A final ridiculous image to remember me by.

I'm going home.  Get it?...

I was really bored.

The Final Post Perhaps

Although I have been stressed out to the max in the last five days, I have also done a lot of cool stuff.  For instance, I:

*Went the the Natural History Museum and looked at rocks and dinosaurs and Earthy things for hours.  

*Spent a lot of time with the other few IES people who have been stranded.

*Climbed to the top of the hill at the Schönbrunn Palace.

*Walked around Christmas markets

*Watched Gone with the Wind with Diana and Waltraud

*Went to LOCO, this ridiculous club off of the U-6 that everyone goes to on Monday for 50 cent cocktails.  I resolved not to go a long time ago, but how could I not go yesterday?  I had one last shot to go to a bar full of people at least 4 years younger than me and sip on a 50 cent drink.  

*Cooked a lot of pasta with Ian, my poor friend who is trying to fly through London (not going to happen; that place is a mess)

I'm listening to two young Austrian people have a conversation next to me in the airport cafe where I am sitting, and I understand what is going on.  Go Deutsch.  I'm going to finish my chai, go through security, and come home.  I hope...hahahahaha.

All I Can Do Is Laugh

My third attempt at leaving Europe begins on Tuesday morning and will hopefully end at 4pm in Chicago. Don't worry about me, folks.  I'm hanging out with Waltraud and Diana and occasionally running about the city to do something interesting and keep me from thinking about the traumatizing airport experiences I have been having recently.  I don't really feel like I have anything to complain about.  I get to stay a few more days (although most of them are spent in lines at the airport), and there are literally thousands of people here who are stuck in airports around the continent. *Pause...Waltraud just handed me a sleeping bag because Diana has a few friends coming tomorrow and something about sheets and me and a sleeping bag...and...I think I am confused.  I'm going to use every form of bedding I currently have including the sleeping bag because I am cold and tired... Unpause*  The other great thing about being stranded is that you get to keep reading my hilarious blog posts.  Whew.  I'm going to to go sleep now even though it is 2:41 pm.  I think this is called a nap.

The Saga Continues

Just in case anyone is curious, that last post was only the beginning of a 15 hour day at the airport that resulted in me re-booking my flights for Sunday and going back to Waltraud's house.  I can't think about it, so I'm not even going to begin to describe how the rest of the day went.  I may have made a small scene while I was trying to call IES and get Waltraud's phone number at the ticket counter tonight.  Excuse me for having a panic attack.  You try fighting airplanes on 2 hours of sleep.  ANYWAY that is all over now, and I am snuggled up at Waltraud's house in the ole' room that I thought I said goodbye to 24 hours ago.  It's almost starting to be funny.  I'm glad I get to hang out tomorrow and sleep in my cozy bed and see a few more people before I attempt to leave the continent again.  I've been gifted an extra day by mother nature, and I'm using it to visit the natural history museum and eat pizza from an Imbiss stand.

I can't believe how lucky I am that I have such lovely people to come back to in Vienna.  I straggled into the apartment at 10-ish tonight, and Waltraud was waiting for me at the door.  She kept saying "poor Katy" (Kah-tee. I LOVE the way she says my name) and was offering me food and everything I needed.  Then I drank tea, and we watched the news together.  Most people had to go to hotel rooms tonight, but I got to go to the next closest thing to home.

........

So I'm stuck at an airport right now, and I feel like I've come full circle.  My music theory teacher would call this "circulatio" and then say "Guuuud!" (good with a very strange and unidentifiable accent).  I, however, would call this "a bummer".  Once you say goodbye to everyone and reluctantly drag yourself to the airport at 4 am, you kind of focus on just getting through the next few plane rides with determination.  First my flight to Amsterdam got delayed because of snow, but they boarded us anyway and said we would leave soon.  Then, they told us we would have to sit on the plane for 2.5 hours before we could go, so I said peace out, I'm going to sleep and hunkered down.  Unfortunately after a short nap the friendly captain man told us that Amsterdam was down to zero flights in and out of the airport, and the not-friendly bus people were coming back to take us to the gate.  Now I am sipping a latte and skyping my mother so she doesn't worry when I don't get to Chicago on time.  I only slept for like 2 hours last night/this morning/whatever time it is now, so I feel like a zombie.   Don't worry, America, I'll be back soon.  Just not on time and probably not on the same flight.  And a little crankier maybe.

Almost Done Packing

Last day. No time to blog.  Must squeeze the juice.  You don't know what that means because it is an IES-ism, but trust me-it's hilarious.

Bis bald, Amerika

I was discussing crazy people with my friend, Daniel, yesterday.  There are lot of them around here because everyone is living in this paradox where we can't fathom leaving Vienna but are really excited to see friends and family soon, too.  You want two things that are impossible to have at the same time.  It makes you feel funny.

