Bonjour tout le mond! I'm now on Belle-Ile! Exciting, I know. We arrived yesterday after taking two trains, walking a fair way, and a boat. I also kept singing, "Je suis en bateau!" but no one really got it....
So, the island really is quite beautiful. Clear water for as far as you can see, lovely night life, and fantastic weather. It actually got a little cold last night. I meant to bring a hoodie, but alas, I'll just have to get a souvenir! Also, google's spell check does not like 'hoodie'. It doesn't really get dark here until about 9:30 or 10 p.m. due to our northern position. My house is pretty nice and it's easy to find. It's bright yellow on the outside, and bright yellow on the inside! My room is teal and orange. Our bathroom is bright pink. I believe the name that the festival kids have given it is the "seahorse a go-go house" because along with the flamboyant colors, there are seahorses everywhere...
I haven't found a bike yet. I am really thinking I won't be able to get an actual road bike on the island because everything is really touristy and thus they only have the cruiser bikes. It seems that there may be some mountain bikes, so maybe I can get one of those and then just do some tough trails around the island and try to ride fast but fail.
So, not too much going on as of yet. I woke up sort of early this morning and since no one else was up I walked down to the area where we arrived yesterday, had some breakfast, then did a bit of shopping. It's pretty nice out. Hopefully I'll have more exciting posts soon, along with some pictures! Au revoir! Also, feel free to comment! I love all my followers, but I don't know if anyone is actually reading this stuff!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Je suis à Paris!
Bonjour! Je suis à la maison de mon amis Bryn et Campbell Vertesi. I think I'll only write a bit. So, my journey!
So, I slept on my first flight from Memphis, TN to Charlotte, NC. Pretty big mistake since it was only about 2 hours. My seat mate was carrying her own hoola-hoop to Germany though. Never got the full story even though I tried. After that I tried to change my money over while I had about an hour layover, but in Charlotte's airport you have to leave security to get to the currency exchange. Bad, Charlotte! BAD! Then, in preparation for a long flight, I had a delicious locally brewed brown ale and bagel sandwich before my flight. Then I boarded the plane, very simply, and I was in the front row of coach, left most aisle seat of the center aisle. To my left where two girls from Paris chatting away in French (very friendly) and there was no one in the two seats to my immediate right, but there was a Parisian mother and her child (I'm assuming about a year old or so) in the far most seat in my aisle. Throughout the flight I helped the two of them with a few things here and there and the baby only cried every once and a while. Not terrible. I also had noise cancelling headphones that were magnificent. I watched about 3 1/2 movies in flight (I didn't see the last 20 minutes or so of Enchanted!) and just could not fall asleep. That sort of made sense as we didn't even land until about midnight CST. So, why would I really be tired?
So, I arrived in Paris and all was fine. On the plane I realized that I had no phone number for or any real way of contacting my friend who I was staying with. I finally broke down and bought a half hour of WIFI and sent her messages on Skype, Facebook, and e-mails, then actually called her on Skype. It took a couple tries but we got through. I waited for her, but sadly I had sent her the wrong itinerary and she went to a terminal that I wasn't at to pick me up. A few phone calls, airport transits, and a bit of patience later, we found each other! It was very nice to see a friend, especially one with better French than me.
We got back to her place (after a detour due to a train strike) and I took a COLD shower, which was awesome. It's quite hot here and very little A/C in places, none at their apartment. So it felt like going for a swim. Then we went to a little lunch nearby. From now on I'll try to take pics of food and post them on here because the food is beautiful. I had Confit de Canard and Bryn and Cam both had Tartare de Boeuf. I really needed pictures of these. Mine was a duck leg, small side salad, and a vegetable and fruit puree. It was fantastic and beautiful. And the rosé wine complimented it beautifully. Bryn and Cam's dish was a type of raw, ground beef with different herbs and spices mixed in, and a raw egg yolk in a small shell on top. And French fries! Or....just fries here. I had a bite of Bryn's tartare. It was interesting. I may try it again at some point, but it was raw beef, so it was a crazy texture. And it also sort of looked like all the preparations for a hamburger, but you just didn't cook it. Very interesting.
So, Cam bought my lunch, which was super cool, then we came back to their place and it was time for my nap. I slept for 4 or 5 hours, even with cats jumping on me, people driving up and down the street, and Bryn and Cam occasionally practicing. And now here we are! Tomorrow I leave for Belle-Ile. Exciting. More to come soon and hopefully beautiful food and countryside.
