This is becoming a trend...

Third rejection letter this week. Great Christmas Eve present. This time from University of Maryland-College Park. This means I'm only waiting to hear from two schools, U-T Austin and University of North Carolina School of the Arts (and I probably won't hear from either at this point until after the holidays). To be honest, I'm not keeping my hopes up at this point.

Won't lie, I'm pretty bummed. Starting to look around to see if there's anywhere I've missed that I should still try to apply to. Less and less certain about my career plans and goals and even less sure about what I'll be doing next year.

Trusting God is really hard for me right now, though given everything He's done for me and all the ways He's been faithful to me, it shouldn't be so hard! Looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family and trying to refocus on God's faithfulness and keeping my priorities and heart attitude focused on Him.

God is good. All the time. And two thousand years ago, He gave us the best present that makes all the difference. Praise God for that, no matter what else happens.

Strike Two...

I received a rejection email from the University of Colorado-Boulder today. There goes my first choice school...

I covet your continued prayers, please. I am trying to trust that God is doing what is best for me, but right now I don't really have a lot of trust. I'm starting to think of other things I could do next year if I don't get in anywhere, and I'm starting over the holidays to look around for some less competitive but still acceptable options that have later deadlines so that I could still apply.

Only three more to hear back from.

Hoping...

Here's a quick-but-long-overdue update on my grad school hunt...

Having had the door firmly closed for this year on moving to the UK for masters' studies, I pursued State-side options. After a long process of researching options, making spreadsheets to compare things, and mercilessly nixing school after school from my list, I sent off 5 applications at the end of November:

1) University of Colorado-Boulder
2) University of Texas-Austin
3) University of Maryland-College Park
4) University of North Carolina School of the Arts
5) University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)

I received my first rejection letter yesterday from UMKC. I was pretty disappointed. I'm trying to calmly accept that and move on, especially since it wasn't my first choice anyway. However, I'm starting to worry about the possibility that I won't get into any of the five--an actual possibility, not just paranoia, unfortunately. I'm trying to consider what my options will be if that happens, even as I hope and pray for admission somewhere and--more importantly--wisdom and God's clear leading about the next steps I should take as I walk with Him and seek to walk in His will for my life. Please join me in these prayers, as well as leaving comments with suggestions (serious or funny) of what I could do with next year if I don't get into grad school.
Thanks,
Emily

A Dream Deferred

In case anyone hasn't heard yet, I WON'T be headed back to the UK for a Master's degree this coming fall. I had hoped and prayed that God would open doors so that I could have that incredible opportunity, but evidently He has something else in mind.

To be honest, this has been a really hard few weeks for me. I dreamed of pursuing a Masters degree in London; there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather be next year. I took steps to make that a reality. I visited several universities and music schools in London to narrow down my choices. I found two schools I really liked. I started applications to both of them. Simultaneously, I began to apply for a Marshall Scholarship (which is sort of like a Fulbright, expect it's sponsored by the UK government and would have covered all of my expenses for two years of living and studying in the UK if I had been selected). However, God decided to close that door when the Truman review committee chose not to endorse my application. I met with them to discuss why they had rejected my application, and after hearing their reasons, I agree with their decision. My application--not for lack of academic ability, but simply through my own ignorance of how certain aspects of the process worked and my failure to consult with the committee sooner in the application process when I would still have had time to make changes to my application under their guidance--was most certainly not going to meet the Marshall Commission's expectations. Though it hurt, I'm honestly glad I was rejected now (and kindly, too) by Truman, rather than having to wait a full month on pins and needles only to be inevitably rejected by the Marshall Commission.

Because the Marshall opportunity has not yielded any funding for studying in the UK, and as I do not have the resources (nor would it be cost-effective in my field of study in the long run to take out sizable loans) to pay for grad school in the UK on my own, I have had to let both of my applications to schools in the UK lapse.

However, I have not given up. Armed with the knowledge I gained through the mistakes I made in the process this time, I'm currently applying to grad schools state-side (I'll keep you all up to speed on that process in subsequent posts) and seriously considering re-applying for a Marshall Scholarship, a Fulbright, or various other similar forms of grants/scholarships to London when I'm ready to pursue a doctorate, since in all honesty, the resources in the UK that I'm excited about actually would lend themselves better to doctoral work than to masters work.

However, it's still a difficult decision from the Lord to accept. Though I know intellectually that His will is the best for my life and that He has something else in mind for me, I am still grieving my 'dream deferred.' In fact, I keep thinking of Langston Hughes' poem of the same name, wondering how to process this present full-stop of my dream. Do I abandon it altogether? Do I simply acknowledge that the timing is not right and plan to try again sometime in the future? Do I grieve and even question God's plan with some bitterness and anger? I have seriously considered all of those options in the course of the past three weeks. The conclusion that I've come to is that this is where the rubber meets the road in my relationship with God. Do I really trust Him? Can I really abandon my heart, my dreams, my future, my very life into His capable hands? The answer that I come back to again and again when life presents these moments to me is: Yes. Yes, I have to trust Him. He has been so very faithful before, and He will continue to be faithful. Even when I want to run away from Him, He always draws me back, ever the good shepherd catching the wayward lamb on the edge of a precipice. For the truth of the matter is that there is no where else, no One else, to whom I can reasonably go. In the words of Simon Peter to Jesus, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68 NIV).