I am having such a lovely week despite the weirdness of it being my last one here.  We are all kind of cramming in as much "together in Vienna" time as possible around finals.  Last night we went to a schnitzel place for my friend Jeremy's birthday.  I, of course, ordered my usual mushroom soup since there isn't much for a vegetarian to eat at a schnitzel house, but the soup was satisfying.  Here is something awesome:

I SAW CABARET AT THE KAMMERSPIEL LAST NIGHT!  Cabaret is quite possibly my favorite musical, and it was sooooooooo good.  I wanted to take my clothes off and dance in my unmentionables with the Kit-Kat girls so badly.  It was in German, but I totally understood everything because I pretty much have the show memorized.  Woo hoo!

I'm trying to think of funny things that have happened, but it has just been so strange around the ole' Palais Corbelli.  I started packing more at like 1 am last night in a random fit of excitement, but then today I was totally dreading leaving as I walked down snowy Kärtnerstraße to IES.

Lasts

Siena`s new favorite game is to say "This is the last time we are going to <insert whatever we are doing at any given moment>!"  Today on the U-bahn it was "Katy!  This is the last time we are going to ride the U-3 to Herrengasse at 16:14 on a Saturday afternoon!"  The last week is going to be full of that sentimental stuff that I will be trying not to think about. 

Last night we had a going away bash at this bar called The Travel Shack.  We played the IES slideshow from the whole semester, and everyone got sentimental.  Then they kept drinking and just got happy again.  You know.  Typical going away party, college style.  The only casualty from the night was my scarf, which is probably stuck in a pile of snow somewhere or tucked under the bar or something.  It didn`t make it home, but I did so I still consider the night successful.  I´m going to go play some Schubert instead of writing a paper.  Go Vienna.

Week Eighteen

Last week in Wien.  For now, at least.  I can't imagine not coming back in the future for one reason or another.  The final concert was last night, and there were SOOOO many people there.  It was lovely.  I think I got more complements for my role as the monster than the Bach I sang, but that's ok.  I was way more excited about the Magic Flute scene anyway.  The Ladies (Siena, Amanda, Claire) and Jeremy, who brilliantly directed, were amazing and hilarious.  After the concert we all had wine and food at a reception the staff organized for our last hoorah together.  Waltraud and Diana came to the concert!  I love them so much.  It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them.

It's hard for me to balance cynicism with gratitude for the next part of this blog.  IES decided to award a spirit award every semester beginning this year, and they gave it out last night after the concert.  Yours truly and my friend, Drew, were awarded the IES Abroad Vienna Spirit Award.  It's funny and easy to make fun of (especially for Siena, with whom I am in love), but it is also pretty cool I think.  I got a sweet plaque, and Drew and I get to pick out some form of IES apparel to wear home or something.  I want to get a hoodie and iron-on the faces of the IES staff.  How's that for spirit?  Sometimes during this semester I have had a really rough time being away from Butler and feeling like I'm not involved and busy all the time, but after last night I realize that I have actually done a ton of things this fall.  It is just a different kind of routine that I think I have gotten used to now. Anyhoo, it was really cool.  I'm flattered and honored.  And full of spirit evidently.

Hey, Mom. Here are my boots.

 These are the boots, Mom.  I'm working in the library right now and finishing a philosophy paper, but it was more important that I take a photobooth picture for you.

This is a failed attempt at photographing my boots.








And below are the cute little Krampus and Nikolo guys that Waltraud put next to my boots this morning.  Today is the day that kids (and I) get candy in their shoes.  She is the best.

The Winter Boots Fiasco

Tofu update:  Let me begin by saying that I am an idiot.  My tofu is usually tan, so it sticks out in that dark water in the container.  Evidently I bought some flavored kind last time so the tofu was really dark, and I didn't see it because it was the same color as the water.  The tofu was there.  Lily found it.  Then we ate it.

I had to buy snow boots last week because Vienna looks like this right now:

I went to the shoe store, but I forgot my German 1 vocabulary for when you go to the store, so I couldn't remember how to say the basic important things.  I picked up the sample boot I wanted and kind of just stood there for a while like a weirdo until I caught the eye of a lady who was helping another woman.  She said something in fast colloquial German, and I did the I'm sorry my German isn't very good apology just to get that out of the way.  That didn't stop her from speaking German to me after she said in very rehearsed English How can I help you?.  I gave up and just said my shoe size (neununddreizig).  Then she shushed me because she was helping another lady.  I considered walking out of the store and trying somewhere else where I could maybe redeem myself, but I was too far into the sale to leave without being even more awkward.  I also couldn't think of an excuse I could say in German that would make sense either.  Somehow I made it to the counter to pay, and just when I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel (not real light though because it was blizzarding outside at the time), she asked me if I wanted to buy that water-proof spray stuff for my boots.  I said Nein, danke, but she wanted to keep convincing me, so I just sort of stood there with a stupid look on my face and smiled a little.  I was thinking just let me get the hell out of this God-forsaken shoe store, lady.  All I wanted was a pair of boots, but my face was saying....wait... that is actually EXACTLY what my face was saying.  I paid and hurried out into the wintery blizzard.  It was a much better alternative to being inside that warm, awkward shoe store.  The story gets better, though.  When I got home, Waltraud stopped me and asked where I got my boots because she loved them!  I talked with her in German (obviously skipping the embarrassing story part), and then the next day she went out and got the same boots.  Hilarious.  Diana is thinking about getting some, too.  I love them.  Diana, Waltraud, and my new boots.

