Week Two in Perigueux!

Finally, my first full day off since starting the program! And how have I spent my first free morning? By cleaning up and doing laundry. Not to worry though, I know an adventure or two is not far away. I fall in love with this place more and more every day, and as I watch my recently washed laundry waving in the breeze out my window, I find myself thinking I could get used to this life.

I’ve settled into a nice routine here. I get up most mornings at 8 am, shower and eat some fruit and yogurt, and skip down the hill to the conservatory, where I sing all day long, whenever I want, however long I want. The halls echo every day with beautiful music, and when everyone else is busy singing away in the practice rooms, I love to sit by myself next to the windows and just listen. I’ve been so pleased with the FAVA participants. I thought a lot of them would be divas, full of themselves and unpleasant to be around, but I was quickly proven wrong. Everyone has been so kind and down-to-earth, and truly a delight to spend time with. And their voices are just superb. In the afternoons, I walk over to the Monoprix or another market to go grocery shopping, unless I have dance class, which ends after the Monoprix closes. After dance classes, my friends and I frequent a local pasta bar called Nooi and a sandwich and gelato shop called Miss Deliss, both of which are inexpensive and tasty, and offer a variety of foods that I would only eat after a dance class as rigorous as ours.

Of course, my routine is not a strict one. Not a day goes by without some new and exciting happening, whether it be a concert or the discovery of a new food or place. On Saturday, I discovered the farmer’s market. It’s held every Wednesday and Saturday in front of Saint Front, the big cathedral here. It was bigger than any farmer’s market I had seen in a long time. It took up an entire block, and the vendors were squished together so tightly you could barely move through them. It was packed! There was live music and loads of people. I wandered for half an hour through the vendors. Their tables were piled high with beautiful, fresh produce, some of which I didn’t recognize. But it all smelled earthy and sweet, and I will definitely return regularly.

There were also vendors who sold other foods besides produce. There was a row of vendors who sold cheeses, a row that sold cured meats and sausages, a row that sold sweet and savory baked goods and pastries, a row that sold preserves, and a row that sold pate. There were also a few vendors who sold sandwiches and full meals. I found a vendor that was selling seafood, and they had a huge pot filed with freshly cooked paella, which smelled heavenly, but by that time I was already filling up on a savory beef and vegetable tart I had bought earlier, also very good. I tried pate for the first time there, and by accident no less. I didn’t know it was pate until after I had tried it, and I was pleasantly surprised. The vendor who gave me the sample was selling pate-filled figs, and he offered me a piece to try. I thought it would taste awful, like the liver and onions that my dad loves to eat, but it didn’t taste like liver at all. It was creamy and rich, and tasted like duck-flavored butter. Yum.

One thing I made a point of looking for at the market was strawberries. I have friends who can vouch for me on this one: You have not had real strawberries until you come to France. They are so tiny and soft, and they just melt in your mouth, and they literally are sweeter than candy. I bought a huge box of them for 2 euros, and finished the entire box in one sitting. I just couldn’t stop eating them. It was the way I had wanted strawberries to taste my entire life (think Kaylee in the pilot episode of Firefly), but had never known it until now. Apparently the ones we have in the states are genetically modified. My mother told me that she knew exactly the strawberries I had here; they were the ones she grew up on, and then they changed. I can’t understand why people would want to change such a pure and perfect thing. Strawberries here are a revelation (as is strawberry juice, by the way), and definitely deserving of an entire paragraph in my blog.

Last weekend, we had three concerts of music composed by Isabelle Aboulker, two of which I sang in. I had one piece per concert, though others had more. I felt that as a whole, the concerts were successful. Of course, it’s a completely different sensation when you’re singing the music of a composer who is alive and is sitting in the front row of the audience. You can’t help but be nervous, and hope and pray that you do their music justice and don’t let them down. But of course, that’s pretty much what’s expected of singers. We are very harsh on ourselves, sometimes unnecessarily so, and we torture ourselves by scrutinizing every second of our performance even after it’s done and over with. But in the end, we all did a good job, and Madame Aboulker seemed to be very happy by the end, and that’s what mattered most to me.