Though I still wrestle daily with trusting God in the uncertainty of where I will be next fall (and even this coming summer), I'm asking God to give me the desire to walk with Him in His will for my life. I covet your prayers as I seek to walk by the Spirit in this process and trust the results to Him, finding stability, satisfaction, and purpose, not from my circumstances or dreams, but from my personal relationship with the Triune God of the universe.

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation" (Isaiah 12:2 NIV)

In Christ,
Emily

Overdue Notice

You know how the library sends you an overdue notice when you should have returned a book but you've evidently forgotten to do so? Well, sometimes I think blogs need an "overdue notice" feature. At the same time, I'm grateful that mine doesn't have the power to fine me when I go too long without writing a post--I'd be in some serious debt...possibly more than for all the traveling I've done!

I will attempt more regularity in my updates from now on (now where have I heard that before???). Posts will be a mixture of study abroad/travel anecdotes and current updates on life so that family and friends around the world can check in and get a glimpse of where God's taking me at any given point in time. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Hasta luego, mis amigos!
-Emily

A Night at the Opera

Ok, I promised better videos of the aria and scenes that I worked on this summer, so here is what I have. My camera stops recording after 3 minutes, so it had to be restarted by my friend Patrick who graciously video'd the final concert for me so I'd have something to bring home to family and friends. My camera doesn't have the greatest recording quality, but this will at least give you a decent approximation. I've included the Italian lyrics and the English translation with each video. Enjoy!

La Pastorella delle Alpi (Rossini)



Italian Text (English word-for-word translation in Italics)

Son bella pastorella, che scende ogni mattino,
I am pretty shepherdess that goes down each/every morning

ed offre un cestellino di fresche frutta e fior.
and offers a little crate of fresh fruit and flowers

Chi viene al primo albore avra vezzose rose
who comes first to the arbor shall have charming roses

e poma rugiadose, venite al mio giardin.
and apples dewy, (you) come to my garden

ahu....
ah....

Chi nel notturno orrore smarri la buona via,
Who in the night horror loses the good road,

alla capanna mia ritrovera il cammin.
to the country mine to return to the road.

Venite, o passaggiero, la pastorella e qua,
(you) Come, oh passenger/passerby/traveler, the shepherdess is here,

ma il fior del suo pensiero ad uno soldara!
but the flower of my thought to one only/alone I give!

ahu....
ah...."Pst, pst, Nannetta!" from Falstaff (Verdi)
(Performed with Jacob January singing Fenton)

Part 1:



Part 2:


Fenton: Pst, pst. Nannetta. Vien qua.
Pst, pst. Nannetta. (you) Come here.

Nannetta: Ssssss. Taci. Che vuoi?
Shhh! Quiet. What do you want?

Fenton: Due baci.
Two kisses.

Nannetta: In fretta.
In a hurry.

Fenton: In fretta.
In a hurry.

Nannetta: Labbra di foco.
Lips of fire.

Fenton: Labbra di fiore!
Lips of flowers!

Nannetta: Che il vago gioco sanno d'amore.
That the charming play/game knows of love.

Fenton: Che spargon ciarle, Che mostran perle, Belle a vederle, Dolci a baciarle! Labbra leggiadre!
That scatters nonsense (gossip), That shows pearls, Beautiful to see them, Sweet to kiss them! Lips flirtacious!

Nannetta: Man malandrine!
Hand thieving/naughty!

Fenton: Ciglia assassine! Pupille ladre! T'amo!...
Killer eyes/eyebrows. Thieving eyes! I love you!...

Nannetta: Imprudente. No...
Imprudent one. No...

Fenton: Si, due baci.
Yes, two kisses.

Nannetta: Basta.
Enough.

Fenton: Mi piaci tanto!
Me you please so much! (Another expression meaning "I love you")

Nannetta: Vien gente.
Here come people.

Fenton: Bocca baciata non perde ventura...
The mouth that is kissed does not lose good fortune

Nannetta: Anzi rinova come fa la luna, come fa la luna.
Rather renew as does the moon, as does the moon.

Fenton: Torno all'assalto.
I return to the assault.

Nannetta: Torno alla gara. Ferisci!
I return to the match. You are wounded!

Fenton: Para!
Parry (block--a fencing term)

Nannetta: La mira e in alto. L'amor e un agile torneo, sua corte vuol che il piu fragile vinca il piu forte.
It see is on high. Love is an agile tournament, his court wants that the more weak conquer the more strong.

Fenton: M'armo,... ti guardo. T'aspetto al varco.
I arm myself,... I see you. I wait for you at the pass.

Nannetta: Il labbro e l'arco.
The lip is the bow.

Fenton: E il bacio e il dardo. Bada!... la frecia fatal gia scocca dalla mia bocca sulla tua treccia.
And the kiss is the arrow/dart. Be careful!/Watch out!...the arrow fatal already shot from my mouth to your braids.

Nannetta: Eccoti avvinto.
Here you are enthralled. (This humorous line based on wordplay means both physical and emotional entrapment.)

Fenton: Chiedo la vita!
I ask for (my) life!

Nannetta: Io son ferita ma tu sei vinto. (The first video cuts off during this line and picks up partway through Fenton's next line, FYI.)
I am wounded, but you are conquered.

Fenton: Pieta! Pieta! Facciamo la pace e poi...
Pity/mercy! Pity/Mercy! Let us make the peace and then...

Nannetta: E poi?
And then?

Fenton: Se vuoi, ricominciamo.
If you want, let us begin again.

Nannetta: Bello e quel gioco che dura poco. Basta.
Pretty/beautiful is the joke that lasts short/a little time. Enough.

