Outside, waiting for the theater doors to open.
Our seat level (the cheapest) was called "The Gods". We hoped in vain that maybe it was because they were very nice, but it was because we were the highest seats in the place. This was the nosebleed section.
All dolled up for the opera- finally got to wear my black dress and DIDN'T get soaked for once. The other times I've worn it (Easter and the opera), I got rained on hard.
The opera was…interesting. First of all, they didn't have English subtitles like the last opera did, so we really had no idea what was happening the entire time. I thought I could figure it out anyway- I mean, it's an opera! Love, murder, betrayal, it's not hard to figure out. But this was apparently a modern adaptation of Carmen, because it was definitely not set in the same time period, and they changed entire plot arcs and characters. There was a zombie at one point. This was never acknowledged. The coolest thing about it was that all but a few of the musicians were also actors, so they'd climb in and out of the pit, participate in musical numbers, play their instruments from the stage, and have scenes as characters.
My one problem with it was that in adapting it, they apparently cut out all but a few snippets of the music. Now, an opera, by definition, is almost entirely sung. So I was a little disappointed that the play was like 80% dialogue now, especially with the famous music from Carmen. It still wasn't a bad way to spend a night, though.
On Sunday I took a whitewater rafting trip with the school to the Marmore river, in Terni, about an hour from Rome. Remember Terni? That cute little town I fell in love with at the chocolate festival? Well, I got to go back.
I signed up alone because, well, I wasn't doing anything this weekend and I wanted to go out. Plus I'm a little waterbug (I think it comes with being raised in Michigan) and I've been itching to get into the water with all this nice weather. About 20 people turned up and we decided to wait for any stragglers, so we went into the Archi (pronounced ar-KEY) Bar (this really great cafe next to the school that all the students go to) and waited.
I'm gonna take an aside here to talk about orange juice in Italy. I was really craving some so I got a glass. It was a little pricy, but you know why? Because I think three oranges went into my juice. They cut them fresh and juice them after you order, so your juice is the freshest it can be. Just straight from the juicer into the cup. And it's blood orange season in Italy right now, so that's what I got. It was probably the best orange juice I've ever had.
Look at this orange juice.
We finally get going to the train station, where we're going to go to Terni- only to find that we missed the 11:30 train by a few minutes and the next isn't until 1:30. So we're told to just go find lunch on our own and meet back at the station. I had someone else who had signed up for the trip alone and we sort of wandered together- we checked out the vendors, nearly went into a church (realizing at the last minute there was a mass there- whoops) and did a little shopping. I found some sunscreen, finally.
I was glad to find the sunscreen because I was beginning to think I'd have to get it in the pharmacy, since I couldn't find it elsewhere. Now I'm sure many pharmacies here are great, but every time I go in one, I run into three problems. One: Nearly everything is behind the counter. I mean, everything. My roommate sprained her ankle before and when I went to get some stuff for it, they had to get the elastic wraps and bandages from behind the counter. Two: I keep finding pharmacies that don't speak English, which is difficult when you need to tell them what you need from behind the counter, and three: The ones I've been in have been…cold towards me. Maybe I just have bad luck. It's hard to communicate what you need when they don't speak English and look extremely annoyed that you're there. I mean, I'll still go in if I have to, but I'd rather not.
So I find my sunscreen, and we- me and Marion- go to this fast food-ish chicken place. We wanted something quick and cheap. They had this meal that was basically made to share so we got that. I haven't had fried chicken since America, and it was good, even if the grease did make me feel a little sick later.
Then a train ride later, and these vans from the rafting company take us to the place. Where…we wait. And wait.
To put this in perspective: We met at 10 at the school. We got to the company around 2:30. We didn't get out to rafting until nearly 5. Part of that was we'd gotten there later than we thought we would and now we had to wait for the guides to get back so we could go out. Honestly, I didn't mind the waiting. I didn't have any plans for today anyway, and we all just changed into our swimsuits and laid outside in the sun. These local boys were playing soccer nearby and sometimes the ball would roll over and we'd kick it back. It was really relaxing.
Finally the ball got rolling. We had to wear these special boots, wetsuits, jackets, life jackets, and helmets. Here's me looking dramatic in my wetsuit and boots (I think I look like a crew member for the Starship Enterprise)
We have this training thing- and this is where we all started to get nervous. Almost none of us have ever been rafting before (I have, but I was young enough that I don't remember much) and these are category three and four rapids, he tells us cheerfully. We have to sit on the sides of the boat, nearly hanging off, and throw our body weight out to paddle. Sometimes we might have to all throw ourselves on one side of the raft so we don't tip over. We were all sort of making eye contact like "What did we just sign up for?"
So we go down to the river and- Did you know Terni has the biggest waterfall in Europe, called the Cascata delle Marmore? Well. Now you do. And it looks like this.
And this is where we started our trip.
The steps to the bottom were perilous, slippery, steep, and terrifying. We're basically getting rained on, if rain was shot down by super soakers. And at this point, we're all nervous laughing. Not giggling, full-out laughing, because this is so ridiculous and we're gonna die here. To top it off, my raft only had four people, instead of six, because the numbers were weird, and we're all kinda small girls, so our raft is super light. We're gonna get tossed around like rag dolls, we know it.
And then we get so nervous that we sorta broke through that barrier where you just don't care anymore. We started thumping our oars on the dock and doing these ancient Roman war cries over the roar of the waterfall and it was super ridiculous and we got ourselves really pumped up, like, way more pumped up than we needed to be, until we got into the raft and our guide asked us if we were ready and we just kinda made screeching noises.
And then we were off.
First of all, the view was absolutely beautiful. It was like floating through a jungle. Just amazing. And then there were the rapids themselves.
You can see my face in the second photo like "ahhhHHHH"
One thing, though: I used to do crew in high school, and in crew, if you let the oar scrape on something, God cannot help you, you are as screwed as you can get. It's a cardinal sin. And then we're rafting here and moving right up against rocks and our oars are scraping against them. It's normal here, totally fine, but every time I had this lurch in my stomach like "Oh no oh no coach rob is gonna be so maaaad."
We finished our trip way sooner than I would have liked and carried our boat back up to the stand (on our shoulders- that's a familiar action). We were already soaked, so we asked our guide if we could jump into the river. He allowed it, so we went two by two and jumped off a raft. The river was freezing, but it was so much fun. I've missed the water!
Afterwards we peeled off our equipment, hurried inside, put on dry clothes, and hurried to the train station to catch the 7:30 train (next one wasn't until 9). I would have liked more time in Terni but I was exhausted and starving. So we got our tickets and headed home peacefully. Then the bus, then finally the apartment. I made some spaghetti (it's the easiest to make), showered off the river, and collapsed into bed.
So, yeah. 10/10, would recommend. It was so much fun.
