more news to come later.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to everyone! New year's in Florence was pretty cool. Lots of music, people, and fireworks.
So, I've needed to post for a while, especially about my travels to and from the United States. Well, to start off, the Friday before I was supposed to leave on Sunday had the most snow that Florence had seen in something like 24 years--about 5 inches. Of course everyone here was sooooo happy to see snow, but after living in Pittsburgh for four years I knew how much it could suck when it snows. And of course flights were cancelled. Even the buses just pulled over on the sides of the roads and quit running. The entire airport shut down Friday and didn't reopen until 5 p.m. the next day, and that was mostly just to rebook flights. My plan Saturday night was just to stay up all night and sleep on my flight across the Atlantic because I had to be at the airport by like 5 a.m. anyway, which also meant getting a cab at around 4:30 a.m.
Due to the snow, the cabs wouldn't book a ride ahead of time, so that sucked. Then I kept checking the airports all night and around 2 a.m. my flight had been cancelled. Luckily, I got in touch with my mom and she called the airline and found a new flight for me, but as soon as she booked it (or maybe before) the flight was cancelled. But no matter what I needed to go to the airport to rebook. Around 3 or 3:30 I started calling to book a cab, but they kept saying that I couldn't book ahead of time because they wouldn't know who would be available. Well, that's why I wanted to book ahead of time! So around 4 I just started telling them I wanted a cab right then. Well, at that point they just kept telling me that no one was available and hanging up. So I couldn't even get information on what I should do to try and make it to my flight! They really didn't care.
So, I got my stuff together, bundled up, and started walking. I didn't go very far until I found some other Americans my age and asked them if they were waiting on a cab. They were waiting on a shuttle to the train station where they would try to get a cab. So we stood and talked while I kept calling cabs. I finally got one and when he showed up I asked if they wanted to go with me. They were two girls with 8 or 10 bags; one of their friends wasn't there at the moment. I told them they were welcome to join me in the cab, or they could stay and wait on the shuttle, but I was leaving then. So one hopped in with me and we went to the airport. The cab driver was really nice and we talked quite a bit. Luckily it only cost me 15 euros since I had someone to split the cab with.
So, at the airport my flight was of course cancelled, so I just went and got into line. For the first hour or so I just stood in line by myself. I didn't even have headphones for my iPod. Then a friend showed up in the back of the line and we talked off and on and tried to figure out the system. For the last hour and a half or so I made some friends that had actually been at the same school as me this whole semester! After they had stood in line as long as I had the guy told them that they could have just gone to the check-in counter and taken care of everything. So they left and when I got up to the counter they told me that I could get on another flight later the same night to go to Amsterdam, then fly directly to Memphis the next day. It was a a much better plan than staying in Florence because Florence doesn't have any airlines that cross the Atlantic.
Oh, funny story right before I got my flight. I was next in line and a friend behind me said, "You're almost there!" or something and I said, "Yeah, except for this guy that just kinda magically appeared in front of me..." and a few people understood me and the whole line behind me started yelling at him that he couldn't cut. It was fantastic. It was really cool that the entire time I was there the mood was just sort of, "Hey, we're all screwed right now. There's nothing else the airport can do. There's no sense in being rude so let's just be nice to each other." So if you cut, everyone yelled at you. Otherwise everyone was nice and friendly; lots of chatting in English and Italian. A bit of other languages.
Okay, so that story had to be told because of the goodness of people does exist from time to time, and also because for the girls that had been told they could just take care of their flight at the counter, as soon as they had gotten out of line the flight was officially cancelled and they were stuck. So they needed back into the line which they had already stood in for three hours or more. Luckily I was still there so one of them just ran over and went to the window next to mine. No one made a big fuss, but if they had I was ready to explain her case.
So, they got a flight to Paris for around the same time that evening as mine to Amsterdam. So we had some bonding time, which was nice. Then I found out my other friend who is an actress here in Florence was on the same flight as me to Amsterdam. So, I hung out with my new friends for the rest of the day, and we all went down really early to stand in line for check-in, but we all just stood in line for the ticket counter because other Paris flights were still being cancelled. I decided it would be better to have a spot in line just in case my flight was cancelled. Eventually it wasn't and I my other friend from Florence and I ran to get into line. Thankfully, due to the airline problems, there were no charges for heavy bags! So I checked mine straight through to Memphis to sort of trick the system and get a heavy bag on all my flights for free. Score.
For the rest of the day my traveling partner and I hung out and had some good bonding time. We called my mom and asked her to book us rooms at a hotel. But the flight was pushed from 16:50 to 17:30 and then to 18:30. So we waited until we were on the plane and the door was shut before sending a text to book the room. The Amsterdam airport is fantastic. We both were starving and got hamburgers and beer. Obviously we weren't pumped to get back to the USA. We tried to take a cab to our hotel but the driver told us we should take the free shuttle (which we had been told didn't exist) instead of paying him 30 euros for the cab. But then of course the shuttle didn't exist and we came back and he was booked. We finally found a cabbie who charged us 35 euros for what should have been a 10 minute cab ride but took about half an hour because he got lost. But at last we got to the hotel and got a good night's sleep.
