First Week in the Netherlands

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The First week as a Pro!!


OK...... From the start.....

Sunday i left at 8:40 and flew in to Dulles Washington and had like a 3 hour layover where I basically did nothing and then left for Amsterdam. I was sad cause I didn't get a window seat so I could see over the Atlantic and no I didn't get to sit next to any cute guys.. Instead I sat next to this bigger guy who reeked of smoke, it was gross... but I just watched some movies and tried to sleep... didn't work out so well though.. Anyways, I arrived at Amsterdam at 6:30 in the morning and got my two giant bags that weight precariously close to 50 lbs and lugged them to the train station only alittle ways away. Ok, so the worst part was getting on and off the train with all those bags!! It was truly awful.. so skip that, I finally made it into my room and the view is beautiful over some of the city and canals all from the 8th floor. I dropped my bags, fell onto the bed and passed out for about six hours. I definitely understand

jetlag now. But after I went out with this guy I met on the way to the hotel who is also with Holiday on Ice but in Sound Crew. He is from Egypt and married to one of the russian skaters on the tour. Anyways he and his russian friend and I went out into the city. I got to see some of the city which was fun, it's full of little shops and cafes and bicycles! They're absolutely everywhere, everyone travels by bike and they are crazy. First night and I almost got killed about five times.
The next day gave me a nice chance to get settled in. My sleeping pattern was of coarse completely off but I was too excited to worry about getting rest. I ran into some friends in the morning who were just arriving and then in the afternoon we had a meeting. I met my director and alot of the people running the show like choreographers, performance directors, tour manager etc.. and also all the principles and other semi principles. So far it seems like a wonderful cast and crew. Our Director Kevin is very motivational and deeply into energy and connections and how they work in our lives, and that's basically his idea for the show!
First week of rehearsals was crazy!!! Every morning we have edge class at 9:00am for an hour just to help with our skating skills and get used to skating together. It's a wonderful way to start off the day and at least I think it's helpful. After that we worked on the opening piece called Supernova. It is just a principle piece but as I am a semi principle I am an understudy for one of the girls so had to be on the ice to learn it aswell. Oh my gosh after two and a half hours in skates your feet start to rebel let me tell you! I love the music and the number and only wish I could perform it all the time, never the less its very fast and powerful. Next we usually got a lunch break and then some open ice to give us a chance to just practice. And thennnnn... see the days keeps going and going.... we started acting classes! I loved it and its especially fun because of the people in my cast. I feel so lucky to be working with such wonderful people and haven't run into any bag eggs yet fortunately.So class was all about how to connect to the audience and to each other and to portray what we feel.
Anyways I am having fun with all of this but at the same time its alot to deal with. I do miss the comfort and familiarity of home and everyone. There have been some tears but I'm proud of how I've been holding up. I really look forward to each day and learning something new and not really knowing whats going to happen is exciting. I leave for Germany next week for the 65th anniversary of Holiday on Ice where we're going to be doing a pin wheel with 65 people, a record. So that should be interesting!

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Photos

The Boys!
Yes incase you are wondering, they are all fabulous and gay :)

The Girls!
Me, Juliana, Yebin