grrr

I'm just going to reiterate how frustrating this picture posting thing is. The place where you write your entry looks different than the "preview" it shows, which looks very different than the way the blog actually looks. So you can play a bit of a game, and try to find out what caption goes to what picture. Gosh this is frustrating! If you're curious about a picture, I can give you information about it. Also, fun fact, you can see a bigger version of any picture if you click on it! Woo hoo!

un po' di fotografie di venezia

Hello, hello. Returned from our 4 day excursion to Venice yesterday. Such a cool, beautiful, unique city--anyone can take a gorgeous picture there with any camera. So these are my attempts. I got so frustrated with how touristy the entire city was--but it wasn't completely impossible to find signs of real life. Lets see, some highlights. The trip was paid for by ADA (my school), so we only had to pay for food. Our hostel was nice, and there's no WAY I would've paid that much for a room if I was funding this trip! We had class one day on the island of Guidecca, so we had free Vaporetto (like the subway, only boats) passes for a day. One day we decided to meet as a group (the 15 theater students) in Piazza San Marco and do some guerilla street theater--it was moderately successful! We just did some simple movement stuff and headstands. People were taking pictures of us! And that night I came back with some friends and we walked in slow motion with some quick starts and stops across huge stretches of the piazza. Looks WAY cooler that it sounds. People video taped us and applauded! And one guy came up after and said "Bravi!", so that was very exciting. We all decided to watch the sunset on Sunday morning over San Marco. It was exhilerating and a bit nervewracking walking alone through the still alleways. The normal hustle and bustle adds so much character to the city. And San Marco looked so defeated in the morning light--there were no people to disguise the fading, crumbling exterior. And, as is usually the case, we did a TON of roaming and exploring. I got lost a few times, looked in about 1000 glass/mask shops, ate gelato once a day, and took pictures of lots of mundane things. Here are (hopefully) the most interesting and beautiful!

Top Pictures:
L: Little boy statue at the end of the island--Punta della Dogana.
R: an amazing old bookstore near our hostel. Right on the river and full of old books in every language. I got Twelfth Night in Italian!
Bottom: About 7:00 a.m. I get the expression "rosy fingered dawn"!


Streetlights are beautiful.

At the Guggenheim modern art museum 2 pictures above; below that is excitement about 50 cent gondola ride!





L: firefighter band in san marco.








+sunset from Vaporetto









+glass on Murano, the famous glass blowing island.

















+our awesome rehearsal space!



















+performing in San Marco. Note people (fine, person) watching in background.













R: hanging out with Marcello, an acting teacher from the Accademia. We watched an open rehearsal of a show he's currently working on.

Formatting these posts with pictures is QUITE annoying. Captions are almost impossible. (I've probably been working on this for an hour, so no complaining that it STILL looks crappy! aihw;erh;wor how frustrating!) Anyways, hope yall like the pictures!

Today we had our first class with the new Italian teacher--she's DYNAMITE. thanks GOODness! Our class is so happy that we get a competent person! And this week we get more Commedia classes--today was a really exciting 4 hour class. We did a cool exercise where we physicalized 4 stages of life: curious child, bold teenager, hardened middle-ager, and dying old person. The trick was in the eyes and not overacting. It was so challenging and took all of us on quite a psychological journey. I'm exploring the character Colombina. I love working with masks--we have 6 hours more tomorrow! Yay!

Goodnight!

Rimini !

Long time no post! So a week and a half of class has gone by, as has our first travelling weekend. Everyone warns you about Week 3 when you study abroad--it's supposed to be when the "honeymoon stage" wears off. For me, so far so good. I'm still enamored by Arezzo and feel like I have so much to explore still. The more time goes by, I get to know people better. We're all learning who has similar travel styles, who brings what to class, and how we work as an ensemble. I definitely like some people's presences more than others, but I respect (almost) everyone artistically, and am interested in their progress as performers. So nothing too awful yet with others.

My Italian class has been constantly struggling with our terrible teacher, Maria Grazia. I took the most ridiculous quiz of my life--she had never taught us anything on it and it had no instructions. I got one thing wrong and got 6 points off on a 50 point quiz. All of us have been complaining to the higher-ups, so today she was supposed to be observed. Well we got to class and were told she had QUIT! She went right up to the head language teacher today and said, "I'm sorry, I don't work here anymore." So THAT was exciting! The head teacher, Monica, is like our mommy here. She's lived in Arezzo her whole life and knows English perfectly, and she's HILARIOUS. So she taught our class today, and I learned more in those 2 hours than I have in 2 1/2 weeks with the old teacher. So we'll see what happens next week with a new teacher!