So the next day we'd planned on taking public transportation to make up for the expenses of the taxi the night before. The lady at the front desk told us to take a cab because it would be impossible to get anything and even if we did it would take forever. As she was saying this the bus we were supposed to take drove by and then came back in the direction we needed it. We ran out but missed it, but then waited about 5 minutes and another one showed up. We tried to pay, but nothing really happened, so we got a ride for free. We had a lot of fun reading signs in Dutch and figuring out what things said. Then at the train station we tried really hard to buy tickets, but there was only a machine which only took cards, but none of the cards we had. So a train came up, we ran upstairs, hopped on (because she had said it was the right train), then she had to ask someone if it was the right train. Luckily, it was and the airport was only one stop away! So, we ended up getting free public transportation for the whole morning. But we tried really hard to pay!
We had an amazing breakfast at STARBUCKS! My first American style coffee in months, and a delicious blueberry muffin. There are pictures, just not on my camera.
So, I already had a boarding pass, but she didn't, so we had to check her in again. She also had bags which needed to be checked. When we got to the counter she had to move stuff around so as to not have an overweight bag (hehehehe....I had an overweight bag....) but then we found out that she had been upgraded to business class! Jealous. And she was very smart to realize that that meant she could check TWO bags. Lucky. We were both very over theatrical about her being in business class and me not being upgraded, which seemed to make the days of the women working at the check-in counter. But after we walked away we looked at my ticket and I WAS in business class on my flight. Woo-hoo! Though we were both pumped to go hang out in our lounges, we would have had to go through separate security checks, so we opted to hang out and shop.
So anyway, we finally did have to separate. I was worried about being late to my check in, so I rushed right through it, but then, being business class and all, I got to hop right around the line and check in. So then I was just there for a couple hours. That was kinda lame, but not too bad. We we started boarding I got to walk straight up as well, and I was in the front row of business class. There was a bottle of water, pillow, blanket, and a goody bag waiting for me. So cool. I was sitting there for a short while, was served a bit of sparkling wine, and having a great time when I was asked if I would mind sitting in an aisle seat. I of course did not and I actually prefer the aisle on a plane. So I switched so that a husband and wife could sit together and was bumped up to FIRST CLASS. First class is so great. Lots of food, reclining chairs, and never an empty glass.
So far as food, I had a multi course meal on actual plates with real silverware and even table clothes! The menu as I recall it was:
Appetizer:
Mixed nuts
Smoked salmon with capers
Delicious soup
Caprese salad (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil)
Main Course:
Mixed salad
Filet of beef with mushroom gravy of some sort (a very large piece of meat as well)
Mashed potatoes
Spinach sauteed with garlic
Cooked carrots
Both of these with a variety of dinner rolls to choose from and three different wines I think. Oh, and quite good coffee.
Desert:
I was going to go for the healthier choice of cheeses and fruits, but when the guy referred to the ice cream as a sundae, I had to go for it. So I had a giant scoop a vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.
And then at a random point during the night a lady came buy and offered me a chocolate chip cookie. It was still warm. Fantastic.
Then about an hour before we landed I was to have a turkey sandwich, which I assumed would be a crappy sandwich, but it wasn't.
Lunch:
Turkey and melted cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a loaf of whole wheat bread with pumpkin seeds on top.
A salad of shredded carrots, nuts, and dried fruits.
So, the trip home pretty much. It was pretty fantastic. The trip back of course was pretty bad of course because I was back into coach which was only slightly more uncomfortable, but had like half the food. Luckily I planned ahead. And once again I couldn't sleep on my transatlantic flight. Very annoying. Then when I landed in Munich they were very surprised that I made it to my connecting flight because I had to get my passport checked again, go back through security with my bag, and run across the airport. But I made it, and then we sat in our plane for about an hour just to be told something wasn't working and we had to switch planes. Of course, this wouldn't have actually been that terrible if the flight hadn't been filled with Chinese families with like three or four kids each. None of them spoke a common language with anyone on the plane, they wouldn't sit down, they were constantly changing seats, and they moved other people's stuff. I couldn't find my backpack in the overhead bin at one point because they moved it without telling me. And every time we had to get up for something they all acted like they would actually get somewhere faster by standing up and grabbing their bags immediately. For one, at both of these airports everything took place out on the tarmac, so any transfers meant that everyone had to get on the same shuttles to be transported, so it doesn't matter if you're off the plane first or last. Also, airplane aisles are super small, but for some reason they all thought that we could get up and stand in the aisles at the same time, and of course that if they didn't immediately get their bags then they would disappear. I was telling them in as many languages as I could to calm down and wait. I had to push one man behind me at one point because even though the line wasn't moving he kept pushing against me. So, that flight was kinda hell.
I got to the airport, and for the first time ever my bag had been lost. It was bound to happen eventually and seeing as there was nothing I immediately needed in the bag I didn't worry about it. And actually they had my bag the next day and delivered it to my place.
