Hmm. Wonder where I got that idea?
Unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure you've all heard about the huge airline catastrophe otherwise known as IceAsh. For the first time today I got a tad bit concerned about my anticipated arrival home in a week. Kadie (my roomie), her boyfriend was scheduled to leave today. His flight got canceled, and because of how backed up the airports are he is now staying until Thursday; an additional FIVE days. Kadie is, of course, really happy but the poor guy is supposed to be back at work so although he's not arguing about staying here, his boss isn't too happy. Luckily for him, the rest of the world is currently in the same situation so hopefully the boss will be understanding. All the girls today were saying, "What if they don't let us stay in the school? What if we have to pay for hotels! They don't have to feed us!" and while I assured them that I'm almost positive this won't be the case, I can't help but wonder what would happen if we were all stuck here. I mean, don't get me wrong, being stuck in Italy would not be the worst thing in the world. There are way worse places to be stuck - - however I do want to get home safely. I guess we'll have to see.
This last week marked the end of academics here at the Accademia. Last monday we performed our Italian skits. My group decided to do a "lost scene" from the movie "Toy Story". We all picked a toy and wrote a skit in which Andy took all the toys with him on his trip to Italy. (Buzz and Woody not included in the suitcase because they were in Andy's carry-on). Mr. Potato Head (me) had a bad dream that he was stuck in Italy and that the toys were turning against him. Sounds like excellent writing, huh?
Anyway, here we are...costumes and all. :)
Rex, Ham, Slink, ME (Mr Potato Head), and Alien.
Wednesday we had our final "Tramonto" where we all had to create a page for the "ADA scrapbook" that sits in the common area. It's filled with pages of advice for future students as well as random notes. My page was "Italia I-Pod" otherwise known as the main songs I've listened to this semester. I figured, there are only so many pages that say "Ubu is a crazy guard dog, don't mind him" and "Eat Kebab at Istanbul Kebab every weekend"...why not share music instead? Then they handed out awards. I got the "Most likely to be a Norwegian Mafia Member" award. My family should be so proud.
We finished up voice, Italian, and Philosophy on Thursday. In voice we were working on our new monologues all week - doing crazy exercises involving finding colors and elements in our pieces. It was really helpful. I have never had a voice class like the one I had with Kevin, and overall I learned a ton in his class. For our last day of Italian we had our final. EEK! I hope that it went well. Even though it was only a week, I think I lost my Italian in Norway. Ever since I got back from spring break, it was super hard to speak it, write it, everything. It's frustrating - I can read it just fine! Even walking through the streets, I know exactly what people are saying but I get all tongue tied when I have to say anything to them. I know that the class is over, but I really want to keep up with Italian when I get home. I don't know how realistic that is seeing as I will hopefully be working a lot this summer and then once fall starts I have school again - but I REALLY want to. I've come this far...I might as well keep it going. Although I do want to learn Norwegian too...
I wish all foreign languages just magically found a way into my mouth.
For our last day of Philosophy, Scott invited the entire class (dance and theatre students) over to his house which is remarkably close to the school. His house is BEAUTIFUL. It's filled with the best artwork, the best books - one corner was a bookshelf, a desk with a pile of philosophical readings on Pinocchio, a blank piece of paper, a pencil, all sitting right by a window that overlooks his gorgeous, green, flower-blooming, pond-glistening yard. His kitchen SCREAMS Italian, as does the fireplace in the dining room. The upstairs bathroom is teeny tiny with wooden floors and an old-school bathtub. It's all Italian chic, yet simple, yet probably costs an absolute fortune. Did I mention that he lives on the same property as the COUNT. Arezzo has a COUNT.
Thursday night we had our final cabaret. I got asked sort of last minute to be the MC, so I asked Courtney if she would do it with me. (The girl who looks like me here). She wore my commedia clothes/mask and I wore her dance gear. I guess it worked because later when Courtney performed in a dance, Dave (Kadie's boyfriend) thought it was me. HA. I ended up singing and playing Djembe which was cool. I haven't ever really performed my drum-skills save for a few random sessions in front of Parkside students with Allison, so it was nice to do it for people.
Friday we finished up our movement class with Claudia. I'm kind of in denial about this fact, but writing it out makes it all the more true. We finished movement class. The last day we were supposed to do a bunch of different things but we ended up just learning acrobatic tricks the entire time because we were having way too much fun with it. Kadie and I did two person cartwheels (like a cartwheel except you are holding on to and "wheeling" with eachother.) Hard to explain in writing but OH MY GOD! It was SO much fun. I wanted to learn how to do that so bad and we did! Claudia also taught us this crazy lift where she was laying on the ground with her hands and feet straight up in the air, and I grabbed onto her arms and then did a little bunny-hop into an upside down position where my head was between her feet and my body was in the air. So basically I was doing a handstand but a good two/three feet off the ground; my only support being her hands pressing up on my hands and her feet holding my head and shoulders. AHHH!! Out of control. I can't believe half the stuff I learned in that class. Not only did I gain a greater amount of awareness for my body, but I also learned a lot about patience, trust, and taking risks. So much of what was required of us we just had to dive head first into (sometimes literally), so it felt good to let yourself go to that point. I will definitely miss that class.
This weekend I stuck around Arezzo.
Saturday I woke up and went to the market with Courtney. I bought a Salami e formaggio panino, fresh fruit, and Pecorino Fresco cheese (DELICIOUS). Then I came back to the villa and had a massive cleaning/laundry session. Saturday night was spent working on my philosophy paper, which is what I spent all of today doing as well. Good news though, I am finished! (Almost..I just have to do a works cited). Once the paper is turned in tomorrow, school is officially done.
Well...sort of... although, this week is an entire week of pure clowning and clowning to me doesn't even begin to equate with school. These two guys Stefano Locati and Allesandro Vallin (otherwise known as "Freak Clown") are teaching us starting tomorrow! We work with them all week and then have a presentation on Friday of what we've learned.
And, that's it! A week at this time I will be home - that is if operation IceAsh gets resolved. I know I've been saying this a lot lately...but seriously. WHERE HAS TIME GONE?
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