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
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