So I'm here. This is me. In Arezzo. The Tuscan valley is so beautiful from above and on a clear day, you can see life happening for miles upon miles and just imagine the things that people are doing. I imagine little conversations, when I see cars, I pretend to know where they're going if they're in a rush or whatever. It's really beautiful everywhere I turn.

So my second day of orientation came and went and we got the chance to tour the city. It has so much history tied to it (as with everything, I guess) but it feels like a special kind of history for some reason. The third largest Roman amphitheatre was in Arezzo but was destroyed and its remnants were used to build a great big wall. I love how things are recycled; unlike the US as a big industrial country, when we destroy things, they're gone forever and ever. Here, you can find the remains of what you were looking for elsewhere. It looks the same on purpose and it's because people care about where they came from. They don't try to over industrialize here and it's so refreshing. I feel like I'm on a different planet.

In the mornings it's so beautiful to watch the city being awakened by the sun. It's such an alive place where people walk and converse and look at each other on the street. They are mesmerized and are curious at what they see...not just with us because we are Americans...but with everything because they are observant. So much of that is lost in today's world because we care about our own space and our own time and neglect to take a moment to connect and acknowledge other life forms that exist in the same time and plane as we do. It's fascinating, really.

We've also started classes, which are really intense. I'm sore in every muscle on my body and my feet are blessed with blisters already. Right now, the theatre children are taking a movement class which incorporates acrobatics and weight sharing. It is so much fun; hard stuff, but crazy fun. I don't worry so much about not being able to walk and typing right now is actually screwing with the entire rest of my body. We're in the beginnings of hand-stands, cartwheels, as well as doing some kind of body roll over a partners back. I love this kind of collaboration because you really have to tune in to the people around. We touched on some Anne Bogart and did some really quick group stopping and starting. Yesterday we had two people back to back, lifting each other and doing sort of a pendulum type motion where it went from one partner carrying weight immediately to the next. It was so much fun. No major injuries occured and I'm trying new things that I never even knew existed. Exciting!

So despite my exhaustion, I'm having a good time, opening myself up, documenting my experience, here and on my journal. If I could figure out how to put more pictures on this stupid thing, I would.

Oh, Tuscany

Ho arrivato!!! I feel like I've been here seven weeks versus a day. Well, if you take away the whole I know absolutely NOBODY thing, then I feel like I've been here seven weeks. My insecurities swelled up within even the first couple of hours of arriving. I have a small (aka big) problem with large crowds so it was intimidating when 37 people showed up and they came in with their friends and established history and stories, kinda bringing a little bit of home with them. Here I am, little 'ol me, scared out of my mind, don't know what to say, thinking of something witty and then the time passes when it's even applicable. Bah. Lame. So these simple things make me miss my friends a tremendous amount and made me realize how much family they actually are to me. Despite this minor temporary set-back, I am exciting about living with and getting to know these people who all have a fearless passion for what they do. Dance and theatre live in the same world and that's what we're all here for. We're here to learn from each other and grow with each other and be a part of the shifting and changing that will happen in the next few months. After I'm done, I'll have known these people my whole life. They're all artsy and friendly and alive and it feels good to even be in their presence because they are in love, not with each other, but with life. And that's what it's all about. So even if I'm lurking around in the darkness, being the creepy girl, tagging along to random things, not saying anything, laughing at jokes I don't really get, I feel like we're all going to be really good friends. And soon enough, I will laugh for real and get the jokes. You better believe it. It's already happening.

So there's the whole people thing. The country side. Well, I'm in tuscany so you can imagine that it is absolutely breathtaking. Yesterday as we were driving in from the airport, the sun-kissed Tuscan hills were mind-blowingly beautiful. And even today, they're mist-covered-ness didn't stop them from still being mesmerizing. I think that we have the best view right where we are in our little villa which is actually older than the United States of good 'ol America. It used to be a summer home for a Cardinal (not sure which one) as well as a place where the Medicis studied. It's got some history needless to say. It sits on top of a hill (the deadliest hill ever climbed...even more deadly than the one we had to climb in Lugano, Switzerland...now that's saying something) that gives us a perfect view of the valley. There is a roof that is accessible by a staircase that's on top of our theatre space that allows you to see clearly for a really long time. Last night was a clear, crisp night and a couple of us (I was the lurker girl) went to the roof and the city below us was lit up and alive. It was like looking down into a pool of water that was reflecting the stars off its glassy surface. The lights twinkled and danced and I couldn't believe I was back. I'm actually back in Italy. Back.

