Week 2 begins

I am currently in the Uni Cafeteria (the Mensa) with Matt.  We are being typical Americans and facebooking/emailing during our lunch and not ACTUALLY talking to each other.  But the Mensa is one of 2 places we actually get internet, so we are taking advantage.  Today we activated our student IDs here so we could pay for our own lunch in the cafeteria (they don't take cash) and later we will join the Uni gym to meet more Deutsches Jungelein!  Here are my journals for the past couple days:

 

May 25

 

We had the day off of Tosca chorus stuff because that is their one day off a week!  We got up at 10:30 and hung around, and then I spent all day nursing a headache and doing laundry…. Awesome!  Then we had Deutsch class from 3-5 per usual, in our apartment, and then we had some coachings with Dr. Reber for a concert we are giving this Saturday.  We are apparently supposed to do do ALL OF BASTIENNE, but I am pretty much only going to give my first aria and pooooosssibly the final trio.  I will make up for it by singing a BEAUTIFUL Jewel Song and Embroidery Aria.

 

May 26

 

Today we had Tosca from 10-11am and then had our first Doners for lunch!  A Doner is a gyro.  It was delicious and I will eat one every day.  Maybe twice a day.  Haha.  Then we (the girls, since the guys were in rehearsal) met up with Dorothy and we rode our bikes 8 miles uphill to the Computer place.  We were very schwichy (that is not a word, but I am using it anyway to mean DRIPPING WITH SWEAT) and we FINALLY GOT INTERNET!!!!  Yay!  Of course my computer battery died after 30 minutes because I’ve been using it so much without plugging it in but it was SO GOOD to get on Facebook and have a whopping 26 notifications!  I also had 20 emails but they were mostly spam, boo!  It did feel very good to finally get online, though.  We have to use the internet wifi on campus, since we don’t get it in our apartment, but we can also use it in the SenateSaal, which is one of our rehearsal spaces that is close to the Theater, so that should work out pretty well.  It rained today, but thunderstorm with hail and everything, so we hung around inside and then went to the Theater to see a straight play called Der Hauptmann von Koerpernick.  It was in German and is about a man who doesn’t have a passport since he has been in jail for 15 years, and spends the whole time trying to get one, but he can’t get a house or a job until he has a passport and can’t get a passport until he has a job and a residence.  The first act is very sad because you just feel so sorry for the guy.  Then, the second half, he finds an Army Officer’s uniform, pretends to be a Captain (Hauptmann) und orders everyone around.  He is eventually found out but is given a passport and finally the play ends on a more happy note.  To be honest, I dozed during the first half, but the second half had a lot more physical comedy so it was funnier and I stayed awake.  Then I ate dinner with Sasha and Lainey and we had Omelett mit Champignons, which is clearly an omelette with mushrooms!  I also had my new favorite drink, an Apfel Schorle, which is basically sparkling apple cider.  Ist sehr gut!  We had to go back for Tosca rehearsal in the performance space at 5:30.  We are actually performing in a decommissioned church that is across the street from the Theater and is actually owned by the Theater and used as a performance venue.  I need to finish memorizing that chorus music!  It’s in Italian, and isn’t hard, but I just haven’t really gotten it 100% down.  After that, Abby and I rode our bikes home and it started to rain again, and now we are hanging around and are probably going to go to bed soon to listen to the rain and catch up on rest.  Tomorrow there is a big party at Tivoli, which is the club we went to last week on Man’s Holiday night.  We might go, because we like Eddy, and because she has a new guy for me to meet, YAY!  Haha.  I told her any guy she has for me must A) be cute and B) speak English.  Haha.  Things I have noticed lately:  the curtain calls at shows are HUGE productions.  Everyone in the cast gets several individual bows.  The company gets several bows.  Just millions of bows and hours of clapping.  I wondered who said “hey, I’m going to slam my hands together and make it be a happy noise!”  Seriously.  My little mitts can’t handle it.  Also, I am getting really good at numbers and every day in the Kantine at the Theater (yea, it’s a real theater, with a whole café underneath because it’s COOL and actually wants to FEED its people), I order something different and have to pull out the right amount of money.  I can do it if they speak slowly aber nicht if they speak normally (zu schnellen!).