The moment winter break had ended, I knew I was in for the ride of my life.

Well, to an extent.

The memory of it is kinda fuzzy to me, but I know the first thing we ended up doing was learn choreography. And, boy, was that a trip!

Like at the callbacks, we worked a lot on the waltz. Although Maria, the Captain, Georg and myself weren't going to be in that scene, we were required to learn it anyway.

And I don't think I've enjoyed a dance lesson more. It was very complex choreography, but I loved every step I took. I guess it just kind of felt like I was experiencing those fantasies that every girl had when they were younger when they danced with a "prince". In my case, it was a naval captain in sneakers.

I have to admit that it was pretty hard to catch up. I don't know whether it was me, Georg or both of us, but the dance got pretty difficult after a while. Let's just say the moment it was over, I was relieved to get out of my now-worn-out character shoes.

Also, show blocking began. Maria and I were working on where we would stand and learning our lines. It was pretty cramped in the black box theatre those days. And, of course, the first scene we blocked was "The Sound of Music".

And I loved how they set up the scene. The idea was that Maria had slipped out of the Abbey to enjoy one day in hills, while the nuns gave no notice until the very end of their hymnal, to which they leave the stage to find her. Maria is addressed as being very mischievous in this scene for us and I loved that.

I always saw Maria as a carefree spirit, even in the movie. I saw her as someone who just loved music passionately, so much that she just couldn't contain it. And even the Mother Abbess knew that she had to share her passion. Not only that, but as the Mother stated in the show, she had a great capacity to love. She could have enemies, yes, but she could see their pain deep down.

Now, back to the subject at hand: blocking rehearsal. When we began singing, I tried imagining those hills, kinda like the ones in the movie. It wasn't hard 'cuz the theatre kids were still working on the background for the show, and those hills were still sitting out to dry. So I just looked at those hills, bushes, and blurry-looking flowers and tried to see what Maria might've seen.

I won't say I saw something, but I knew I understood the joy she felt not just for those hills, but music itself.

I sang my heart out, but I knew it wouldn't be perfect. I still had a long way to go.