Good Gracious, It's December

Tonight I went to a rehearsal for the opening scene of The Magic Flute.  Now don't worry, folks.  I know I promised to avoid this opera for at least the rest of the semester after Papagena, but I don't feel like I am breaking my promise totally because my role in the scene is MONSTER.  This started out as one of those Hey!  Wouldn't it be funny if Katy was the monster? things and then evolved into a beautiful staging involving me chasing Tamino around the concert room in slow motion while making very exaggerated monster gestures.  It is my great pleasure to look like an idiot.  I'm pretty sure this is going to launch my career in Vienna.  Or at least be really funny.

After they kill me in the scene, I jump up and play piano for the rehearsals.  Tonight I was thinking about all of the homework I have to do as I played a lot of G major scales and dominant tonic dominant tonic chords for the Ladies. Just as we began the Allegretto I suddenly realized something:  I would gladly stay up all night doing homework if it meant that I could sit in that practice room and accompany a Mozart rehearsal.  It is so much fun and worth losing sleep in my opinion.

I can't believe tomorrow is December.  More snow is in the forecast :-)

Ditching Händel for Punch

Beeren Punch + Lily Orcutt + Knitting + Viennese Rain = A lovely Thanksgiving recovery Friday.

The lovely Lily and I were going to go see Alcina tonight, but there was a little Austrian man* who locked the stehplatz door just as we arrived because the line was so looooooooooong. We weren't too excited about standing through all those da capo arias tonight anyway, so we decided to hit up the Christmas markets instead.  It was really fun, but then we got cold and decided to make potatoes and knit.  Waltraud told me I looked tired as I was leaving the house at 9 am this morning, and I said Yes I am, Waltraud. I didn't really say her name, though.  I've never said it out loud to her.  Two Thanksgiving dinners in a row have taken their toll on me, and now I just want to sleep all day tomorrow and listen to it rain. Mmmmmmmmmm.  I think Lily, Oliver, and I are going to go to another market at Schonbrunn.

*There is another little Austrian man who guards the IES building and kicks me out at night when I am practicing.  I have an inexplicable dislike for these tiny men.  There is something about their feigned kindness and tendency to lock me out of places I want to be that I can't tolerate.  I don't know why Vienna likes employing little white-haired grandfathers to maintain order in public bulidings, but it doesn't suit me.

I Promise I'm Not Crazy. I'm Just A Senior.

     That final rush of graduate school panic is pouring over me today.  The number one lesson I have had to learn (by necessity, not because I wanted to) is how to delegate and let things go.  To relinquish control.  To allow my wonderful mother to put together my graduate school packet for me without even getting to see it or kiss it goodbye or spray something good-smelling on it.  To not know everything that is going on with Lyric Theatre and Butler.  To not be close enough to call Kyle every day and ask him about his college applications.  Or to call Laura and make sure she isn't too stressed about all of the fabulous things she is doing this semester.  Or to call Joe and ... talk about the rap video he made in his science class last week... hahahaha.  I can't call Dad in the morning and tell him about a test I just took and have him reassure me that I should start writing a screenplay and be in a musical soon.  Skype and email and facebook are great, but they aren't the same as a good visit home.  This post is getting droopy and sad, and I don't mean for it to.  Every once in a while I just remember that I am a senior, and I think AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but then it goes away.  It's actually all very exciting.
     I have one more letter to check on, and then I think I'll be done with applications.  I get to see Alcina this Friday with Lily (YAY), and we have Thanksgiving dinner tonight and tomorrow.  That's right. Two Thanksgiving dinners to make up for not being home for Thanksgiving.  At least that is the rationale my friends and I are using to justify two dinners in a row.  Guess how lucky I am?  Most of my dearest friends here are from I.U.  How excellent.  I'm going to get to visit with them all the time when I get back. I walk by this every day:

The Forbidden Forest

Ok.  It was the Wiener Wald, not the Forbidden Forest.  But is was dark and foggy and treacherous and AMAZING.  We hiked 14 miles tonight with about ten people from IES and Tobi (an IES staff guy) and his dad, who was our guide.  It was so cool.  We walked through the woods and on country roads and through vineyards.  I know we were in another town at one point, but I don't know exactly where... We stopped at 8pm for about thirty minutes and had soup and cocoa, but the rest of the time we were hiking.  It is one of the best things I've done since I've been here, and I think Diana (Waltraud's daughter) and I are going to go again!

