My first day at CCM

As a fourteen-year old actress in Los Angeles, California I was thinking that coming to a performing arts school all the way in Ohio, didn’t sound so great. I had been in movies and television. Why would I need to attend the College-Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati (CCM)? I was going into the Prep program which was for children from the ages of 4-18 before they started the actual college. I was going to attend there for Acting and Musical Theatre, but I already had all of this experience and wisdom. What could I possibly learn here? Furthermore, I was afraid that coming from LA, I wouldn’t know anyone because I thought everyone there had spent most of their lives participating in this camp with each other. What would they think of me coming in to this program as an outsider? Would they accept me, or as I feared, would they judge me? My first day there was the beginning of the most incredible experience of my life.
When I walked into the bright colored hallways, with so many teens my age around me, all of a sudden I became shy. Someone would smile or wave, and I would just look away. Finally, when I arrived in my classroom there were so many friendly faces that would just come over to me and greet me with such a warm presence. Most of my anxiety and fears faded when I realized that I had new friends.
Our first class was Sword Fighting and Stage Combat. This was definitely a topic I became interested in with all of the movements we had to use to fight with each other.
Every single one of my classmates had something interesting about them, and since there was only eight of us, we all got to know each other very closely. When I had to perform in front of the entire class, I was nervous but excited to fight with a sword while performing a scene! Once the class was over, we moved on to the next room for the “Meisner Technique.” Everyone in the class already knew what this was; I was the only person in the room who didn’t know this, and I had been