The first weekend: Novafeltria!

So right now I'm sitting in bed still not used to this timezone.... it's already 2:39am. But! Now I shall tell of the past two days...

So on Saturday Aly, Emily and I took a shuttle from our hotel to the Rome airport at 10 30am. When we arrived there we had NO idea where we needed to go.. But then we ran into Ben Wright, another one of the Butler students. We ended up tracking down or group, and we ate some food at the airport and then tried to meet some of the singers who were there. Aly and I both met the other halves of our duet scenes, Eric and Ryan. And we met others, but I keep forgetting names :) so we waited in the airport for a good number of people to arrive so we could get on the buses to Novafeltria. We ended up leaving around 2pm, and we lucked out and snagged a group of bus seats that faced each other with a table between. I did a lot of sleeping while people took pictures of my apparently hilarious sleeping face... :) and about 4 an a half hours later we arrived in the town to a welcome party. After hearing from the mayor of Novafeltria and the director of voice here, we were served some local cuisine in the center of town near a beautiful fountain. After dinner we were shown to our apartments and settled in. I am rooming with Aly and Emily in the hotel Magda.

Today, we woke up, got ready, and headed to the center of town to meet up with Ben and Eric (who ended up rooming together!) for breakfast. After munching on some pastries from the gelateria, we headed to the teatro for our meetings. We had an introductory meeting where all the staff and students introduced themselves. There we also got general info about how things work over here. After this meeting, we had individual meetings for our operas and scene groups. Then we headed back to our apartments for a while. I bought the wireless password from the hotel and tried skyping Tim! Next, we had lunch in the hotel restaurant. I had yummy lasagna and a caprese salad. Then Emily and I took a trip to check out Ben and Eric's room. I took a nap in the evening and woke up, having missed the dinner that was planned as an option for members of la musica lirica, and Aly and I walked out, found Ben, and got some food for dinner. We then were met by those who had been to dinner together at the gelateria. We sat with some new people... Carlisa, Megan, Paige, and Luke. Then on our walk back to the hotel we met Matt, Michael, and Steven. Aly and I went over music before bed and hung out in the room. Now it's 3am... Wow... Time to sleep. Buona notte!