I forgot to tell the story of my missing tofu yesterday.  I went to my refrigerator one evening when I was particularly tired and had had a beer or two with friends, and I decided to make something with the tofu I had bought a few days ago.  It comes in a black plastic carton and is sealed in water with a clear plastic seal on top.  I looked at the carton and thought... Wait a second.  Where is the tofu? All I could see through the water was the black bottom of the container.  Surely my tofu was somewhere in there.  How could it just be full of water?  That is preposterous!   I put it back in the refrigerator and thought Ok I will come back in the morning, and maybe the tofu will be there.  Maybe I am just imagining this is happening.  I returned to the scene and couldn't believe that there was actually no tofu in my tofu box.  Nada.  Just tofu water to fool me into thinking it was heavy and full of tofu.  Now I have to go back to the grocery store and try to explain in broken German that there is no tofu in my tofu box...  Ahhh Vienna.

Perpetual Anticipation

Does anyone get this musical theatre reference?  Ten cool points if you do.

Today my anticipation of going home is stronger than Christmas Eve, the day before you leave for college, and summer vacation combined.  Each day feels a little different, but sometimes I talk to my family and just can't wait to get home and see everybody.  Then I walk down Kärtnerstraße and see all of the action that's happening and know that I will be very sad to be missing out on what's going on in Vienna when I leave.  What a strange experience. I fancy myself in complete control of what happens to me, so naturally I assumed that I already knew what I would learn about myself during this semester...  I must admit that even I did not expect to find out that I might actually be a person who likes to end up at home.  (My parents are beaming right now as they read this.)  I mean I always love going home, but I thought I would live in Europe for a semester and never come back.  I figured I would finish school and move back here because I would love it so much, but I actually feel the opposite.  I might end up here again some day, but I want to be in the U.S. for a while.  Like maybe live there for always and adventure in distant places.  I never declare that I will always do one specific thing because I tend to change my mind the next day anyway, but seriously, who would have thought that I would feel exactly the opposite of what I assumed?  How funny.

I worked out the cottage cheese thing with Diana this morning.  She likes pickles and cottage cheese as much as I do, so she told me that I got the weird kind of cottage cheese and that there were dill pickles in Vienna. (I thought I had bought dill pickles the other day, but they are a strange sweet mushy kind of pickle that I invited Diana to finish eating for me.)  Whew.  What a relief. 

Cottage Cheese Should Not Be Served With Schnittlauch

Sitting in a movie theatre a few nights ago made me think of America.  Then I thought, "What do I miss about America?" Do you know what I said in response to myself?

Cottage Cheese

So today at the store, I bought some.  I was so excited to dip one of Waltraud's tiny silver spoons into a delicious plastic carton of curdled whatever-it-is, but when I swallowed my first spoonful I was terribly disappointed.  First of all, there is something called Schnittlauch in this Cottage Cheese.  I don't know what that means, but "schnitt" is cut and there are tiny pieces of green things in this batch.  Also it has this weird filmy after taste thing going on that makes me uncomfortable.  I love Vienna, but today I am saddened by its version of one of my favorite foods.

Hahaha. I just took a gross picture, and I am definitely going to post it. Right now:

It's rainy today, and I love rain.

Can I finish HP and The Deathly Hallows before 9 am tomorrow morning?

This is going to be quick because I have to get back to Harry Potter.  I am re-reading the last book in a spur-of-the-moment decision before I go see the movie tomorrow night.  I have a few hundred pages to go, but I am confident that I will finish before 8:30 tomorrow.  I forgot about that beautiful daze you go into when you read a Harry Potter book and live only in the wizarding world until you finish and the magical fantasy bubble is popped.  That hasn't happened yet, though, so I'm still living the dream.

Today I slept through German, and yesterday I skipped Philosophy to go see the last performance of Madame Butterfly at the Staatsoper.  I haven't missed any class all semester, but I still feel like a renegade for missing two within 24 hours.  The extra sleep and beautiful singing were both worth it.

This is what I look like now:

And this is what I will look like in four hours when I finish:

