Getting Lost in Music & In Town!

Days 7-10 flew by! I can't believe we've already been here for a week & a half and are already half way through our journey. What a great experience it's been! 

This week, Nathan has been really buckling down on the music. Whenever he's not in class, he's practicing! He seriously sounds so good! It's amazing what consistent practicing and studying can do for your voice. Nathan has been clicking really well with all of the faculty, especially Dr. Robert White Jr. from Juilliard. The faculty here is amazing at diagnosing issues with the voice and giving clear & concise explanations to fix them. Here are a few pictures from our Stage Movement Class. We’ve learned about how to multi-task on stage, how to communicate ideas through body movement to both cast members & the audience, and some more abstract thoughts like how to hold energy in a still pose. We’ve also done some yoga for alignment! :) 

Nathan gave a wonderful presentation in our 18th century movement class. In addition to his presentation, he did a charade of how his character, Don Ottavio from Don Giovanni by Mozart, would live and walk in his own private room. It was a moving performance! Bravo, Nathan! 

He also had his first concert on Monday night at the Basillica Sant’Anastasia. It was incredible! The cathedral was absolutely magnificent and ornate and the acoustics were like that of a shower! The ceilings are remarkably tall and make you feel oh-so small! It was built between 1290 and 1481! Pretty amazing! Here is Nathan singing Schubert's Ave Maria. It was magical and breathtaking. I'm so proud of him and I'm sure you all would be too! His gorgeous voice just filled the Cathedral. In addition, God displayed his power through an awesome rain storm during the performance. The two combined gave me goosebumps! The pictures really don't do it justice. 

Ave Maria, Nathan Straub (Click Here!)

(Click on the link above to see video, or search "Schubert, Ave Maria, Nathan Straub, Tenor" on youtube. )

 I on the other hand, have been have much more down time! I still go to about 2 classes a day, but I've had a lot more time to explore than he has. As a music educator, I’ve had a wonderful opportunity observing and sometimes participating in these classes. I’ve also been inspired with many new ideas and lesson plans to take back to my fellow colleagues at WSU and for my future classroom. When I’m not in class, I go to town on the bus! It was a little scary at first, but it’s a piece of cake now! The artistic director of the program said its perfectly safe during the day time and so far she’s been right! Don’t worry, Dad, I have my pepper spray with me always- just in case! 

Fierce with my fan! Although I have slight buyer's remorse... 

I think it’s pretty apparent that I’m more of an extrovert, so this whole trip has been a new experience for me. Nathan is in class or practicing 8-10 hours a day, which leaves me with a lot  of alone time! It’s been good though. It’s given me time to be more introspective and has forced me to come to peace with some quiet and solitude. I really enjoy going to the plaza, Piazza Erbe, ordering a cup of tea and people watching, writing in my prayer journal and reading. If I were home, my schedule would be packed with all sorts of coffee dates, work, babysitting and what not, but here is just... simple. I’m grateful for my faith and to know that I’m never alone. I feel the comfort of God’s spirit with me wherever I am whether it be in the busy streets or on a bench in front of a Cathedral. God is so faithful. 

Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why the title of this post including “Getting Lost.” Well, yesterday I was feeling a bit more adventurous than usual and Nathan was feeling more laid-back than usual (he had just had an Alexander Technique session, so he was nice and loose. Haha!). 

We usually go home before 8 pm so we can catch the last bus that goes by our apartment, but last night we stayed out till 9:30 (ooh so late, I know!). At this point, I had been by myself just window shopping and walking around for the last 4 1/2 hours so I was pretty beat! Nathan had only been there for a couple of hours, but he was tired from class and rehearsal too.

Anyway, we get to the bus stop and realize that the next bus wouldn’t come for another 45 minutes, so we decided to walk to another bus stop... Bad idea. We walked and walked... and walked and walked... Ended up in some random streets outside of the pretty tourist Verona that we have come to know and love. It was getting dark so we decided to turn around.. but where?! Eventually we found our way back to Piazza Bra and checked the bus schedule once again. We missed the “45 minute away” bus by about 5 minutes. Ugh. So after waiting around some more, we hopped onto a bus that would take us near our apartment. Once we had been on the bus for about 5 minutes looking for our stop, a nice lady informed us that we should get off because we were on the wrong bus. Great. 