So, that's my long story about traveling home and traveling back to Italy. New Year's here was cool. More details later I hope.
So, I've needed to post for a while, especially about my travels to and from the United States. Well, to start off, the Friday before I was supposed to leave on Sunday had the most snow that Florence had seen in something like 24 years--about 5 inches. Of course everyone here was sooooo happy to see snow, but after living in Pittsburgh for four years I knew how much it could suck when it snows. And of course flights were cancelled. Even the buses just pulled over on the sides of the roads and quit running. The entire airport shut down Friday and didn't reopen until 5 p.m. the next day, and that was mostly just to rebook flights. My plan Saturday night was just to stay up all night and sleep on my flight across the Atlantic because I had to be at the airport by like 5 a.m. anyway, which also meant getting a cab at around 4:30 a.m.
Due to the snow, the cabs wouldn't book a ride ahead of time, so that sucked. Then I kept checking the airports all night and around 2 a.m. my flight had been cancelled. Luckily, I got in touch with my mom and she called the airline and found a new flight for me, but as soon as she booked it (or maybe before) the flight was cancelled. But no matter what I needed to go to the airport to rebook. Around 3 or 3:30 I started calling to book a cab, but they kept saying that I couldn't book ahead of time because they wouldn't know who would be available. Well, that's why I wanted to book ahead of time! So around 4 I just started telling them I wanted a cab right then. Well, at that point they just kept telling me that no one was available and hanging up. So I couldn't even get information on what I should do to try and make it to my flight! They really didn't care.
So, I got my stuff together, bundled up, and started walking. I didn't go very far until I found some other Americans my age and asked them if they were waiting on a cab. They were waiting on a shuttle to the train station where they would try to get a cab. So we stood and talked while I kept calling cabs. I finally got one and when he showed up I asked if they wanted to go with me. They were two girls with 8 or 10 bags; one of their friends wasn't there at the moment. I told them they were welcome to join me in the cab, or they could stay and wait on the shuttle, but I was leaving then. So one hopped in with me and we went to the airport. The cab driver was really nice and we talked quite a bit. Luckily it only cost me 15 euros since I had someone to split the cab with.
So, at the airport my flight was of course cancelled, so I just went and got into line. For the first hour or so I just stood in line by myself. I didn't even have headphones for my iPod. Then a friend showed up in the back of the line and we talked off and on and tried to figure out the system. For the last hour and a half or so I made some friends that had actually been at the same school as me this whole semester! After they had stood in line as long as I had the guy told them that they could have just gone to the check-in counter and taken care of everything. So they left and when I got up to the counter they told me that I could get on another flight later the same night to go to Amsterdam, then fly directly to Memphis the next day. It was a a much better plan than staying in Florence because Florence doesn't have any airlines that cross the Atlantic.
Oh, funny story right before I got my flight. I was next in line and a friend behind me said, "You're almost there!" or something and I said, "Yeah, except for this guy that just kinda magically appeared in front of me..." and a few people understood me and the whole line behind me started yelling at him that he couldn't cut. It was fantastic. It was really cool that the entire time I was there the mood was just sort of, "Hey, we're all screwed right now. There's nothing else the airport can do. There's no sense in being rude so let's just be nice to each other." So if you cut, everyone yelled at you. Otherwise everyone was nice and friendly; lots of chatting in English and Italian. A bit of other languages.
Okay, so that story had to be told because of the goodness of people does exist from time to time, and also because for the girls that had been told they could just take care of their flight at the counter, as soon as they had gotten out of line the flight was officially cancelled and they were stuck. So they needed back into the line which they had already stood in for three hours or more. Luckily I was still there so one of them just ran over and went to the window next to mine. No one made a big fuss, but if they had I was ready to explain her case.
So, they got a flight to Paris for around the same time that evening as mine to Amsterdam. So we had some bonding time, which was nice. Then I found out my other friend who is an actress here in Florence was on the same flight as me to Amsterdam. So, I hung out with my new friends for the rest of the day, and we all went down really early to stand in line for check-in, but we all just stood in line for the ticket counter because other Paris flights were still being cancelled. I decided it would be better to have a spot in line just in case my flight was cancelled. Eventually it wasn't and I my other friend from Florence and I ran to get into line. Thankfully, due to the airline problems, there were no charges for heavy bags! So I checked mine straight through to Memphis to sort of trick the system and get a heavy bag on all my flights for free. Score.
For the rest of the day my traveling partner and I hung out and had some good bonding time. We called my mom and asked her to book us rooms at a hotel. But the flight was pushed from 16:50 to 17:30 and then to 18:30. So we waited until we were on the plane and the door was shut before sending a text to book the room. The Amsterdam airport is fantastic. We both were starving and got hamburgers and beer. Obviously we weren't pumped to get back to the USA. We tried to take a cab to our hotel but the driver told us we should take the free shuttle (which we had been told didn't exist) instead of paying him 30 euros for the cab. But then of course the shuttle didn't exist and we came back and he was booked. We finally found a cabbie who charged us 35 euros for what should have been a 10 minute cab ride but took about half an hour because he got lost. But at last we got to the hotel and got a good night's sleep.