The nights have started to become very cool here. I’ve found myself shivering some nights, but it’s not too bad. Last night, it dropped down to the 50s, and that felt good. No fan necessary! The days have even cooled off a bit. The high today is supposed to be 85, though with the high sun, cloudless sky, and the dreadful walk back up to the dormitory, it seems much warmer. But for the most part it’s been quite pleasant. At least it’s breezy most of the day.

So far, I feel as though has been a pleasure trip for me. Sure, I’m working hard on my music, but this doesn’t count towards my degree or anything like that. But I came here for more. I came here for pleasure. I came here to work, but I find pleasure in my work. How wonderful it is that I have found a line of work that I find immense pleasure in, and how appropriate it is to be singing and living in one of the most pleasurable places on earth. I sing beautiful music and work hard, I eat like a queen, I spend time every day with people I have grown to care deeply for, and I go to sleep every night, thinking about how lucky I am to be living for two months in paradise. I am living a life of pleasure here. The French locals are the same. They drink and smoke as they like, they buy cheese by the kilo, they play with their children at the park, they love openly (sometimes a bit too openly), and they were raised to speak a language that is beautiful in every way. This is a life that I will seriously consider returning to one day.

And with that, I am off to sing some more. I hope you all are doing well and taking care of yourselves. Au revoir et et bonne journée!

My Faithful Followers!

This is a big SHOUT-OUT to all of you! Should I call you followers or lurkers? I'm not really sure, but I talked to my mother today, and she says there are a lot of people who are reading my blog - many more than I'm aware of. All I can say is, WHERE ARE YOU, AND WHY HAVEN'T YOU POSTED ANY COMMENTS? I feel like I'm posting blogs in the dark here. I have very little feedback, and I feel like no one is reading. But I've been informed that people are reading and keeping up with me. So let me say this to all of my friends from facebook, from Triumphant Love, from Austin, and all my family who are following me on this blog, give me feedback! Respond to my posts! Say hello on facebook, or send me an email! I'd love to hear from you, and I'd love to hear how you're doing and what you're up to! You don't have to register for a Blogger account. You all know what my email is. You certainly know how to get in touch with my parents, and they're always forwarding emails to me. So you have no reason not to say hello to me yourself! Don't be afraid, I want to hear from you! To all my friends and family, I miss you dearly as always. I'd love nothing more than to keep you all posted on my adventures more often (and believe me, every day has been an adventure for me), but unfortunately my schedule and energy level only allows me to get online every few days. Still, I'd love to hear from you, and I'd love to catch up with you. Love to you all, as always! Until next time!

Week One in Perigueux!

Hello, All! Sorry I haven’t been keeping up the blog this week. We have finally jumped into the swing of things here in Perigueux. We are finally working and making lots of progress with our music. I’ve been working nonstop, and I’ve already performed in our first recital!

One of the things that we’ve been doing is working with French composer, Isabelle Aboulker, on pieces that she composed. I was assigned two of her children’s fables, “Le Chien et le Roseau” and “Le Rat de Ville, et le Rat de Champs,” both of which are difficult, delightful, and coming along very smoothly. She is pleased with my French for the most part, and so we’ve been working on amping up the drama (she writes very dramatically for mezzos, I’ve noticed!). It’s been a joy to work with her. She is a very charming woman, and I can see why Professors Lewis and Added adore her.

Roughly every other day, we have a French class at 9:30 in the morning. I was placed in the French I class, since it’s been a number of years since I last had a French class. However, I feel that this class is too elementary for me. I know how to introduce myself, order a kir and a croque madame, count, and tell the difference between feminine and masculine nouns. I like our teacher, she makes our class fun and interesting, but I feel that at this rate I will go back home knowing exactly as much French as I did before I came. I’ve wanted to sit in on the French II class, but my schedule thus far has not allowed me to do so. We’ll see how my schedule works out for this coming week.

