Market Day

Today rather than going anywhere outside of Arezzo, I decided to go with several girls from Santa Catarina and go to the market. I have now bought presents for everyone one I needed to. YAY me! hopefully everyone likes what they are getting. I bought a new purse for myself, yes mom ANOTHER purse, but this is the first thing I have bought for myself on this trip, other than food, and it was only 13 euro, and I haven't bought any shoes! I'm doing good! Also through out the 2 hrs we spent at the market I think we walked about 3 miles, and I'm feeling it now. I also found a really nice pair of earrings that I can wear for concerts or for dressy events.
The Galla tonight was canceled so a lot of people went to Rome tonight. So that they could spend more time visiting the differnt places. I apperntly can't read schedules at all, cause we have shows on thursday, friday, saturday, and sunday and not on monday like I thought. oh well that means that i have more time to pack on monday, cause I think that the bus to Florence leaves pretty early on tuesday the 7th.
Gianni Schicci was wonderful last night! The Italians loved it! The mayor came and told them all good luck, and that he was proud to host such wonderful singers and students in his city.
Love you all, and miss you more than you know!

new day

Italian classes are getting harder. To be expected of course, but any way, we have been learning the present tense up till now, and slowly but surely the class numbers have continued to drop. Today we started the past tense, also so today was the first day of my "special" homework. When I say special I mean, " I'm having so much trouble that our teacher who will only speak to us in Italian, pulled me aside and spoke English, which I did not no she could do, and told me she was going to send home extra work for me so I could try to bring up my grade" kind of special home work.... not so much fun.... but I'll try.
Tomorrow night the other group has their performance of Gianni Schicci, and then Saturday night is the Gala, then the beginning of next week is tech for Rondine, and then we perform Friday thru Monday and leave on Tuesday, and my final is in 2 parts the oral part is on Friday and the other half is on Monday..... it will be a very busy week. But busy is good cause other wise I sit around being bored. tomorrow I have a quiz that I HAVE been studying for, but alas no amount of studying is helping me in Italian. :( We start dress rehearsal next week. and for the chorus it will be long rehearsal because the show has double cast the leads, meaning that we will be doing it 2 times every day, and once we start dress which will be done at the space, at the correct time we get back really late, and have early class the next day.... hopefully Marilena won't mind that most of the class is very stanca in the mornings....
Everyone is talking about going to Rome on Sunday and though I would love to go, its the day after the Gala, and we will all be out late, and I like sleep a little too much, :) And Rome costs alot, and is a long train ride, so not sure about that..... sleep sounds good since the days keep getting longer, with the home work and rehearsals getting longer.
Love you all, and miss you more than you know!
Ps I get to use a cell phone soon, my purple best friend has missed me I think! lol
though I think dad hasn't minded the decrease in the phone bill!

nothing out of the ordinary

So you would think that in Italy I would naturally be more graceful right..... Wrong! I have rolled my ankle several times, most while walking, in tennis shoes, once or twice while standing (what can I say I'm special) and last night I quite possibly did the most stupid thing ever. While cleaning up my room. I stood up too quickly, first mistake. I managed to also be under the open window when I stood up, mistake number 2. Normally not so bad right, except that we're talking about me, and so I managed to catch the corner of the open window on the back of my skull. So consequently to make sure I didn't have a concussion i stayed up another hour reading after taking 4 ibprophen for the sudden splitting headache. I had slept in on Sunday after deciding not to go with the group that was going to Pisa ( ha spelled it right this time) and then practiced some of my music. Went to eat with one of the girls who didn't go anywhere either, and then well hit my head.
Today, I didn't go to Italian, because for some reason I felt totally exhausted, so I stayed in bed till the cleaning ladies came, then got ready. wen to rehearsal, and then waited around for my coaching. I had it with Enza Ferrari again and I was scared it was going to be as rough as last time, but today was different. I introduced my piece, V'adoro Pupille, and was corrected on the pronunciation, then we started. she only stopped me twice for corrections on pronounciation this time, yay! She changed a couple ornamentations in the repeat but they won't be hard to relearn. then she asked me what I wanted to look at next, I told her what I had that I already knew well, what I had that I didn't know at all, and what I had that I had only just briefly looked at, she chose, Geme la Tortorella. I was worried she would be upset that I didn't know it well, because after all this was a coaching, we were supposed to work on the feel of the music, and the diction, not the notes, but she helped me pick out the notes, on the ENITRE piece! I was so thankful! And she also noticed that several of the words were wrong, in several places a suo should have been a sua and the word "campagna" meaning country should have been "compagna" meaning campanion.
I left the coaching today very thankful that I got to work with Enza, and that she was kind enough to pound out notes for me, rather than just do "O mio babbino" like every soprano here..... that's what happens with popular aria's though everyone knows them and brings them out as a last resort.
Love you all and Miss you more than you know.... 15 days till I start to come home.... but who is counting> :)

