The weather was gorgeous last May, which I barely noticed as I was spending my time imagining the professors of the English department in Pau flipping through applications and making decisions. When they got to mine, I was lucky enough to have a professor on my side, suggesting they hire me. I wasn’t there when they made the decision, but apparently they wanted to hire another girl because she was interested in theater and wanted to be in this year’s English-language play put on by a group of students who call themselves the Dramafreaks. But I was saved by the kind professor who insisted that I was really interested in theater, too, and would certainly be a part of the Dramafreaks.

When he told me I had the job, I wasn’t sure if he was happy with his decision to help me or not. “You can’t back out,” he said, “you’re sure you’re coming back next year?” I reassured him, grinning. “Oh, and you have to be in a play. I told them you would so now you‘ve got to.”

Once I was installed back in Pau and starting to get comfortable in my job, the Dramafreaks’ casting posters started going up, reminding me of the deal I had gotten in to. Annie Get Your Gun was the play of the year, the story of Annie Oakley. With sweaty palms, I went to the informational meeting and, to my relief, they all seemed friendly and weird. I found out that I would need to find a song to sing in front of them within the next couple of weeks and went directly home to go about looking for one.

At the casting I thought “Well, I’ll just give it a try. A small part in a play could be fun… and it’s in English. No problem!” But while I was singing “Like A Prayer” a bit too softly, I shook nervously all the same.

I hammed it up and danced around, trying to smile a lot, which seemed to do the trick because after another two try-outs they announced that I would be playing Annie, which means parading around in a sack, wearing white cowboy boots with fringes, and singing songs like "Doin' What Comes Naturally," which begins "Folks are dumb where I come from, they aint had any lernin'..."

So by now I’ve got the entire play memorized along with the five or six songs I’ll be singing and I’m doing the whole thing in a fake southern accent which makes me wonder if I’ll be offending any exchange students in the audience… I basically act like a big dope for a few hours, which comes easily to me. Turns out they think I'm acting!

Now I am a part of the Dramafreaks. We practice twice a week, goof off a whole lot, and even fake-kiss. I love it.

The play will be in May and the weather will probably be as nice as last year but honestly, I don’t think I’ll notice.