(Prospective) Major: Double major in neuroscience and musicHometown: Northfield, MinnesotaRelationship: Single and ready to mingle!Campus Activities: BOKA, ObviousFavorite Holiday: Christmas
HC: What do you look for in a potential partner?AB: “(giggles) Of course, all the qualities that everyone else looks for in a partner like trustworthiness, ambition, thoughtfulness, and compassion. Someone who has an activity that they are really involved in. I don’t really care what it is, but as long as they have something they are passionate about and love doing, and that they are also excited to share with me. Oh, and they definitely have to make me laugh and be the kind of person I can just be my weird self around.”
HC: What are some of your biggest turn-offs?AB: “These are things I haven’t really thought about honestly. Hmm…I guess this happens to everyone, but when someone brags. Like, they’re aware they’re doing it but they also want you to know that they do this and that and they’ve traveled everywhere, etc. Also, people who are unaware that they are being offensive and say things like, ‘Don’t be [such a] girl.’”
HC: What would you do on your dream date?AB: “Oh gosh, more hard questions! Does it have to be realistic? I mean, if I could do anything with the person, it would definitely be traveling and sightseeing in a bunch of cool places. But I think, more realistically, if just we grabbed some food and then spent some time walking around a carnival or city!”
HC: What’s your best quality?AB: “Wow, I don’t know! I think I have a pretty good ability to switch between being serious and totally silly and crazy. Along with that also comes the ability to be able to tell how to act in different situations.”
HC: What was it like doing your performance in the Vagina Monologues as a freshman in front of so many people, and how did you prepare for it?AB: “People keep saying to me, ‘Wow, it must have taken a lot of courage,’ but honestly, I didn’t think about it too much. They e-mailed me saying, ‘Hey, we’d like you to be in the Vagina Monologues, but we have a script for you that some people may not be comfortable with.’ So I read through it and thought, ‘Wow, this looks pretty intense,’ but it was something that I really wanted to pull off because it would be a challenge to overcome. I wanted to be more comfortable with the whole topic, which is why I decided to to do the Vagina Monologues in the first place. In terms of acting, I like to challenge myself and do something different. You don’t want to be stuck doing the same type of role; and this was definitely something I had never done before, like, moaning in front a whole group of people!”
“[To prepare for my role,] I watched a whole bunch of Youtube videos to see what it would sound like. I went to the practice rooms in Studzinski once, but I felt like people could still hear me. And of course, I never practiced in my room or in the showers or in the bathroom because it was super weird. So basically, the only times I did it full out were during the tech-week practices, which meant I only had five days to really practice it.”
“When the show approached, I would tell people to come see it, but I didn’t really say anything about my role because I didn’t want anyone to expect anything from me. My biggest worry about the role was that for people who didn’t really know me, this would be the only impression that they had [of me]. I didn’t want them to associate me with that type of person, because thats not who I am at all. That’s why I really liked having the notecards in my hand – to distance myself away from the character because I am not like that. I guess I didn’t want people to oversexualize me. Once I actually got around to doing it a couple times in front of people, I was kinda excited about it because I like to perform and shock people.”
“The aftermath was not what I was expecting at all. People were totally not weird about it, which is nice, so thank you for that! I was so worried about what people would say, I promised myself I wouldn’t look at yik yak for a few days, but nothing ended up happening! I didn’t get the feeling that people were judging in any way. Overall, I just committed to the role, and it ended up being a great experience!”
HC: If you could sit down and have dinner with anyone in the world, past or present, real or fictional, who would be and why?AB: “My first answer would be Beyoncé because I’m obsessed with her. I feel like she’s actually a really cool person. Her stage presence isn’t really different from her actual presence so that would be awesome just to get to know her. But if I had to choose someone else, it would be Hayao Miyazaki (film director). I want to know what goes on in his head. It might not be a fun dinner because I feel like he’s really intense, but his imagination is so cool. I would just want to listen to him tell a story the whole dinner.”
HC: What is some advice for people who want to get to know you better?AB: “I guess theres two pathways you can take. You can either be really straightforward and send me a message being like, ‘Hey this is me and we should be friends,’ but I don’t know if people would actually do that though. Or, if you have any mutual friends with me, we could all hang out in a group and get to know each other better. A lot of my current good friends started out as mutual friends. But, I mean, there are people I want to get to know and I don’t know how to do it either!”