I'm experiencing under-the-surface euphoria and am kinda numb about the whole thing at the same time. It's sooooo much to take in all at once. And it's hitting me at once. I need to break it down. Along with the amazing scenery and my creatively independent, fun-loving, care-free, amazingly artsy future friends there is also this whole theatre thing that's the actual reason that I'm here. We've had most of part one of our two day orientation and I'm getting the impression that this is going to be intense. Which is what I wanted. So today we're going over the classes we're going to take and we have community meetings with everybody and have cabarets every once in a while . . . and then . . . there is this golden opportunity that I am taking hold of kinda like grabbing a baby elephant by ears. One of our people, i guess, instructers (?) (His name is Mike, how 'bout that) is a published playwright so he is going to teach a Comedy Playwriting workshop!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How exciting is that?!!! WAY! That's how exciting it is. We are going on two excursions with the whole group. One to Roccastrada to see our commedia instructor, Marcello, in a one-man show. He has been doing this show for years and won't be doing it for much longer so we're hopping on that ship before it sails. This man is amazing!! Marcello Bartoli is his name and Commedia dell'Arte is his game. He won the "Maschera d'oro" for best actor and only a few others have won this award (which include Dario Fo). He's the founder of a theatre company called I Fratellini and has played many many principle roles. Amazing opportunity here. And then we have our movment instuctor, Claudia, who was a part of the circus in Berlin and just moved to Arezzo a couple of weeks ago with her Greek boyfriend...random. Greek(?). I love it. On our tour of the campus, we went into the mask workshop area and saw some of the masks that students from last semester had made, why these students did not take these masks with them I do not know, but they were the real deal. For real commedia masks. No joke. And they looked like they had been professionally made which is huge! because I am artistically challenged when it comes to make intricate things with my hands. I could do it with my feet, but they're saying we have to use hands. I am so excited about this entire experience and we are just getting started. We've already had a love fest which included lots of group hugs and have jumped into the deliciousness of food here.

I'm definitely looking forward to what is coming up next and I don't want to tell you everything quite yet.

Pictures next time.

The End of an Awkward Beginning

I've never actually blogged before. Things like this generally make my armpits perspire so I'm just taking a shot into the dark.

So WELCOME! to my blog. Where I will hopefully be continuously updating my progress, expressing my fears, maybe entertaining a few readers, and posting pictures of life abroad. ABROAD. Ah yes. I am closing in on my departure for the adventure of a lifetime. I'm heading to Italy located in beautiful Tuscany! I will be studying Commedia dell'Arte in the land of its conception. I've got less than a week left and am slowly filling up with anxiety. I feel like I've got a million things to do, but it's really only about 999,999 so I can stop being so dramatic. However, the things that will allow me to travel are safe and with me, so I could potentially put everything off and just go on Saturday. Maybe not the wisest of ideas, but a possibility.

After a fantastic weekend with some of my closest friends, I said my goodbye-for-now(s), shed some tears, and left with a deeper love for them than I think I've ever felt before. I'm going to miss a lot of things this semester. The theatre department, as much as I struggle with it, is an ever moving and changing phenomenon that I hold near and dear to my heart. It will continue to move forward without me and that makes me nervous. New, beautiful, talented faces are making their way on the Meredith stage and I am not going to be a part of that. My friends are growing, making discoveries, and developing themselves. Things are going to happen and I'll be on the outs.

Despite my momentary coronary, a lot is going to happen for me this semester. I'm digging deeper into a realm of theatre that I would never have thought to dive into. Connections are going to be made that couldn't happen in the confines of the United States. I will learn more about myself and force myself to things I don't necessarily want to do or wouldn't have thought to do. People will come into my life I will never forget. My eyes will be opened to a world that exists outside of my backyard. Character developments will be explored, but I think the most important one that will be made is my own. I believe that we create ourselves rather than find ourselves and I'm slowly putting things together and developing a person that even I like. This semester will be a continuation of that and will probably complete the foundation that I will build the rest of myself on. Throughout my life I've done re-arranging, throwing away, and putting together and I think I will fit some more puzzle peices together that will be a great end to an awkward beginning and an even more delightful beginning to an exciting end. Taking chances and making things happen are the only way I'm going to get any where in the life and doing what I want is happiness. I don't plan on doing anything else so I've got to make my own opportunites and this is the beginning of that.

Throughout this semester I will refer to the words of one my most favorite songs: "Life is Beautiful" by Vega4

Stand where you are.
We let all these moments pass us by.
It's amazing where I'm standing,There's a lot that we can give.
This is ours just for a moment.There's a lot that we can give.

So as I go through the next semester, I am going to stand where I am and soak every little thing in. Too often do I let the little things pass me by and and I fail to document them. This isn't going to happen to me and I might not ever see these people again so I have to take it all in. I'm going to give it my all despite my fears and I'm ready to fall head first into the unknown just knowing that I will be okay. My friends and family will be here when I get back and so will the theatre department. Maybe I'll have something to give.

Italy, here I come.

Till next time.