We will serve.....at a-five..... the cookies....

Grace will get that joke.

So, Rome is awesome. There's so much old stuff here. A couple of days ago, Anna and I saw the ruins of the temple of Apollo. Those have been there for, like, three-thousand years. And yesterday we went to the Trevi Fountain. Okay. Y'all know how I feel about fountains. And there are some beautiful ones here. But you haven't seen a fountain until you've seen the Trevi. It's one of those things where you can't actually imagine how expansive it is until you see it for yourself. Incredible. I'll post pictures of it soon. And, yes, I threw my three coins in the fountain and made my wishes. And Mary-Lacey says the legend is that if you put your penny in the Trevi, you'll come back there someday. So, hopefully she's right. I mean, outside of this trip. We're going back soon because a) my camera batteries died in the middle of our outing and I didn't get as many pictures as I would like and b) there's a restaurant nearby that Leah says has the best food she's ever eaten, including pumpkin ravioli.

"The Magic Flute" is now completely staged. We've been divided into our two separate casts and we know who will perform on which nights. And let me just say that this is going to be an AWESOME production. I wish that you could all come see it. It's going to be the highest quality, most professional production I've ever been in. I can't wait to hit the stage.

Ciao, mi amici!

A few of my favorite things... so far.

My favorite Roman fountain so far. Not that I've seen that many yet.



















This mermaid is in that fountain. Notice that she has two fins, thus solving the literary "Mermaid Problem."



















And this guy is in the middle fighting an octopus! The fountain was meant for me!














The rooftops of Rome.














We were standing on the Ponte Vittorio when we saw this. ("Ponte" means "bridge.")



















This was on the "ponte" that we walked across.














The Vatican from a distance at night.














The Baptism of Christ.














The Vatican up close during the day.



Okay. A few days in Rome and things are still going well. “Molto bene,” as they say here. As you can see, everything is beautiful. Everywhere you turn, there’s beauty. Anna’s guide book has a quotation by Anatole Broyard that says, “Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.” And I believe that. There just aren’t words to describe how beautiful it is here.

We had a lovely outing a couple of nights ago. Anna found a place in her guide book that we went to. It was a rooftop terrace of a hotel near the Piazza Navona that serves light refreshments. We went there right at sunset and watched the sun go down on Rome. It was so surreal. Then we walked down the road and found a little restaurant to eat at. We all had different kinds of food and I even tried a fried pumpkin flower! It was sort of like fried okra, but it had some cheese in it too. I loved it. And the waiter there was totally in love with us and really funny and he invited all nine of us out to a club. We couldn’t go, of course, because we had rehearsal early the next morning. Some of the girls went out with him the next night, though.

And rehearsals are going extremely well! We’ve got the entire first act staged and we did two full run-throughs of it the other day. And now we have about half of the second act staged as well. So about 75% of the production is staged. I can’t believe how much progress we’ve made. And everyone in the cast is SO GOOD!!! I mean, there’s not one person who’s not wonderful. One of the guys who is singing Tamino got his music about a week and a half ago and already has it completely memorized.

So everything’s wonderful. I love you all!

Just keep singing...

We had our first rehearsals yesterday. Now, as you may or may not know, the Queen is not onstage that much. We have a scene at the beginning and two scenes at the end. So that actually means that I don't have a really, really hectic rehearsal schedule. Anyway, we staged our first scene, and I'm starting to get really excited about it. The other lady IS definitely very good, but she has this attitude like, "I'm grown, I'm a proffestional, y'all are in academia so I'm better at this." She keeps throwing "academia" around like it's a bad thing. But whatever.

Last night, Eowyn, Anna, Laura, and I, along with our new friends Gillian (whose last name is Proudfoot, like a hobbit, bringing my total of friends with "Lord of the Rings" names to two) and Sophie, got on a bus and just decided to get off wherever we felt like it. We ended up at the Vatican. Yeah. We got off the bus, turned the corner, and there was St. Peter's Basilica. So we made a good choice. Then we had a lovely dinner at a little cafe, and I can tell you that authentic Italian lasagne is completely different from anything you've ever had.

Also, there's a boy here who, honest to blog, plays quidditch. I don't know how it works, but there's an association and he plays beater for Ravenclaw. AWESOME!!!

I love you all and wish you could be here with me.

Buongiorno!

Well, here I am, sitting in an internet cafe in Rome. We arrived safely yesterday and did a little bit of "getting to know you" stuff. No big events or news yet.

The other woman who is playing the Queen of the Night is just that: a woman. A full-grown woman. Which is a little intimidating, I'm not going to lie. But, you know, I auditioned for this role and they heard a lot of other people and they still cast me, so I'm just going to give it my best shot.

Say a little prayer for all of us. Our bodies are hating us right now for putting them through a nine-hour plane ride (with stale air) and a six-hour time change. I don't think that anyone's voice is in its best shape.

I've got to figure out a better way to blog. It's a good little jaunt to the internet cafe and wireless in our hotel costs more. AND, I can't post pictures here, which I know I'll want to do. Hopefully I'll be able to think of a better way soon.
Ciao!

P.S. Listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" while flying on a plane will induce strange, strange dreams.