So, I slept on my first flight from Memphis, TN to Charlotte, NC. Pretty big mistake since it was only about 2 hours. My seat mate was carrying her own hoola-hoop to Germany though. Never got the full story even though I tried. After that I tried to change my money over while I had about an hour layover, but in Charlotte's airport you have to leave security to get to the currency exchange. Bad, Charlotte! BAD! Then, in preparation for a long flight, I had a delicious locally brewed brown ale and bagel sandwich before my flight. Then I boarded the plane, very simply, and I was in the front row of coach, left most aisle seat of the center aisle. To my left where two girls from Paris chatting away in French (very friendly) and there was no one in the two seats to my immediate right, but there was a Parisian mother and her child (I'm assuming about a year old or so) in the far most seat in my aisle. Throughout the flight I helped the two of them with a few things here and there and the baby only cried every once and a while. Not terrible. I also had noise cancelling headphones that were magnificent. I watched about 3 1/2 movies in flight (I didn't see the last 20 minutes or so of Enchanted!) and just could not fall asleep. That sort of made sense as we didn't even land until about midnight CST. So, why would I really be tired?
So, I arrived in Paris and all was fine. On the plane I realized that I had no phone number for or any real way of contacting my friend who I was staying with. I finally broke down and bought a half hour of WIFI and sent her messages on Skype, Facebook, and e-mails, then actually called her on Skype. It took a couple tries but we got through. I waited for her, but sadly I had sent her the wrong itinerary and she went to a terminal that I wasn't at to pick me up. A few phone calls, airport transits, and a bit of patience later, we found each other! It was very nice to see a friend, especially one with better French than me.
We got back to her place (after a detour due to a train strike) and I took a COLD shower, which was awesome. It's quite hot here and very little A/C in places, none at their apartment. So it felt like going for a swim. Then we went to a little lunch nearby. From now on I'll try to take pics of food and post them on here because the food is beautiful. I had Confit de Canard and Bryn and Cam both had Tartare de Boeuf. I really needed pictures of these. Mine was a duck leg, small side salad, and a vegetable and fruit puree. It was fantastic and beautiful. And the rosé wine complimented it beautifully. Bryn and Cam's dish was a type of raw, ground beef with different herbs and spices mixed in, and a raw egg yolk in a small shell on top. And French fries! Or....just fries here. I had a bite of Bryn's tartare. It was interesting. I may try it again at some point, but it was raw beef, so it was a crazy texture. And it also sort of looked like all the preparations for a hamburger, but you just didn't cook it. Very interesting.
So, Cam bought my lunch, which was super cool, then we came back to their place and it was time for my nap. I slept for 4 or 5 hours, even with cats jumping on me, people driving up and down the street, and Bryn and Cam occasionally practicing. And now here we are! Tomorrow I leave for Belle-Ile. Exciting. More to come soon and hopefully beautiful food and countryside.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Prologue
So, according to Wikipedia, the prologue gives a sort of account of what precedes the story. The preface is about why you're writing something. Well...I found it interesting anyway...
Before the prologue, I forgot to explain the name of this blog. GooglyElmo comes from the opera Cosi fan Tutte by Mozart. The character's name is Guglielmo and while the Italian pronunciation of gli sounds more like an l stuck in the back of your throat, I've heard many people unknowingly say Googlyelmo. So, I thought it was fun. Also reminds me of Giggly Elmo. And then all the other stuff is me trying to be fancy and fit in a lot about myself in a title. So, I'm young, I sing opera music and am a baritone, I am an ambassadorial scholar for Rotary, and I'm hoping to travel to a lot of Rotary clubs in Europe, essentially taking a tour. Also, the tour part refers to cycling tours. So that's that!
So, for about two years I have been in the process of applying for this Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, applying to schools in other countries, and being accepted by everyone. For the scholarship alone I had to write three different essays and translate them into Italian, French, and German because I was applying to go to those countries. Some of the translations were better than others...
So, for most of the summer I've been working on getting all the applications and paper work in on time. The most complicated situation has been that I'm singing in a music festival in France on Belle-Ile. The complicated part is that I had to apply for an Italian Visa, and for an Italian Visa you are required to go to an Italian Consulate in person for a brief interview and to hand in all of your paper work. The consulate for my district is in Houston, TX. Pretty far away. Also, their earliest available interview date was in mid-July when I was supposed to already be in France. Luckily, we found out that I could go to a vice-consulate in New Orleans, LA. Slightly closer, but I would still have to ship all of my documents to the Houston Consulate. Once again, not too bad, except for the fact that I would have to ship my passport to them and they were going to keep it. That's right, they would keep my passport until I got my visa. Very scary as the website said that it would take about two months in the summer and I only had about 3 weeks. Every day I would check the tracking number, hoping to see that my passport was on it's way.
Then about 10 days before my departure, I checked our mail at 4:30 in the afternoon to discover a note that the post office had tried to deliver a package that required a signature. I left immediately and made it to the post office, in the middle of Jonesboro, during rush hour, in about 8 minutes. I got my passport! They were only about 5 minutes from closing and I had to sign a few things and confirm my address, but I got my passport and visa with time to spare. It was great.
