PART 1

I decided to begin this blog for 4 reasons -

(1) I read somewhere that honesty is comedy in a dishonest world. And that if one wishes to call themselves a writer they need to practice honesty - or at least writing. 

(2) My long term memory is appalling and somewhat similar to Dory the fish so this might help me to document my training and remember my adventures abroad.

(3) My Mum can stalk me. And my family will hopefully leave awful comments about how bad I am at French seeing as they all speak it fluently. I know they're just jealous to not be heading off to euro disney...

(4) I promised my brother Romeo I would take pictures and videos of his laminated friend "Flat Stanley" and upload HIS adventures abroad - ahead of my own. It's for a school project but it's a companion for me none the less. Picture to the right.

Please note THE CODE for this blog: 

*   = means I can't stick to a focused sentence so continued adding unnecessary information below

! = I'm slightly more excited

CAPITALS = My passionate tone/RANT

haha = awkward filler

" " = Made up quote to embellish the story

(blahblah) = Honest translation

So I am about to embark on 4 months of travel! I leave to Paris this evening to train with Philippe Gaulier in Clown and Character for 6 weeks, then off to visit all my friends in London for 2 weeks, New York for 2 and a half and finally I'll end up in Chicago training with Improv Olympic for 5 weeks. 

And so I reflect upon the last time I departed for a big trip to that side of the world...

AH yes: Puffy eyed, 17, lovesick from being separated from my high school boyfriend, made worse by listening to Adele, IN a wheel chair due to a 'sliced toe on an escalator' incident, 2 suitcases, One woolen sock and one jandall on, a violin, a squillion charges and unknown chords, oh and my entire family and ALL THEIR bags and violins.

This time I'm departing older but no more wiser, slightly more immature and self centered  after a year at drama school but my eyes are certainly NOT PUFFY! And I am a lone soldier (With the exception of Flat Stanley). Which means I can eat and sleep as much as I like on the plane. Progress indeed.

I decided to do this trip quite last minute to be honest and it was no doubt an emotional reaction to my decision to drop out of drama school earlier in the year. Plus I had saved some cash for my fees so seemed silly not to spend it all at once. People do this all the time after a divorce or redundancy right? Run off to Paris to busk and become a clown? And do improv in the US? No? Well that's what I'm doing anyway. There is a sort of through line or 'theme' for this trip: train in comedy and come back with no money.

More than anything I love to laugh (Be the centre of attention) so I hope if nothing else this trip allows me to indulge in being the fool I am and make my fellow Parisians, Londoners, New Yorkers, Chicago-eees and blog stalkers laugh.  As I outlined in the reasons above, being honest is certainly something I could afford to practice.  Not because I’m a liar and steal things*(stick to the code and scroll down below) but because I suffer from being a compulsive people pleaser. Symptoms include excessive smiling, yearning for outside validation, cravings for smoothies and an underlying need to please others. By ‘others’ I should clarify that I’m not talking about men I sleep with. I’ve been privy to far too many persuasive feminists and waxing pains to care for that. I mean the world!!And my mother. The irony of her diagnosing me with this condition in the first place is not lost on me. Please note she has also diagnosed me with a serious hormonal condition based on my rare symptoms of: occasional bad skin, leg bruises post, mood swings, lack of appreciation for my parents and hair on my face. I saw a doctor and he diagnosed me with: BEING A HUMAN.Why this woman is not in medicine I will never know.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgh I still need to close up my suitcase, sort out my tax and practice my violin before heading out the door so I will finish my first post here.

What I'm hoping is that my blog is a chaotic jumble of honesty, made up characters, red noses, poor french, flights, Improv, photos, a laminated companion and a good time.

Ridiculously excited to be staying with a french speaking family in Paris despite my complete lack of french - please forgive my over use of facial expressions in advance. 

To all my friends abroad I cannot wait to see you!! And to my friends and family back home (NZ/AUS) I'll miss you and see you in four months! 

Stay tuned for updates to come at the other end.

*With the exception of once stealing my Mother’s green smoothie which I blamed my brother for. Yes my brother who eats nothing but biscuits, cake and nutella – complete rookie error. But now I’ve gone and said it on the world wide web! I’m sorry mum, I owe you one. … Literally.  I’ll buy you one of those 250ml green smoothie drinks that scream “I’m a bored yoga mum!” for $5.50 when I return. Note: This does not make YOU a yoga mum. You have too many children and not enough time to ever master downwards dog.