The weekend! Ciao, bella!

---

The weekend is here! Almost, sort of kinda. Last night we were going to eat at a sweet little restaurant called Otteria del Matto. Apparently, the food they serve is made by the mother of the owner who makes up whatever she wants and it's served along with a variety of salame, prosciutto, and cheeses. With a glass of wine and water, it's about 16 euro. These are called the platti di festival, or festival platters.
However, the instrumentalists beat us to it and took up the whole restaurant! I sometimes forget that they need to eat, too. So, we instead did a little exploring and found another place that has "Quarto" in the name. There's a huge patio you can sit at, enough room for big groups. Between eleven of us, we had three bottles of house wine, four liters of water, prosciutto, cheese, salame, bruschetta, two different types of pasta, and pork chops and each paid about 12 euro. That's a great deal! Of course, food like that is served on a big platter and everyone takes a little bit and passes it along. It took about three hours but worth every bite! Plus, I got to hang out with some people I didn't even know!

Here comes the heat rant; however, it's a happy ending today. It was another one of those hot days. Except I think I'm acclimating - finally! It's still sticky and hot and I have yet to bother wearing a stitch of make up, but it's not as bad as when we got here. The best part so far about this trip is that I found a fan. Let me repeat: I HAVE A FAN and it was FREE. How, you ask? Well, a colleague and I went down the wrong stairwell that leads to the basement and not the lobby. Just hidden under the stairwell was a small alcove with about six fans. The heavens rejoiced! Needless to say, I overslept a bit because I was actually comfortable. A FAN, PEOPLE!!! A FAN!!!

Today I had a great experience with a vocal coach who also works with a rather famous young artist program. We worked on the same aria that made me cry yesterday, and this time there were only smiles - no tears! We worked on making the words work more than my voice to express emotion. Think about it when you say the sentence "You had better do your homework". What words do you emphasize when you are talking to a child? Or a teenager? Or a student? Or a delinquent? The emphasis changes depending on who you're talking to. We explored something like this to find a new way to say the same things. I was a happy camper! It's always nice to have someone in your corner!

Now, I'm sitting in my room (with the fan on high, of course) and getting ready to shower and dress for a performance tonight. It's the first concert of the season and I believe it is an instrumental chamber group performing in the Sala Pegasus. I'm very excited to see just how great the students are in this program. So far, everyone involved is immensely talented and I'm happy to be a part of it all!

---