Fenton: Amor mio!
My love!

Nannetta: Vien gente. Addio!
Here come people. Farewell!

Fenton: Bocca baciata non perde ventura.
The mouth that is kissed does not lose good fortune

Nannetta: Anzi rinova come fa la luna, come fa la luna.
Rather renew as does the moon, as does the moon.


"Cosa mi narri/Sull'aria" from Le Nozze di Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
(Performed with Brenna Sluiter singing the Countess)

Part 1:


Part 2:



Opening Recitative:

Countess: Cosa mi narri? e che ne disse il Conte?
thing me (you) tell? and what of it (meaning the plan) said the Count?

Susanna: Gli si leggeva in fronte il dispeeto, el la rabbia.
He himself on could read in his face the spite and the anger/rage.

Countess: Piano, che meglio or lo porremo in gabbia! Dov' e l'appuntamento che tu gli proponesti?
Quiet, that better us to put (him) in trap! Where is the appointment that you to him proposed?

Susanna: In giardino.
In garden.

Countess: Fissiamgli un loco. Scrivi.
Let us fix him a place/location. (you) Write.

Susanna: Ch'io scriva, ma signora...
That I write, but Lady/Madam...

Countess: Eh scrivi, dico, e tutto io prendo su me stessa: Canzonetta sull' aria.
You write, I say, and everything I take on me myself: A little song to the breeze/on the air.

Aria:

Susanna: Sull' aria.
On the air.

Countess: Che soave zefiretto,
What soft little zephyrs,

Susanna: ...zefiretto...
...little zephyrs...

Countess: Questa sera spirera,
This evening will blow,

Susanna: questa sera spirera,
this evening will blow,

Countess: Sotto i pini del boschetto--
Under the pines in the little woods--

Susanna: sotto i pini?
Under the pines?

Countess: sotto i pini del boschetto,
Under the pines in the little woods,

Susanna: Sotto i pini del boschetto,
Under the pines in the little woods,

Countess: Ei gia il resto capira.
He already the rest will understand.

Susanna: Certo, certo il capira,
Certain, certain he will understand,

(They repeat these last two lines for the rest of the aria.)

Closing Recitative:

Susanna: Piegato e il foglio, or come si sigilla?
Folded is the letter, now how to seal it?

Countess: Ecco, prendi una spilla, servira di sigillo. Attendi, scrivi sul riverso del foglio; "Rimandate il sigillo."
Here, take a pin, it will serve as a seal. Wait, write on the reverse of the letter; "Send back the pin."

Susanna: E piu bizzarro de quel della patente.
It's more strange than the commission (a comic plot twist earlier in the opera).

Countess: Presto nascondi; io sento venir gente.
Quickly hide it; I feel people coming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Basta stasera! Ciao, amici!
Enough this evening! Bye, friends!

-Emily

Slice of Life: Grocery Shopping at Billa

Ok, so this might be one of the more mundane anecdotes I have to share, but I was thinking about it when I was at the grocery this evening. I was enjoying--yes, enjoying--the fact that all the labels are in English (or if they're bilingual labels, at least I can usually understand the Spanish pretty easily, too). Not really knowing the language made something as simple as grocery shopping a lot more complicated! You can't always guess what something is if you can't read the label on the jar or package--there are a variety of foods that are common there that aren't particularly common grocery store stock in the States. For example, in the grocery store near my apartment called Billa, there was some kind of bovine organ in the meat section, on whose package the ONLY word I understood was the word for "beef/cattle" but it didn't look like ANYTHING I've ever eaten that came from a cow or would ever dare eat. It had the texture of a morel mushroom
and was the color of swiss cheese.
Ick. I'm secretly afraid it was brain tissue or something equally weird. On the other hand, sometimes you can guess what something is but probably really don't want to know. Exhibit A: large, recognizable sections of or even entire squids, shrink-wrapped, slimy tentacles clearly visible, in the frozen foods section amidst the bags of frozen peas and minestrone veggie mix.

Also, some things I considered "standard" where conspicuously absent. Like milk in a jug, for example. Though I found boxed cereal and muesli, I never did find cartons or jugs of drinkable milk, only milk in a cardboard carton (which apparently didn't need to be refrigerated until opened) intended for use as creamer for coffee/tea. And trust me, that DOESN'T taste the same.

Buying fruits and vegetables also works a bit differently. You have to select and weigh your own produce at these little automated scales around the store, which print little labels with the price of your selections (produce is calculated by weight, same as much of the time it is here). However, if you don't weigh it yourself before you go to checkout, you probably get chewed out (in Italian) by the cashier. Fortunately, I was warned in advance to do this, so I didn't actually get yelled at. But I did have trouble with the machines the first time I tried to use them, since apparently all of them conspired to run out of the little printing labels at the same time. Not having used one before, and not being able to read and understand the error message on the screen, I assumed I was the one doing something wrong and proceeded to try all of the machines unsuccessfully. All I wanted was to weigh my head of lettuce, gosh darn it! I finally had to give up and resign myself to waiting nonchalantly off to the side in hopes that someone else would come by and weigh their produce so I could watch and try to figure out what I was doing wrong. Eventually a Billa employee came by and reset all the machines and replaced the label rolls so that the machines worked effortlessly as they're supposed to (so it turned out that the machines, and not I, were at fault!). But that was only after the power went out in the store, and all the patrons were bumping into each other for about 30 seconds before it came back on, since we all kept trying to do whatever we'd been in the middle of doing when it went out. (Yes, this happened the very first time I went to a grocery store in Florence. Great first impression, huh?)