On most days, we will have a coaching with one or two of our collaborative artists on staff, going over our music and text in preparation for the stagings that are held every afternoon. Professor Lewis and his son, Jeff, who played the Phantom in Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” for a number of years, lead the stagings for “Orphee aux Enfers.” We have already staged most of the first act, and will be moving onto other projects, such as the upcoming Poulenc and Aboulker recitals.

Three days out of the week, we have been having dance classes with teacher and choreographer Pedro Rosa. I love these dance classes and always look forward to participating in them (though my body definitely feels differently the next day). He speaks to us in French, and he mostly tells us to copy what he does, and that works out pretty well for the most part. His dance choreography for us tends to be based on a lot of natural movements. These are movements that anyone can do, they are so simple and easy to follow and repeat. The hard part is that there is no AC in our dance room, and the windows provide little circulation. So we sweat, and sweat, and sweat until we feel like we’re about to collapse. It’s fun though. And it’s been very difficult to resist going to get gelato afterwards.

Our first concert was our Castle Concert series, which is exactly as it sounds. It was a concert at a castle! Well, it wasn’t a real castle, just a restaurant made to look like one. Still, it was very beautiful, and the concert went without a hitch. They even fed us: sausages, asparagus, soup, bread, and cheese. And of course, wine was served at intermission and at the end. I though everyone sang and acted beautifully in the concert. I decided to sing “Que fais-tu” from Romeo et Juliet by Gounod. It was one of the funnier ones, and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Between the 45 minute walk to the conservatory (not to mention a longer walk back, uphill), our dance classes, and all of our staging rehearsals, I think I’m doing pretty well! The food here is, well, very French. It’s mostly been sandwiches, yogurt, and fruit for me. Though resisting all the patisseries and chocolataries has proved to be incredibly challenging. I suppose my two biggest weaknesses are gelato and macarons. J’adore le macarons! But I’m doing my best to be good, and that’s all I can really do.

Anyways, tuna and yogurt for dinner for me. I hope you all are doing well. Bonne soiree!

I'm here!

I'm here in Perigueux! I have been so short on free time, and I apologize to all those who have been waiting anxiously to hear from me. I'm doing well, but I've been too busy to post anything until now.

Let me catch everyone up on what I've been doing. On Saturday, we went back to inner-city Paris to the Louvre. Let me just say, an afternoon in the Louvre is definitely not enough. That place is HUGE! I mean, I knew it was big, but I didn’t know it was THAT big! You need about a week to get through the whole thing. We managed to see the Italian art, Ancient Greek art, and Ancient Egyptian art, and to be able to see those three exhibits in an afternoon is a pretty impressive feat, I must say. We were barely able to see the Mona Lisa. I'd really hate to be her - no privacy! I had to fight my way through a huge crowd to get a picture of her. It was the same story with the Venus de Milo. Crowds everywhere. Who knew amputation and decapitation could be so sexy! I jest, of course. It was a beautiful statue. My favorite part, however, had to be the Ancient Egypt exhibit. I wished I had more time to learn about it all and soak it all in. Unfortunately, we had to rush through a lot of it, but I tried to get a few photos as we ran down the corridors of the Louvre. We saw an actual mummy on display! It was the body of a child wrapped in cloths, perfectly preserved.