The Spirit of Christmas

The Christmas Markets opened on Saturday, which means Vienna is officially celebrating the birth of Christ.  I tried to go walk around on Saturday evening before I went to a Bruckner concert at the Musikverein, but I couldn't really do much walking because it was so packed full of people.  Vienna pulls out all the stops for Christmas, and this place was nuts.  There are tons of wooden stands lining the paths in front of the Rathaus.  They are each full of various Christmas magic.  Some have baked magic, others have ornament magic, and the most popular ones have mugs of alcoholic magic.  The trees are also draped in all sorts of light displays.  The best one has blue icicles that lights shoot down, so the tree looks like icicles are dripping off of it.  My favorite display was the two young girls who climbed on top of the roof of a stand and started screaming political protests through a megaphone.  A policeman pushed me out of the way as he ran to stop the very non-threatening but admittedly noisy protesters, but it took them a while to tame those girls.  Two officers climbed up the other side of the roof, and they were dragging the girls away but they kept escaping and running to the edge of the roof.  It was hilarious and probably the first action those officers had ever seen in Vienna.  It was the most passionate and disruptive thing I've seen thus far in the city, and it was just two girls yelling on a roof.  Don't worry Mom and Dad.  Both Christmas and Vienna are safe now that those two troublemakers have been hauled away.  I wanted to start yelling with them but only because I miss yelling in the streets.  People don't do that here.  I'm sure those girls just wanted to help spread the Christmas love.

Supper Time

This is my kitchen counter.  Well, it's actually Waltraud's kitchen counter, but she lets me use it.  I had a colorful dinner today.  Note painted fingernails.  I did that this morning at Lily's house.  Every once in a while I get girly and think it's a good idea to paint my fingernails, but then 24 hours later I hate it and spend the next week chipping it off.

Today was a hard day.  Something really terrible happened to one of my closest friends here a few weeks ago, and today my friend came back to Vienna to finish the semester after being home for a few weeks.  It is hard to know what to say to someone who is sad beyond imagination.  You want to make them better, but really you just have to be there to be whatever they need at any moment.  The last few weeks have been a painful reminder that even though you are living in another country and sometimes it feels unreal, things still happen that you never anticipate or can even fathom happening.  I don't mean to be depressing, but I am exhausted and contemplative and so thankful for my beautiful, healthy family.  

I'll end with something amusing.  Ballet today.  Me. Pique turns. Misdirection.  Running into my teacher and classmates.  I was a bit distracted in class, and I could not make it across the room to the opposite corner for some reason.  My teacher is usually nice but pretty serious in class, but today she just started cracking up at me.  I just stopped turning and laughed.  I think I have established myself as the class clown, and I don't even have to speak.  A few well-timed blunders and giggles, and people here think you're hilarious.  

The Angry Austrian

Today I:
-borrowed a pink shirt from someone and sang "Popular" for all of the serious musicians in IES.
-watched Nanny McPhee in German.
-made dinner with Siena for the third time this week.  We just combine whatever food we have into a sort of stir fry type of dish...
-skyped with Mom, Dad, and Joe. 3 out of 5 is pretty good, but I need to pin down the other two.
-socialized (!)
-just finished eating leftover pasta at 1:37 am.

On the way home tonight, an Austrian man heard Siena and I speaking English.  He staggered toward us and started yelling at us to only speak German in Europe if we knew how to speak it.  I just kept nodding my head and saying "ja" every once in a while.  Though his skull t-shirt made me take him very seriously, for some reason I just could not stifle my laughter.  And when I laugh, Siena inevitably laughs, so there we were:  Two innocent American girls giggling at the drunk, angry Austrian man.  Just another day on the U-bahn.

My Recent Obsessions

I have become enthralled with the end of Austrian phone conversations.  When I sit in the U-bahn I always pay close attention to people on their cell phones because they have twelve different ways of saying goodbye, and they use all of them in one conversation.  I always expect to hear "Ciao" or "Tschüss" or "Bis später" or something but instead it sounds more like "ok-auf-viedersehen-tschüss-tata-ciao".  I don't consider my intense focus on other peoples' conversations to be eavesdropping because I only understand 20% of what they are saying.  I never hear anything juicy, and I'm just waiting for the end anyway.

Obsession number two is eating fruits and vegetables in the rawest (I don't know if that is a real word) form possible.  Like taking a big bite out of a tomato or crunching into an un-peeled carrot.  It just makes me feel so earthy and rugged.

Tomorrow I'm singing "Popular" from Wicked on a solo concert.  I'm hoping it ends in mad applause and not awkward silence like it did in the dress rehearsal today.  There was only one lady in the room, and she is in charge of the instrumentalists.  I don't think she knew what to do with American musical theatre.  Oops...

It is David Merriman's birthday today. Tell everyone you know!

Hi, Dad.  I hope you like it when people make a big deal out of your birthday because I am littering the internet with birthday wishes for you.  Everyone who reads this blog today should call him and say Happy Birthday, David/Dad/Katy's Dad! depending on how you know him.

I only have 45 days left in Vienna.  My how the time flies when you live in an alternate reality for 4 months.  I can't imagine being back at Butler and seeing my family and friends (you guys), but I am so excited for it.  It will be really terrible to leave here, but I am also ready to see everyone.  There are too many people I love at home to be gone for a really really really long time.  4 months isn't really very much at all, and I am still pining away for my loved ones.  Today we learned the word for nevertheless, which is "trotzdem".  Vier Monaten sind ein kurtze Zeit, trotzdem vermisse ich meine Familie.  That might not be right, but I am sleepy so it will do.  I'm off to sleep in the carpeted loft which lies at the top of a very steep and increasingly unsteady ladder.  I think I need a screwdriver.  (The tool, not the drink, you college kids...)

