Last full day in spoleto?

Well we had our first performances yesterday. I'm in three pieces and some are spottier than others but today they will hopefully be better. It was over 100 degrees yesterday which was pretty miserable, but it was overall less miserable than the dress rehearsal - for many reasons... We went to this opening dinner of the festival on Friday and last night went to the osteria Andrea was opening, rossobastardo, the name of the wine from the winery we were at. Exhaustion though. The food at the villa has been fantastic and yesterday I was fortunate enough to take an hour long nap. Score. We leave spoleto tomorrow! Crazy that this experience will be changing into a new one tomorrow. I'm getting a ride to Florence where I'll take the train to Pisa and then I'm off to the cinque terre! Hopefully I won't die of heat while hiking on Tuesday... Then Venice for two days, Florence for two days, sOrrento for two days, Naples for a day, and Rome the two days before I fly home! I have a feeling all of that is going to go by so fast. I have all my hostels booked except for Rome and almost all my trains booked too. Wonder how that bank account of mine is doing... I have no idea what the wifi situation will look like at any of my hostels but I hope I have some. Thanks to my fam for lending me an iPod charger! Wish I could write more about the dancing part (especially) of spoleto. This just means I'll have more to say that you don't know for when I get back though! And let's cross our fingers that my lack of Italian language skills won't be too awful as I travel... Losing my translators tomorrow :/

Villa

Wifi is going to be more spotty now that we moved to the villa. Today is dress rehearsal! And we're also going to work more on our duet/trio pieces which means the trio I'm in will be working in the hot sun in the afternoon! Sphera and Calder are pretty much done and Stephan says they're going to be really good. I wish I could post some pictures from my iPod to show what these sculptures look like! It's a lot of drilling counts and John king our composer is awesome. Also Italians walking by keep stopping and watching and telling us it's beautiful and clapping for us, some from their house windows. It's awesome to be in a place where the art is so openly appreciated. And Calder is right in front if the train station so we always have an audience. I can't believe it's already dress rehearsal! Also last night I found a bug that I think is a scorpion in our bathroom. It was exciting...? Out in the countryside and it's beautiful! Olive trees everywhere and mountains overlooking the city. Loving this villa view :)

A day in the sun

Last night was super fun & super delicious. Great food, fantastic wines (we WERE at a vineyard after all) and there was dancing and singing and I am officially a wine ambassador! Got a certificate to prove it :) the Italian countryside around spoleto is gorgeous too. Tiny towns surrounded by fields and vineyards with beautiful mountains in the background. Today I started the day with a 4o minute nosebleed so we were late to rehearsal. Oof. I'm okay though. Worked outside the duomo with Sharon and then had lunch. I've gotten super into eggplant here. Worked at the sphera and the Caldor after lunch until late, then had a chill dinner at the place we normally have lunch at near the hotel. Booked my hostel for Florence! Finally. I'll be there July 6-8. Then it's off to Naples & amalfi and Roma! Actually not super interested in Rome but I have to see some of the historic stuff I suppose. Super exhausted. Bedtime.

Spoleto (free day)

Today has been a free day. Slept in and walked around the aqueduct! (google it) wandered in some souvenir shops and got lunch. Now I'm sitting in a cafe! Super chill day. Such a fan. Spoleto is a cool town. Lots of narrow streets and a huge uphill. Gelato shops everywhere and intense sun every day. It's either gotten cooler or I'm just getting used to the heat. Most people speak at least limited English which is nice. Everything except restaurants shut down from like 1-4 for siesta! Plus it's hot then. Italians dress up and wear huge heels- even on these cobblestone streets! Spoleto is really pretty and I really love it here. I feel like after I leave I'll like other places but spoleto will hold a special place in my heart. Especially since I'm dancing at the sculptures near a park, across from the train station, and across from the duomo I feel like this place, in a weird way, kind of belongs to me. I love this :) also I have tab lines! Get ready Minnesota! I'll be kinda tan by then :)

Sunday!

Yesterday we didn't start until 11am. We basically finished both of the two dances. Yesterday at the sphera I really felt like it was a true stephan rehearsal because we added on the entire last part of the dance and the first time we ran it was when we were showing it! We ended early and had more time before dinner. There was a big game in Italy (verses England) and the bells were ringing like crazy and people were going through the streets singing the Italian national anthem, which is pretty cool. At dinner whenever there was a good part of the game we could hear shouting both within the restaurant and all around the city. It was sweet. Got nutella gelato after and went to bed. The wifi wasn't working in the hotel so that's why I didn't write anything last night.

Yesterday! (Saturday)

Got home at like 3:30sm last night. Yesterday we worked in the studio and at the sphera. We went to this talk about the sculptures, where we were supposed to hear the curator talk about our performances. That did not happen. Instead our awkward waiter from the night before kept coming up and talking to us. He pushed his mom too, which made the bad flirting even less okay. We went to the place that serves five courses - last night we had a ton of vegetables for our antipasti (necessary, I feel like all I eat is pasta, cheese, fancy meat, bread, and gelato) and then we had gnocchi (ong so delicious) and Italian sausage and cookies and wine. Then we went to the curators party! Which was so fun. Danced from midnight-3am with Stephan, the other dancers, and some Italians! It was the most fun night I've had in Italy as of yet :) also we've come up with a few dance moves, the most funny of which was Stephan's "jean-Luc" impersonation that was accidentily made up at rehearsal. Also I loved dancing with Adriana, one of the awesome women working with us from the Italian side. She's great! Well anyelis done showering which means its my turn! I'll write about today later tonight- leaving for dinner in an hour :)

Day 4 (again): Internet problems

So I typed the first one at 1am and was going to go to sleep once anyeli got home! Instead, we planned Venice. We're going July 4-6 and got a decently priced hotel room in the city. Had immense trouble booking my super economy train fare. Legit took like two hours to book and a lot of laughs ("Rachel, what if we're out late and were like, 'we gotta take our boat back'" oh so fun. Will be exhausted though. But mom, Venice is back on the list! I'm going! Then Florence, Naples, Pompeii, Rome, home! Gosh will be excruciatingly exhausted tomorrow.... Lots of espresso. Our coffee machine shows up that at the courtyard by far. Hotel breakfast! Also I've been eating the spoleto cake for breakfast. So cool!