The travel bug bites and doesn't let go.

Graduation is 2 weeks from today. I finish up my student teaching coming up this week, finishing out my bachelor's degree. Time goes by so quickly.

As I look back on the last 4 years, I realize how I have really found my passion and what I am supposed to do. As a freshman 4 years ago, I thought I wanted to be a piano teacher. That option quickly went away in my mind as I began getting students, so I switched to Music Education. Don't get my wrong, education is great and it is the degree I will graduate with, but that's not where my heart is.

The summer after my freshman year, a small theatre in Smithfield, NC needed an accompanist for Sondheim's Putting It Together. I had had my share of watching and enjoying theatre growing up, but I never even considered it as a career option. As soon as that first painful, demanding rehearsal was over (it is Sondheim, after all...the god of musical theatre), I knew this is what I wanted from life. Beyond that show I began playing for all the productions at Campbell University and at small theatres/high schools. Last summer, before my senior year, I had an opportunity for an internship at North Carolina Theatre on a production of Peter Pan. I am SO grateful for that experience and all the amazing people that came into my life from that moment on. Since then, I have had the amazing opportunity to be a part of such a talented, artistic community working alongside and under the direction of some truly amazing and established people in musical theatre. This is where I am supposed to be.

Beyond graduation, I do not know what life has in store. I will be music directing a show in the fall in Raleigh. Me. MUSIC DIRECTOR. I will discuss that more when everything with that has been settled and set in stone. I will continue to work at the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory for some summer programs including a production of the amazing musical, Bat Boy, along with continuing to accompany Broadway classes on a regular schedule this fall. Even with all these local opportunities, I feel like I won't be truly where I need to be until I relocate to New York City. My goal is to be moved by the end of 2009.

Speaking of the most amazing city in the world, I will be there coming up immediately after graduation for several days. I cannot wait to see Next to Normal again (which I am currently listening to), along with other shows like Hair, God of Carnage, West Side Story, etc. That city inspires me. It overwhelms me with inspiration. From New York, I will continue my journey over to the great city of London. Yes, England. I will be in England, alone, and even though some people think I am crazy, I look forward to this more than anything just to get away from what I know...to escape familiarity. To be in a culture unknown to me and to just take it in at my own pace.

Even though I am involved neck-deep in such a creative community every day, I feel like my own creativity has been lacking lately. Every day I teach music, I teach vocal techniques, I play piano, I orchestrate, I conduct. None of this requires too much creativity, just knowledge of the music and how it should be performed. I recently had a discussion with my friend about writing a musical, and I have really become serious about it. Even though the first step of picking what it is about has not even been settled, I cannot wait to begin the creative process.

And so life after school begins. Almost.