Right now its almost 6 in the afternoon on Wednesday, and I feel like its my first bit of free time in over two weeks. We've been barraged by a rush of class, homework, meetings, movies showings, group events, and travel. Last weekend was a beautiful but slightly stressful trip to Rimini. Even though I LOVE travelling and seeing new things, its kind of tricky! Italian trains are confusing, you have to spend money on everything you put in your mouth, and you have to be well informed about where you are.

In Rimini, I felt like I was the only one who had any idea what they wanted to do--I wanted to go to the beach, try the local food, check out the historical piazza in the centro, and not spend much money! I was the only one with a tour book or a map. So the 4 other people seemed to follow me. That was strange because all I really wanted to do was explore and appreciate the small things--I felt bad for not providing entertainment at times. That's not really how I want to feel when travelling. I want to sit on a bench in a piazza and watch/talk to the locals, or take 35 pictures of a fountain, or get lost in a residential area. Myabe thats not "fun" for everyone. But then, they didn't have any opinion on the matter, so they just followed me!

Also, food was SO expensive! we were lucky we got free breakfast at the hostel, though. Our hostel was the Jammin' Party Hostel--we were a little bit wary because of the name, but the reveiws online were excellent. And this hostel will probably ruin all future hostel experiences--it was the nicest place. ever. We got our own linens in the room the 5 of us shared, we had free breakfast, internet, and bikes (!!!) which we used on our last morning to do some great exploring. It was in the perfect location--right near the beach and the main strip. It's probably a really crazy place during the summer, but we were right after the rush. It was a great resting place--oh we also had our own balcony.

So we decided in the end that Rimini was a great place to visit--fun and beautiful and interesting, but not necessarily crucial. I'm not necesarilly going to tell everyone to go to Rimini for the weekend, but it was perfect for what we needed that weekend.

catch up?

Lets play a little catch up! So I have survived week and weekend 1 at the Accademia. Still happy. I'm watching a sheet of rain pour down outside the window--something I was not expecting at all! My first commedia class starts in half an hour. So excited! It's 4 hours long, and I think we have it every day this week. Alright conservatory training, time to get started!

fresh fig from our street

Every few weeks we have a Cabaret, which is basically a fancy-schmancy name for an Open Mic that the teachers come to also. The teachers also theoretically invite their friends and other artists from town, but I didn't see too many strangers. We were told this was our way to introduce ourselves as artistic members of the Accademia. The musicians had it easy--they have so much material already! All the theater students struggled to find something appropriate. Many sang, someone did acrobatics, and many didn't perform. I really didn't want to miss this opportunity to introduce myself to everyone, so I decided to do my short go-to Beatrice monologue at the last minute. At first I was afraid I'd be "that Shakespeare girl, ugh", but I think it was short and sweet enough that it ended up being a good decision. Although its rather unflattering, here's a picture of the monologue.



On Saturday, we were all going a bit stir crazy in the villa. All the theater kids decided to not travel, and stay at home this weekend to get used to it. But I am terrible at relaxing, and all I wanted to do was go out and explore! Last weekend staying in one place for sure. So, despite the thunder that began to growl in the afternoon, I decided to go on an adventure at the aqueduct. My friends Josh, Elizabeth, and I decided we'd climb atop the landmark we walk by many times a day. We had noticed there was a way to get up on one side. There it is!


Needless to say, we didn't really think about how high up the aqueduct would be at the highest places!! I didn't even think about how high up we were until I stared at the ground for a while and then back at the area under my feet. Then, lets just say, vertigo! All three of us had to stop at one point and regain our balance. On top it was quite wide, and we did not feel at all precarious, but it was definitely scary when we realized how high up and how far from either end we still were!

the view from on top

look at those majestic clouds!! and josh and elizabeth!

yup, people in the cars were staring at us. we were on top of the bridge they were driving under

I climbed that! What an adventure!