After the Louvre, we walked along the Champs Elysee, all the way to L’Arc de Triomphe. I repeat: WE WALKED ALL THE WAY FROM THE LOUVRE TO THE L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE. Ok, so I’ve walked farther distances in my life, but it took at least an hour and a half to get there. Fortunately, the Louvre is surrounded by beautiful gardens and fountains all the way to the Champs Elysee. We had a traditional French sandwich lunch on the Champs Elysee, and then proceeded to visit L’Arc de Triomphe. And if walking from the Louvre to L’Arc de Triomphe wasn’t enough, we decided to climb to the top of L’Arc de Triomphe as well! By stair number 250, I felt like my body was going to collapse. But I didn’t, of course, and the view was marvelous. After L’Arc de Triomphe, we decided to go to the Paris Opera House. I wandered around by myself most of the time there, wishing, praying, and desperately begging my lucky stars and all the gods and goddesses of history to give me the opportunity to perform solo there. Words cannot describe how beautiful and magnificent that opera house is. It’s like walking into every musician’s fantasy: lavish parlors, gold-trimmed everything, crystal chandeliers, grand winding staircases, statues and paintings everywhere… It’s truly a feast for the eyes. I’m a realist in most regards, but I think I am entitled to unrealistic dreams once in a while. But it gave me hope, as I walked through the galleries, that many of the famous people who have performed there were very average-looking, full-bodied men and women with amazing voices. Maybe you don’t have to be a barbie doll to make it in the business!

Afterwards, we headed back to Montmartre to freshen up and get ready for the evening ahead. It was tonight that we went out to escargot at L’escargot Montogeil. It’s difficult to fill up on escargot, so it’s really only an appetizer to be consumed with an appertif. I ordered six escargot, two of each flavor: garlic, bleu cheese, and parsley. I was a little nervous when they put out a large clamp and small two-pronged fork for handling the little escargot, but once I tasted it, I was in heaven. It wasn’t slimey at all, and it definitely didn’t look like snot the way I expected it to look. It had a similar flavor and texture to that of mussles, except less chewy and more tender. They were delicious, especially the bleu cheese. Afterwards, Julia and I split a meal - duck in an orange sauce. Now that’s what I call a 5 star meal! I knew I would love it; duck is probably my most favorite type of meat. We topped it all off with some creme brulee and ice cream, the perfect end to a great day.

On Sunday, we decided to go to Versailles to visit the royal chateau. The gardens, statues, and fountains were beautiful of course, and the chateau was lavishly decorated and luxuriously furnished, but after seeing the first half of the chateau, I had my fill. It became very repetitive after a while. I could have sworn I saw the same gold-trimmed end table at least ten times in ten different rooms. It was nice, but not something I could really relate to. It was just as beautiful as the Paris Opera house, but I felt I could relate to the Paris Opera house far more, since it's a performance space. I understood its purpose very clearly, and I could immediately relate. I couldn't really relate to Marie Antoinette's various parlors and what not. I understood why someone of that kind of wealth and mindset would have a place like that, but to me it just a little much. After the train ride back to Montmartre, all five of us went to bed. We had made plans to go out to eat for our final night in Paris, but instead we fell asleep at about 8 pm and didn't wake up until 8 am. It was a much needed sleep.

Monday was a day of travel. We had breakfast downstairs, re-packed our bags, and headed out to find a taxi to take us to the Austerlitz train station. We met up with a few fellow FAVA members, which was nice before the long train ride. It took us a total of about 5 hours to get from Paris to Perigueux, with a layover in Limoges. I fell asleep shortly after leaving Paris and woke up when we were about half an hour away from Limoges. It was like falling asleep and waking up in two different worlds. When I opened my eyes, the hustle and bustle of the city was gone, and I awoke to a beautiful provincial French hillside. Think "Beauty and the Beast." Little stone houses with red roofs and red doors, ivy growing everywhere, beautiful gardens and patches of farmland, herds of cattle resting in the shade, and not a building or car for miles. Finally, we made it to the Perigueux train station. We were greeted by Professor William Lewis and his wife, Frederique Added, and they drove us to our dormitories. I'm staying in a Catholic dormitory called Saint-Jacques. It's beautiful here. The rooms and hallways are very clean, and there is lots of natural lighting. I share my room with one other girl, Claire, and we have our own toilet and sink in our room as well as our own picture of Jesus and the apostles hanging over our beds, making sure we're on our best behavior! The best part of the room is the view from our huge window. It overlooks the entire city of Perigueux, including the Cathedral and the hills. Below is a sweet little cafe with a nice flower and rock garden. There are very few bugs here in Perigueux, which makes sleeping with open windows very nice. The allergens here are something that will take some time to get used to (lots and lots of grasses), but I'll learn how to deal with it in time. My new roommate and I decided to leave our door open the first hour or so of us being there, and lots of people poked their heads in to say hello to us. Everyone was so friendly. Before we knew it, we had already made a crowd of new friends! We decided to find a local cafe to eat dinner, and as we sat there more FAVA people came to join us. Before we knew it, there were nearly 20 of us at the cafe, and we all sat there eating, laughing, and drinking the night away (not to worry, Mom and Dad, "drinking the night away" means just a glass or two of wine for me - I've been responsible!). Fortunately, I was able to find some people here who are fellow Firefly fans, and we had a nice time watching the pilot episode on my laptop before bed.