Saturday!

So last night was fun. I went out with the girlies and had dinner then we went to this bar called Martini. I had one drink, a Bellini, yumm, but it was a little strong for my liking. During the day I had a lesson with Ms Manz, who is my voice teacher while I am here. We worked on V'adoro Pupille for a while, then she said she wanted to find something more challenging and "sexier" for me I showed her that I had Geme la Tortorella, and she said it was perfect. My homework is now to work on agillity excerises. Earlier this week during my coaching with Enza I had a tougher time, because my italian, which i thought was fine (in Si, ma d'un altro amore) sucked! Though she dpes think that I should only be singing italian, as she said "no german, it not for you". She suggested I start looking at Porgi amore, Deh vieni, and the aria from Il monteci Il capuleti (yeah I can't spell that), and another one, but it didn't register in my head at first what she was telling me so I missed the first aria she told me. Tomorrow I might be going with one of the girls on the early train to Rome, or I might be sleeping in, who knows yet, thats to be decided later today, as right now it is only about a quarter till 1pm right now.
Love you all and miss you more than you know!

Ugh its getting stressful

So today and yesterday have been a little stressful. Wednesday was just a long boring day, and then that night one of the girls in our group had a rough night, boy issues, and then got sicks. The next day she ended up passing out right before we went to class. she was fine after a little bit. The ladies who run the place were on it pretty quickly and it was hard at first to translate wheat happened since the girl who all this happened to was the one that speaks the best italian. She was just dehydrated, and everything had kind compiled itself in the 2 days for her. so my self and 3 other girls spent the morning with her, then one of her roommates stayed while the other girl and I wen to rehearsal. Tomorrow is the midterm for us so all of us are either studying or taking a break from it, which is what I am doin, yes I have been studying, and actually doin homework.
Love you all and miss you more than you know!

Tuesday

Today was a very good day. I felt so much better today! Though others from our group are getting sick. Some with colds, other allergies are getting worse. I had class as usual in the morning and than rehearsal later in the afternoon. We finished staging the second act today, and were let out early. This friday is the midterm for Italian, so I really have to study hard for it. I also have to do some laundry soon or else I will have nothing to wear! In a little while I'll be going to dinner with a couple of girilies, this is a change, normally when I'm writing this its about 11 o'clock my time and I'm about ready for bed.

Love you all and miss you more than you know!

Monday

Today was another day of italian lessons, then rehearsal. Then I tried to go to the doctor again, and he still wasn't there, i waited for half an hour, and then decided, that since i had been doin a a little better in the past 3 days days that i would just keep up with the benedryl and try some claritin, or something similar since i only seem to have issues inside buildings, not outside (wierd right). I keep having to use my inhaler inside during the day as well. When I'm outside I'm fine and dandy, but when I'm inside too lone I have spasms. this evening several of the girls and I went to dinner at a nice sit down resteraunt and i had some spicey spaghetti, and had my first galss of wine, well first taste of it. I took one 2 sips, and made one of the other girls take the rest because it did not taste good to me me. YUCK! sour and ugh! so I drank water the rest of the night. Then we went and watched joust practice for this weekend coming joust. Every year Arezzo has a huge Joust that takes place in June. And the week leading up to it the men competing in it practice in the grand piatza.
Love you all and miss you more than you know!

