So little time, so much to do...

Everyone with a connection to Converse went out to dinner one night. Tony got his Masters at Converse and Mrs. Dodd is BFF with Dr. Hay.





















This is Sant Ivo, where we perform. Can you even believe that?!





















And this is Sant Ivo when the sun goes down.
















The beautiful Pantheon at night.
















The Mediterranean Ocean!!!





















This is my favorite fountain picture I've taken while in Rome. It's located right behind Sant Ivo.
















The Slave Dance, everyone's favorite part of "The Magic Flute."
















The Three Ladies sticking it to the dragon! Go, my minions! Slay that beast!





















Papageno!





















Papageno and Pamina.
















The Three Spirits, who are the embodiment of good. (AKA The Queen's worst nightmare.)





















Tamino and the Sprecher.
















Tamino and all the animals. (Isn't that elephant the cutest thing you've ever seen?)





















Monostatos and Sarastro.











What a day this has been. I slept until noon-ish, because we had a late night last night. I got up and took a shower, went to lunch, then Anna had a voice lesson, then the two of us headed to the beach at Ostia. It’s about an hour and a half away from us. You take a bus, change buses, go to the train station, then take a train to Ostia and a bus down the strip to a particular strand of beach. Well, we got off the last bus and walked just a little way to an entrance. We wandered down the way and realized that we had stumbled onto a private beach. However, nobody said anything to us, so we settled into a space. But we noticed that everyone else on the beach was sitting on these posh chairs and we wanted one, so we went up to the pile of chairs and started to grab one. And this man came up to us and started spewing Italian words at us. We had no idea what he was saying, but from the very little Italian that we know, we deduced that renting the chairs would cost us twelve euro apiece. So we decided that we’d just settle down on our towels. So we hung out for a few minutes, then went swimming in the Mediterranean, then got to feeling very awkward and decided to leave. You know how at home you can just wander down the beach? Yeah, you can’t do that in Italy. We certainly tried to, but located next to the private beach is a military zone and when we got too close, this army guy blew a whistle and wagged his finger at us. So we just turned around and left the private beach. We got back on the bus and rode until we saw a sign that said “Ristorante. Bar. Free Beach.” So we got down to the beach and realized that it was definitely public because the people there were way sketchier than the people at the private beach. But we pulled our towels back out and went back into the sea. And as we were swimming, Anna says to me, “Hey, Melody, look at that guy showering off.” I looked. He was completely naked. And the longer we stayed there and the more we looked around, the more naked people we saw. That’s right. The second beach we wandered onto was a “clothing optional” beach. We stayed for maybe an hour, then decided that we had seen enough nudity, and we left. We hopped the bus back to the train station, but then thought that we might like to have some seafood by the seaside and went looking for a restaurant. But Anna was still in her bathing suit and cover-up and wanted to put her real clothes back over them. And as we were standing there and she was putting her shirt back on, this CREEPY fellow walked by and said “Ciao, bella,” but with a tone of voice as is to say “Hey, baby, I like the way you’re put together!” We were creeped out, but didn’t think much of it because, after all, Italian men are awfully forward. However, he sort of followed us to the crosswalk and started talking to us. We didn’t know what he was saying exactly, but we figured that he was trying to pick us up. We said we were sorry and that we didn’t speak Italian. He kept talking, but let us walk away. So we kept walking down the strip looking for a restaurant. Bizarrely, none of the restaurants were open. It was only about 7:30, so they couldn’t have been closed for the evening. But as we were walking, the same creepy guy drove by, parked his car, got out, and came up to us again. We understood what he was saying that time. He wanted us to get in his car and go back to Rome with him. STRANGER DANGER!!! We kept telling him in Italian that we didn’t understand him and in English that we weren’t gonna go with him. He was very persistent and we finally had to walk quickly away from him, leaving him talking at us. And even then he drove by us and honked his horn. We ducked into a snack bar to throw him off our trail.

So we came back to the Torre Rossa Park Hotel, changed clothes, and ran down to the falafel restaurant down the street. I had a very tasty gyro. Then on our way back, we ran into a huge group of Operafest people who were headed down to the watermelon stand. (Watermelon is a huge thing here. They serve it for dessert every single day. And this little stand is open 24/7 and sells very little else.) We decided that they were a fun enough group, so we went with them. Along with watermelon, I also had a slice of coconut, which was, of course, delicious.

So tomorrow I have my final performance of “The Magic Flute.” I can’t believe that my part is almost done. And the night after that, we’ll all be done. Well, all the “Flute” cast anyway. “Suor Angelica” has a performance on Sunday. I’m going to that. They performed tonight, but we didn’t make it back in time. Also, during the day on Sunday, we’re going to cram in the last few things that we haven’t done. And on Monday, I’ll be home. See you all soon!