Ah, Little Cushion.

Everything about this experience in Dublin has been really intense.

Yesterday right after I wrote the blog post prior to this one, I got a phone call from Adam, who ran to meet me in my hotel room as soon as he got in. We chatted for awhile, until Aaron (our contact at RTE) called us and told us he was waiting in the lobby. We headed downstairs to meet him, and went out to dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen where we inhaled an insane amount of food while talking about ApartmentRed, the Internet, and YouTube in general. Aaron's girlfriend met us a bit later, and was lovely as well. American, too.

We wandered in the rain a bit while everyone made fun of me for only bringing a tiny sweater (wishful thinking again I'm afraid) before we ducked in a pub for drinks and more chatting. We got back to the hotel at 11:30 or so, and even though we were both completely shattered, Adam and I ended up accidentally staying up until 1 in the morning just hanging out and reading over the scripts and wondering what the first day in the studio would be like.

When my alarm went off this morning at 7 am, I remember thinking "this is a JOKE."
I was so, so tired. It took me 15 minutes to drag myself out of bed and then I got showered and ready in record time. I met Adam downstairs for breakfast, and when we were through, we set out on the 15 minute walk to the studio.

The first thing that happened upon arriving was that we were taken up for "makeup". I was not expecting this at ALL. I mean, it obviously makes sense... we were being filmed on real cameras in a real studio with a real production team, of course we're going to need professional makeup. I've just never never had another human being put mascara on me, so it was odd.

My makeup guy was named Javier, and he asked me what my name was.
I said, "Kristina".
"Ah, Cushina?"
I figured it was close enough so I nodded.
"Cushina," he mused. "Little cushion."

He proceeded to call me "little cushion" for the rest of my foundation, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick application.

Once I was loaded up with more makeup than I have ever worn on a normal day out, we headed out to meet the rest of the cast and see the sound room and the set of the Apartment. I didn't actually get to film anything IN the Apartment set today. My two scenes were in the hallway first, and the best one, which was an awkward scene between me and Stephen (3sixty5days) inside a makeshift storage closet.

The first scene only had 2 lines from my character, but the second scene was a back and forth between Stephen and I that spanned 2 pages in the script. I was so, so, so nervous. The only real acting I have done was in high school, when I did stage productions, where I had months to learn my lines and develop my character. I learned these lines today in about 40 minutes.

I realized in the middle of it all that I knew nothing about being filmed in a studio or anything. I was getting all sweaty palmed and heart-thuddy while I was waiting for my first scene, because while we waited we got to sit in the control room watching the other people run their takes on all the little monitors. I didn't know any sort of cues or code words or how to act or when to start or where to look, but it all ended up working out pretty well. It wasn't very scary it turns out, and acting opposite Stephen especially was relatively easy.

I found out I have to wear the same outfit again tomorrow that I wore today, since the things we're filming happen in the same day (in the context of the show) so I'm glad I wore the better outfit today, haha. I only brought 2 outfits since I knew my trip up here was short.

Anyway, Dublin has been fun, and busy, and distracting. This feels like some completely removed from my own life - I can hardly believe I am here, doing this. I finally got in touch with Eia yesterday... some plans are kind of still up in the air but nothing life-threateningly bad or frustrating is happening at the present moment.

So my plans for the rest of the day are to go out and see a bit of Dublin with Adam and Stephen, and then come back to my hotel, bask in my awesome double bed, try to learn my lines tonight to make tomorrow a little easier for myself, and then go to bed early. I kind of can't wait to do this all again tomorrow. I could see myself doing something like this, maybe. In the future, I mean. :) Depends on if I can act, I suppose. Aaron said things went great today, but I have no idea how I actually did. Last time I acted I was 18 and played Gertrude McFuzz, the bird with a one feather tail. This is a bit different. xD

By the way, I will post links and twitter information on when these episodes will be posted online for the public viewing pleasure. :)

Days until I leave: 20
Times I've had Indian food: 11