What else to share? Oh, don't try to pay with credit for purchases of less than, say, 7-10 euros. You'll get a funny look or they'll ask you to pay cash instead if you can. (Once again, that's from hearsay...I'd been warned and thus didn't try it myself.) Matter of fact, it's best not to try to pay anywhere in Florence with credit unless the purchases is at least 15-25 euro...some stores and even restaurants don't take credit at all.

We went through a lot of nutella in our apartment. Nutella sandwiches in the morning took the place of cereal because of the aforementioned milk scarcity. We also went through a ridiculous amount of tea and juice. Te de pesca (peach tea) became one of my new favorite things. My roomies were quite fond of succhi di frutta, specifically of the pera and pesca varieties (pear and peach). However, Italian fruit juice has a higher viscosity and intensity than American fruit juice. If you want to get an approximate idea of the flavor, imagine buying a bottle of the juice that canned peaches or pears are packed in. That's EXACTLY what it was like. I nearly always diluted it (roughly 1 part juice to 2 or 3 parts water) to make it less overpoweringly sweet and gritty and more like American or British juice. I just told myself that I was back in the UK making squash and it was all okay (that's my shout-out of the day to all my UK peeps :) )

Last, but certainly not least, they had these awesome rolling baskets--imagine taking a little-larger-and-deeper-than-normal US grocery hand basket, then adding wheels and a rolling suitcase-style pull-up handle to it and--VOILA!--you have a store full of people pulling what look like the offspring of a grocery hand basket and a rolling backpack. Remarkably funny looking but surprisingly handy and effective. :) Only disadvantage is trying to pass other shoppers in narrow aisles...

I think I shall save descriptions of the markets and comparing/contrasting the shopping-for-fresh-food experience until another day. If you haven't yet had your fill of amusement at Billa's expense, feel free to check out their website and see what else you can find.

...and I just effectively made myself crave te de pesca by writing about it...sigh. Oh well, I'll make the American equivalent tomorrow morning. :)

Arrivederci,
Emily

Home, Home on the Range!

One of these months, I'll actually get to spend more than a week sleeping in my own bed at home! After one week at home of unpacking, catching up with family and friends, and working on graduate school researching, I arrived today at my family's farm in central Missouri, where I'll be spending the majority of my time for next month (I may be going home to St. Louis on weekends). I will be training horses, fixing things, painting stuff (like gates or doors or suchlike), and any other jobs that need to be done. It's a farm; something always needs to be fixed or an animal needs to be taken care of...I'll have plenty to keep me busy, not to mention keeping my voice in shape and working on senior recital lit so I can hit the ground running at Truman in August. I may also have the opportunity this summer to teach some voice lessons to some middle or high school students in Hermann, so that will be good experience in preparation for taking Vocal Pedagogy this fall in addition to the voice students I'm already getting lined up for the fall. :)

However, farm work generally ceases when the sun goes down, my voice can only handle so many hours of practice a day, and I have to take a break from grad school research/apps periodically, which means I'll have more time theoretically to get this blog up to date with anecdotes and pictures from my travels, albeit after the fact. (Sorry!)

In other news, I got really nostalgic for Italian food tonight. My grandpa gave me wine with dinner and his wife had made Italian style pizza, which reminded in taste and seasoning of the authentic pizza I had in Naples, Italy, less than 2-1/2 weeks ago. While I don't feel the urge to up and move to Italy after studying there the way I did with London, I still did really enjoy it, and things like the smell of pizza seasonings or the taste of wine that trigger memories of Italy (like eating pizza in Naples--the birthplace of pizza--or sipping local wine at sunset overlooking the Mediterranean in the Italian Riviera) do make me miss it. I hope to be able, as I have these moments and process what I learned and how that affects how I live henceforth, to share those moments through videos, pics, and stories here, so that maybe--if I do my job well--you, too, can be nostalgic with me for a beautiful country with a fascinating history, fabulous music, flowery language, and fantastic cuisine!

Ciao amici!
-Emily

U.S.A! U.S.A!

I'm home again! Wow, I love my family. It's great to see all of them again. However, my body hasn't figured out what time zone it's in, yet, so that's making things interesting. I will put up more pics and videos over the next few days/weeks until everything's been posted. Right now, it's time to go enjoy the great outdoors in beautiful rural Missouri. :D
Arrivederci,
Emily

If a picture's worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?

Ok, this is a pathetic excuse for a blog post, but I suppose it will have to do for now. Here are several video clips from my time in Florence with a quick description of what the video is about/why & where it was taken. While I'm waiting for these videos to upload, I'm going to finish repacking for my flight back to the States from London, which leaves in about 9hrs...

This is a 360 degree look at the view from the Ponte Vecchio (literally "old bridge") at night. The music in the background is from a busking classical guitarist. At the end of the video, you'll see my two roommates, Brenna (on the left) and Stefanie (on the right).


This is a 360 degree view taken from the south bank of the Arno river just east of the Ponte Vecchio by day.


This next video sort of explains itself...it's the view from Piazza Michaelangelo overlooking the city from the southeast.


This is a slice-of-life video documenting one of the many times that my friend Chy and I would sporadically burst into song in harmony as we were walking places (this particular instance is along the streets on the south side of the Arno, but similar instances also occurred while hiking in Cinque Terre and in various other parts of Firenze at various times of the day and night). Apologies for the wind/traffic noise--the harmony would sound a lot clearer/more in-tune without all the background noise.


