I'm Dreaming of a White...Arezzo?

So I’ll begin with some fun things from yesterday and then move to the big news (and pictures!) of today.

The first thing I want to mention is more something that I just don’t want forget and less a message that I need to spread to those back home or abroad somewhere else. During a dance class yesterday, one of my teachers mentioned this really evocative quote by Nietzsche about dance. I attempted to look it up online later, but she must have been paraphrasing, reciting something really obscure, or accidentally making it up since I found nothing.

Anyways, what she said was something along the lines of “Between sense and slut is the dancer. Between Heaven and demons is the dance and, when we dance, there are little bits of angel and devil within us.”

I just love that imagery and how it places the dancer not only on a physical plane (Earth is higher than Hell and lower than Heaven), but also the qualities that it ascribes to dancers: angel, demon, sensible, slut. I think it covers an amazing range of emotion and movement.

Another fun thing from last night was that we had an open mike. The performance was in the Teatro, which is a building separate from the villa, but still on the grounds (pictures of the inside will probably come around the time of our first cabaret). A lot of people in our group along with three of the masters students did performances (I did too. I sang “Gentle Soldier of My Soul” by Dave Carter acapella) and all of them were so much fun. They ranged from songs to instrumental pieces to stand up comedy and a Maori Haka that everyone got to learn.

All right, so onto the big news for today. Guess who got a TON of snow today?

WE DID! (snowmen courtesy of two of our masters students) 

Last night I woke up around 4am (and never really fell back asleep) due to the sound of a wind howling so strongly that shutters were banging loudly. When I finally got up I discovered that around a foot of snow had built up on the ground and that it might keep snowing until Sunday (so far it’s stopped, but it could easily start again).

So to commemorate, here are some pictures of the villa grounds and views from the villa before and after the snow:

Here is the view from my window.

Here is the view from my window post-snow. 

Here is our courtyard with the limonaia in the background.

Here is the same courtyard after the snow.

Here is a view of Arezzo from the top of the Teatro.

And here is the view with snow covering everything.

I'll be uploading more of the before and after snow pictures to my facebook so, if you're friends with me there, feel free to check them out!

Ciao!