So the next day we'd planned on taking public transportation to make up for the expenses of the taxi the night before. The lady at the front desk told us to take a cab because it would be impossible to get anything and even if we did it would take forever. As she was saying this the bus we were supposed to take drove by and then came back in the direction we needed it. We ran out but missed it, but then waited about 5 minutes and another one showed up. We tried to pay, but nothing really happened, so we got a ride for free. We had a lot of fun reading signs in Dutch and figuring out what things said. Then at the train station we tried really hard to buy tickets, but there was only a machine which only took cards, but none of the cards we had. So a train came up, we ran upstairs, hopped on (because she had said it was the right train), then she had to ask someone if it was the right train. Luckily, it was and the airport was only one stop away! So, we ended up getting free public transportation for the whole morning. But we tried really hard to pay!
We had an amazing breakfast at STARBUCKS! My first American style coffee in months, and a delicious blueberry muffin. There are pictures, just not on my camera.
So, I already had a boarding pass, but she didn't, so we had to check her in again. She also had bags which needed to be checked. When we got to the counter she had to move stuff around so as to not have an overweight bag (hehehehe....I had an overweight bag....) but then we found out that she had been upgraded to business class! Jealous. And she was very smart to realize that that meant she could check TWO bags. Lucky. We were both very over theatrical about her being in business class and me not being upgraded, which seemed to make the days of the women working at the check-in counter. But after we walked away we looked at my ticket and I WAS in business class on my flight. Woo-hoo! Though we were both pumped to go hang out in our lounges, we would have had to go through separate security checks, so we opted to hang out and shop.
So anyway, we finally did have to separate. I was worried about being late to my check in, so I rushed right through it, but then, being business class and all, I got to hop right around the line and check in. So then I was just there for a couple hours. That was kinda lame, but not too bad. We we started boarding I got to walk straight up as well, and I was in the front row of business class. There was a bottle of water, pillow, blanket, and a goody bag waiting for me. So cool. I was sitting there for a short while, was served a bit of sparkling wine, and having a great time when I was asked if I would mind sitting in an aisle seat. I of course did not and I actually prefer the aisle on a plane. So I switched so that a husband and wife could sit together and was bumped up to FIRST CLASS. First class is so great. Lots of food, reclining chairs, and never an empty glass.
So far as food, I had a multi course meal on actual plates with real silverware and even table clothes! The menu as I recall it was:
Appetizer:
Mixed nuts
Smoked salmon with capers
Delicious soup
Caprese salad (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil)
Main Course:
Mixed salad
Filet of beef with mushroom gravy of some sort (a very large piece of meat as well)
Mashed potatoes
Spinach sauteed with garlic
Cooked carrots
Both of these with a variety of dinner rolls to choose from and three different wines I think. Oh, and quite good coffee.
Desert:
I was going to go for the healthier choice of cheeses and fruits, but when the guy referred to the ice cream as a sundae, I had to go for it. So I had a giant scoop a vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.
And then at a random point during the night a lady came buy and offered me a chocolate chip cookie. It was still warm. Fantastic.
Then about an hour before we landed I was to have a turkey sandwich, which I assumed would be a crappy sandwich, but it wasn't.
Lunch:
Turkey and melted cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a loaf of whole wheat bread with pumpkin seeds on top.
A salad of shredded carrots, nuts, and dried fruits.
So, the trip home pretty much. It was pretty fantastic. The trip back of course was pretty bad of course because I was back into coach which was only slightly more uncomfortable, but had like half the food. Luckily I planned ahead. And once again I couldn't sleep on my transatlantic flight. Very annoying. Then when I landed in Munich they were very surprised that I made it to my connecting flight because I had to get my passport checked again, go back through security with my bag, and run across the airport. But I made it, and then we sat in our plane for about an hour just to be told something wasn't working and we had to switch planes. Of course, this wouldn't have actually been that terrible if the flight hadn't been filled with Chinese families with like three or four kids each. None of them spoke a common language with anyone on the plane, they wouldn't sit down, they were constantly changing seats, and they moved other people's stuff. I couldn't find my backpack in the overhead bin at one point because they moved it without telling me. And every time we had to get up for something they all acted like they would actually get somewhere faster by standing up and grabbing their bags immediately. For one, at both of these airports everything took place out on the tarmac, so any transfers meant that everyone had to get on the same shuttles to be transported, so it doesn't matter if you're off the plane first or last. Also, airplane aisles are super small, but for some reason they all thought that we could get up and stand in the aisles at the same time, and of course that if they didn't immediately get their bags then they would disappear. I was telling them in as many languages as I could to calm down and wait. I had to push one man behind me at one point because even though the line wasn't moving he kept pushing against me. So, that flight was kinda hell.
I got to the airport, and for the first time ever my bag had been lost. It was bound to happen eventually and seeing as there was nothing I immediately needed in the bag I didn't worry about it. And actually they had my bag the next day and delivered it to my place.
