My opera-business school journey continues. while last week I was kind of lost between the rehabilitation, the homework and the Don Quixote rehearsals, I feel I am back. I have to say that it was not easy to pick up the Don Quixote rehearsals from nowhere. While last week was my first week of rehearsals, for the others it had been 3 weeks since they started. So I used, again, my understudying skills, I just rehearsed as if I was doing a replacement. Back into dancing always means sore muscles, and muscular tension accumulation; starting Don Quixote's character dances from nowhere also means blues on the knees, and of course fatigue. 

          But this second week seemed easier than the first week. Which is normal because I intentionally tried to better organise my daily schedule. I read from this book called "The Magic of Thinking Big" about a how-I-can-do-better technique which consists of writing down on a notebook at the end of each week how we can improve ourselves, in daily life, at work, at school...... Following that technique really makes me more efficient in my work. 

          In difficult times, I always remind myself of how hard it was to get into this company, how much I fought for it, how happy I was after the good news, how proud was my family and friends. And looking at views like this always make me feel lucky about being here. 
             By the way, the first trimester of my business school program just came to an end! So I officially did 1/6 of my degree! I am satisfied with my first trimester, I got good grades and learnt a lot. 

          Weekends and day-offs have never been so good to me! Now I really enjoy them so much. And by miracle the weather is always sunny and fresh on those days since I started my business school. I need them to stay away from work for one day. Time to stay on the bed, looking at the ceiling and doing nothing. Time to think, to relax, to stay away from problems and stress. But also for my body to recover, before attacking another intense week! 

First week back to the Opera after this long break because of a psoas lesion. First week of the real "studies-ballet" life that I had been fighting for since last December. I must admit that I have never been as satisfied since I entered this company. Studying makes the dancing even more enjoyable and I enjoy the time when I study alone in the cafeteria of the Opera. However, this kind of lifestyle requires an even stricter self-discipline and an extremely efficient planning. Now I try to have my whole week well planned before hand so that I would know which time slots I would have in my schedule to squeeze in the studying. I adore this photo on the left, this is what I want. Weekend also seems more treasurable this way. 

Multi-tasking seems to be the key. Now I would stretch and attend a video-conference at the same time. This saves a lot of time. After a week of intense work I got sick this weekend. I deserve it, I was a bit too tough with myself to finish and Finance assignment. It's perfectly alright. For this second week, I have to plan my schedule even better. I also have to set up rules for myself to balance up between working and the relaxation. I hope this coming week will be better. 

For instance, on Saturday I managed to stay away from work and to reward myself by going to a very nice exhibition: MoMA (Museum of Modern Art of New York) in Paris, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. 

               
Today will be my last day of rehabilitation in LADAPT, the very nice centre in which I spent the last two months during my injury. They physiotherapists and doctors here have much more time to listen to and to take care of each patient than in the Opera. I appreciated my time here so much, I never thought that a rehabilitation process from an injury could be so stress-free and happy. The atmosphere there is wonderful. I shouldn't say I'd like to go back there, because that would certainly be because of an injury, but somehow I do miss it. 

I also started taking classes again in another studio in Paris. It's called the Studio Harmonic. Taking ballet classes for amateurs before going back to the Opera was a wise decision. For certain, ballet is much harder when it's simple and slow. It allowed me to build the deep profound muscles to find back that internal strength first, before picking up difficult techniques. The real challenge begins for me, Don Quixote in December in Opera Bastille, more than 23 performances, exams soon for the first Trimester in my business school, and a new trimester will begin during the Don Q shows. Good luck to me! But, I really can't wait to get busy, this is how I feel. 

          So I started dancing again. It feels great to be back and I feel so ready because I learnt so much during the rehabilitation process. Having worked with different doctors and physiotherapists definitely helped me to know my body much better and I think I worked quite well since I stopped rehearsing in the Opera. 

          Studies are going great too and I can't feel more satisfied. The very beginning was surely difficult, I didn't have any basic notions in Finance, Accounting and Business. Now that very luckily God granted me this extra free time to start my new school year, I had good marks in the recent assessments! 
          I also bought myself an iPhone. My old android phone couldn't share wifi connection and could be a problem when I work outside with my computer. This iPhone-Mac combo is also extremely convenient and productive. Have I just become an Apple-addict? I hope not, I hope I just spent the money wisely and reasonably.