So now, I'm just about ready to leave. All that is left is to complete my Rotary orientation and then hop on a plane to France. Hopefully I'll be able to upload plenty of posts and pictures of my travels. So, my next post will probably be from the airport or France!
Also, check out the tour! I'm going to try and make it over to see at least one stage.
Before the prologue, I forgot to explain the name of this blog. GooglyElmo comes from the opera Cosi fan Tutte by Mozart. The character's name is Guglielmo and while the Italian pronunciation of gli sounds more like an l stuck in the back of your throat, I've heard many people unknowingly say Googlyelmo. So, I thought it was fun. Also reminds me of Giggly Elmo. And then all the other stuff is me trying to be fancy and fit in a lot about myself in a title. So, I'm young, I sing opera music and am a baritone, I am an ambassadorial scholar for Rotary, and I'm hoping to travel to a lot of Rotary clubs in Europe, essentially taking a tour. Also, the tour part refers to cycling tours. So that's that!
So, for about two years I have been in the process of applying for this Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, applying to schools in other countries, and being accepted by everyone. For the scholarship alone I had to write three different essays and translate them into Italian, French, and German because I was applying to go to those countries. Some of the translations were better than others...
So, for most of the summer I've been working on getting all the applications and paper work in on time. The most complicated situation has been that I'm singing in a music festival in France on Belle-Ile. The complicated part is that I had to apply for an Italian Visa, and for an Italian Visa you are required to go to an Italian Consulate in person for a brief interview and to hand in all of your paper work. The consulate for my district is in Houston, TX. Pretty far away. Also, their earliest available interview date was in mid-July when I was supposed to already be in France. Luckily, we found out that I could go to a vice-consulate in New Orleans, LA. Slightly closer, but I would still have to ship all of my documents to the Houston Consulate. Once again, not too bad, except for the fact that I would have to ship my passport to them and they were going to keep it. That's right, they would keep my passport until I got my visa. Very scary as the website said that it would take about two months in the summer and I only had about 3 weeks. Every day I would check the tracking number, hoping to see that my passport was on it's way.
Then about 10 days before my departure, I checked our mail at 4:30 in the afternoon to discover a note that the post office had tried to deliver a package that required a signature. I left immediately and made it to the post office, in the middle of Jonesboro, during rush hour, in about 8 minutes. I got my passport! They were only about 5 minutes from closing and I had to sign a few things and confirm my address, but I got my passport and visa with time to spare. It was great.
So now, I'm just about ready to leave. All that is left is to complete my Rotary orientation and then hop on a plane to France. Hopefully I'll be able to upload plenty of posts and pictures of my travels. So, my next post will probably be from the airport or France!
Also, check out the tour! I'm going to try and make it over to see at least one stage.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Preface
My name is Scott Beasley. I am originally from Jonesboro, AR, USA. I am a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance . I am also a graduate of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts in Hot Springs, AR, USA where I focused in Mathematics. Now, I am going to be the last Rotary Ambassador Scholar of Rotary District 6150 in Jonesboro, AR and will be studying in Florence, Italy for the 2010-2011 academic school year.
I'm EXCITED!
Now, that was all very formal, but it's just a quick outline of where I'm coming from. That's sort of what a preface is for according to Wikipedia. My goal of this blog will be to keep friends and family around the world informed about what I'm doing and where I'm going. I often forget who I've told what and thus people become upset and then I feel bad. So instead of sending tons of e-mails, people can just check this out!
So, most people wonder about what a Rotary Ambassador Scholar is. For a lot of detail, follow this link. Mostly, I went through a very extensive application process, wrote essays, translated those essays into Italian, French, and German, had interviews, and was finally given the award and assigned to a school in a country and city. Now my job is to go there, attend school, and work with local Rotary clubs to set up some sort of program to help the community, or maybe even the whole world. For example, Rotary has been on the front lines fighting polio throughout the world for about 20 years. So, I have a few ideas in mind for what I want to do there, but it will really be dependent on what the clubs need from me.
My BFA is in vocal performance, as stated in the beginning, and it is mostly a focus in opera performance. While I'm in Italy, I hope to find a voice teacher and maybe a few performing opportunities. So we'll see!
So, that's me in a nutshell. I will try to keep this blog very informal. I don't plan for it to be any sort of political or opinion based forum. This is really supposed to be a place for friends and family to come and find out what I'm doing. However, I would still love to hear from people! If you have one of my e-mail addresses, please feel free to e-mail me. Also, please feel free to comment on any posts. I will try and be as grammatically correct as possible, but I'm not perfect. So please, no correcting my grammar, at least not in public. If I do something that really bothers you, you may e-mail me, but that's not what this blog is about. BFA in vocal performance, not writing. :)
I hope you all enjoy it! Prologue to follow!
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