Last weekend June 10-12, 2005

Friday
Today was a Master Class with Claudia Catania who sang for the New York City Metropolitan Opera. She's amazingly full of life and energy and is an amazing teacher. She's already promised me lessons anytime I want to fly to New York for them. So, I'll exclusively tell you that I'm throwing around the idea of moving there after graduation to work and take from her until I'm accepted into the grad school of my choice.
Anyway. Then, that evening, a bunch of us wanted to experience nightlife in Italy, so we went to the Fish Pub that had been recommended by the group that came last year. But, when we got there, it was all Americans! Yuck! I'm in Italy, I want to be with Italians! So, we left there and just started walking in the direction of home in hopes that we'll run across another one. We saw a couple of guys standing in the street, so our whole group walked up to them and asked them where the nearest bar was and they said "Right here!" It was this unmarked, exclusive bar that you have to know its there to really know its there. Make sense? Anyway. So, we went in there and it was really cool. They had all these really interesting drinks and there was a Danish guy, a Welsh guy, and obviously a bunch of Italians. The bartender, Francesco, knew a lot of English and he was very friendly. Me and Rebecca flirted with him the whole night and got a bunch of free drinks out of the deal. We ended up staying after everyone else in our group went home. So, we talked with Francesco and we found out that he's 23, studying radio journalism and English. He told us that he has an English exam on the 29th and we told him our Italian exam was on the 28th. So, he said "You help me and I'll help you!" So, now I have an Italian tutor. :) He's REALLY cute. He's also a drummer in a band and they've toured the US before for 5 months. So I hope that they'll tour again in the USA after I come back! After the bar closed, he took me and Rebecca home. It was cool riding in a car in Italy. Definitely hadn't done that yet.

Saturday
Today we were at the Boboli Gardens bright and early at 9 am! We toured the Pitti Palace, which had various museums in it, including the treasures of Maria de Medici and the Costume Gallery. I saw EVERYTHING! And it was so cool. My heart raced in the Costume Gallery when I saw that they had two costumes that Maria Callas wore in the movie "Medea." It was awesome. They also had clothing from the Medici and period clothing. They were so tiny! But I had to consider that they also had corsets keeping them pulled in. Then I got lunch before I went to the Gardens and then spent the entire afternoon walking in the Gardens and I wasn't even able to see all of that. Evidentally, there was a labyrinth that I missed out on! : ( Oh well... I did get some neat pics of the flowers that were still in bloom. I impressed a few people with my photography but it has room for MUCH improvement. I need to learn more about how to manipulate this camera.

Sunday
Today we went to Genova, Italy to see the production of Benjamin Britten's "Billy Bud" with Samuel Ramey and William Croft. It was amazing, but definitely an experience seeing an opera with no women or treble voices. After the show, we got to meet Samuel Ramey and he was so very nice! I had no idea that he is 63! He sang SO well at the performance. He gave me a kiss on the cheek when I greeted him (the standard European greeting) and I also got a picture with him. I suppose you could say it was the first celebrity I'd ever met. Dr. Yenne said "Wow, I saw you got a kiss from Sam." And I said, "Yes, I'm definitely writing home about that!"
We then got back to Florence around 11 pm. Ciao! A domani! BACI BACI!