When you wake up and realise that it is 33 degres outside (celsius). Well, actually it doesn’t matter, because we are spending all the day inside anyways. The only difference for us may be that it gets even warmer in the dancestudio that is our 2nd home over here, than it normally is.
Sometimes I use to ask myself: “What the f*** am I doing here? 6 classes in a row in a small room with no aircondition, we all are dripping wet, hungry as hell and can’t barely breath. What keep me doing this? Why don’t I just skip classes whenever I want so I don’t need to be so tired all the time, and so I can go outside and enjoy the sun and the 33 degres?” Yes of course, my teacher wouldn’t be happy if I just skipped classes, but in the end, it’s all about the passion for dance. I’m dancing because I love it, and I want to get better, and I know what it takes to be a dancer (and that doesn’t include taning when I should be in a class)! There is so many other things I could spend this time on, but dance is my life, and what I WANT to do.
Sometimes it feels like I’m never getting better, no matter how much I try or how hard I work. But even though I can’t feel the progressing myself all the time, I know that I’m getting better. It’s just hard to see when we are watching people that are so much better everyday. It’s sometimes hard to remember that they actually have been doing this since they were born! But when your passion for something is strong enough, you are willing to do whatever it takes to do it. You don’t care about everyone that is better than you. You just accept being tired, and saying goodbye to alot of the other “fun” things in life. Of course, I know that dance is not only pleasure or happiness. Nothing comes by itself. It’s all about working hard, and it’s all worth it when you realise how much you grew, and that all this hard work paid off. And if you want it enough, you can do it, as long as you believe in yourself.
Well I love California and wish I just could stay here forever. It’s so wierd and sad to think about that we only have 1 month left, and then we have to leave, without knowing if we will ever come back (okay, there’s no doubt, I have to come back), or how long it will take before we can come back to this beautiful warm place with all the opportunities, good dancers, good classes and with all this open and welcoming people . In 1 month it will all be just memories, and we will regret that we were discussing about the cars, or complaining about the heat in the dancestudio, because we will realise how good everything was here, and miss all the people we didn’t know we were so close to before we didn’t live with them and spend every minute with them anymore.
-Natalie Kvalvik from Norway