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Where is Julia now?..... At The International Vocal Arts Institute in Virginia!

Upon arriving in Blacksburg, VA on Tuesday evening of this week, I was excited and astonished at being able to have this wonderful opportunity to spend a few weeks at such a prestigious program, surrounded by highly-lauded Opera professionals, with whom I was able to work on music that I would like to perform or prepare for upcoming performances. And, these first four days here have not fallen short of my elevated anticipations, I can happily say.

Thus far, I have gotten to meet everyone in the program who is a fellow singer, and I have met four new coaches in the disciplines of language (4), stage direction/acting/interpretation (1), and conducting/collaborative piano (2), and I am excited to become acquainted with the entire faculty by the conclusion of the program's activities.

To give a brief description of what I've been up to since arriving here, my days have basically been comprised of the following elements in different quantities of time each successive day: coachings, voice lessons, private practice, lunch/breakfast/dinner, sleeping.  Those things, believe it or not, take up 90% of my days here at the program, and I am very happy to say that because of this, I have learned quite a lot in a very short amount of time which I am certain will help me a great deal in the months and years to come, and specifically with regard to my singing Rosina in Bad Orb in August of this year.  So, I am quite happy about that.  And, of course there is a little bit of time left over for getting to know my singing colleagues better- they are all very nice people, and from what I have learned thus far, they are equally busy at the program, and they are equally enjoying it.

Therefore, since I don't have too much exciting news to report just yet beyond that, I would like to show some photos of what the campus looks like here, and the places that I spend most of my time.  I'd like to direct your attention to the photo captions, which will explain the significance of each photo.  Enjoy!

My Dorm Building- 'New Hall West'

The Cafeteria--also known as 'Dietrich Hall'

Campus gate, and also 'Squires'- the music building!

The Virginia Tech Hedge on drive into campus

The 'Hokies' Football Stadium

War Memorial Hall- the gym!

The Main Building in the middle of campus, north side

The 'Duck Pond' on campus

The Drillfield (in the middle of campus--huge fields!)

The Monument to the students who were shot here in 2007
A final note to those of you who are looking at the pictures and thinking, "Wow! The weather there looks amazing!" Yes, it has been really good thus far, although, as I am typing this, we are in the middle of a humongous thunderstorm, I am certain that it will continue to be as nice as it has been.  The best part about the weather here that I really love so far is that it is hardly humid. There is always a light breeze blowing, and it actually carries the scent of these trees on campus that are everywhere which have small flowers on them and smell really wonderful--so that has been a highlight of my outdoor experience here thus far.  I am looking forward to more wonderful sunny days and temperate evenings, and I am wishing you all the same for your summers! Thanks for reading--there will be more to come in the following week, so check back!
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