Too many thoughts

Дорогие лапки га-н Харви Fancey,

I have completed my first week in Russia. Amazing. There are not words... except amazing, as you just saw. I'm in love with this city, this culture, this school, the theater culture, and the group with whome I am sharing this experience. I'm learning to embrace being permenantly frustrated in acting class, enjoying the "special pleasure" we endure in movement class, and slowly, slowly learning Russian. My feet are dead from walking more than five miles every day in heals on cobbled streets, standing in "fIE POSEESS!" in Russian class, and running up the walls in movement.

Ugh. I'm so overwhelmed trying to explaine everythin I've experienced, even in just one week. Okay. So. All of the studio and language classes consist of fourteen people for me, with sixteen in the other group. Every morning, monday through Saturday, I wake up at around seven o'clock, shower, get pretty, pack everything I need for my day which goes from sweaty intense to formal wear for the theater at night. I make breakfast and start walking to school at about 9 am. It's colder for the season than ithaca is, but I always arrive at school sweaty at about 9:35 or 9:40. I've taken to getting a shot of esspresso before going up to the American studio since it's considered rude to bring food or drinks other than water into classes. I'm pleased to inform you that I absolutely adore every single class I am taking. They are as follows: Acting, Movement, Ballet, Stage Combat, Singing, History of Russian Theater, History of Russian Cinema, Stage Design, and Russian Language. All the movent classes are crazy nuts, and I fully expect to come home looking hot. Get ready. Russians think that drinking water during excerecise will give you a heart complication... so that's been an adjustment. I'm doing things that I never thought I could...because when you are used to seeing yourself one way and everyone else sees you one way, you limit yourself. Here, people are meeting me for the first time and there are no preconcieved notions holding me back. Who would have ever thought that Singing and Ballet would be two of my favorite classes here. I've also realized that I don't know how to act. And I'm happy about this. I'm more than willing to go back to the beginning every day for the sake of the thing I love.

Anyway, last night we celebrated our first week in Russia with a party at Shauna's house (Shauna is the one who chaperoned us here). I understand more than ever the need to play hard after working hard. I've been a very happy girl lately, so throwing a party into the mix was a good choice. So Saturday became a 20 hour day, every moment of which was enjoyable.

We just finished prepping our group etude for tomorrow. At some point I'm going to write about our acting teachers in more detail. For now, I'll just say that I can't get enough of either of them. Alex and Sasha. Alex is a crazy awesome film (as well as stage actor) and Sasha is apparantly an important stage actor. They argue about acting theory a lot in class. I liken it to watching two kung fu masters doing battle crouching tiger hidden dragon style....but they aren't trying to kill each other. I think they like each other. I also need to write about my other teachers, but this blog is getting silly long. I'm actually still writing only because I came back to my room to go to sleep and discovered friends sitting in here, occupying my bed. strange. But I love that too. I love everything if you haven't noticed. I'm dying to tell everything, and everytime I write something, I'm reminded of something else I need to document. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Goodnight.

Hannah