So, that's my long story about traveling home and traveling back to Italy. New Year's here was cool. More details later I hope.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
How did that audition go? Oh, and prizes!
The "audition" went great. Mary Sue and I basically just flipped through my arias book and she had me sing random things to test me out through trouble spots in certain arias. It was really a lot of fun! Of course some things I hadn't sung in three or four years, so they were very problematic, but she also wanted to see how quickly I could change and how I take advice. I ended up getting a great little lesson. The biggest problem was that I had just come from an hour long lesson and the only break I had from singing was the bus ride to the church!
So, some cool things she told me: picking the best pitch in the phrase and sing around it, counting my vibrato, and of course using my air more. So, picking the best pitch in the phrase was kind of cool to keep from switch the timbre too much. This worked especially well in phrases going from low notes up to my middle voice to keep me from pressing too much on lower notes and then not having the right position in my middle voice and thus losing overtones. I'm going to go out of order from my list to talk next about the air thing. It was the same problem I encountered when I had a coaching with Mark Trawka at Pittsburgh Opera last year in that I often back off the air when I go down in pitch instead of keeping the sound alive. Also, I change the majority of pitches in my throat, not with my air, which is bad. So, that's something we worked on a bit and I know needs to change, so it's sort of up to me. But my coloratura was really cool when we figured it out in that brief amount of time.
Now, the coolest thing was counting vibrato. I'd heard of doing this to get a more pleasant sound, but never to actually know how to release a note. She had me count how many reps my vibrato went through on high, dramatic notes, and then always release on an odd number; that way I was always releasing UP instead of down. It was so cool! The sound keeps going after the note, and it works especially well if a note needs to be released tenderly instead of dramatically. Probably the coolest thing we talked about.
So afterwards we went to get some coffee and talk, and then walked around Florence for several hours. It was a great time. She said she'd like me to come to Arizona to visit her Rotary club and maybe do a concert. She also wants to introduce me to some great directors, conductors, and composers. So exciting!
So, speaking of Rotary, I've had some great dinners and social events with them lately. Last night we had a gala d'auttuno with the theme of Casino Royal. I was afraid that more people would be in tuxes and only a few of us with be in suits, so I wore a black suit, white shirt with French cuffs, and a silver tie. Some guys had tuxes, most of us were in suits, some were in jeans and hoodies. It was really cool though because we got a lot of chips and two free drinks with our cover charge. The only games they had were Poker, Roulette, and Blackjack. I was holding out for a while on Blackjack, but I gave up and began playing Roulette, and losing a lot. Also, I had to explain how to play to some people all in Italian. After a while of losing and being down to only a few chips of hundreds and a 500 I left, hung out with friends, and kept having a great time. But eventually I went back, played at a different table, and did alright back and forth and got a little bit of money back. Then I got mad because the guy spinning the wheel sucked and the wheel would stop spinning before the ball finished. Not exciting, so I left. Same thing of hanging out with people, dancing, making new friends and everything. Then a friend gave me some chips because he had won a lot at Poker and was going to Blackjack. So I went back to a table, and started playing high stakes and getting a lot of chips back. It was a lot of fun and on the last spin I bet 2,000 on black, 2,000 on the cross with 35 black, and I bet around 6,000 or 7,000 on the column below 35. And, as luck would have it, the ball landed on 35 black! But then the jerks just said, "okay, done!" and left. They wouldn't even pay us! And then I argued and they just kept telling me it was the last roll and didn't matter, but of course there were prizes to win and I'd won something like 16,000 or 20,000 in chips. They didn't have enough 500's for me! So, I told some of the guys that knew me and they helped explain it to the guys giving out the prizes and I won a gift certificate for two to a spa outside of Florence and two more free drinks! Great night. Made a lot of new friends, got prizes, and was the only American not speaking English. There were at least two American girls there that I only really met by them being at my table or because I heard them talking to other people, and they weren't even trying to speak Italian. Not even for simple colors and numbers! Very strange to me.
So anyway, had a great night and met a lot of new people and got closer with my other friends that were there. Soon I'll update you all on the really cool Italian Thanksgiving I had!
So, some cool things she told me: picking the best pitch in the phrase and sing around it, counting my vibrato, and of course using my air more. So, picking the best pitch in the phrase was kind of cool to keep from switch the timbre too much. This worked especially well in phrases going from low notes up to my middle voice to keep me from pressing too much on lower notes and then not having the right position in my middle voice and thus losing overtones. I'm going to go out of order from my list to talk next about the air thing. It was the same problem I encountered when I had a coaching with Mark Trawka at Pittsburgh Opera last year in that I often back off the air when I go down in pitch instead of keeping the sound alive. Also, I change the majority of pitches in my throat, not with my air, which is bad. So, that's something we worked on a bit and I know needs to change, so it's sort of up to me. But my coloratura was really cool when we figured it out in that brief amount of time.
