Il viaggio a Reims

You're probably all wondering, what does the title of this post even mean? Well, it means the Journey to Reims (which is in France) and it's the title of the opera performance by the Italian composer Rossini that I attended on Wednesday, September 23 for my opera class (just to give you a timeframe). The day before, I went to AUR to present my information to the police for my Permit to Stay. Basically, this just means that I'm legally allowed to be in Italy since I applied for my Permit to Stay. So I'm all safe and sound and accounted for in Italy, Mom and Dad!!

Anyways, back to the opera, my professor and classmates and I had quite a trip getting to the theater for the performance. We made it safely to Termini Station (a major train and bus station in Rome), but because of construction and normal Roman transportation delays, we had to jump in taxis to reach the theater. We weren't even on time to the show- we missed about the first 20 minutes of the opera, but we had already watched some of the opera as a DVD performance in class the week before, so we didn't miss too much. My first opera experience was interesting, to say the least. It's so different from the musical performances I've seen in the States, but without opera being invented during the Renaissance period, musicals never would have been invented. By learning in the classroom about the techniques of opera singers and the history of opera and different composers, opera is starting to grow on me. We spend about half of each class (I only have the class once a week, for 3 hours!), watching DVD performances or listening to arias (songs in an opera) of operas. I think I might have to go to New York City and get tickets to the Met (after I graduate college and can afford nice seats, of course- LOL).