Dead Day

First of all I would like to give a big thanks to the Catholic Church for having All Saints Day.  I think it is pretty cool, and not just because it made my weekend a little longer.  Today I went to the Zentralfriedhof (the GIANT cemetery in Vienna) with Daniel and Austin, and we walked around and watched the thousands of people who came to visit the graves of family and friends.  People brought candles and flowers and decorated all of the graves.  We didn't have any relatives in the cemetery to visit, so we went to our next closest relations and visited Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart (a memorial.  We don't exactly know where Mozart is in Vienna...oops), and Wolf.  They are doing well and have lots of visitors.  I really wanted to find Schoenberg, but the place is absolutely huge.  You have to know where you're going before you get there if you want to find someone in particular unless it is one of the aforementioned famous guys.

I also went to see the Verdi Requiem at the Musikverein just to keep up with the death theme today.  It was really lovely, if you can describe a Requiem as "lovely".  The Orchestre National de France was really good (I saw them do Rite of Spring on Friday), and I loved the soloists for the most part.  The soprano was wonderful, and aside from a few strained tenor moments, all four were outstanding together.  It put me in a Requiem mood, and now I have the Faure Requiem in my head...

The Wienerwald

Before I show you a few beautiful pictures, I just wanted to talk briefly about how funny it is that everything that is Viennese is called "Wiener_____".  Obviously it isn't very strange to a person from Wien to call something like the forest the Wienerwald or the philharmonic the Wiener Philharmoniker.  To a person from the U.S.A. who is twenty-two but has the maturity of a twelve-year-old boy, however, this can get pretty entertaining.  Fortunately it is pronounced "Vvvvvvviener" since it's German, so I don't usually laugh out loud when I have to say it.  I'm posting this mainly for my family, who would also think this is hilarious.

Today Adam, Daniel, Ben, Chris, and I went to the woods on the edge of the city and walked around for about 4 hours.  It was the coolest thing I have done in Vienna hands down.  I love being outside, especially in the fall, and today was so beautiful!  It was so nice to just bum around the woods and hang out for the afternoon.  We saw a lot of wild boars, and decided that we felt some kind of intrinsic animalistic connection to them.  Boars are really funny looking, slightly intimidating, and especially cool because they actually look JUST like Pumba.  Here are a few pictures to make you want to go walking in your local forest.

 

What Made My Birthday So Excellent:

1. I got a ton of "happy birthdays" on facebook, and it is so good to feel like people haven't forgotten you even though you are a thousand miles away.

2. Dieter SANG happy birthday to me today while I was working and also got me a giant birthday brownie from the McDonalds next door to the school.  I think this means he is going to propose soon.

3. I have been played "Happy Birthday" by accordion, violin, and jazz trumpet in the last 24 hours.

4.  It is 4 am, and I just watched Rite of Spring at the Musikverein and sat around with friends for hours before returning home to eat the brownie that Dieter gave me.

Goodbye bad jokes about being legally able to drink; hello early adulthood.

The Post Where I'm Not a Nice Person (Feel Free to Skip)

Do you ever just get irked by some people?  Like for no reason?

Exhibit A: I am working at the library and finally have the last 30 minutes to work on stuff when Doris (name has been changed to protect person's identity and so my ass is covered on the off-chance that someone from IES reads this blog) approaches the desk.

     "Hi Katy I have nothing to check out I'm just saying hi!"
     "Oh, Hi Doris.  How are you?"
     "Oh pretty good I'm just trying to get ready to go on my trip tomorrow and...................................................................................la la la la la................................................................................................................................and my mom keeps asking me about grad school and I'm like oh maybe I'll come back to Vienna or maybe not I don't know it's so far away and..................................................................uh huh!....................and.......................well I have to go wash my clothes and study and get groceries and pack.  Are you going anywhere for break?"
     "Nope.  Just hanging out in Vienna for the weekend."
     "Oh cool well have fun bye!"

Fragen zum text:
1. What did Doris really mean to gain by having this conversation?
2. What am I supposed to say in response? Because I can't say what I am thinking.
3. Can I type on my computer behind the desk and simultaneously look engaged in the conversation?

Antworten:
1. Doris just wanted to tell me about her awesome week and talk a little.  That is totally fine but not really the hello she intended to give.  I think we should be honest about our intentions.
2. I need only smile and listen, thereby avoiding having to be fake but still being there to listen, which was what Doris needed in the first place (see Answer 1).
3. Yes.  Quite convincingly.  This blog was 20% complete before the conversation ended.