This next video is of part of the parade/procession associated with one of the festivities of San Giovanni Battista day--a city-wide holiday. This parade involved LOTS of people dressed in medieval attire processing from Piazza Santa Croce to another part of the city (I'm drawing a blank at the moment what street it was). Here's a snippet of the parade that I captured on film.


Ok, I know it's not much detail on what I've been up to, but I need to go finish packing now. Can't believe 7 weeks are up and it's time to head home again!

Quick final thoughts on going home:
-It's easier this time to come home than it was last fall at the end of my semester in London. I really enjoyed Italy and would be comfortable with it if my career ever leads me to move there for any length of time, but for some reason, I just still have this inexplicable love for London. Maybe I'll muse more on that in a subsequent blog post...we'll see.
-I keep trying to say "thank you" and "excuse me" in Italian, even when the people I'm talking to have already addressed me in a British accent...so if I say "Grazie mille" or "Scusi!" to any of you when I'm back in the States, please don't judge!
-Not looking forward to jet lag. Jet lag is dumb and annoying. Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.
-No matter how hard I try, I pack too much stuff. Next time I think I will take literally the common travel advice to "pack everything you think you'll need, then take half of it out."
-I hope I get to come back to London. I really don't know if I'll get to, and if so, for how long. It could be as little as five months from now (grad school auditions?) to years before I'm back in this city I've grown to love intensely.
-I am SO excited to sleep in my own bed again. Is it sad that that's one of the things I've missed most about being away? Maybe it was just because my bed in Italy kept sticking its sharp springs into my back at night...
-I can't wait to see all of you, family and friends, and catch up on what you've been up to for the past nearly-two-months and to share more stories in detail about all the cool opportunities God's granted me in the past two months. :)
Love,
Emily

In fair Verona where we lay our scene...

Ok, I'll try to hit some quick highlights before heading out the door today to go to an Argentinian restaurant/bar to watch the Italy v. New Zealand football match this afternoon. What follows here is not necessarily in chronological order, nor is it by any means an exhaustive summary of events of the past 3 weeks, but here it is anyway:

Our apartment here in Firenze is adorable. It has wood floors and elaborate, aged
wooden ceilings in several rooms.
I'd personally guess the ceilings are at least 100 years old, based on the similarities they bear to the way the wood has aged in my family's old farmhouse. I'm sharing this 2-bedroom, 1 full bath/1 half-bath, with full kitchen and living room with 2 other girls, Stefanie and Brenna. They are both grad students in vocal performance, so I've enjoyed having students to look up to musically and getting to pick their brains about grad school and suchlike. As well as working hard on our music, we've also had a fair amount of fun, including late-night Nutella/girl-talk sessions. In the three weeks we've been here, I'm ashamed to admit, we've gone through 2 kg of Nutella. Yes, the other students who hang out in our apartment periodically have definitely helped with that, but that's still a LOT of Nutella. It's seriously addictive. :)

Speaking of Nutella, the food here in Italy is AMAZING. Nothing less than I had hoped or expected. I've learned enough Italian to be able to order completely in Italian when I want to, so that a nice small triumph, I suppose. I've also been cataloging recipe ideas every time I encounter a new dish on a menu...maybe I'll be a good cook by the end of the summer!

The city of Florence is really beautiful. The buildings are wonderfully colorful and represent a wide variety of historical architectural periods. Here are some pics I've snapped during my time here:

...and of course some pics to prove that I was actually here and didn't just steal someone else's pics off the internet:




In other news, God is (as always) so good to me. He provided an English-speaking, gospel-centered church that caters to internationals just a few blocks from my apartment. What's more, they have a young adult Bible study during the week. Even more, God provided several other Christians to go to church and Bible study with me. It's been really encouraging. Once again, it's been amazing to see the way the Lord is faithful to me even when I'm not faithful to Him and how He knows no international boundaries! Praise God!

During the week, I spend a good portion of each days in voice lessons, coachings, or scene rehearsals. Like I mentioned in the last brief post, I had fallen in love with doing opera scenes in the original language. It's fascinating. It provides a great intellectual and artistic challenge every second. Intellectually, I have to focus on pronouncing a language that's not my own precisely correct so that native speakers will understand it. This means every double-consonant has to be there or the meaning of the word changes. Meanwhile, all the normal challenges of singing classical music--phrasing, dynamics, breath support, register shifts--still apply, with the extra element of acting and following blocking added in for good measure. You never know what challenge you'll have thrown at you next. For example, in one of my scenes, I have to sing a line whilst lying on the ground. But once you learn your material and learn how to adapt to the different situations that your breathing and singing have to work within, it's so much fun! Here's a brief video clip from our masterclass on Friday (we ran our scene in character but without the blocking) of the duet from Verdi's Falstaff that I'm singing with a chap named Jacob. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery just before the part where I get to hit and hold a high Ab for four bars...but anyway this will still serve as a taste for anyone curious about what I've been up to. I'll try to get a better/more complete recording of this and my other scene this week now that my camera has fresh batteries!


In addition to the singing required of me for class, we've all been singing a fair amount of spur-of-the-moment duets. Last weekend, when my friend Chy and I went to Cinque Terre to hike for the day, we sang duets along the trail and surprisingly several people hiking around us joined in! The next post will have pics from that day's adventures as well as more thoughts on adapting to life in Firenze.

Until then,
Emily

Vorrei un panino, per favore!

