I Am Still Learning How Things Work Around Here

I was more exhausted after today's class than I can remember being after a ninety minute ballet class in a long time. I am happy about that because it means that the class made me work hard. I plan to go to bed early tonight; I am feeling more tired and sore today than I have all week.

There is a lot about being a student here that has to be learned through trial and error. Today, for example, I thought that I had gotten the hang of reading the class schedule. As it turns out, I'm not quite there yet. 

There is a bulletin board on the fifth floor, near the main staircase, where the class schedule is posted.

The large, off-white paper rectangle on the left of the board is the schedule of all the classes that are happening on a given day. Somebody (I don't know who) changes out the paper each night for the paper with the next day's schedule.

This morning, I looked at the schedule. Our class always begins at the same time, but the studio that it is held in changes each day. I successfully found the little squares representing my class and figured out where I should go. 

Notices regarding schedule changes are posted above this, written in Russian. One said that acting classes were supposed to begin today. I saw that, found another class labeled with the name of the class that I have been with this week, and assumed that that must be my acting class.

The class that I found was supposed to start at 3:45. A friend and I arrived at the school and waited outside the studio where the class was set to take place. At 3:43, nobody was there, so we went to find somebody who could explain to us what exactly was going on.

It turns out that our acting class had taken place during the hour and a half prior to the class that we showed up for, in a different studio from the one that we had been waiting near. I didn't know about this other schedule (a picture of it is a bit further down the page), found on the right of the bulletin board, which says which class happens when for each day of the week for each level. If I had, I would have seen that we were supposed to have three classes today instead of just two, and then I would have known to look for that third class on the other schedule.

The class that I did show up for does not begin happening until next week, so I headed back to my dorm to rest some more (and blog about missing class for the first, and hopefully last, time).

I am terribly sorry if none of this makes any sense; if it doesn't, then just try to think of it as me creating an experience for you that is just as confusing as mine is for me.

On a completely unrelated note, today I got a new pair of character shoes. The school supplies each student with a handmade pair, so I got a some even though I already have character shoes. My old shoes are getting to be rather worn and I have had them for several years, so it is probably time for a replacement, anyway.

I am hopeful that my period of extreme confusion is coming to a close. I know that there is still a lot that I need to figure out, but I think that the worst of it is over. If not, expect a post titled something along the lines of "I Am Still Learning How Things Work Around Here (Part Two)".