My Addiction to the BBC

     Waltraud is going to take the tv out of my room next week to use in another apartment, and it is such a good thing.  I have unlimited access to the BBC while I am in Austria, and it is bad news for my productivity.  Tomorrow I have a theory midterm, but I just can't muster up the resolve to study for it.  I know this is probably knocking some of you off of your chairs*.  I, Katy P. Merriman, am not studying for a test...until tomorrow morning, that is.  To procrastinate today I went to a voice lesson and saw Warten auf Godot (Waiting for Godot. Best play ever!) at the Burgtheater with my friends Abraham and Rachel.  IT WAS SO AMAZING!  It was auf Deutsch, but I understood most of what was going on.  The set design and lighting were so beautiful and just perfectly suited the play.  I was so impressed and probably watched the whole thing with my jaw on the floor.
     Yesterday I went to a heurigen, and it was so beautiful that Kyle literally closed my mouth because I was gaping.  He just reached out and pushed my jaw up with his pointer finger, and I snapped out of the stupor I was in.  A heurigen (probably not spelled correctly here) is like a tavern where you go drink wine in the middle of vineyards and eat food and socialize.  It was super fun.  I also danced my pants off last night at a club.  It's funny how you don't really need to be intoxicated to act like a fool and enjoy yourself with other drunk people.  I had my first red bull last night.  I don't know what possessed me to drink that disgusting stuff, but I did. We learned that I am too hyper to begin with to drink red bull.  I was bouncing off the walls until the wee hours of the morning!  Oops!


* In German you say "es haupt mir ja vom Stuhl!" It knocks me off my chair! Oh German idioms... why do I even really need to know you?

While the internet is working...

Interesting things I did this week:

*Sang Papagena for Waltraud at the konzert
*Taught a class of Austrian 13 and 14-year-olds how to do the Charleston Line
*Had tea and cakes with the FOUNDER of IES (60th anniversary this year) who was mutual friends with important Viennese people like Schönberg... awesome
*Made a foooooooooool of myself in my German presentation this morning about die Steiermark (a place I went a few weeks ago, oder eine Staat dass habe ich vor drei Woche besuchen. That probably isn't correct.)

I have a German midterm tomorrow morning, but my studying was delayed by the intriguing conversation and delicious pastries of the IES man.  He and his wife made me miss my grandparents.  They were so cute.

A Mostly Non-Cynical Post

I'm trying to edit my application essay because I am a crazy perfectionist, and I wanted to save this paragraph that I deleted from it.  What better place to save something personal and heartfelt than on a blog, right?  <awkward silence> It's too flowery for a grad school essay, but I wrote it when I was thinking about why I want to be a professional musician.  Love you, Merrimans.

Every Thanksgiving my whole family comes to my house.  That’s approximately thirteen cousins, five uncles, and five loud aunts.  The Merriman sisters are tall, tough, 3/5ths redheaded, and they love to sing.  They sing the Doxology before dinner, and when we finish eating they crowd into our kitchen and bicker happily over what they should sing first—“Young at Heart”, “Oh Johnny”, or their signature rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.  I don’t care what they start with because I will sit in the other room and watch them through the doorway until they have finished every song they know late into the night when the other cousins are sleeping off their turkey dinners.   I grew up wanting to sing with them.  I wanted to have flaming red hair and bend my knees on the really sweet notes and throw my head back in celebration of the sheer joy of making music and sounding so good. Thank you, Merriman women, for making me want to sing. 

Spoon Rings and Singer Things

Try saying that five times fast.


Mom, I have been wearing your spoon ring every day.  I love it because it doesn't look jewelry-ey, and things made out of cutlery are cool (your tea kettle wind chimes, for instance).  I don't know if you actually gave it to me or if I just started wearing it, but thank you either way.

Tonight was one of those brilliant moments in a singer's life when you open your mouth to start warming up, and the person in the practice room next door starts belting your rep, only a little better than you sing it.  I am not trying to elicit sympathy or to put myself down because I know I'm pretty damn good and don't need to worry about homegirl next door.  It is just one of the many times when you have to suck it up and ignore the rest of the universe.  You have to trust that your voice is different and be happy with your own progress regardless of how many sopranos know Chanson de Ronsard (although these pieces aren't really songs everybody knows.  What are the chances that this person would be singing them right now, too?  Seriously!)  It's fine, though.  I just listen to how she sings them and try to use the stuff she does that I like.  It's like musical scavenging except she decided to belt next door to me, so I don't feel bad.  And then I belt out something else impressive.  Oh my gosh, maybe this is how sopranos help each other but still feel like supreme goddesses of the universe!  You show the other person how good you sing something, so they can learn but still feel a little bad!  This is almost philosophical, and I'm so glad I'm writing it down.  Singers, tell this to your friends.

Even though I bash sopranos a lot, I only mean these things in good fun.  This is a disclaimer in case someone is taking me seriously, which should be hard to do if you have been reading this blog for the last two months.