Ciao tutti!

...So I realized that it's been nearly 3 weeks since I last posted. Bad Emily, bad! Anyway, life has been relaxing, crazy, happy, sad; in short, life is an adventure as usual. I'm not going to write you all a massive tome like Hugo, Melville, or Tolstoy, but I will give you a few quick thoughts on the end of my time in London and the first half of my time in Italy. I'm headed to Verona tomorrow night to see an opera and returning very, very late, but I hope that I shall have time either Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon to do some proper updating of this here blog.

Thoughts to tide over any eager readers until then:

1) I really do love London. I have come to realize that even more over the past few weeks. Looking forward to being back there, even if only for about 48 hrs, in less than two weeks.

2) Learning Italian and adapting to the culture is harder than I anticipated it would be, especially since I thought I knew how to adapt to a new culture after doing that process last fall in London. However, this culture is so much different and the language barrier is much more inhibiting than I'd expected it to be. But I'm making it work and looking less and less like a lost American tourist, so I consider that to be decent progress given how short my time in Italy really is.

3) I LOVE doing opera scenes in the original language. I think I could enjoy doing this for the rest of my life. It has all the theatricality of musical theatre/straight theatre but the beauty of music by Mozart and Verdi. Wow. I have a masterclass in the morning where we're running our scenes and I can't wait. I'll be presenting two different scenes (Fenton and Nannetta's duet from Verdi's Falstaff and the Countess and Susanna's letter-writing duet from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro).

4) This city is really beautiful. I'm trying really hard every day not to lose my sense of awe and to remember to always look up at the buildings and landmarks, even just when I'm on my way to class or lessons.

5) I've been more homesick than I was the first time I studied abroad, strangely enough. Lots of possible reasons why, but not entirely sure if I could pinpoint just one. But hey, I'm still really enjoying this beautiful city and making the most of the short time I have here.

6) A month is really not that long. I've already been in Firenze for over 2 weeks, and I leave in less than two more. I arrive home in the States (completely exhausted, I'm sure!) two weeks from tomorrow. Weird. Time really flies sometimes.

7) Last weekend, I went with one of my friends in my opera program on a day trip up to Cinque Terre, where we hiked 9 miles along the mountainous coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was 9 of the most beautiful miles of earth I've ever seen, I think. And to top it all off, we finished the day with a swim in the Mediterranean (WIN) and dinner of pasta, local wine, and gelato overlooking the beach and the sea as dusk approached. Epic Win? I think so. :)

Ok, I'm going to go get LOTS of sleep before the masterclass tomorrow since my voice was kind of tired today, but I hope to post better updates this weekend, including thoughts on fair Verona!

Arrivederci amici,
Emily

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words, They Say

I finally managed to get over my jet lag by Sunday or Monday, 16-17 May (I slept in both days to help my body get caught up on sleep and figure out which time zone it was actually in). Sunday revolved primarily around going to the 5pm service at HTB (for an explanation of HTB, see the posts from the fall semester). It was really good to be back. I have truly missed that church and those people, and it was a blessing and encouragement to be back worshiping God with them. Francis Chan was the guest speaker, and I was impressed, encouraged, and challenged by his talk. Here's a link to the video from one of the other services that day if you want to hear a similar talk to the one he gave at the Five. (He gave slightly different talks at the different services, but I'm guessing the gist is the same). Scroll down, it's the video from 16 May.

After the Five, a group of the students went to the pub (as is our custom) for a pint and some quality fellowship. That's right. Fellowship in a pub. The US needs to have a pub category...all we have at home are restaurants and bars/clubs. Nope, no pub category there. Sad day. Anyway, as we sat around, my friend Tye posed the question (I'm paraphrasing), "If you took Francis Chan's talk tonight to its fullest practical application or conclusion in your own life, what would that look like? What would you end up doing?" And about 4-5 of us spent the next 2 hours or so discussing that in great detail. Since a lot of the responses were quite personal, I can't really elaborate here without their permission, but I can say that it was inspiring and convicting as we discussed the possibilities and future realities of the will of God in our lives. Those are the kind of conversations that are truly meaningful, the kind you remember for a long time because they impact how you think--one of those really "real" or genuine moments shared on a human level.

On a considerably less profound level, I had been inadvertently picking up the accent of the people I was around, and was soundly mocked for it at the pub on Sunday night (ironically mostly by the South African and the Brit who spent 8 years living in South Africa, so they both have a different accent from the standard British one. Hmph!).

I found a piano store that had practice rooms for rent by the hour, so I started practicing each day for an hour. It was good to get back into practicing, but I realized just how much work I have to accomplish before I get to Italy next week!

On Tuesday, 18 May, I had the interesting experience of having trouble finding/buying a simple cup of tea on the way to practice in the morning. I stopped off at the Notting Hill Gate stop during my morning commute on the Tube (London Underground) to the Marble Arch area. I walked several blocks in each direction, but try as I might I couldn't find any sort of little bakery or tea shop. However, I did find TWO Starbucks' within two blocks of each other. Sigh. I finally gave up on finding somewhere and went to buy tea from The Man. However, when I tried to order decaf tea, they ended up getting confused and giving me decaf COFFEE which I quickly asked them to remedy. It is a sad, sad day when you can't get a simple cup of tea in London.

