And as all
good things come to an end, this is the last post about my FAB New York trip.
I woke up
and my mum was fussing because we had to get about a million things inside our
travelling bags. I bought about 20 CDS, 10 DVDs, 15 books and a bunch of other
stuff. So I actually wrapped each CD in a piece of clothing so there wouldn’t
be a chance of anything breaking. I got my things inside the travelling bags
and headed out on my own to buy some Starbucks for breakfast. I sat at the
Colombus Circle sipping my coffee and eating my cheese danish not wanting to
think too much about the rest of my day, just pretending I had all the time in
the world in this fantabulous city. I went back to the hotel and me and mum
resorted to stuffing everything inside the bags and leaving because checkout
time was way overdue! We ended up with 4 travel bags (the big ones), 2 little
travel bags and our purses, a lot of stuff for me only to carry since my mum
had broken a rib and couldn’t lift much weight.
We left the
bags stored and headed out to PJ Clarks for lunch. We had a lovely lunch and I
went to the Met Shop for the James Levine signing! I got there about 2:30 I
think but there weren’t as many people as last time. One thing I found quite
awful was that the people in front of me were bad mouthing just about any
singer you can imagine. I get it that some people think Angela Gheorghiu isn’t
the nicest of people but then to openly say at the Met shop that she has no technique
and her voice is awful is kinda extreme. And they weren’t young smug people,
they were middle aged smug people who thought they knew everything about opera.
I was so embarrassed, I just hoped they wouldn’t bug Maestro Levine too much.
The lady at
the Met shop said he was not taking pictures and that he was only to sign two
items per person. I get it, I mean, he’s sick and it’s already so cool that he’s
willing to get out of his busy schedule to do this signing so I was happy with
whatever I could get. The whole process didn’t take too long though, he arrived
punctually at 3 o’clock and at about 3:10 I was in front of the great James
Levine with my heart racing and hands trembling! I was able to keep my cool (after
meeting so many people that I admire I acquired the skill of not showing I was
bursting on the inside, not too much anyways), I told him I was so thankful for
everything he had done for the Met and that I was there at the Carnegie Hall
concert the day before and that I had cried like a baby. He was actually really
pleased with that information plus he was so nice and polite and attentive I
just wanted to cry! It was over too fast though, but not quite.
Because my
friend Alexandra had asked for someone at the Met shop to keep a special CD of
Wagner something for her to buy today and have James Levine sign. But the peeps
at the Met shop couldn’t seem to find it and she was getting VERY nervous. I
succeed in calming her nerves telling her everything was gonna be fine and that
they’d find her cd for sure. As her and the desperate shop assistant looked and
looked for the CD I started browsing through stuff at the shop. It was quite
odd to just be looking at CDs and every time I turned my head to the left I’d
see James Levine in the flesh. Then the most brilliant idea dawned on me as I
clutched a copy of a Tosca high light CD with Placido Domingo, Renata Scotto
and James Levine. I bought the CD, along with quite a lot of other things, and
went back in line. I talked to maestro Levine again and he was again very nice
and I said “Sorry for bugging you again, but could you sign this for my friend,
he’s going to have a fit!” he laughed and said “No problem!”. And so I
possessed the coolest gift a friend could ever get to an opera bff, a Tosca CD autographed
by James Levine.
After that
me and Alexandra hanged for a while at the Met. I was kind of delusional
because last time I had gone to a signing there I had agreed to meet my mum
there at about 4, but this time she told me to meet her in the hotel but I thought
she was meeting me there like last time. So it was a good hour before I realized
I’d made a mistake but I didn’t really rush to the hotel, after all, I wasn’t
in a rush AT ALL to leave.
Alexandra helped us getting the bags in the car and
after some emotional goodbyes we were off and I had to hold on to my dignity not
to cry (as I am right now as I write this) in front of the driver. Again we got
a pretty nice Brazilian driver with whom we chatted through the journey to the
airport.
I was so
upset when I got to the airport, especially because Sondra was singing Norma
that day and Angela Meade and Jamie Barton were going to be interviewed at
intermission and I wanted nothing else but to be there. It was a long wait
until we finally got our asses in the actual plane. The flight was ok, I didn’t
get much sleep, I never can, but I did make the mistake of watching the Live in
HD of Eugene Onegin in my laptop which resulted in tears and tears and tears
flowing as the entire plane tried to sleep and I was there looking at the
audience part of the Met and breaking down.
We got to
São Paulo and our most horrible nightmare came true, customs wanted to check
our bags. Well, no wonder since we were two females with a ridiculous amount of
bags. You see customs here in Brazil is a freaking BITCH! If you spend over
$500 in purchases outside Brazil and they find it out they will tax your ass
off plus charge you the price the product would have here. Needless to say I
was TERRIFIED since the CDs I had gotten there for $15 are about $70 each here
in Brazil. I had, obviously, taken all of the plastics and price tags off of
everything, but even so.
Me and my
mum didn’t utter a single word to each other, as I hoisted all of the 30 kilo
bags on the X-ray machine and prayed to God that they wouldn’t open our bags.
They didn’t, the X-Ray machine lady said we were clear and we walked off to
liberty relieved. My dad went to pick us up and he dropped me off in my house.
They left and I had a bang moment of “did all that actually happen?” and then I
looked back at my gigantic bag full of opera goodies and was reassured that it
indeed had happened.
I was sort of upset that day because as you
can imagine I NEVER wanted to leave NYC. It’s odd because I was talking to my
sister about this yesterday and she went to NYC once before with me and she
told me “It’s odd we feel so drawn to that city, I feel like a little piece of
me is still there”. And she was there almost 3 years ago and still feels that
way. So you can only imagine how I felt. It’s so different from what I’m accustomed
to that it hurts, specially because I never quite fit into the reality in my
home country and to find a place where everything seems to click with your beliefs
and dreams is just heaven. But then to be yanked off to reality is pretty
brutal. I tell you, it was only after about 2 weeks after I was back that I was
able to stop cursing everything about this country.
And still,
I’m absolutely resolute about going back and actually staying. I’m finishing writing
the letters for the four colleges I’m applying to and the day after tomorrow
and Friday I’m recording ALL the repertoire I’m sending them. I know it sounds
awful to bad mouth one’s country so much but I truly do not see any perspective
of thriving as a musician here. Plus I don’t feel I belong here, I never have,
but I’ve never had something in me strong enough to make me resolute about
leaving my home country. Until opera, my teacher has told me that this love for
art we have is like a good sickness because it’s wonderful and brilliant but it
also hurts how much we love and want it. And I totally get what she means, I
feel actual pain in my chest sometimes and I know that’s love, it’s never easy,
it’s never simple, but I simply don’t care because it’s my calling and I could
not imagine myself doing anything else but singing.
Wow, that
was deep. (I cried while writing that just so you know, I cry all the time,
geez!)
I went back
to normal life feeling both fabulous and miserable. My true friends asked me
excited questions and wanted to know all the details of the trip and almost
burst when I showed them my ReJoyce signed and all. My fake friends only made
little negative remarks about some of the performers I had met, gave little
laughs and said “how nice” when I mentioned ReJoyce and actually did not believe me when I told
them I had met James Levine. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about them though,
thank God I know who they are.
Well that’s
it! You guys have a great week and I don’t know when I will be posting again
since I have many tests these following weeks and also a lot of college applications
to fill out.
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