I really thought I would be bored out of my mind during times I wasn't playing basketball and able to write and blog step by step all the time, but things didn't quite turn out that way...and this is a great thing for me but it's been too long since my last entry so....
It's been a month since I arrived here in Vienna and the experience has been no less than amazing thus far...well, for the most part! Between being out six months and joining a team mid-season the transition wasn't exactly easy, but things have fallen into place. Otherwise, we are winning (haven't lost at all) and along with my other American teammates Kash and Nic, enjoying Austria and the experience. It is our duty to make sure that no part of Vienna is left untouched..
With that said, I bet you notice I only write about my American teammates, don't get me wrong the other girls on the team (Austrian, German, Hungarian, Slovakian) are great but it's incredible to see how Americans overseas period seek just to be around other Americans, its like we stick together close net without even really knowing each other, a sort of strange bond based on the fact that we speak English! It sounds corny but its the truth. All over Austria, we know nearly every American playing basketball both male and female and travel just for a good ole american card game of "I Declare War"! So huge shoutout to not just Kash and Nic but to all the amazing new people I have met that have continued to make this experience one I will never forget.
------
October 13, 2011.
Dear Real World Applicant-
Congratulations! We liked your email submission and have decided to offer you a special opportunity to audition in person! WEDNESDAY October 19th 2011 at Newby’s from 11AM – 5:30PM!
Copied and Pasted above is the email I received from them 3 months after a random online submission.. 6 days later I headed 3.5 hours to Memphis and auditioned for the Real World. I walked in and there were people in every nook and cranny of this Memphis Restaurant. Remember, the audition lasted from 11AM to 5:30 that day. They said thousands showed up that day. I remember walking in looking at all these people thinking "what in the world did I get myself into" The types of looks ranged from girls in 6 inch stilettos dressed like Snooki(Jersey Shore-the hit reality TV Show) to girls in fish nets with converse to men in trench coats to men on the "roids". Never seen so much variety in one place at once. A group of oh so random people I guess saw me standing there looking lost in the mess of people and invited me to their table. The guy sitting directly across from me asked "So what role are you playing" I looked confused and responded " I'm just going to be myself, I think I have a story to tell" He laughed and told me "regular people don't make it on this show" I sat there as they continued to talk about everyone who walked through the door on what role they thought these people were trying to play or how crazy each person looked. I could only wonder what was said about me as I skipped them all in line with the pass that was attached in my email.
So this is how it works...you go into a room with 9 other people auditioning and one casting director. You sit at this round table and everyone has a picture of themselves and all the paperwork filled out prior to walking in. Each person says their name, hands over the paperwork and picture, and has 4 maybe 5 min to say anything interesting about themselves. The casting director asks one question and that is the end of your interview. At the end of our particular interview our casting director, Shannon was her name said "Thank you all for coming out, we will call you...Dawn and (some other girl, I forgot her name) can you stay back. Shannon told us we had more paperwork and to continue into another room..2 hour long paperwork asking maybe the most saddening questions I have ever seen..
So after 2 LONG hours of writing and reminiscing on all the great in my life and detailing every absolutely bad thing that has EVER happened, with a terrible hand cramp I turned in everything and made my way back home. Only 45 people of the thousands were invited to finish this paperwork and they told us only some of us would be called back that night. "Otherwise, thank you!" I was almost home and Shannon calls. She tells me she wants me in Memphis the very next day for a video interview....
Fast forward.....they loved my story, kidney disease, basketball, crazy relationship with the boyfriend, military upbringing, at the end of my interview Shannon said she loved me to send in another video, wait for a possible phone call, "Otherwise, thank you" But I will never forget what she said to me right before I left "I told my friend who is playing overseas about you, she wonders why you don't just try to play again." She told me I should at least give it a try, create a different ending. Anyway..phone call came, "Congrats your a semifinalist" they wanted a third interview..quick synopsis: I traveled to Knoxville. Shannon wasn't there. A new casting director who wasn't very friendly interviewed me. I didn't really like her reaction. Never heard from them again. But...
I can't help but think like this...so many times I have gotten so close to truly following life in another direction other than basketball. And nothing seems to quite make it there. Nothing else quite worked out until I gave pro basketball a try again like Shannon suggested, and nothing but good has come from that.
We as people ask for guidance or a sign on what is destined for them or not destined for them rather, and then we ignore it. I found myself constantly questioning my purpose out of college. It took me until now to figure it out and opportunities have continued to present themselves. I'm just anxious to see where this takes me. WNBA maybe? ;)