I spent that afternoon wandering around Covent Garden while eating a pasty (the "a" is pronounced like "apple") and listening to a busking (somewhat melodramatic) string quartet. I also went up to the Knightsbridge area and--just for fun--wandered in and out of the stores there, even though I can't afford anything in most of them. Sometimes it's just fun to pretend you're posh. I then wandered up to Hyde Park and strolled around taking pictures and suchlike. I also got asked for directions by 3 separate people in the span of 15 min. Evidently it didn't take long for me to look like I again belonged or knew where I was going! I also wandered by my old flat and took a picture for nostalgia's sake. I'm sure the students who came out the front door while I was doing that were thinking, "Who's the creeper girl taking pictures of our building?" but I didn't care. I finished up the evening's outings by going to the university student gathering at HTB (simply referred to as Students) at 7pm and then to the Zetland pub with students after Students was over.

A few more pics from my day of wandering:


Wednesday and Thursday I practiced and spent much of the remainder of each day hanging out with my dear friend Rachel. Wednesday evening, I went to a surprise party/birthday drinks for one of the staff from HTB, then went to see the new Robin Hood film afterwards with some friends from Students. It was quite fun to watch a movie set in England while in London. The irony is that, of the six of us who went to see the film, only one was actually English as far as I know (other nationalities represented: Welsh, American, and South African). After the movie, as if to add insult to injury after my experiences with tea-hunting the day before, the Tube decided to cause me to take an hour and a half to make what should normally be a half hour trip home.
It involved a stop that was closed due to a fire alarm, me getting off at that stop because no one told me otherwise, being told to leave the station by the emergency fire squad (even though there was no visible fire), and having to walk out of my way to another Tube stop to get on a different Tube line to try again to get home. Left High Street Kensington at 10:30pm, arrived home at West Brompton at nearly midnight.

Friday I went down to Greenwich to turn in the paperwork to Trinity College of Music (the same paperwork I hadn't gotten around to turning in when I said I was going to in my last blog post). I then spent the afternoon relaxing and exploring Greenwich. It is a really lovely area. I took lots of pictures and a nap in the park before heading north into Central London again. A few more pictures from my day in Maritime Greenwich (it is clearly an old port town):


Saturday night around midnight, I managed to set off the smoke detector in Tye and Sam's apartment when I attempted to bake scones. This was not entirely my fault.[Pictured is the outside door of Sam and Tye's house] On Friday night, Sam had cooked a fabulous multi-course Italian dinner for Tye, Rachel-the-dinner-guest, and me. The cheesecake from that meal had overflowed some whilst baking and the residue was still on the bottom of the oven. Since someone else had washed up after the meal, I just assumed they'd tackled the spill in the oven as well...which was not the case. Much to my chagrin, I preheated the oven without realizing this and had nice billows of smoke greet me when I went to put the scones into the oven. The alarm began sounding, and we were forced to remove the batteries (Temporarily!) and close the kitchen door to keep it under control. I let the oven cool down and decided to finish my scones in the morning. I did, and they turned out just fine. More on Sunday and the rest of the week in the next post!

Until then, Godspeed.
-Emily

A.D.O.S.

(Attention Deficit...Ooh Shiny!)

**Surgeon General's Warning: Rapid topic changes and lack of transitions can trigger adverse reactions and nervous ticks (especially in English majors and teachers of all levels). If you are an at-risk individual for these side-effects, you are hereby cautioned to read this post at your own risk. Any questions or concerns should be directed to either the US Surgeon General or the MLA.**

I left for London on Thursday, May 13th. I packed significantly less luggage than I did last time I went to Europe. This is good. However, I still think I overpacked. Hopefully I'll learn what I can leave behind and will consequently pack less and less each time I travel overseas (or even just within the US for that matter).

I had a several-hour layover in Newark, NJ. Note to self: Next time pack less other stuff to make room for a Jane Austen novel or something. I got rather bored sitting there, and I was afraid if I fell asleep I wouldn't wake up in time for my flight, so I called various peoples instead. I had an interesting conversation with my mother, during which I practiced my British accent (with hints of a South African accent thrown in for good measure) and a conversation with Drew about an assault rifle he'd just purchased (to practice for military stuff, so he says). Boy, it felt really weird talking about guns while sitting in the airport. I'm surprised that the government wasn't tapping my call and didn't send a SWAT team to stop me from getting on the plan and detain me for questioning for alleged terrorist plots.

I slept acceptably well on both my flights (STL-Newark and Newark-London/Heathrow). Continental consistently serves better food than I'm expecting them to, given that it's airplane food and other airlines have led me to expect a measly bag of peanuts or maybe a sandwich if you're really lucky. Anyway, Continental's food actually resembles a somewhat balanced meal (albeit mass-produced) and is even served hot. Kind of like those microwavable dinners you can get at the supermarket. Anyway, it's not like I want to eat that all the time, but I was still impressed. I didn't go hungry over the Atlantic. :)

Volcanic ash makes for interesting sunrises. It creates this cool haze across the horizon when you're above the clouds, which reflects the sunlight differently than clearer air does. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this personally (so you'll have to make due with this one I stole off the internets), because I accidentally packed my camera in the bag that ended up in the overhead compartment and I didn't want to turn on my cellphone to use the camera since phones are prohibited in-flight and I did a cost-benefit analysis and decided that the benefits of a potentially really cool photo did not, in fact, outweigh the disadvantages of potentially causing interference with aircraft equipment resulting in an airline crash to rival Flight 815 (that's for all you "Lost" fans out there...I don't understand you, but look! I'm trying to relate! Give me some credit, okay?)