Now, the coolest thing was counting vibrato. I'd heard of doing this to get a more pleasant sound, but never to actually know how to release a note. She had me count how many reps my vibrato went through on high, dramatic notes, and then always release on an odd number; that way I was always releasing UP instead of down. It was so cool! The sound keeps going after the note, and it works especially well if a note needs to be released tenderly instead of dramatically. Probably the coolest thing we talked about.
So afterwards we went to get some coffee and talk, and then walked around Florence for several hours. It was a great time. She said she'd like me to come to Arizona to visit her Rotary club and maybe do a concert. She also wants to introduce me to some great directors, conductors, and composers. So exciting!
So, speaking of Rotary, I've had some great dinners and social events with them lately. Last night we had a gala d'auttuno with the theme of Casino Royal. I was afraid that more people would be in tuxes and only a few of us with be in suits, so I wore a black suit, white shirt with French cuffs, and a silver tie. Some guys had tuxes, most of us were in suits, some were in jeans and hoodies. It was really cool though because we got a lot of chips and two free drinks with our cover charge. The only games they had were Poker, Roulette, and Blackjack. I was holding out for a while on Blackjack, but I gave up and began playing Roulette, and losing a lot. Also, I had to explain how to play to some people all in Italian. After a while of losing and being down to only a few chips of hundreds and a 500 I left, hung out with friends, and kept having a great time. But eventually I went back, played at a different table, and did alright back and forth and got a little bit of money back. Then I got mad because the guy spinning the wheel sucked and the wheel would stop spinning before the ball finished. Not exciting, so I left. Same thing of hanging out with people, dancing, making new friends and everything. Then a friend gave me some chips because he had won a lot at Poker and was going to Blackjack. So I went back to a table, and started playing high stakes and getting a lot of chips back. It was a lot of fun and on the last spin I bet 2,000 on black, 2,000 on the cross with 35 black, and I bet around 6,000 or 7,000 on the column below 35. And, as luck would have it, the ball landed on 35 black! But then the jerks just said, "okay, done!" and left. They wouldn't even pay us! And then I argued and they just kept telling me it was the last roll and didn't matter, but of course there were prizes to win and I'd won something like 16,000 or 20,000 in chips. They didn't have enough 500's for me! So, I told some of the guys that knew me and they helped explain it to the guys giving out the prizes and I won a gift certificate for two to a spa outside of Florence and two more free drinks! Great night. Made a lot of new friends, got prizes, and was the only American not speaking English. There were at least two American girls there that I only really met by them being at my table or because I heard them talking to other people, and they weren't even trying to speak Italian. Not even for simple colors and numbers! Very strange to me.
So anyway, had a great night and met a lot of new people and got closer with my other friends that were there. Soon I'll update you all on the really cool Italian Thanksgiving I had!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Audition of my lifetime!
Hello all!
So sorry to have not been posting very much. Such is life I guess. But, I have an extraordinary story for today! Today it was like everything just magically came together by meeting one person. Mary Sue, and I don't know her last name, was presenting a check to St. James Episcopal Church here in Florence this morning. She had actually sat two rows behind me the whole service and I could tell she had some sort of musical experience when we were singing the hymns. It was an extremely musical day today! There was a wonderful tenor there today who sang three very lovely pieces, the last of which was Panis Angelicus as a duet with our music director. He sang from the altar and she sang from the choir loft in the back of the church. A-ma-zing.
Anyway, my morning was filled with music. After the service, Mary Sue and I began talking about what I do and where I went to school. She almost went to CMU for voice, but decided on Curtis instead. Yeah...but she was a great friend of Lorenzo Malfatti and was actually in Lucca when I was there two years ago, we just never met! I gave her my card and she saw Rotary and said, "hey, I'm a Rotarian!" and I proceeded to tell her that I'm an Ambassadorial Scholar and she demanded that we meet again sometime this week. She also wants to go to a meeting this week, so I just sent a quick e-mail to try and find a meeting to go to this week and I'm very excited. We talked off and on a bit more and it was all fantastic.
Afterwards I went with our guest tenor, Grahm, to grab a drink with Mary Sue and a music director at the music school in Fiesole. So, Mary Sue and I began talking more about what I do, what I want to do, etc. I talked about my senior recital and the recital I just did here so that she could get an idea of my rep, and when I mentioned the Old American Songs by Copland she taught me an amazing lesson.
Aaron Copland, Lee Hoiby, and Lorenzo Malfatti were three of the first Fulbright Scholarship winners EVER and they all studied in Italy at the same time. Copland wrote the Old American songs FOR Malfatti, who did their world premiere at St. James Episcopal Church WHERE I SING IN ITALY and I sang six of the twelve on my recital, in St. James Episcopal Church. O-M-G! Chills when she explained this to me. She also knew Copland and still knows Hoiby. She thinks I should meet Hoiby and perform some of his work....