So with sore feet and droopy eyelids, we found ourselves at the bus transfer stop where we waited yet another 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the bus we wanted was  7 minutes late, but we didn’t know that so we got onto another bus. This bus was the correct bus, Praise God! However, we did have a slightly intense moment on that bus when two security/police (?) men boarded fully packing! We had to show our bus tickets to prove we had paid- no problem, but some poor/stupid girl hadn’t paid so she was escorted off of the bus and most likely written a FAT ticket! It was all quite exhausting, but we made it home! 

At the bus transfer station...

We're so lost!!

Here are the real kickers though: I got home and realized a few things 1) A had a map in my purse the whole time and had forgotten about it. 2) It wasn’t even worth staying out for! All of the shops were closed! and 3) The bus that was 7 minutes late, drove past us as we walked home from the other stop. Haha! We just laughed and Nathan shook the umbrella at the bus as it drove by. Oh well! That’s part of the fun in traveling, right?

Two more little anecdotes for you: 1) I did laundry by hand! It costs 4 euros to wash a load and then another 4 to dry it. PSH! The Scottish in me says No Grazie!! That’s like $10 to wash and dry your clothes!! So I did it by hand and I’m very proud of myself! :P 

Ta-da!

As for my second money story, some guy tried to rip me off! I was about to buy 4 postcards and I asked him how much it was, to which he replied after a long pause “Six Euros.” The scumbag. I said “You’re kidding. For four postcards? No thanks.” and I stormed out! Some people... Again though, joys of traveling. 

Thanks for reading! We miss you all and are keeping all of our loved ones back home in our prayers.

Fino alla prossima volta! (Until next time) 

Love, 

Hana & Nathan

Photos from Verona

The "set" of Aida... It was an interesting take on the opera..  

Candles at L'Arena! 

Strange production, but exciting nonetheless! 

Finally got my Venetian fan! 

Communal drinking fountain! 

So gorgeous!

Benvenuti a Verona! (Welcome to Verona!)

First off, let me start this post by saying thank you from the bottom of our hearts for getting us here. We absolutely would not have made it here without all of the love and support we received from you. As we walk the streets of Verona we recognize how truly blessed we are & hope to be able to share this experience with you as best we can.

Already since our last post, we have learned so much both musically and culturally. Classes and rehearsals started on Tuesday at  8:30 AM. I thought the jet lag was bad during the last post... if only I knew... For two days woke up at 3:30 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep till about 7:30, only to wake up again at 8. It was quite miserable. Fortunately I was able to recover by Tuesday night, but Nathan had to buy some sleeping pills which worked marvelously! In fact, they worked so well that before we knew it, there was a loud knock on the door. Thinking it was around 3-4 am we were quite puzzled as to who could be at the door. So Nathan groggily stumbles in the dark to answer the door in his boxers and meets one of our colleagues. She sympathetically asked if we were going on the walking tour with the rest of the group, to which Nathan frantically replied “What time is it?!” It was 10:50. Holy smokes we slept too well. Over corrected. We scrambled and got ready and thankfully made it on the tour which was marvelous!

Gate to Verona, past this entrance was customs.

Our wonderful tour guide! L'Arena in the background.

If you took the Lord's name in vain, they would chain you for the day, then throw rotten produce at you at night. Strict!

La Piazza Bra

This road actually does lead to Rome!

This is an ancient snitch box.... mouth?

Beauty like this all over Verona. Captivating & romantic!

Verona is historically phenomenal. Our tour guide had a very fresh approach to explaining the wonders of the buildings around us. He explained that in America, historical artifacts are hundreds of years old, but in Verona they are thousands of years old. In order to appreciate the historical significance of these grand buildings and arenas, we must change our perspective of time and history.

