Stress

I think I'm feeling it (finally). I've begun my sprint to the finish, and I think it's less of a 100m sprint and more of a 300m hurdles. Things on my plate currently include, but are not limited to:

• I've just begun registering for classes, which is especially difficult while studying abroad. I've been trying to figure out my Spanish minor but I'm worried now that having missed this past semester, there is no way I can finish it off without going abroad in the summer on a language intensive program, which costs a pretty penny. I'm currently sending about 3 emails at once--one to my advisor, one to the foreign language department chair, and one to a professor seeking permission to take his course. I have no clue how many credits the school thinks I'm taking right now and I can't seem to get the website to work half the time. I guess this falls under the category of standard college problems, though.
• I wrote a blurb for my fraternity's alumni pamphlet, which I actually didn't mind putting together as it forced me to look at my whole Prague film experience with a fratty mindset. Truthfully, I have not been getting into nearly as many drunken, disorderly, though usually comical, situations as I normally do in DC. I think it's a refreshing experience being away, disconnected from the nonstop clusterfuck that is being in a small fraternity, especially knowing that I'm charging head first back into the thick of it next semester. 
• I've generally been spending a lot of time in front of my computer, either watching movies, figuring out travel plans, registering, writing, emailing my production designers and managers, or now messing with my fantasy basketball teams. It gets dark here so quickly that I wake up on weekends with only 4 hours of light to enjoy. And now that all my classes except electives have ended (oh yeah, did I mention that?), I have tons of time with nothing to do but brood over the countless looming responsibilities that slowly approach me. Thus I've been trying relaxing techniques to clear my head when I find myself with hours to kill that actually involve sunlight and fresh air. Just yesterday, I went on a walk around town for 3 hours with a few coins, a book, and my camera, looking for nice places to cozy up and chill, in every sense of the word. I stumbled upon a quaint little park nestled inside a large courtyard once connected to an old library. I sat on a bench that bordered a mossy fountain, casted in thin shadows by the bare, gangly trees that circled it. It was a pleasant spot; I enjoyed reading there for an hour or so, warmed by the setting sun while contrastingly cooled by the brisk late autumn air. I swear there is something magical about seeing your breathe in the sideways-casted orangey red rays of the sun. Little did I know that this park also happened to be a haven to peacocks, or at least peacock lookalikes (Indian Peafowls, maybe). I didn't realize it until about a group of 5 of them walked right in front of me as I sat by the fountain. I placed my book on my lap, consumed in confusion and surprise, unsure if I was hallucinating 5 peacocks or if I was actually just trespassing on a private peacock farm. Sure enough, there were at least 10 walking around this little park, totally unafraid of people, just minding their own business. Nobody else in the park seemed to notice or care, but I had so many questions: Where did they come from? Why are they here? What is this place...? Are those really peacocks? Who feeds them? In fact, what do peacocks eat? Is this weird or am I just dumb? It was a peculiar addition to my afternoon, that's for sure. I decided to call that place Parkcock. Look to my next gallery for proof of the peacocks, I'll post it tomorrow. After the park, I walked along through winding streets and alleyways until I found an entirely english bookstore, which I perused for over an hour, just loving the fact that I could read everything I saw. I stayed there until the sun set. I love walking out of a building after a fresh sunset--something about it feels homey, almost calming. The streets bustled around dinner time, filled with couples holding hands, young families enjoying the cool evening, asian tour groups, and of course your typical politely drunken Czechs--loud, but never disrespectful. I ended my evening grabbing a cold pivo in a cafe and reading more of my book. The bartender was pretty cute and her English was good enough to tell me which beer she thought was best, but I decided to just keep it at a basic customer-supplier relationship as I wanted to get home in time to change for soccer. 
• Okay, so that certainly helped my stress levels, just walking around alone and finding interesting locations to relax in. I get back however to 15 emails from my production managers, designers, mentors, and professors, all of whom I've been trying to find times to meet with. I could never be a production manager--acting as a point of contact, managing logistics, calling locations, handling money...no thank you. I'm glad I've decided to pursue the creative side of the filmmaking process--I like that side of my brain better. 
• I'm meeting with my group every day now as things are piling up and time runs out. We shoot in a week and a half, which is pretty crazy the more that I think about it. We just finalized our dialogue and sent it to our Czech professor who will hopefully translate it for us quickly. Every meeting we storyboard another scene, which we have quite a lot of currently. We just finished our opening scene, leaving now just the scene in which the son and his friends make fun of the father on the street and the awkwardly ironic scene in the car after the son finds the mask. Today we saw an apartment that we can hopefully use to shoot in and tomorrow we'll be scouting out a cafe and street corner to use as well. Things are finally coming together, which makes me a bit nervous and stressed, but then again, that's normal, right?
• Now I'm going to a professional Czech hockey match, which should be funking awesome and a great distraction from everything I've just told you about. I haven't seen live hockey since high school, but I remember those games being really exciting live, so this should be great. I'll fill you in later this week. 
• One last thing: I'm going to see an old camp friend of mine this weekend in Hamburg. His name is Chema but I've always called him Sun Chips. He and I ran a cabin together in the summer of 2012; great guy, great company, can't wait to see him.