So, she said that she has to hear me sing. Thus, we are meeting up on Tuesday of this week and I'll sing for her. SO NERVOUS! To me, this could really be the audition for me. She knows so many people, and is so gracious, a Rotarian, graduated with Dr. Page's daughter from Curtis (yes, they're friends and were in the same class I believe). And she wants me to come to Arizona, where she lives, and perform for like Rotary or something. Ugh, overwhelming. Anyway, that's the newest and biggest news. Hopefully I'll have a great follow up this by the end of the week!
So sorry to have not been posting very much. Such is life I guess. But, I have an extraordinary story for today! Today it was like everything just magically came together by meeting one person. Mary Sue, and I don't know her last name, was presenting a check to St. James Episcopal Church here in Florence this morning. She had actually sat two rows behind me the whole service and I could tell she had some sort of musical experience when we were singing the hymns. It was an extremely musical day today! There was a wonderful tenor there today who sang three very lovely pieces, the last of which was Panis Angelicus as a duet with our music director. He sang from the altar and she sang from the choir loft in the back of the church. A-ma-zing.
Anyway, my morning was filled with music. After the service, Mary Sue and I began talking about what I do and where I went to school. She almost went to CMU for voice, but decided on Curtis instead. Yeah...but she was a great friend of Lorenzo Malfatti and was actually in Lucca when I was there two years ago, we just never met! I gave her my card and she saw Rotary and said, "hey, I'm a Rotarian!" and I proceeded to tell her that I'm an Ambassadorial Scholar and she demanded that we meet again sometime this week. She also wants to go to a meeting this week, so I just sent a quick e-mail to try and find a meeting to go to this week and I'm very excited. We talked off and on a bit more and it was all fantastic.
Afterwards I went with our guest tenor, Grahm, to grab a drink with Mary Sue and a music director at the music school in Fiesole. So, Mary Sue and I began talking more about what I do, what I want to do, etc. I talked about my senior recital and the recital I just did here so that she could get an idea of my rep, and when I mentioned the Old American Songs by Copland she taught me an amazing lesson.
Aaron Copland, Lee Hoiby, and Lorenzo Malfatti were three of the first Fulbright Scholarship winners EVER and they all studied in Italy at the same time. Copland wrote the Old American songs FOR Malfatti, who did their world premiere at St. James Episcopal Church WHERE I SING IN ITALY and I sang six of the twelve on my recital, in St. James Episcopal Church. O-M-G! Chills when she explained this to me. She also knew Copland and still knows Hoiby. She thinks I should meet Hoiby and perform some of his work....
So, she said that she has to hear me sing. Thus, we are meeting up on Tuesday of this week and I'll sing for her. SO NERVOUS! To me, this could really be the audition for me. She knows so many people, and is so gracious, a Rotarian, graduated with Dr. Page's daughter from Curtis (yes, they're friends and were in the same class I believe). And she wants me to come to Arizona, where she lives, and perform for like Rotary or something. Ugh, overwhelming. Anyway, that's the newest and biggest news. Hopefully I'll have a great follow up this by the end of the week!
Friday, October 29, 2010
I have Internet!
Woo-hoo! I finally have Internet at my place. I'm not completely sure when it started working. My landlord came by on Tuesday to help me with it, but before he arrived I turned on the router and tried to bring up the problem pages on the web, but it worked! Everything all of a sudden worked even though the router still didn't have all the appropriate lights. The landlord came over, we put in the username and password information and now I'm good to go. I think I'll be fine from here on out. And the connection seems to be pretty fast. I still haven't gotten to test Skype yet though.
So anyway, life in Italy gets better every day. I've figured out that in combination with people not speaking to me in Italian when I first got here, I was also frustrated with the lack of help from Rotary and also the lack of company. But things are better now. I have fantastic friends that are American, British, and Italian. I also have been getting great help from certain Rotary members and the Roteract. I went to a murder mystery dinner with the Roteract kids and last night had a fantastic dinner with the Todescans, a family of Rotarians. I love that family. We speak all in Italian, but the Mrs. speaks English just in case I don't get something, plus they feed me fantastic food and lent me an old bike today!
Anyway, all is going well here in Firenze. I can't write too much now because I have to write several essays for Rotary before next week. In English and Italian...ugh...
So anyway, life in Italy gets better every day. I've figured out that in combination with people not speaking to me in Italian when I first got here, I was also frustrated with the lack of help from Rotary and also the lack of company. But things are better now. I have fantastic friends that are American, British, and Italian. I also have been getting great help from certain Rotary members and the Roteract. I went to a murder mystery dinner with the Roteract kids and last night had a fantastic dinner with the Todescans, a family of Rotarians. I love that family. We speak all in Italian, but the Mrs. speaks English just in case I don't get something, plus they feed me fantastic food and lent me an old bike today!
Anyway, all is going well here in Firenze. I can't write too much now because I have to write several essays for Rotary before next week. In English and Italian...ugh...