My checked luggage took the scenic route through Houston without me. Fortunately I only had to wait an extra 1/2 hour or so for it to arrive in London. It doesn't seemed to have picked up a drawl while it was there, so I think everything turned out all right.

I got hit on twice while walking around during my first day in London; it was kind of weird, considering I hadn't showered, had been traveling for 20+ hours on very little sleep, and felt really grubby. Once it was even in French, which was even more weird. And I wasn't even wearing a berret at the time. Interesting.

I took a nap in the middle of the afternoon at Tye and Sam's flat (where I'm staying for the week). They actually had a spare room/study that they turned into a guest room for me. While I was sleeping, their landlady came through showing the flat to prospective tenants for next year. She didn't know I was there, nor that I was sleeping. She opened the door to the room, saying, "And this is the study...I mean, guest room," closed the door, and left. I only vaguely remember this happening because I only half-woke up when it happened. I had to ask the housemates later if I'd dreamed it or if it had really happened.

Friday and Saturday night I attended the London stop of Passion2010 conference world tour. It was pretty awesome. I got to see Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and (my personal favorite of the musicians) the David Crowder Band. The latter did a lovely bluegrass/gospel rendition of I Saw The Light/I'll Fly Away. It was wonderfully amusing being surrounded by Brits singing along as the banjo played. Louie Giglio and Francis Chan both spoke, which was excellent. It was encouraging to see university students praising the same Savior even on the other side of the world. The praise and renown of the Lord Jesus Christ knows no national boundaries. :) (Giving credit where credit is due: Photo stolen from the Passion blog.)
At the same time, there weren't nearly as many students as I was expecting, given how large a city London is. It speaks both to the fact that it's exam season here (so lots of people were closeting themselves for days and weeks to study/"revise" for their exams) and the fact that it is a remarkably small percentage of university students in London/UK that follow Christ. I heard from someone while I was here that it's something like only 1% of university students even attend church. Pray for this city and this nation, that God will cause the Gospel to spread like fire through the power of the Spirit and the witness of His children. Pray for boldness, wisdom, and opportunities to share the good news. Also pray for Tokyo, where the Passion2010 world tour is heading next. They'll be in Tokyo on Saturday, May 22nd.

Saturday I attended a Christian arts festival that several friends were presenting in. It was held outside in a lovely English garden. Paintings and other pieces of visual artwork were hung from tree trunks, sculptures were interspersed to take you pleasantly by surprise as you strolled along the walking paths, and there were two locations set up for musicians (one for classical, the other for contemporary) to perform.
There was even a little cinema set up under a spreading tree grove/thicket to create the necessary space and darkness. The cinema was powered by pedaling bicycles attached to a little generator. It was really cool to experience believers' creativity and artwork in the context of God's own creativity and artwork. I really want to host something similar at home now!

There are currently 2 pigeons sitting outside my window eyeing me with their beady little orange-ish eyes as I type this.

I think that's enough for one post. Thoughts on Sunday-Thursday to follow soon (Preview of coming attractions: grad school hunting, jet lag, being back at HTB, complications with the Tube, seeing the new Robin Hood movie, and visiting my old stomping grounds again). Must head out the door now to deliver some grad-school-search-related paperwork to Trinity College of Music in Greenwich, about an hour's journey by Tube and District Light Rail (aka DLR) from here. Tonight I'm planning on making dinner with Rachel Berry--we're planning to make steak and ale pie. I'm sure I'll report later on the results of our cooking/baking experiement.

Cheers (for now)!
-Emily

Here we go again!

After a several-month-hiatus, it's time for this blog to come back into active use! For anyone who hasn't heard yet, I'm spending 7 weeks abroad this summer. I fly to London on Thursday, May 13th, to visit friends. On June 1st, I fly to Pisa, Italy, then take a train to Florence (Firenze), where I will be studying opera for the month of June. On June 30th, I fly back to London, where I will stay with friends until I fly home to the US on July 2nd.

I am extremely excited and also nervous about this trip. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study opera in Italy, surrounded by the history and the language (more on those in a future post).

It's also wonderful to have a chance to catch up with the dear friends I made last semester. It's been just under 5 months since I saw them, and I've definitely missed them. I'm excited to see what God's been doing in London since I left, excited to go back to HTB for a few weeks, and excited to have a chance to do a bit of sightseeing that I ran out of time to do when I was there last fall. I'm also planning to visit a couple of grad schools while I'm there (more on that later, too).

At the same time, as departure draws closer and closer, I find myself getting nervous. I'm not at all nervous about London, but I am nervous about Firenze. I'm nervous I'll have trouble picking up the language, getting around, and making friends. I'm especially nervous about finding an English-speaking community of believers to worship and fellowship with for the month. God's been gracious already to me in this regard, though, because at least one other student going on this study program loves Jesus, too. Finding that out was really an answer to prayer. But I must admit I still have to remind myself of God's past faithfulness to me to calm my fears as Thursday gets closer.

I intend to keep this blog much more up-to-date than I did last time I was 'cross the pond. The posts may be less thought out or less carefully crafted, but hopefully they'll be a genuine representation and record of what I'm doing, what I'm learning, and God's constant faithfulness to me.

To-Do list before I leave:
-finish unpacking from the semester
-laundry
-repack for seven weeks
-buy an English-to-Italian phrase book
-get a haircut
-finish making my best friend's birthday/graduation gift
-have lunch with my best friend and give her the gift

Thanks again for reading!
Cheers!
-Emily

Joshua 1:9 (NIV) "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."