SORRY

i know i know i know - i'm wayyyy late on an update. and i literally have no excuses. here's what's been going on in my life!

• meeting wonderful people who are just all around amazing. very glad that i'm here experiencing what i am.
• we finished up concerts and recitals last weekend - we had three recitals in a row dedicated to the music of the composer in residence, isabelle aboulker. she was extremely nice and obviously very talented when working with singers. at one time, she was THE accompanist for the entirety of paris conservatoire. she has written books on teaching singing and accompanying and all that stuff. so, she was very interesting to talk to. she said i had an "innate sense" of collaboration and about her music specifically, which was a very high compliment. 
• i'm now DONE with my job here at FAVA. i've played for all of my concerts, rehearsals, coachings, etc... this past week was spent putting finishing touches on the opera. we were supposed to be performing it this week in excideuil, a nearby town, in a very fancy castle, but there was a LARGE AND HORRIFYING rain storm this week. hail the size of golf balls and steady rain / lightning / terrfying thunder for hours. the roof collapsed at the site and now we've had to move all of our out-of-town performances to a small amphitheatre in thiviers, another small town with really no character. such is life, i suppose. 

stunning, right? almost the met... ... .. .

• one of the exciting things that happened this week was going to bordeaux with my friend kate. we took the train in the afternoon and arrived just in time for happy hour / dinner / shenanigans. she ended up staying the night with some friends (she lived there before). here are some pictures.

ok, this is actually just another cathedral in perigueux

this is a fountain place thing with napoleonic buildings
in the background NO BIG DEAL

beautiful dahlias 

dahlias with backdrop

lady liberty statue and fountains

fountains! with sea animals spraying water
out of their nostrils! 

it is very tall and impressive.

the opera house in bordeaux

inside the opera house (restaurant)

just a building that is old. 

street view

another street view

giant cathedral thing with gold statue on top

cathedral bordeaux

cathedral - it's actually really dirty.

here's an artsy pho-to

• HERE'S SOME MORE PICTURES OF BUS RIDES TO THE OPERA SITE

cows!

beautiful clouds

super beautiful 

look, a tree!

wow~!`~

more trees 

sky

look how beautiful!!

farm

• finally, we went out in PERIGUEUX for dinner with the family - here are some photos.

it was a beautiful night

the cathedral was "illuminated"

kate and me

there are mountains and things! 

wowwww

okay, bye!