Veni Vidi Vici: Day 1 Getting into the Swing of Things

First day is under our belt. Where do we even start? This morning my mom and I started off our day with some Starbucks. There is a Starbucks in the same building as second city so as you will see this is a part of our daily routine.

We headed upstairs for a parent orientation and got our class groupings. One of my great friends from last year, Ann, is in my class. She is super rad, lives in a suburb, has a rock band, and has a job teaching kids music at School Of Rock. Another friend from last year, Logan, is in my class. He is from Kansas City. This was great because I felt at home right away. The other people in my class are super cool as well here are some fun random things I learned about them

· Another kid is from Iowa!! (Jack 1)
· One currently lives in Arizona (Jack 2)
· One gets up at 6 am to go running. Everyday. (Cecelia)
· One recently dyed his hair purple and feels he is like Liz Lemon (Cameron)
· One could not believe there is no Chipotle where I live (Joel)
· One is into video editing just like me (Collin)
· One is super chill dude (DJ)
· Ones name is Shay which makes me think of Shea butter
· Ones uncle does mock interviews for guests on Jimmy Fallon (Matt)
· One really wants to do the same program at Columbia College that I do (Michael)
· There’s one more whose name I cant think of but he says he enjoys my energy which is a super cool compliment

Sorry if that was boring for you but I’m also writing this blog for me to look back on. Now lets talk about my teachers. My Improv teachers name is Bina (how cool is that?). She can do a lot of name-dropping, and trust me she did. Which I think is really fascinating. One was that Amy Pohler trained her. Another was that she trained Cecily Strong. My sketch teachers name is Dana (or something along those lines) and she started second city stuff at the age of 19, was the youngest female to be on a main stage production at 22 (challenge accepted), toured for years and now is here teaching because she loves to teach.

We had a lunch break during which I enjoyed some Trader Joe’s food and of course played connect 4 (a staple of second city youth camps). Afternoon we do sketch comedy. We spend today reading sketches previously written here at second city. If you didn’t catch this above I am one of three girls out of fourteen people so I was up reading a bunch! We start getting into the writing process tomorrow.

After camp my mom and I went down to water tower place to do some shopping. I got some new Toms and a journal. They say shop to you drop and I almost did! I’m having some really bad leg pain and was limping through some stores. We stopped and ate some Bao (Thai dumplings) and I decided to bear through the pain to do more shopping. We didn’t get anything else but had fun nonetheless. On our way back to the L stop we stopped at a place called Taco Burrito King. A cute little Mexican place (Pics at the end of this post). Everything was reasonably priced and delicious!!

After that we decided it was best to head home and hangout, type a long blog post, and probably watch some Netflix. As I mentioned my leg is hurting so I think a night in was the best option.

M&M’s

My day was not nearly as eventful as Grace’s but nice nonetheless. After Grace and my usual Starbuck’s morning hangout, we headed to the parent meeting. My roommate from law school had sent me a message that she had a friend here who also had a child going to Second City. In the typical small world Midwestern way, we discovered that her son was actually one of Grace’s classmates from last year and is in her class again. Thus it was easy to spot each other and introduce ourselves. After the parent meeting, she and I decided to go to breakfast together at a spot I love in Old Town – Kanela’s Breakfast Club. I had a great time getting to know her and it was nice knowing another parent from out of town who is here for the two weeks. We may be able to keep each other company and I am suggesting to Grace that we could catch some of the various Improv shows together while we are here.

As for the rest of the day, I hit the “L” and picked up a book at the Lifeway store for the Bible study I am starting back home but missing while I am here and did a quick pre-scope of Nordstrom’s Rack. Also got tickets for Grace, Grant, his mom, and I for a Second City show when they join us in 2 weeks. Other than that, I read and waited for Grace. We hit the Mile to do some “retail therapy” as Grace calls it but were both kind of dragging tonight and not up to our usual energetic shopping exercise. Thus we are calling it in early.

As a final thought, I will share that I loved sitting in the lobby of the Second City Training Center as the kids assembled this morning and watching this gathering of unique, energetic, happy kids who embrace making people smile as a way of approaching life. There are so many “rules” of improv that are just good life rules as well and the energy and community these kids have is fun to see.

Well that last paragraph pretty shows how all us kids love camp and getting to meet people who are so different yet so alike. A good thought to close with. BUT FIRST some pictures of our apartment and etc..