The Festival is in Full Swing!

Wow, so I have been a major slacker with the blog since the opening of the festival.  It has been crazy!  So the festival had previews on the 26th of May and officially opened on the 27th!  And it's now a week later!!  But hey, at least I finally got around to posting something!  So here is the official Spoleto Festival poster/advertisement/program book/everything!

The picture quality here isn't great, but there it is.  It is supposed to be theatre seating plots broken up and redesigned to make..this!  Anyways, since the start of the festival it has been crazy!  In addition to working multiple hours, we are also attending shows.  Since being here, I have already been to ten different shows!!  It's great.  Other than that, I have been meeting people, making friends, hanging out, and sleeping.  We even had a flashback to our childhood the other night and watched Rugrats on Netflix!   Wednesday was my one day off during the festival.  Three of us had the same day off, so we went to the beach and then went out for pizza afterwards.  It's been a great couple of days!  And by couple of days I realize it has already been a week, which means I only have about a week left here in Charleston.  That is a very sad thought.  I definitely wish this was more of an all summer gig than a couple of weeks.  I mean look at this:

We were out one night and everything was normal one minute, and the next there is a crazy band playing a show for us!  How fun is that?!  And who wants to leave a place where all of the houses look like this:

Or like this:

Like I have said before, it is absolutely amazing down here!  Is there anyway to extend my stay?!?!  That's all for now, hopefully I can update things a little more this week.  We will see.  

It's About to Get Crazy!

Well, today started with a shift at the Kiosk.  We got to leave after being there for less than an hour and a half so that we could go see The Medium, the opera produced by Spoleto this year.  It was pretty good, but I liked The Magic Flute better.  After seeing the opera, we got back just in time for the other shift to start, so we got to leave a little early.  I watched Glee when I got back and worked on mixing a song.  At 5:30 I had to go back to the office to pick up my schedule for the entire festival.  It is a little crazy, I'm not going to lie.  I think the worst day will be when I have to work from 8:45am until the Trombone Shorty after party ends.  (probably around 2am or so)  That will be a fun day (insert sarcasm)!  We do get one day off during the festival though!!  Wahoo!  After picking up my schedule, Phoebe and I headed to Charleston Beer Works for the Apprentice Happy Hour.  Most of the people that showed up were all box office apprentices, so I didn't really meet anyone new.  But, it was still a lot of fun and we got 2 for 1 appetizers, so it only cost about $3!!  After the Happy Hour, we made our trip to Wal-Mart.  It was crazy for sure, but a lot of fun.  Hopefully I won't have to make another trip before I leave though.  That's my day in a nut shell.  For your daily pictures:

   
The Washington Monuments in Charleston!!

Lost, But Not Lost

Okay, sorry there was nothing yesterday.  I was on the computer but then got really sleepy and crashed and didn't realize I had already shut my computer without doing my blog before it was too late!  But I also decided not to turn it back on because yesterday was not that eventful.  I basically got up and did laundry, went to work at the Kiosk (where we played games most of the time because there was no one coming in!) then came home and watched more Community before calling it and early (ish) night.

Today however, was not as boring!!  I worked this morning, where I had some very interesting callers as well as my first $1,000+ sale!  It was awesome!  After work I set out on an adventure.  First:

Yep!  That's right!  The library!  I guess working there last summer changed me!  One of the local festival worker's let me borrow her library card so I can check out books to read while I am here!  I am so excited!  After the library I set out in search of more beautiful buildings.  My trip did not disappoint!  I checked out Harris Teeter (the local grocery store) just to see what it was about, visited the market, kind of got lost but not really lost, and then hit up CVS before returning home.  Along the way I saw a cruise ship that had stopped here for the day, the most beautiful post office I have ever seen and a church that looks like a castle. The post office:

The church from two angels:

Isn't this city amazing?!  I think so!  I ended the night at a 3 hour opera called The Magic Flute.  It's Mozart's final piece but did I mention it is 3 hours long?!  But, I actually really enjoyed it.  Parts of it where even quite comical!!  I will also be seeing two more operas in the next two days.  I'll let you know if I am sick of it after that!  Although I took many more pictures today, I want to save them for the days when I don't have a chance to take any.  (Which could be a lot considering the festival starts Friday with preview shows on Thursday.)  Tomorrow is my last day with the easy schedule.  :(  I am excited for the streets to be even fuller and the community to be engulfed in the arts even more though!!

