Ryan Estes, Muhlenberg College

Semester Physical Theatre Program

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the duality between the concepts of “ephemerality” and “eternity”. As I walk through the hallways of the Villa, back and forth from the living room to the “WiFi couch”, and as I sit doing readings and listening to music in my dorm room (G5 represent!), I have this intensely deep feeling within me that the Villa has always been my home and will always be my home. And I seem to sometimes forget that the actual time we spend here as students is really such a fleeting and minuscule moment of time in the grand scheme of our lives. We’re only here for three months, and it hasn’t even been three weeks yet. Less than three weeks ago, I was claustrophobically crammed in the window seat of an AirPortugal plane, flying across the Atlantic, scared out of my ever-loving mind. And now I feel at home here, and I feel like I’ve been here for several lifetimes, and will be here for several more lifetimes, whatever that even means.
When I think about the number of people over the years who have walked these same hallways, used these same performance spaces and called these same dorm rooms “home,” it really reminds me of the fact that we all are so small within the universe. When I leave in December, this place is going to go on without me, just as it went on before me, and during me. But somehow, some little part of my energy will remain here. I know it will. Whether I leave a handwritten note to future students hidden somewhere on the premises, or I slip a typed-up page of advice into the huge binder of former students’ advice that sits under the coffee table in the living room, I know that some part of my identity and energy will forever be left in this very spot.
Although our presence may be ephemeral, our energy and spirit are eternal. As I frantically type up this blog post nine minutes before it’s due, I know that it will stay on this website for all to see until the website — or the internet — is no more. These words may even outlive me. As I walked through the Uffizi Gallery in Florence this past weekend, it amazed me that, although the painters and sculptors lived and died several hundred years ago, their works of art still exist and are admired today, in just as good condition as the artwork existed the day it was completed.
Therefore, although our time here at the Accademia seems to be incredibly ephemeral and fleeting, our energies and spirits will remain here for all of eternity, perhaps wandering the halls to give future students an encouraging pat on the back when they most need it. At least that’s what I like to think will happen, because the thought of that brings me immense joy.