Saturday, July 25, 2009

Andiamo all'opera!!

Ieri molti studenti del mio corso di italiano sono andati all'opera a Wolf Trap a Vienna in Virginia. Era l'ultimo giorno del corso dunque il teatro era una grande fine! Quella mattina abbiamo avuto anche il nostro esame ultimo. Venerdì era una buona giornata. La prima foto mostra le due professoresse - Laura Vinti (a sinistra) e Donatella Melucci (a destra). Loro erano eccellenti!! L'opera era "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" per Monteverdi - una opera barocca. Era il mia prima opera italiana!


I should probably change to English for those of you who haven't studied Italian!! My three-week intensive Italian class, called "Little Italies" at George Mason University, was wonderful! I pretended that I was in Rome instead of Fairfax. Since it was almost every day for three weeks, I finally started thinking in Italian. Now when I'm driving anywhere, I talk to myself in Italian instead of French. I'm even dreaming in Italian!!

Our two professors - Laura Vinti and Donatella Melucci were great! We had lots of fun learning Italian, eating Italian lunches, and watching great Italian films like "Divorce Italian Style," "Ciao, Professore," "The Boy's Room" (very sad), and "The Night Before Finals" (quite funny). We had our final exam Friday morning and most of the class met in the evening at the Barns at Wolf Trap to see "Return of Ulysses," an opera by Monteverdi. I went early with my new friend from class, Maria McKay, to listen to the talk about the opera. I'm so glad we did because I think I better understood what was happening. Of course, there were supertitles because the entire play was in Italian, but I was excited to actually understand some of the Italian. During the opera, I even recognized the use of the verb "vergognarsi" (to feel ashamed) which was a verb I hadn't know on the test!!

Here's a picture of us after the three-hour opera. Another great thing about the class was being with all the "real" college students - makes you feel young again. We had a great time; and going with everyone, including the professors, to the opera that evening was a wonderful end to a great class! Viva Italia!!

2 comments:

Angie said...

Super fun!! Looks like you really enjoyed the night.

cindy said...

Glad you were able to go out and have some fun. I best not hear, "I never get to do anything."