On an ending note, thank goodness for the tiny little map that they put in the Spoleto Festival ticket envelopes.  It helped me find my way back home earlier!  I literally might have just gone in a big square multiple times had I not had that today.

Folly Beach

Today was probably my one and only day off for the duration of my time in Charleston.  We woke up fairly early so we could beat the traffic and get to the beach early!!  We had a wonderful afternoon soaking up the sun and the waves.  And now I have the weirdest foot burn I have ever had in my life!!  I got to spend some quality time with a couple of my intern friends, so that was wonderful.  A great day ended with a shower, a couple of episodes of Community with the roommate and then we went to the courtyard and met some orchestra and choir people.  Now it's off to bed because tomorrow it's back to work.  Here's a picture taken at the beach:

Hello Weekend

I can't believe almost an entire week has already passed.  The time is literally flying and I don't know how I am going to do and see everything that I want to.  The festival starts in less than one week and then everything will be even more hectic.  I worked the call center again this morning, where I had two ticket sales and rolled 50 posters!  There was not a whole lot of action!  I work with really great people though, so that always helps to get through the slow times.  So after work I got to talk to my grandparents for a while, watch glee and worked a little bit on the dreadful job search.  Somewhere in the middle I stumbled upon these two links which you should definitely check out.  The first one is the cutest marriage proposal ever.  Ladies it will melt your heart, men you better start thinking creatively!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnVAE91E7kM&feature=aso

The second one is just kind of funny!  It's a human bicycle!  Inspired by all of the bikes that I see around town.  It is definitely a biking community.

http://twww.todaysbigthing.com/2011/05/12

On a different note, we are all still alive.  We survived the end of the world, known as Judgement Day.  These people are a little crazy.  Here's an article if you haven't read anything about it.

http://www.realtruth.org/articles/110514-001-prophecy.html?s_kwcid=TC|7308|judgement%20day||S|b|7370110157&gclid=CPO3u5Hq-agCFYPD7QodD1eASg

Tonight, my roommate and I watched even more Community.  Luckily some people stopped by and hung out for a while.  We are crashing early so we can catch some zzzzzs because tomorrow we are hitting the beach!!  Tomorrow promises to have some good pictures!  For today, just another mansion!

Welcome to the Kiosk

Today was my first day of work at the actual Box Office Kiosk.  This morning I was able to sleep in because I wasn't scheduled to go in until after lunch.  Okay, so I was supposed to be able to sleep in, BUT those bells I was telling you about, they started going off every 15 minutes at 8:00am.  I don't know how anyone could sleep through that.  None the less I was able to have a relaxing morning off.  Work at the Kiosk was great because we got to spend more time getting to know fellow apprentices while we waited for customers to come in.  Two of the people I worked with today are locals, so I was hearing about all of the good deals around town!  After I got home my roommate and I jumped right in and kept on watching Community.  We officially just made it through the entire first season in 3 days!  Tomorrow it's on to season 2!  Sorry I have nothing too exciting.  So because I don't really have a new exciting picture for today, I will leave you with what was one of my favorite videos of the semester and it's new sequel.  Here is Double Dream Hands and Double Dream Feet!!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm7yAWpX1Mc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L1tr0PIx20

Here is a picture of some pretty flowers I saw though!

First Day of Work

Today was the first official day of work for me here at the festival.  It really wasn't all that bad because it's still a week before the first events actually take place.  I am sure it will be picking up here very soon.  After work I spent time creating this blog, catching up with Slammin Salmon Sam the Blam and then quality time with my new roommate.  We walked the streets of Charleston a bit more and then watched a crazy amount of Community episodes.  It wasn't a very eventful day, but fun none the less.  Here is a picture of a beautiful house in Charleston:

I swear almost every house here is a mansion!  It's absolutely stunning.