Castelvecchio

Castelvecchio Bridge

Castelvecchi! This castle was the most important military construction of the Scaliger Dynasty.

L’Arena in the Piazza Bra, is an enormous amphitheater and is the world’s largest opera stage. It attracts both locals and tourists to see famous operas like Aida, Turandot, La Boheme, etc. It can hold up to 20,000 patrons, but for safety reasons now it holds 15,000.

Wish it was this crowded at Seattle Opera!

Nathan and I watched George Bizet’s famous opera, Carmen last night and were blown away by the talent and beauty. It was such an honor to sit in l’arena where people have been entertained for thousands of years. The seats were hard marble, but the opera (though 3 hours long - not including intermissions!) was so wonderful we didn’t even notice how sore our bums were! It was truly magical to be apart of something so historically beyond yourself! 

Watching a live opera in such a historic building was amazing and inspiring. Listening to how the singers could 

project throughout the entire theatre was so impressive. 

Not only was the music fabulous, but the dancing, set and costume were all so extravagant as well. They even brought live animals onto the stage! So awesome! Smelling the mules really made the action come to life!!

Another memorable part of Italy has been the food. It’s been so fun and challenging to look at a menu, pick something and hope for the best. So far, the food has been amazing and we only had one entree that was...well.. interesting! I’ve been avoiding the offered horse meat meals. Yesterday Nathan ordered “Dried Meat,” which turned out to be a plate of very high quality sandwich meat for 16 euros! Not what we were expecting, but oh well! Live & learn!

Nathan and his "Dried Meat"

Mmmm! So yummy!!

On Wednesday, we had the pleasure of meeting with a good friend of ours from school, Alberto! He is a native of Italy and was kind enough to spend some time with us. We had wonderful conversation & gelato! While our time together was short, it was so great to see him in his homeland.

Somehow amidst all of this exploring, Nathan has had the energy to work hard on his music too. Working in such a musically historic setting with such a talented faculty has been so good for his career! During the weekdays, Nathan works both in private lessons and in sessions with colleagues on stage movement, Italian diction, concert repertoire and rehearsing opera scenes. Later this week he will be performing Schubert’s famous Ave Maria at the Sant’Anastasia Cathedral. Yes, I’m a little jealous, but I am so incredibly excited to hear him perform. He has been impressing the faculty and his colleagues with his great work ethic and angelic voice. So much so that Gordon Ostrowski, from the Manhattan School of Music, stopped Nathan after rehearsal and invited him to audition at Manhattan for a Performance Certificate! What a huge blessing!! Again, thank you for getting us here for these amazing connections and experiences.

Italian Diction Class

Stage Movement Class (Nathan's on the left!)




I have to say though, my favorite moment in this trip so far was today. For the first time all week, Nathan and I had the full day to explore Verona and enjoy its beauty. Our tour guide had suggested that we just find a place to sit and take in Verona, so that’s exactly what we did. We ordered some coffee and just sat under a nice umbrella in the square people watching and talking. There is something so freeing about not having a working phone. As convenient as it is to have the internet at your fingertips, we found it refreshing to leave our minds wandering with questions. After a couple hours we decided to hit the flea market, but ended up stumbling around in the streets for a while instead. Then it started to rain. There is no direct translation for “it’s raining cats and dogs” in Italian, but let me tell you. It was. So we ran and looking for shelter! There was a scary moment when we took a bit of a sketchy turn and ended up going through a dark little tunnel, but we ended up on the other side near a restaurant. We sat under the canopy in the pouring rain and had some delicious tiramisu, coffee and tea, just enjoying each other’s presence and hearing God’s power in the thunder and rain. It was so lovely and romantic. Absolutely my favorite part of the trip.

I think in the future I’m going to have to update more frequently so my posts are so long, but I appreciate you taking the time to see what we’ve been up to! We love you all so much!

Ciao till the next post! <3

Hana (& Nathan!)