The Final Week!

-- Han --
On Monday I had the most fun "test" I have ever taken! I performed my group piece for my final grade in my acting class and we had SO much fun!! We did a  Lion King-esque story involving a compilation of all the warm ups and techniques we've learned over the semester. We used paint throughout it and ended it by going wild and flinging the paint all over each other to Katy Perry's Roar. It was such a blast, so carefree and creative; the perfect way to end the semester and my time with my class of theatre majors at Chapman. Everyone got up and danced with us at the end, it was really special.

Finals went downhill from there on the enjoyment scale. I had my theatre theory final on Tuesday and it was pretty easy, success! JT and I celebrated the end of our theatre class by watching The Jerk and it was SO funny! what a comic genius Steve Martin is.. Anyway, I had Wednesday pretty much off - I had to submit my mammoth paper that I finished writing a little while ago and study for my last final - then Thursday afternoon was Film Aesthetics. It was definitely the hardest of the three but I felt good about it, we'll just have to wait and see! Regardless, I WAS DONE WITH CLASSES AND TESTS FOREVER!! Well maybe forever, who knows.. It was a huge accomplishment and I went on a wonderful Disney trip with Megan and Laynie to celebrate!

When we got back, all my closest girl friends came over to spend my last night in the dorms with me. We went down to the little snack place in the basement, used up all the money on our cards, and stuffed ourselves with junk food, laughed, cried, listened to Beyonce's new album - it was a wonderful last night. 
On Friday Mum and Q came out to help me move everything out. It was super quick and the Babe Cave had no trace of me within no time. It was kind of surreal, seeing the room with all my stuff gone, just like it was on day one. A big, 'this is real' moment. I said my goodbyes, some teary, others quick and cheerful, and realized how much I'm going to miss being right next door to all of the amazing friends I've made. As hard as it was, though, I left feeling sure of myself and sure of my future - on to another grand adventure!

-- Luce --
On the Sunday before finals week, my class had another 5 and a half hour rehearsal and we all had a lot to do! Somehow, without our teacher there, we managed to run all of the scene shifts twice, tech the show, and then run the whole thing with half an hour to spare! I was so proud of all of my classmates for getting so much done. We had another rehearsal on Monday and then, suddenly, it was Tuesday! The day of my final performance!! I was super nervous and a little stressed because I had a couple of quick-changes that I had to do in the show, but I tried my hardest not to worry and to just enjoy the moment... And it all went by so fast! The first thing I did was my scene with Alisa and it went well! I was really happy with it! Then it was a rush backstage to change my costume and do full blood/black eye makeup for my clone scene..! The clone scene was probably the best we'd ever done it and we got a great reaction from the audience which was wonderful :) My Autodrama was last and it was the piece that I was most nervous for.. It was so personal and I was performing in front of all of the students and faculty of the Theater Academy, so there was a lot riding on my performance! And it went better than I could have possibly hoped for!! I was so emotional because it was the end of the semester and that emotion totally flowed into what I was saying on stage and I loved it! After the show was over a ton of people came up to me and said that there wasn't a dry eye in the house during my Autodrama! I was so flattered and so glad that the audience connected to it. 
Straight after the 1st semester show was over we went and saw the 2nd semester's final and they all did so well! I was very impressed! Over the next few days I saw the finals from the other semesters and they were all amazing. After the last final, all of the 1st semesters held a farewell tea for the graduating class and we made it "The Wizard of Oz" themed! It turned out so well and everyone seemed to love it. It was sad to see all of them go, and absolutely crazy that the semester was already over! That night MeMe and I went out to dinner to celebrate and we had a lovely time eating great food and having a great conversation.
The next day was pretty relaxed - I finally did my laundry! Yay! And that night I went to see a one woman show that Chambers invited me to and it was pretty risque...! I was equal parts uncomfortable and entertained haha, so it was an interesting way to spend a Thursday night! After the show a bunch of my friends and I all hung out and had a great time chatting and laughing! I finally went home at 2 in the morning and got some sleep in preparation for my final meeting/conference with my acting teacher! I was excited to hear that he thought I was a great asset to my class and that he loved all of my assignments that I worked on over the semester. I also got good feedback from the other faculty members and I left feeling very validated and proud of my work at the academy. I drove up to Corona as soon as I got out of my meeting and was so happy to have a weekend of relaxation!!

-- Han and Luce --
It was so great to just be able to take a breather after such a crazy week! We spent the weekend watching movies (four in one day on Saturday), eating delicious, home-made food (the best lasagna EVER and Han's favourite creamy chicken/rice casserole thing ahh SO GOOD). We also restarted our old tradition of "explore Sunday" and went for a little outing to Newport Beach! After a drive through the cutest town in the world and a slightly scary car ferry to the island, we got to the beach. It was such a beautiful, sunny winter's day - we were feeling extra sorry for our friends in snowy Massachusetts! This was the dysfunctional moment of the day:

We had a yummy lunch of burgers and shakes at the diner on the pier then made our way home for more movies and yummy food.
On Monday morning we all went to the DMV to change our licences over for Cali. It was pretty stress-free because it was only paperwork. We got our pictures taken and then the lady handed us the test --THE TEST?! WHAT? NOOOOO!! We were utterly unprepared and just crossed our fingers and hoped that it wasn't too hard. Luce was the last in line to get her photo taken so she, smarty pants, went and looked up the practice tests and crammed like a champ for a few minutes before taking it. Han, flying blind and not comfortable with the prospect of failing, handed her test in with serious trepidation. One by one, we got the verdict: Mum: passed, Q: passed, Lucy... Passed! YAY! Random other lady: ahh! Who even cares, too much suspense to handle, hurry up, Han: ..... PASSED! Phew! We all passed and are official California drivers!
After that slightly stressful experience, the two of us went back to Lucy's place to run a few errands in LA before our trip to Thailand!! We got to Lucy's and had a roommate meeting (that Han really wasn't much a part of) because Chanelle was moving out and another girl, Unique, was hoping to move in! It all went fine and afterwards we went out to the movies with Emily and Meme. We saw Saving Mr. Banks and it was AMAZING! Oh man, we laughed, we cried, it was absolutely lovely, wonderful, inspirational - beautiful acting, editing, sound, wow! We'd highly recommend it!
5 days of errands, Christmas, Disney, packing, sleeping, eating, laughing, relaxing ahead and then on to paradise! Life is good!

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.....!!!!!