Hi everyone. I decided to keep a blog for my summer in Italy. I will update it as much as I can. I don't have internet in my apartment though, so that may not be too often.
I arrived in Rome on Saturday morning after a nice flight where I met several conductors, singers, and instrumentalists. We all boarded a bus as soon as we got to Rome. After about 3 hours, we arrived in Spoleto! We stopped at the hotel where most of the group was staying and then we were off to the apartments where I am living for the next 5 weeks.
The apartments are fun!I have a kitchen in a cabinet which has been a real convenience. We have a nice spiral staircase that leads to a loft where I sleep. I have 3 nice room mates. We are all conductors, so it has been a lot of fun sharing our stories and thoughts with each other.
After we got settled in, my room mates and I decided to check out the town. We found a Gelateria almost imediately and decided to indulge a bit. There is nothing like an authentic gelato from Italy! After that we walked around a bit and stumbled upon the town's cathedral, which has some very nice art work. Once we finished there, we wandered around some more and stumbled upon the Cheese Guy. For those of you who aren't familiar, when I visited Spoleto with Stevenson High School we met a man who had a convenience store with a lot of cheese in Spoleto. This was 7 years ago, so it was very nostalgic for me. With the help of my friends, I was able to explain to him that I had met him seven years ago and had a picture for his wall (he has a wall of tourists from all over the world that have visited his shop). I will be bringing him the picture soon. Most likely the next time I need some cheese! In any case, we then went to dinner, where I had a rizzotto dish. It was very tasty. We were pretty much exhausted after that from traveling, so we went back to the apartment to sleep.
Our second day in Spoleto was a blast. We started off with a tour of the city. It has some really interesting history (I do have pictures that I plan on posting, but I don't have my camera with me at the moment. Keep checking facebook!). After the tour, four of us decided to play ultimate frisbee with 2 Italian boys. We figured out how to explain the rules to them as we went and then played fora good hour or so. It's very hot in Italy right now, so we decided not to push it. It was a great exercise in using Italian, because they really didn't know English too well. When we got back, my room mates and I decided to sing Act II of Rigoletto together since it's required for us to sing all the excerpts we conduct! It was quite an experience, let me assure you!
Today was a more relaxed day. I scouted out the Teatro Nuovo, where all of my rehearsals will be. Then my room mates and I went to a super market. It was very similar to ours in America, but there were some differences like weighing your fruit before you check out.
When we got back to the apartment we made ourselves a nice Italian style dinner with eggplant, zucchini, bread with an olive oil and garlic dip, and pasta. We had quite the time figuring out the kitchen closet situation, but it was a lot of fun. It tasted great as well!
Tomorrow will be the first day of the program. I will take the italian placement exam, and then most likely meet with Professor Gibson, the conductor I will be working with. I am really looking forward to the next few weeks. Spoleto is a great town, and there are lots of good musicians here to make great music with. Ciao for now!
Ben