Heading off to the first "paid gig" post-graduation!

Welp, I did it!  Graduation came and went at the speed of lighting.  I was so lucky to have so many friends and family members there to support me and I could never thank them enough for being there for me throughout my entire college career.  The day after graduation I headed home in the three vehicle caravan with my parents to transport all of my stuff back to V-town.  I was home for a week, where I got to visit some dear old friends and then it was off to St. Louis to see the family, up at 4:30am to catch a plane, and off to Charleston I went!  After being here since Sunday I decided I needed to start this blog.  I am so excited to share my adventures and have a record of all of the great things I will get to experience.  The plan is to post a picture and update everyone daily about all of the great things I get to do!  Today I will recap the past couple of days before I make my nightly post tonight!

Sunday I arrived in Charleston about 1:00pm.  After almost passing my driver with his sign I realized for the first time I was getting off of a plane where I needed to look for a sign because I knew nothing, no one, or what I was going to do next!  Spoleto Festival USA has brought me to this wonderful, and absolutely gorgeous, city of Charleston, South Carolina!!  After getting my bags, I journeyed onward to the lovely College of Charleston where I checked in to my next month's residence.  It's....well....it's a place to stay!  I have one wonderful roommate, Phoebe, two suitmates, a shower, a toilet, a refrigerator and a microwave.  It's only for a month right?!  No, it actually isn't that bad other than the extremely obnoxious bells that ring right outside my bedroom window every 15 minutes and the fact that after turning the air up to 80 after shivering through the entire first night it is still only 73 degrees in here!

But enough with the complaining.  Did I say it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS in Charleston?!  This city is full of stunning architecture, beautiful trees and flowers, and magnificent courtyards and parks everywhere.  The first night I unpacked, went to CVS with one of the other apprentices and then later journeyed to Wal-Mart with my suitmates, all of which were fun adventures!  After getting to know my roommate and suitmates a little bit I called it an early night and hit the hay.  (So much for hitting it early when it seems like its below freezing in the room and you spend the entire night shivering.)

The next day we reported to Spoleto Festival headquarters where we received our 81 page training manual.  The first day was full of information and the realization that we had a test over it all in 2 days!  After being released I studied away with a few exploring adventures as study breaks.  The good news was I found out I was going to have the entire afternoon off on Tuesday that I would be able to spend with one of my best friends from college!

Tuesday morning it was up a little early so we could visit all of the festival's venues.  It was great to see even more of Charleston and how beautiful the theatres and churches are.  At noon, the phone call came and Sara was in Charleston to visit me!!  It was out of the room and off to Isle of the Palms!  Needless to say, we may have gotten lost about four or five times on our adventures that day.   But check out the view:

 
It was a wonderful day even though we ate sand because the wind was blowing it at us so bad!!  Thank you so much for driving to see me Sara!

Day 3:  Wednesday was quite eventful.  I had two trainings in the morning, followed by a lunch break, a meeting with the Spoleto Festival President, three more venue tours, and.....the test!  So, it wasn't so bad but while I had been studying the past two days all I could think about was how I had just graduated and I thought I was done with tests!!  We were still done by about 3:30, so I decided to take an adventure.  My journey landed me at South Battery where I walked along the water of the Charleston Harbor.  While I was there I got to see three dolphins!!  Here's a picture with one of their fins just above the water:

Okay, I know it's really hard to see here because it's so small, but it's right there in the middle of the picture.  It's hard to catch a dolphin in a picture!  After I got back from my dolphin sighting, I got to spend some quality time with my roommate.  We wandered the streets, window shopped and stumbled across this beautiful hotel.  Look at the interior:

Did I mention Charleston is so pretty?!  After we got back we enjoyed our dorm courtyard, the night sky, the fresh air and the sound of a practicing trumpet player.  After that she introduced me to the show 'Community,' which will be our new nightly show to watch!  It's really funny!  I think we stayed up and watched 5 episodes last night alone!''

I think that pretty much catches me up to today, so it's time for me to go out on a new adventure!