Hi there! My name is Lydia, and I’m the Accademia dell’Arte summer intern and social media princess for the month of May. I was a Physical Theatre student here last semester, and I spent two weeks traveling around Europe and Italy after classes ended. Unfortunately I lost my cell phone and wallet in the mountains of Switzerland, so my homecoming was a little more stressful than it needed to be. It’s good to be back home in Arezzo, though. The land of green grass, delicious food, and wonderful friends has welcomed me back with open arms.

Walking up to the villa on Wednesday was a roller coaster of emotions. I was angry at the long San Fabiano hill for existing, proud that my week hiking in the alps made me a little stronger, and anxious to get to the end and back into my beloved villa. When I reached the beginning of the driveway up to the villa, something happened to me. Usually, at that point on my walk, I’m panting and sweating, tired as all heck. This time, though, I started to smile. And I couldn’t stop. I was down there, eight o clock in the morning with my overstuffed backpack, two scarves and a thick sweater that wouldn’t fit in the bag hanging off me, holding a half-eaten cucumber, smiling like an idiot. Just grinning and laughing and so ecstatic to come back to the place I was confident to consider home after being away for just a little too long. Monica, Kristen and Will welcomed me back, and even though they were stressed about the arrival of lots of new people that day, they reminded me how wonderful it is to be here.

I started this internship on the same day that the Coastal Carolina University students arrived for their May program. I was here to greet them when they arrived, and it was amazing to watch people see this place for the first time. After more than three months here, the amazing view of the tuscan hills was just an everyday sight (especially since it was the same view I saw out my bedroom window every morning and evening). But when they got off the bus, a couple of the students ran over to the edge of the driveway and looked out on the distant city walls, down the rolling green hills, and into the far off beauty that is so familiar to me. It’s been three days now, and they’re starting to get more comfortable here, ready to hang out in the living room and learning the meal times. I’m excited to see what adventures they have in the city and around Italy as they explore more and more!

In terms of work I’ve been doing, it’s been pretty simple. I re-alphabetised the student library, which was the closest thing to meditation I’ve had in a little while. I’ve also been doing some work on the videos of students doing their thing. I rolled through the video archives and deleted some extra stuff, and I got to put together the videos of some final performances. I also got the lovely task of pressing go on the compiling and exporting processes that take around 5 to 25 hours each, and then waiting for them to finish. Very fun. I posted one of the videos on the ADA Vimeo, which you can find here. I’ve also been posting a bit on the accademia facebook page and the instagram, which everyone should check out all the time!

I’m psyched to keep on working here. It’s going to be a real experience, and I’m so thrilled to still be here in Italy. I’ll be doing posts every Friday for as long as I’m here, so stay tuned homies, it’s gonna be a wild ride!

Here’s some fun pics of me.

FRANCE!

SWITZERLAND!

AREZZO!!

PANTS!!!