....Questo?

That's my new favorite word...questo. It means "This", and it is very helpful when you want something, all you gotta do at a cafe is point at what you want and say "Questo!"...easy. Yeah, the language is coming slowly to me..i had to write a short paragraph for Italian class and i used some spanish in there apparently.....??? Haha, well..im trying. (= The classes are good, LONG, but good. The teachers are only allowed to speak Italian to us, NO english. However, Elena, my teacher, sometimes will explain in English certain vocabulary or grammar because we are all beginners in my class and have the great potential to misunderstand ALL of her miming of objects...i'll be a pro at charades when i get home, haha. Classes start at 8:50am and go till 12:20pm. Then on tuesday and thursday afternoons we have conversation classes, and that teacher absolutely will not let us communicate with her in English...its a very frustrating class for me. The coachings for music have been great so far. I've coached with Benton Hess (our main director), Laura Poe (from Julliard), and will coach with Bob Cowert tomorrow (coach at the Met for 28 years...YES!), and hopefully will squeeze in a coaching with Hugh on saturday (he's another main director for the program). They all have shown me my lack of skill in Italian diction...haha i really regret now saving that course at school for my senior year..oops. But im making really fast progress. The other day i coached my Romeo and Juliet scene with Laura Poe and she praised my recit. section, saying that it was "200% better!", YAY ME! Haha, i was happy to finally get it right. I coached with the famous baritone Hokan Hagegard (sp.?) who is here for the week giving lessons. I did "Una Voce Poco Fa" in the soprano key for him (which, for those who dont know it, is EXTREMELY difficult and scary to attempt). I was still sick when i sang it so it wasnt perfect, but he was very helpful in characterization, and praised my work that i've done so far on it, he was very sweet and kind.
SO, my birthday...
It was great! I got up at 7am and went on a trip to a town called Assisi with some other friends in the program. We toured the beautiful city. Its famous for St. Francis, who is the patron saint of Animals i think.. Any way, i saw three churches (gorgeous) and had a ridiculous experience at the main cathedral (Duomo) of St. Francis......i got KICKED OUT!! Yes, you heard me. I forgot that some churches are VERY strict about dress code, and apparently i wasnt dressed modestly enough for them. I was SO embarrassed haha! Fortunately they kicked me out AFTER i had seen everything already. (= Then me and some buds tried to climb to the top of the city to the fortress and got miserably lost...which seems to be the bane of my existence (i can hear Joe making fun of me right now...it wasnt my fault!!). We went on a false trail. My friend Jake decided we didnt need to ask for directions (what a man, huh? haha) and we ended up trekking this goat path up the side of the mountain.....needless to say, i have many scratches. We found out later that we were on the wrong path (duh!) and the original path we were on was the right one...we just had to stay on it for another 3 miles...yeah, we werent about to attempt another 3 miles..so we gave up and headed back down. It was still fun though. Got great scenic pictures! After we got down Molly and i shopped around, got let into a medieval wine cellar by this really sweet Italian shop owner, and i bought alot of chocolate and a cannoli! It was a great day, but we were exhausted when we got back. So my birthday evening was not as lively as perhaps a 21st bday should be, but i thought it was perfect. We went to a nice restaurant, and a man named Bruno decide to dote on me and gave us four courses (4 dif. pastas, 3 dif. meet dishes, and a salad, and bday cake!) for 10% off, and included a free bottle of Merlot for the whole table! I only spent 15 euro! It was delicious. However, there will be, im sure, a livelier evening in store for me eventually, we were just SO tired that night!
Update on sickness:
Its worse...much worse. It wasnt a bite, it was a cyst....ew. THAT is healing though...now i have staff apparently. Ugh!!! I'm trying to keep it together though. I wana enjoy myself. I went to the doctor twice, they gave me antibiotics and creme for it. Luckily on both nights i went to the doctor 2 boys from my program came to my rescue (Jim and Josh) and kept me calm, i was so VERY thankful for them both on those evenings! So, now I keep it bandaged. It was really painful last night but better now (poor Josh had to deal with me crying haha). All i can say is; BE THANKFUL FOR AMERICAN DOCTORS!!! It might be free over here, but they do NOT seem to be very caring about there patients.....
Anyway, have to run, i got rehearsal. But i love you/miss you all, and keep me in your prayers!!!
Love,
Maren