Finally....the end of week one
Today is officially the third day of coachings/voice lessons, and I’ve got to admit: not only am I exhausted, I’ve got my work cut out for me!!! This is, hands down, the most vocally challenging thing I’ve ever done. I’ve been assigned the character of Violetta in a very large scene from “La Traviata” by Verdi, and the character of Musetta from “La Boheme” by Puccini (both two of the most loved/popular/highly stylized operas basically ever). They are big characters, both confident, sexy, mature, empathetic, and (in Violetta’s case) extremely tragic. Needless to say… I’m a little stressed. I practiced today for four hours, and I have a coaching later that will be two hours long. I don’t think I’ve ever done that….although I’ll admit I was a bit of a slacker on the practicing side during undergrad. I’m looking forward to making a lot of practice if I keep this up!
My typical schedule each day is Italian class from 9-11am. The Italian classes are pretty cool. We are in small classes, completely immersed in Italian. In fact, our teacher hardly speaks English, but I can completely understand her Italian. I think I’ll learn a lot, although the two hours early in the morning is a little difficult to push through.
In addition to class I have one coaching a day, and one voice lesson a week. My voice teacher is Pamela Hinchman, from Northwestern. I’ve only had one lesson so far, and I can tell that it will be a worthwhile experience. Her philosophies are right on with what I’ve been doing, and I had a good lesson overall. There really isn’t much planned each day, which I am extremely thankful for. That leaves me plenty of time to practice, rest, whatever, although the days here have been really wearing me out…maybe it’s the carbs that are making me sleepy.
A few observations about Italy vs. home – everything tastes sweeter here. There is no bitterness, no acridity to things like wine, cheese, even seltzer water (which is very popular here). I usually refuse to eat raw tomatoes because I hate the bitter taste, but I ate the sweetest tomato today in my salad. It was absolutely delicious.
People here take what is called a pausa from 1-4pm every day. Shops close, and people usually go home to rest, eat lunch, etc. Then when they return to their schedules, things are open until later, generally 8 or 9pm. People get up really early here. It’s a totally different schedule and I’m still adjusting.
I’ve hardly seen any fruit here, except at the grocery store, or in the case of proscuitto and melone. Although everything at breakfast seems to be apricot flavored….apricot jam, apricot cake. Oh gosh, and EVERYTHING has proscuitto in it. I have yet to see chicken served anywhere, and beef is very expensive, so the only option for protein in your average restaurant here is proscuitto or cheese.
Getting to the cheese thing…..its amazing here. It doesn’t taste like cheese…it tastes like…..some divine ambrosia-cheese. BUT it still gives me headaches and its in absolutely everything. IN CONCLUSION, I’m having a bit of trouble finding a balanced diet for myself (minimum cheese, minimum proscuitto, minimum carbs, and finding protein). My poor stomach has been freaking out a little bit.
I think I’ll end each entry with a little answer to things people “told me” about Italy. People told me to watch out for the pickpockets here, watch out for gypsies distracting you with their babies so they can reach into your pockets, etc. In Lucca, I have not seen any of that, or felt like I was in danger of being pick-pocketed once. I’ve heard that the bigger cities are much different, but to put all of you at ease, Lucca is sort of like a swanky resort town, and there is very little crime here. Hurray!
UPDATE:
My coaching was AWESOME today!!! Yay..... one out of four sessions today was what I would call "good." I remembered how to sing....... :)
My typical schedule each day is Italian class from 9-11am. The Italian classes are pretty cool. We are in small classes, completely immersed in Italian. In fact, our teacher hardly speaks English, but I can completely understand her Italian. I think I’ll learn a lot, although the two hours early in the morning is a little difficult to push through.
In addition to class I have one coaching a day, and one voice lesson a week. My voice teacher is Pamela Hinchman, from Northwestern. I’ve only had one lesson so far, and I can tell that it will be a worthwhile experience. Her philosophies are right on with what I’ve been doing, and I had a good lesson overall. There really isn’t much planned each day, which I am extremely thankful for. That leaves me plenty of time to practice, rest, whatever, although the days here have been really wearing me out…maybe it’s the carbs that are making me sleepy.
A few observations about Italy vs. home – everything tastes sweeter here. There is no bitterness, no acridity to things like wine, cheese, even seltzer water (which is very popular here). I usually refuse to eat raw tomatoes because I hate the bitter taste, but I ate the sweetest tomato today in my salad. It was absolutely delicious.
People here take what is called a pausa from 1-4pm every day. Shops close, and people usually go home to rest, eat lunch, etc. Then when they return to their schedules, things are open until later, generally 8 or 9pm. People get up really early here. It’s a totally different schedule and I’m still adjusting.
I’ve hardly seen any fruit here, except at the grocery store, or in the case of proscuitto and melone. Although everything at breakfast seems to be apricot flavored….apricot jam, apricot cake. Oh gosh, and EVERYTHING has proscuitto in it. I have yet to see chicken served anywhere, and beef is very expensive, so the only option for protein in your average restaurant here is proscuitto or cheese.
Getting to the cheese thing…..its amazing here. It doesn’t taste like cheese…it tastes like…..some divine ambrosia-cheese. BUT it still gives me headaches and its in absolutely everything. IN CONCLUSION, I’m having a bit of trouble finding a balanced diet for myself (minimum cheese, minimum proscuitto, minimum carbs, and finding protein). My poor stomach has been freaking out a little bit.
I think I’ll end each entry with a little answer to things people “told me” about Italy. People told me to watch out for the pickpockets here, watch out for gypsies distracting you with their babies so they can reach into your pockets, etc. In Lucca, I have not seen any of that, or felt like I was in danger of being pick-pocketed once. I’ve heard that the bigger cities are much different, but to put all of you at ease, Lucca is sort of like a swanky resort town, and there is very little crime here. Hurray!
UPDATE:
My coaching was AWESOME today!!! Yay..... one out of four sessions today was what I would call "good." I remembered how to sing....... :)
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