I have been here for two weeks now and I still cannot believe that I am in Italy and I am doing what I love and I am being paid to do it. It still seems completely surreal. It still doesn't quite feel like I am in Italy yet.... It does at times, but I think it won't really sink in until we are on tour and we are having to fend for ourselves.

My tour starts next Saturday/ Sunday and I cannot wait! As it stands now, our tour will be starting in Milan and we will be staying the company flat for 4 weeks and touring a lot of the Lombardy area. Then we will be going to Rome and be in the Lazio area, then Tuscany and surrounding areas, and ending in Triveneto, which is the Northeastern part of the country. We have been told that our tour will most likely change and could look completely different once we are on the road, but right now we know for sure that we will start out in Milan.

My friend Caleb left me with a quote just before I moved here and it is really a testament to how I feel about what I am doing. This is a quote from Diane Sawyer's father, she said that he told her to always live by these three things:

1) Do something you really love

2) Do it in the most adventurous place you can do it

3) And make sure it helps other people

After sharing this quote with me, Caleb told me that through this program I would be living this out, and I really believe that I am. I truly feel blessed to be able to have this experience.

Ciao for now!

Monday, Monday

This is the start of my second week in Sanremo, Italy. I can't believe how fast this past week has flown by!

This post will have to be short... because I need to memorize many lines and then go to sleep soon...

Basic overview of what I am doing here:

I am learning repertoire with the other 30+ actors in the company, which ranges from fairy tales to modern day sketch shows, and we separate into groups of 4 actors and tour to different cities in Italy to perform for children and teach them English through theatre. The method of teaching is performing repertoire that reinforces and introduces basic grammar structures that they are learning in school... so we start with rather basic fairy tales and tie in several actions and songs to help the children associate words and actions for certain stories, and then they graduate to sketches with normal conversational dialogue for the students in high school.

So, basically for last week, and for the next two weeks, we rehearse Monday- Saturday all day and work on the repertoire with our groups and get it show ready to take on tour. I just found out who is in my group today, and I am super excited to get started!

I am staying at a lovely hotel on the beach in Sanremo, Italy and it is more picturesque than I could have imagined. I keep having to pinch myself and tell myself that I am in Italy... it all hasn't sunk in yet. I think when we are on tour it will start to really sink in and feel real.

The food is AMAZING. I have been eating pizza pizza pizza pasta and more pizza.... and plenty of other great food too. We eat breakfast and lunch every day in the hotel and it is a 3 course affair that is served to us, so we are all becoming quite pampered which is not how it will be when we are on the road. But, I am savoring it for now!

That is all for now, because I have to start memorizing my lines for "Peter Pan" and "Alice in Wonderland!"