la pura vida!

(in case you can't tell, it says "bienvenidos a costa rica!")

well...i guess i should start with...i'm in costa rica! most of you probably already gathered that from recent facebook posts, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...but many of you may not know why i am here. i am here for an opera program called opera nova, a program founded by my voice teacher, karen esquivel, and her husband, who is a native costa rican. the program has a dual purpose, to bring a rigorous opera program to costa rica and to provide costa rican and american participants with opera experience, including diction classes, voice lessons, coachings, and performance experience. it has been a really learning experience so far, and so exciting!

in the french baroque opera we are preparing and performing, médée, i will be playing nerine, médée's nurse and confidante. the several languages going on, english, french, and lots of spanish, can be a little overwhelming, but languages are something that really excite me. the coolest part about it all is that the language of music transcends all spoken languages. everyone can "speak" it and understand it!

i live with host families in the pueblo of santa ana, located in a valley surrounded by jagged mountains that are covered with lush green vegetation and speckled with the beautiful mansions of wealthy foreign retirees. we are about a 15 minute cab ride from san josé, the capital. i flew into the san josé airport on sunday morning. it's only a three hour flight from orlando!




our host "family" consists of elieth, a very sweet woman with four grown daughters who live nearby with their families. she cooks three wonderful traditional meals for us each day and even does our laundry! she does not speak english, so i am learning most of my spanish at "home." i live with two other american participants, daniele and hasmig. daniele is from mexico originally so i am so thankful to have a translator around when i really need it!

a street market in santa ana.


my bedroom...


i like to make things my own. and i like to pack a lot of stuff.


they paint the bottom of the trees so that the bugs won't climb them. resourceful!

a few blocks away from our home is the escuela municipal de artes integradas. it is a beautiful modern, open air building with practice rooms for music and dance, music lab, an art gallery, and small stage and auditorium. here are some photos of the emai...





i and my roommates walk there together and also get up early each morning to walk or run around santa ana during the safest hours and enjoy the warm weather and beautiful surroundings. we are all so thankful to be studying some beautiful music in a beautiful country!




adios! pray that i don't get montezuma's revenge! (i'm not sure what you call it in costa rica, but you get the idea.)