BY KATIE KLIMACEK
Staff Writer
I never would have thought that it would take moving hundreds of miles to Chicago, leaving Saint Rose for the semester, and studying comedy to get me back to writing for The Chronicle once again.
It’s crazy to think that just a year ago, I was back in my dorm room in Albany browsing The Second City’s website and looking into the details of their Comedy Studies program through Columbia College Chicago. The idea of dropping everything at Saint Rose to pursue a seemingly impossible dream was one that didn’t cross my mind that often back then. Now looking out of my 14th floor window at the never-ending parade of inebriated adults pour out of the four clubs that line the cross section below, I can’t think of anything but that.
I have been in the Windy City for two weeks now, and even though it seems like I have barely had enough time to figure out the subway system, I have already experienced so much.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared after my mom left and I was completely on my own. I was. 20 year olds dream of the day they are out on their own, and believe me I did too; especially when my brother would come into my room every two minutes and tell me that I couldn’t watch Netflix and play Candy Crush at the same time. But there is something about finally getting what you want that you realize what you had before was just as good.
I stayed in my room for the whole first day and wished that my classes would just start already. I should mention that I moved out to Chitown a whole week before my program started and knew no one. I would look out at the beautiful view that I had of the city and feel the back of my neck get clammy.
To be honest, I was terrified to leave my room, let alone my apartment building and walk out into a city I had only started to get acquainted to three days earlier. I soon filled my time with reorganizing my bathroom cabinet, watching the cabs bob and weave through the streets, and video chatting with my best friend for 15 hours.
Don’t worry, this article is not going to end up with, “And the landlord found my body with four inch long toenails and a beard down to my chest.”
I did eventually leave my apartment, and when I did all anxieties about moving quickly drifted away with the frigid wind. Let me tell you, they are not kidding when they call it the Windy City!
There is a feeling that washes over you when walking into the winding maze that is Second City. Regardless whether you are there to study and learn or simply for some entertainment, just knowing that people like Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Amy Poehler have walked through the same doors and performed on the same stage, is surreal.
I think it is safe to say that all of the Comedy Study students, or anyone who studies at the Training Center for that matter, hopes that their headshots will one day replace Stephen Colbert and Chris Farley’s.
My classes, despite only being an orientation version the first week, are amazing. It is so much fun to finally walk into a classroom and be excited for what you are about to learn. For us college students, it feels like we sit down to learn about a subject we couldn’t care less about, but at Second City it is so different. We all want to be there, ready to learn and find out what bits of information we have been lacking up until this point and apply them to our material.
With any new experience like this, I think that most people are afraid of the people they will be around and what they will be like. I know that I was so afraid that I would get to Second City and realize that all of this was a mistake. That in reality I knew nothing more then the foundation of improv; Yes, And, and would look like a fool the first time I stepped on stage in front of my peers.But I think that we need to remind ourselves that everyone around you, regardless of the situation, is feeling the same way.
Within a matter of minutes I meet a group of comedians, almost all from out of state, who were in the same shoes as myself. I don’t know why we, as humans, assume that we are the only ones experiencing something new and frightening. We’re not. At any given time just simply look around you and chances are there will be at least one person who is experiencing the same emotions and feelings that you are.
Being so far away from home, on my own, has helped me to realize that whatever is in store for me after college will not be so bad. Regardless if I get a job right away, go to grad school, or simply go with the flow of things for a bit, I know that it will be an experience that will help to shape my future.
You are probably reading this and saying, “my god, why am I reading this girl’s diary? This article sounds so sappy and sentimental.” Don’t worry, there is a reason.
I am saying this in hopes of inspiration. If I hadn’t stopped for a moment and realized that forensic psychology wasn’t the right career choice for me, I would not be listening to the orchestra of cab horns blow below my Chicago apartment or be writing this piece.
Chicago is my new beginning, the place that will be the first day of the rest of my life, regardless of the outcome. My hope is that you, who ever you might be, will read this and figure out what your new beginning will be. It might be something as small as changing the way you style your hair to something as big as switching your college major to something that you have always wanted to do.
I challenge you, to go out and find what your new beginning is. And when you do, just sit back and realize how much fun you are going to have from that point on.
