Hey Everyone!  Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, things have been BUSY here!

Last night I sang in my first concert here (we've been doing operas, but I was in the chorus for those)!  It was in Frankfurt, in the only part of the city that didn't get bombed in the war.  It was right on the Rhine River and it was gorgeous!  There were about 500 people there.  It was a tenor concert, so first I sang part of Quando men vo with the other soloists, and then I came on to sing the Doll Song from Tales of Hoffman!  I had SO much fun.  Later in the evening we all came onstage for an encore, and ended up doing about two more encores!  The tenors sang some Neopolitan music and we all joined in (if you don't know what that is, think of what they sing at the wedding in The Godfather).  At the end, the mayor came up and gave all the soloists flowers!  It was so sweet and made us feel so special.  I also got a really nice compliment from one of the tenors about my singing.  Afterwards we celebrated in the same place the concert was in a Biergarten (beer garden) that had big long tables on cobblestones and under grape vines. 

Other than last night, I've mostly been in really intense rehearsals for the opera.  Der Freischutz premieres this weekend but I won't be singing until late this month/early August, but I have to learn all the blocking now!  We have put on a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana and Otello!  Otello was in Buc, Versailles.  It's a manor that the king built for one of his mistresses about two miles from Versailles.  Unfortunately though,  we were in rehearsals all day and performed all night so I didn't get to see any of it!  I guess that's the life of a singer though :).  After the opera, the mayor of the city put on a really fancy party for all of us!  The next day we got to take a day trip to Paris!  It was quite a whirlwind tour of the city, but it was really fun to see it and I took some of my Dad's ashes and put them in the river in front of the Eiffel Tower, so next time you're in Paris be sure to wave to him. 

I've been learning so much here and having a great time.  I must admit I'm a bit homesick, but mostly I'm so busy there's not even time to think about it! 

More to come!