It was particularly adventurous when we got to the other side and said there was NO WAY we were going to walk across it in the other direction to get back! So we had to find a way out of this fenced-in area with enormously tall grass and a falling apart house. I found a section of gate that was climbable, so we survived! Hurray!

Ciao!

Acrobatics

Just had a wonderful movement class! We're working on the fundamentals of acrobatics, and I'm enjoying it so much. I'd say balance and agility are the most important aspects of the stuff we've been working on. And I'm getting the hang of it! But grace and elegance--totally lacking. When Claudia (the teacher) does any sort of move, it looks like the epitome of grace. The rest of us stumble around and kinda do the motions, but we're in such beginning stages. Today we worked on two kinds of headstands, backwards shoulder rolls, and rolling over a partner. Doesn't sound too tricky, but there's a right progression for everything and its all so specific. By the end of the class, I'll be able to do a headstand so easily, and hopefully a lot of other cool stuff also! I just think it is SO cool that I'm in this class right now! Acrobatics was never even a consideration of something I'd be interested in pursuing (and still isn't really), but its so cool being exposed to it.

This is a video of some of Claudia's work, and our movement classroom. She's pretty fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H1JGm0T9RU

and daily life begins...

Hello! I'm currently sitting on my bed, watching the sun go down, listening to an incredible oboe player practicing, and getting ready for dinner. Life has begun to develop a rhythm. Not fully, but I can sense one coming. It is the evening of day 2 of classes. And I'm still happy :) Here's what a typical day looks like so far:



8:15: Wake up to obnoxious alarm. Roll over a couple times and wish I had more than just a thin sheet because it gets COLD at night! Anna (my roommate) and I decide how many more times we can push snooze...

8:30-9: Breakfast. I haven't decided what to do about breakfast yet. The options are cornflakes or nutty granola, yogurt, and white or nutty wheat bread with butter and jam. So, my options are cornflakes, white bread, or bust. At least the coffee is amazing! (seriously!) oh and today we had hard-boiled eggs.

9-11: Italian. This is going to be a struggle. I'm in the second semester class, so the first few days have been a review. The teacher is a native Aretine, and my biggest problem with her is that she either speaks fluent Italian or very poor English. She needs to be able to dumb down her Italian to communicate with us, and she really should be able to explain grammar points in English. Also, our class has so many levels of student in it, since it's anyone whose taken Italian before. But even the most experienced students have no idea what she says when she starts rambling about grammar concepts. I hope the organization of the class improves. But I do like that theater, music, and MFA students are in the class together. It's basically my only opportunity to not be with only theater students.

11-1: Movement. I'm in looove with this class! it is going to WHIP us all in to shape! You can tell who the theater students are because we're all limping around the villa, complaining about stairs, and thinking loftily about thigh massages. In the first 2 days we've done yoga conditioning, examined the concept of space and the technicality of getting down to and up from the floor, done a lot of partner work and acrobatics prep. We're doing rolls over our partners backs. The coolest thing though is this balance trick where you stand back to back with your partner. Then one of you dips down below the other person's butt and picks them up and makes their back straight. So the other person's back is directly on top of yours, and their feet are in the the air. I realize this is almost impossible to picture. You'll see eventually... Just know its wonderful. And I love love love the teacher--Claudia. She's this gorgeous German acrobat with the most calming, graceful, and thoughtful manner. She's both stern and gentle at the same time.

1:30-2:30: lunch and break. Every dinner and lunch so far has been a sort of pasta and sauce, fresh salad with balsamic, tuscan salt-less bread, and fruit. Lunch has the added luxury of another kind of cooked veggie dish. The food is wonderful, but I'm wondering when I'll be ready for some variety.

2:30-4:30: Class. We've had both Philosophy and Voice. Both were very cool; I already know this sort of voice work will be MUCH more beneficial for me than Linklater technique. Voice was one of the best ways I could have spent 2 hours--we all joked around a lot, made fun of each other, relaxed on the floor, learned a Shakespeare speech, then learned a song and made up a dance to it. Yet I took away SO MUCH from the class! Incredible!

Dinner has been at 7:30--at night we all hang out in each others rooms, go outside, or walk into town. Last night I got my first gelato (chocolate and grapefruit) of the trip! Now it feels like we have a lot of free time, but I can already sense it getting filled up by homework, rehearsals, and more trips to town. The walk into town is so nice--its about a mile and its gorgeous. But its the walk back thats a killer--the entire thing is uphill! Despite this, I've still gone at least once a day so far. I don't think that will hold up for too much longer though. We'll see!