Today, some of my new friends and I made the trek down to the Monoprix, which is kind of like Target, to buy food and supplies for our dorms. I quickly realized that Perigueux is actually one big hill. It's a pleasant walk down, but walking up is such a workout! I'll be in great shape before I know it! And now here I sit next to the cafe with my banana, yogurt, and peach, typing away at my blog. In an hour, we will be having a mini-orientation for the program as well as a social event/mixer for all the members of FAVA. And now you are all caught up on my journey! I miss you all very much, my friends and family, and I send my love to everyone. I wish you all could be here. It's been a magical experience. I hope you all are doing well and taking care of yourselves. Until next time!

C'est trop chaud. Bleck.

Today, I am too hot and sweaty to write a long blog. We woke up late, had lunch, went to inner-city Paris again, took pictures of La Tour Eiffel, went to an aquarium, had an awesome time, went to the Paris Opera House hoping to see the inside, but it was closed, so we took the metro back to Montmartre. But in reality, our day consisted of sweating. I thought Paris was going to be nice and cool, but it’s not (and believe me, I know hot weather – I’m from Texas). It’s so hot, and there’s no AC. So I sweat all the time. Thank goodness for giant water bottles. Tonight, we go to eat escargot, but I will blog about that later. Right now, I am just too sweaty to function.

The Heart of France

*I wrote this blog yesterday with the intention of posting it yesterday, but I never got around to it. Here it is today, though!

C’est manifique! Inner-city Paris was like a dream. We stepped off the metro, and felt as though we were stepping into a movie scene (though the movies do NOT do Paris justice, you really just have to see it with your own eyes). As we walked through the busy streets, we passed by several architecturally breathtaking government buildings trimmed with gold fences and statues. Our first stop on our daytrip was the majestic Notre Dame. The song of the church bells greeted us as we made our way inside (not quite sure if it was played by a hunchback or not). My breath was taken away by the high, arching ceilings, the endless array of stained-glass windows, and row after row of golden chandeliers. Every object, every wall, every column was a work of art, ornate and unique from everything else. I wished I could have heard the giant organ silhouetted against the rose window before I left. I know I said it about Le Sacre Coeur, but I’d love to attend mass at the Notre Dame. I thought about my mother’s exercise friends as I walked through the cathedral’s great halls, and how they’ve been praying for my health and well-being for a long time, and so I decided to light a candle for them at one of the altars for their health, well-being and happiness. After Notre Dame, we took a very long walk along the Seine all the way to the Musee d’Orsay. There, we saw the impressionistic works of Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gough, and many others. What superb works of art! I wished that we could have stayed longer. It’s so difficult to take in a museum of that size in one day. Of course we didn’t get to see every exhibit there, but we saw as much as we could. Afterwards, we went to lunch at a local Greek restaurant in the Latin quarter, and wandered around a bit longer. Eventually we made our way to the Pompidou Museum of Modern Art, where we took the outside escalators up to the top to take pictures of the view of the city. The modern art was a little too modern from us, so we went back to Montmarte to rest for a while. We decided to make our own dinner, so we bought baguettes, prosciutto, butter, brie, and pickles to snack on all evening (a MUCH cheaper dining option). Afterwards, we went back to La Tour Eiffel and the Seine and sat on a bridge, admiring the view and drinking wine. We were even fortunate enough to see the Eiffel tower start to sparkle and glitter! It was magical. Thanks to a friendly Parisian, Anzo, we were able to find a discotheque, and we had a blast singing and dancing the night away. Till next time!

