Finally a new update

so it's been a few days and I'm sure most of you thought I had been eaten by the minotaur at the bottom of Lake Chautauqua. fortunately for me, and the many boaters, I am still here and still loving it.

things have started to get rolling. we turned in our first stories today to run in the first paper of the season (which'll go out Saturday). my first article is a preview of the whole opera season. it details what pieces they will perform with some insight from the artistic/ general director. The Chautauqua Opera is interesting because they only have 8 days of rehearsal before opening a show. what does help though is that they do everything in English. that was a stipulation of the woman who gave money to build the opera building on the grounds. the story goes that her husband was blind and enjoyed hearing opera in English so he could understand the story.

in addition to opera I'm covering the Children's School which is essentially a day camp for 3, 4, 5 and 6-year-olds. they meet weekdays and keep the kids engaged in educational activities. I feel like interacting with kids will be a nice reprieve from the high-strung world of opera!

so despite the intense schedule we reporters have laid out before us, we've all taken time to enjoy the sun, lake and each other's company. we all get along amazingly, especially considering we've known each other for about a week. all of us Alumni Hall kids bond over family dinners, reading circles in the common room and weekly excursions to the grocery (we love our Wegmans Wednesdays!) last weekend we had a bonfire complete with hot dogs and s'mores and then went to the Mayville Bluegrass Festival. who knew there were northern hicks, too?!


we're a crazy bunch of college kids with a lot of talent. it's kind of intimidating to be in with a group of people who have been or are going to be the editors of their school papers and clearly have a lot more experience than I do. (I am one of 3 who are going to be juniors. everyone else has either graduated recently or will be a senior next year). it's clear we all have a passion for what we're doing and have that same journalist mentality -- whatever that is!