I still must explain the Joust and my first trip to the grocery store, but that can wait for another time! :)

sono arrivata!

I've arrived! And it is gorgeous, absolutely bellisima!

Getting here was exhausting. 7 or so hour plane ride. then drag huge suitcases through airport maze to train station #1. take 1/2 hour train to train station #2. drag huge suitcases through train station #2 to find the correct track after given wrong information at least twice (includes lugging two (at least) 50 pound bags up and down multiple flights of stairs). So that was fun. Trains and train stations are NOT designed for people with any sort of suitcases. that was Brutal.

I was so happy to leave Rome and the muggy city behind, even though I was unsure I was on the right train up until they called the stop for Arezzo 2 hours later (no one ever checked my ticket!). When I finally saw the sign for Arezzo, my exhaustion from the previous 12 hours of travelling disappeared, and I totally became an excited toddler. I was literally grinning to myself (even up the 3 flights of stairs from the binario (train track) to the uscita (exit)). And I was very glad when the taxi driver put my bags into the car for me, even though he didn't exactly know where the villa was.


The city is much more city-er than I imagined! There are apartment buildings, cafes, bars, and tabacchi on every corner; narrow winding streets and piazzas abound. A portion of the city is walled and absolutely medieval in atmosphere and character. When I walked into town later, I kept thinking "ohhh my god I want to LIVE here.... oh wait, I do!!!" Best realization ever. I'll wait to after tourist season to really try to photograph the town, but this is the central square.


So tomorrow is this huge annual JOUST festival in Arezzo. The city is divided into 4 quarters, and they all compete in jousting. I guess they joust against an automated jousting machine instead of against each other because too many people got hurt (oops!) but it is on horses with armor and it looks like nothing much has changed since the 1500's. Thats why there are so many flags on the building. And because of this festival, the town is more alive than any other time of the year. All the teachers here warned us not to get used to all the people and excitement--they said this festvial always sets everyone's expectations too high for Arezzo nightlife.

I can't say anything too exciting has happened yet, but just living and being here itself is exciting. The view out my window is to die for (thats the picture above... eeeeh!!), we have our own vineyard in the backyard, the food is fresh and delicious, and I've liked everyone I've met. My Italian can only improve, but I've gotten across what I've needed to. There's a music program happening concurrently, so while I'm typing out here--under the yellow arches of the villa's patio, looking at the rolling Tuscan hills in the back ground-- I hear beautiful snippets of music from every direction. It just adds to the magic.

Today we became oriented and heard overviews of the classes. I'm so ready to dive in and get started. The teachers are from all over Europe and have such diverse training. They all have such a great attitude towards theater--take what you can glean and put it in your basket of skills. Don't rely on just one method. And we have so many opportunities to create and perform. And they want to put Commedia dell'Arte in a contemporary context to see what new light it can shine on the way we view the world. And they couldn't stress enough how important it is to go into the city and get lost and explore this new culture and meet the people here. How much more perfect could this get?!

Domani!

So I probably heard the phrase "study abroad" for the first time when I was 5 years old, and since then the idea has enchanted me. Live in another country for a whole semester?! Sign me up today! For a 5 year old, the idea was impossible to fully comprehend and so far in the distance.

And now, with my plane to Italy leaving at 5:45 tomorrow night, the idea is only a bit more fully comprehended and seems only a bit closer. I have no idea how this adventure will play out, but here it goes...!

I cannot believe that day has finally arrived. I want to use a hundred exclamation points and tell everyone I know that tomorrow I'm going to Italy to act and speak Italian and discover another way of living!!!!! But even though I may not believe the day is finally here, I am so ready mentally (I mean, I've had years and years to prepare...) to be on my own and experience something completely new. Lets hope my Italian skills hold up and improve!

I will be studying theater--more specifically Commedia dell'Arte--at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo. Arezzo is a town of 90,000 in Tuscany. Commedia dell'Arte is an improvisatory, masked form of theater thats been happening in the streets of Italy since the 16th century. More on all that later!


There it is, to the southeast of Florence. Expect lots of pictures (many of food), and lets hope I can keep this up.

See you all in December!
Ciao!