First day in Paris - Success!

“I’m tipsy, drenched in sweat, and I can’t hear out of my left ear. I LOVE PARIS!” – Moi, a midi aujourd’hui.

Je suis ici! The four of us—Julia, Michael, Sawyer, and myself—made it in one piece. The nine-hour trip from Houston to Paris seemed to fly by (no pun intended). It wasn’t very comfortable, and that made it difficult to sleep even with Benadryl in my system, but hey, it got us from A to B, right? There were no complications at all, and we found our baggage claim and train terminal in no time. None of our bags got lost, and we made it to our hostel in Montmartre with little difficulty and no stress at all. Unfortunately, we arrived at our hostel around 10:30, and check-in started at 4 pm, so we stuffed our luggage into the luggage closet and headed off to explore Montmartre!

I very quickly discovered how to get in the best shape of your life: Visit Le Basilique du Sacre Coeur. Seriously. For those of you who have been, do you remember how many steps you climbed to get there (if you took the lift, you cheated)? It was probably a couple hundred at least. Mais mon dieu, the view was worth it. You could see all of Paris, including the Notre Dame and La Tour Eiffel. We explored a nearby tucked-away neighborhood of little shops and restaurants, managed to find one with reasonable prices, and killed a few hours eating lunch and sipping glasses of kir outside on the patio. There is nothing as pleasant and relaxing as sitting in a restaurant or café in Paris outside with friends. It’s cliché, I know, but gosh darn it, this cliché happens to be one of the more wonderful ones. The streets were quiet, very few tourists in sight, and the food and drink was delicious.

We explored the inside of Le Basilique du Sacre Coeur after lunch. I’m not much of a churchgoer myself, but if there were a church like this close to where I lived, I would certainly attend, even for purely aesthetic reasons. In fact, I think I will attend this Sunday, if not for just a little while. Cathedrals like that blow my mind, and I found myself dreaming of what it would be like to sing in such a space. I expect I’ll find out soon!

After Le Sacre Coeur, we ambled back down to the main streets of Montmartre. We window-shopped, bought some sorbet, and searched for pharmacies to give me a cure for my plugged up ear. Being deaf sure is uncomfortable! Hopefully it’ll clear up by tomorrow. By mid-afternoon, we were starting to wear down as the jet-lag started to kick in, but we still had hours before check-in. There are only so many souvenir shops you can pass by before it starts to get old. We decided instead to sit for a long while in a little shady grove and people-watch (or in my case, doze off) until our check-in. After fighting through the mountains of luggage that had piled up from the time we first got there, we made it to our room. Aside from being crammed into an average-sized bedroom with three bunk beds, it was pretty nice. It’s clean, which is what’s important.

After freshening up for a while, we all took a much-needed nap. Then we all got dolled up, had some fantastic Indian food, and headed back up to the Sacre Coeur area for a nice bottle of wine, gateau de pomme and crème brulee. It was so cool on the streets tonight, and the air was lightly perfumed with the scent of sweet Jasmine. We went back to the steps of the Sacre Coeur afterwards to sit on the steps and admire the view of the city. And now I am here, sitting in the no AC zone of my hostel – the only part with decent internet connection. Tomorrow, we hit inner Paris! Pictures to come. A demain!