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Rotary thus far
Actually a very old post, so not actually anything about "last night" lol
Grand dio! Tutto andava bene! Benissimo! Tonight I went to my first Rotary meeting tonight, thanks to the wonderful Elaine Poggi, and had an amazing time. E tutto era in italiano! Elaine only knew two or three people there, but she is a very outgoing person and immediately started introducing me to people. She started with the nearest group of people, who after a while I found out were a bunch of teenagers. They were nice, but basically talked amongst themselves. There was also an American girl there but I continued speaking to her in Italian when they introduced me to her, but then I found out that she doesn’t really speak any Italian. Alas, everyone in that group was between 16 and 18.
Then I found Elaine and told her that those kids were too young for me so we found the group from Roteract that were all around my age. I ended up meeting a lot of people because we all sat at a table together. It was a lot of fun and really funny because every time I was introduced to someone they would great me with what little English they knew, but then became very excited when they found out I could speak Italian. Thus, I had a great night and great dinner with new friends and picked up my first Rotary banner. Sadly, I didn’t take one of mine so I couldn’t give them one, but they’re letting me come back in the spring to present them with a banner.
Since then I’ve been to a couple other events for both Rotary and Roteract. I was working on this post like a month ago and as per usual I didn’t finish and kept forgetting about it. One very fun event though that I recently went to was to play Wii with the Roteract and Interact clubs. We played Wii Tennis, which was very fun and surprised them that I knew how to play so well. It was also funny because the Wii announcer still spoke English but all the text on screen was in Italian.
So the next step is being an actual member of Roteract. There is some big dinner I’ll be going to next week. I keep getting confused about what’s going on with membership and payment because they always explain it to me very, very fast. So, things for Rotary are going pretty well, even though my “host” has only spoken to me once in the last couple months to basically say he’s been busy and I still won’t be able to speak at his club anytime soon.
Okay, if you read through all that, great. This is basically a month or two old and I’ll try to be more up to date next time.
Monday, October 4, 2010
La SpeeeeEEEEEEEEranza!
I’m prefacing this with the fact that I originally was writing it like September 23rd or 24th as a word document and I’m just now posting it. Sorry!
Yesterday I received an e-mail about events that are happening in Florence for students this week. In that e-mail was information about a concert that night of Porgy and Bess. And what was even better was that the tickets for students were only 5 Euros! So of course I planned on going.
So, when I got home I went for a run (because I’m running in the Corri la Vita this weekend) and went about 2 miles I think only really stopping at stoplights. I got back and had hoped to cook dinner before going to the concert, but realized that to get there in time to buy a ticket, even by bus, I needed to shower and leave. So I did and then looked up a quick bus schedule. Well, I couldn’t find any evidence of this bus around my house, so I hopped on one that came by, asked if it was going to the theater, and several people on the bus said yes and a young couple told me to go with them.
So, I talked to them for a while and we got to the theater and looked for the ticket office. They had purchased their tickets online, and apparently so had a few other hundred people and they all had to stand in the ticket line to pick up these tickets. We finally found the end of the line, about a block long, and took our places. The guy told me that he didn’t know about any tickets being left, but I could always try. So I stood there. As we got closer we started seeing signs saying the performance was sold out, but I was already about 20 minutes into the wait. So we talked about it and decided that maybe people didn’t show up and I should keep waiting because I had already committed over half an hour (and the show was already about 10 minutes late. So I got to the point in the line where you just stand and wait for the absentee tickets. My new friends wished me luck and get their tickets.
I continued to wait. I was very confused by the line because no one was assisting us and we were all just standing there. Then finally they started giving out tickets. Most were for 35 Euros and I thought about buying one and trying for a discount of like 10 or 15 Euros. Then all of a sudden they said that they were not selling any more tickets because they had to start the show. We were all extremely let down. But then some guy showed up behind all of us and he had a single ticket and it looked like he had a girlfriend for whom he couldn’t buy a ticket. I asked him how much and he only wanted 5 Euros! But then they said they were closing the doors and he thought the ticket wouldn’t matter. The people behind the desk said I could still get in if I hurried. So I gave him the money and took off running. The ticket was for the floor seats but the door was closed, so they took a last minute group of us upstairs to the second tier. We walked in as they were finishing tuning, but it was amazing to make it in like that!
So, as for the concert, it was decent. From the tier I could hear the singers on stage right pretty well, but for the second half I moved down to my actual ticketed seat and could only really hear people on stage left.
After the concert I went around to the stage door, of course, and waited for performers. The chorus slowly filed out and I actually knew a few people, one of whom because he had sung Colline in La Boheme in Lucca when I was there two years ago. Super cool! My voice teacher’s wife was also in the chorus and the music director for my church. The only soloist I saw come out was the tenor who sang Sportin’ Life, Ronald Samm. I talked with him for a bit and he was very nice.
Overall a very fun and exciting night, made all the better by the suspense of whether or not I would get in to see the concert!
Now, as you all could tell it took me a while to get this post up. My Internet is back to not working at my apartment. I’m starting to look for a way out of the agreement so I can move at the end of this month or maybe for the next semester. Internet is kind of required in this day and age to stay in touch with friends and loved ones. Also, I have a couple more blog posts written up in word perfect so I’ll try to use this week to get everything up. Try not to miss one!
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