music goes off, light's come on, and a voiceover tells us the ride's broken down! We had to wait about fifteen minutes before it got running again, and we snapped some behind-the-scenes pics while we waited.

After that, the two of us snuck off for some twin time in California Adventure for a little while and there were NO LINES!! On a long weekend?! It was amazing!! We went on all our faves then headed back to meet up with Sierra and Katie for Fantasmic! We ended up going to the later show and got PERFECT seats, right on the water's edge. The show was as full of Disney magic as we could've hoped for and it was a wonderful way to end the night! We headed out of the park, dropped the roomies off at Chapman, and went back to Lucy's.

On Sunday we went and visited Chambers - and didn't get a parking ticket this time! - which was really nice. It was kind of surreal, actually, as if nothing had changed and we were still living and hanging out together in the city. After a great morning at bootcamp, we went out for teriyaki chicken for lunch and headed home for the afternoon. We had a productive afternoon doing homework, had fro yo at The Grove, and watched the gorgeous James Marsden in 27 Dresses!

Monday was an errands day but still fun because, cheesy as it is, we were together. Luce did laundry, Han did homework, we wrote the blog, went to Trader Joes, and Meme treated us to Starbucks coffees, yum! Too soon it was time to drive Han back to Chapman and say goodbye. We were a little melancholy about it all day and we're still working on adjusting - this goodbye was just harder because now we actually know what it's like to be apart and miss each other! The weekend was great though, and it made us realize that we really are close enough to be able to visit regularly. We both settled in for another week of classes - luckily a shorter one, thank you labour day! - and are already excited to see each other again soon!

College Life!

-- Hannah --
This week was my first week of classes! It was such a busy week, with some ups and downs, but I made it through and I'm loving my classes! The three that stand out are Intro to Performing Techniques, Literature Mirrors Society (about Latin American literature), and Film Aesthetics. The subject matter is fascinating and the professors are so engaging and knowledgeable - I'm really excited to learn from them!

I've been riding my bike around and I'm feeling really comfortable with where things are on campus. The food is INCREDIBLE and I'm definitely getting a start on that Freshman 15! Exercising is really fun, though, because there are heaps of options for fitness classes like Zumba, kickboxing, and hip hop! I'm trying to take advantage of everything there is to do here and just throw myself into life on campus.

Having made it through the school week, it was time for Whiteout!! This was the frat party I won tickets to with my limbo prowess and it was SO FUN! Sierra and I got all dressed up in our white outfits and went over to the club with a big group of friends!

The venue was awesome! We owned our under 21 status and headed onto the dance floor!

There was blaring music, smoke machines, neon lights, and SO MANY people! Ahh it was completely crazy and we had a ball!

It was a great finish to an exciting, stressful, rewarding, and fun week! It's been hard being away from Luce but we've been chatting on the phone most days and we got to spend the weekend together, YAY! So there are more fun stories to tell in the next post - stay tuned!

Orientation!! (and My First Week Without Luce!)

This was one of the most exciting and overwhelming weeks of my life!! AHH! I hardly even know where to begin! It was completely jam-packed, so this might be a long post, but I’m going to tryyy hit on the highlights rather than giving a play-by-play of everything.

Tuesday was move-in day! I checked in then – with much assistance from Mum and Q – got three full trolleys of my stuff to my dorm room!

 I met my roomies, Katie and Sierra, and the three of us get along SO WELL! Which is awesome and has definitely made the adjustment to college life waayyy easier. We all set to unpacking our stuff, which actually wasn’t too much of a challenge because our dorm room has heaps of space! We also have a lovely bathroom with a turquoise theme and a Singin in the Rain shower curtain! The room already feels like home :)

On that first day Mum and Q ran out to Walmart for me to pick up some stuff that couldn’t fit in the car the first time, and one thing they got was the new bike I had picked out! Yay!! I love it! Although I am still getting used to the whole back-peddling instead of hand break situation…

We had dinner with Katie and Sierra and their families, then it was time to say goodbye to Mum and Q for the night and head to my room for my first night at college! My whole floor is Performing Arts kids, so I met heaps of fun people and got to know some of the theatre majors I’ll be spending the next four years with! Everyone from 1st floor west had a meeting that night with our RA, Lord Ryan (yea, that’s his first name, it’s kinda crazy and kinda awesome) then called it a night.

On Wednesday we started off with an Opening Convocation where some of the faculty spoke and our whole class sat together for the first time – it was a really nice ceremony and a great way to mark the start of the year.

(I'm Right in the middle of the front bench facing the camera)

(And this is my room all done!)

After that everyone got into small groups based on our majors for some bonding time, had lunch with our parents, went back into our small groups, then had a big meeting with the COPA (College of Performing Arts) faculty and got heaps of information about the year coming up. Dinner was a welcome reception for COPA families, and it was also the last event I had with Mum and Q before they had to leave to catch their flight! Waahhhh!! It was a tough goodbye, but I know I’ll see them soon – Thanksgiving’s only a couple months away!

Playfair, the next event of the night, got me totally pumped up again!! All the new Freshmen ran through a tunnel of the Orientation Assistants and made the tunnel longer themselves, then we linked arms and the OAs led a charge snaking back down the tunnel – it’s kinda hard to describe but it was fun and loud and exciting! After that we did ice-breakers en masse and met SO MANY people!! It was completely hectic but so much fun!

Thursday and Friday had a lot of informational events but I also got to explore the Orange Circle and its cute shops and restaurants, and there were fun events on both nights. Thursday night was an evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts which was INCREDIBLE. The building was SO BEAUTIFUL and they had all sorts of activities and live performances – there was a hip hop class, a Polynesian dancer, arts and crafts, a beat boxer, and (my favourite) a drum circle. Around 1000 of my classmates and I all went into the auditorium, everyone had a percussion instrument, and this awesome hippie lady lead a sort of call and response thing with all of us. It just made such a loud sound and it was really unifying. The best moment was when she had students from different areas of the US stand up and make noise, then students from other countries – so I repped Aus and stood – and because there were so few people she had us say where we were from in front of everyone and I got a huge cheer! Yay!! It was such a boost and really affirming.

On Friday – and also Wednesday - night, Sierra and I got dressed up and went out to a couple parties at houses close to campus!

Friday was the highlight, though, because there weren’t too many people there and the guys were playing guitar and Sierra sang and they had a really cute dog, it was just a really chill vibe. I was pretty exhausted by Saturday, though, so I just hung out and recuperated.

Sunday, yesterday, was great! There was a pool party and the Chapman Radio guys were there playing music and giving away some prizes – I owned at limbo and won 2 tickets to a frat kickoff party on Friday which was a bit of a surprise to me! Man, I went so low, I was actually pretty proud of myself!

I had dinner and another RA meeting to get all ready to start classes the next day! 

Today was my first day of classes and it went really well! I’ll go into detail on the next post, though. It’s been such a whirlwind; moving in and starting to adjust to college life! It’s been tough to be away from Luce but we’re seeing each other this weekend, so there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! A lot of this is still scary and surreal but I’m feeling so fortunate to be at this incredible school with amazing facilities and inspirational faculty! Woo Panther Pride!!