saturday and sunday

Today is Sunday, but I wasn't able to get on yesterday.
I had a coaching. It was quite interesting. It was with Umberto. He speak fluent Italian and french, and very little english, or at least to my knowledge he spoke little english. As we went through my 2 aria's he would correct me on my prononciation. which due to my nose being stuffed sounded very nasal, which if you know my singing is odd. Also he kept changing the rect. of "Si, ma" because according to him it wasn't very good. hopefully next time I meet with him I will still remember it and I won't be stuffed up.
Today alot of the girls staying in Santa Catarina (my building) got up and went to the train station to go to Pieza ( I can't spell remember that), Me not feeling well still and not wantint to fry didnt go with them.
Love to all. Miss you more than you know!

Friday- One week down

So 1 week in, and I'm exhausted! We staged the 2nd act today. which was a long and pretty boring part. We danced a little at first, but do to the shortage of boys, I ended up with out a partner, surprise, surprise. Oh well. I didn't feel much better today than I felt all week, and apparently I didn't look good either because Miss May told me so, and sent me to the Dr. When another guy and I went later this after noon( which took us forever to find by the way) the doctor ( dotore) wasn't there! ugh! So I took some benedryl, ibprophen, and we'll see how tomorrow's coaching is. Each week we have a coaching and a voice lesson. Along with 3 hours of Italian each day, and rehearsal most of the afternoon. I have found out through most of the girls here that most tenors are straight, and most baritones are gay. Sad day! I like low voices for men! oh well the gays here are funny! I think I might see if I can ship back one of my suitcases full of clothes so that I dont hurt myself again (yes again, I did it on the 20 minute walk to our "home" from the train station). I know expesive, but way easier to travel with. never again will I pack this much. Mom, I can hear you laughing from Italy! Love you All! Miss you more than You will ever know!

thursday!

Well its another day. I have found a girl in my building who has graciously said that I can borrow her computer when I want to get on the internet so that I don't have to wander around town and pay to use the internet. thank god! today was a little better. Still really stuffed up. I think that I either am allergic to olive trees or have a really bad case of something?! lol, any ways.... choir was pretty intense today, and tomorrow we have to have the first part of it memorized(!) and will be staging it and and learning the dance( waltz) that goes with it. I have found that I have pretty much lost my appetite entirely while I'm here.
I forgot to talk about my building on my last entry. Its an old convent that has been renovated and is now used for a dormitory. Only girls are allowed. I have 1 roommate and her name is Chi-hui, pronounced chi- way. She is from Taiwan, and is the accompanist for La Rondine. She is nice and is very quite. And keep to her self most of the time. the rooms are really small, and the bathrooms are very odd. If I ever go on a trip like this again, I very much intend to spend the extra money to get an apartment with its own bathroom, and air conditioning!
I miss you all more than you can imagine! I wish that I had auditioned for a role, because those playing the main roles in the operas are actually young! Both of the Lisette's ( they double cast the opera) are 19 (aka will be entering their sophmore year like me). I also really wish that I could get over this cold or whatever it is.
any ways love to all!
kisses and hugs!

Hello All!

HI Sorry that it took so Long for me to write! I have been sick, odd right. Any ways, traveling was awful, but whats new. I am having fun so far. I miss you all Its really pretty here. We are a good 25 minute walk from school. No its not up hill both ways but its stilll a good walk. I need suggestions on what to get you all! Italian classes arent hard, and i have found that I can relate a lot of it to my high school spanish I took. which is good. I am not the slowest learner in my class. I do feel really behind in the music side though compared to these kids though. they all go to these big conservatories, and some are fresh out of high school and still are ahead of me it seems. Also all of them did sothing I didnt and that is they audtioned for many big schools, and when I say big I mean all of then auditioned for Juilliard. All. And I have practically no voice right now due to the laryingytice I have, yes I cant spell, or use this stupid keyboard. Any way love you all!

4 Days Till I leave!

Hello all. Today is Monday, and I will be flying out on Friday. I set this up so that my famiy might be able to see what I have seen, and know what happened during the day. Of course there will be facebook, but this way I can actually say what has happened. I love you all!