P.S. The music kids are FREAKING OUT this week over a concert and midterms.  I remain calm because this semester is a piece of cake compared to what I am usually doing at Butler right now.  Maybe we are programmed to hurry everywhere and sigh a lot as we open our instrument lockers the week before midterms because that's what we usually do, but I don't really think it's necessary here in Vienna.

How do you know if a potential creeper is really a creeper?

On the U-bahn tonight I let a guy use my cell phone.  He was wearing kind of dirty, baggy, black clothes.  He had a desperate look on his face.  He spoke in a mixture of German and English. I won't deny that at first I tried to pretend I was a dumb tourist who only spoke English (everyone does this in Vienna if they get in a bind where being stupid will save them), but after he started speaking English, too, I couldn't really rely on that any more.  At first he walked away, but then he came back to me.  I know I have an innocent face, but I am slightly amazed at how much of a push over I must look like if he was willing to walk to the other end of the train and then come back to me just for a second try.  Obviously I let him use my phone.  I decided that even if he made a call to some foreign land, the most I could lose was the 9 Euro I knew I had on the phone.  I was willing to bargain with 9 Euro in order to help a bro out.  I was also surprised, though, by how hard it was for me to decide what to do.  The little people on my shoulders--I don't consider this a moral question of right versus wrong, so I am not using an angel and a devil as the little people on my shoulder. Actually I'm going to use power rangers.  The blue ranger on my right was saying of course you should let him use your phone!  He needs help, and it isn't a huge sacrifice for you to let him use it for a few minutes.  But then the red ranger, Jason, was like but wait, Katy!  You don't even know who this guy is!  He could run away with your phone or call his mother in Zimbabwe or just not give it back!  Then he could stalk you and follow you to Waltraud's house, and it would be an Austrian nightmare! I listened to the blue ranger because Billy is the nicest one and also the smartest, and I think sometimes you just have to be brave and take the plunge even when you aren't sure what is going to happen.  The moral of the story is:

GIVE DUE CONSIDERATION TO THE RED RANGER, 

BUT ALWAYS GO WITH THE BLUE RANGER IN THE END.

Thank you and goodnight.

Zzzzzzzz....

Today I worked in the library all morning and snuck into the performance hall next door to practice since nobody was there all day.  Then I made some recordings with Dierdre, my coach, in the afternoon.  I met my friend, Siena, at IES and went to the Naschmarkt to get some hummus, bread, and dried fruit. mmmmm.  We got hot chocolate from Anker and took our meal to the opera house.  At 4 pm we lined up outside the stehplatz (standing room) door and ate our food at the very very front of the line for standing tickets.  We met so many Americans today, which was strange because usually old Austrian ladies stand in that line.  Salome was amazing and worth way more than the 4 Euro I paid to see it.  After the opera I went to Siena's house with our friend Jeremy and watched stupid music youtube videos ( I KNOW >>>NERD).  Now I am home and typing in my checkered chair like a zombie.  I'm super tired and slightly stressed about grad school, but I have a voice lesson tomorrow so I'll probably feel like an awesome singer again when I'm done tomorrow afternoon.  This might be one of those tired posts that I read tomorrow and regret submitting to the public.

Google "Linda Watson" Before Reading This Post

I love Vienna.  I just sang Mozart for Linda Watson.  She is funny and down to earth and so kind.  And also one of the best Wagnerian sopranos alive.  Did I say I love Vienna?  Today Linda Watson taught me to be patient and to not talk to ANYONE at an audition.  And to anticipate my breathing and to do it deeply and relaxed so I don't sound like a harpy.  My word, not hers.  Linda Watson would never say someone sounded like a harpy.  At least in a master class.  I don't know her personally.  Can you tell I'm still excited about what I did tonight?  I can't even write long sentences.

I'm learning how to be just the right amount of diva in Vienna, too.  I consider the right amount to be enough that you do anything you have to do to take care of your voice and get better at performing and singing yet nobody actually thinks you're a diva.  A closeted diva is a good diva.

Things I Wrote Down on My Hand in Philosophy

Beauty and the Beast

Blog-

French Ballet

was Discovered

These are all of the important things I wanted to write about tonight, but I knew I would forget them.  Now to explain.  My philosophy professor looks like Santa Clause, but I know it isn't really him because this guy is from Budapest, and everybody knows that Santa lives at the North Pole.  His name is Geza, and he has three daughters that he talks about a lot.  They lived in California for four years when they were growing up, and in the middle of class today he used Beauty and the Beast as a reference when discussing Descartes and what we know is true.  I honestly don't know how we arrived at talking clocks and candlesticks, but that is beside the point.  He quoted the entire opening of the movie for us and then said it was by far the best Disney movie ever made.  It was awesome, and I have no idea what we were actually talking about.

My second ballet class today was much different from my first.  A girl in the locker room who I was clumsily talking to in German thought I was FRENCH (word number one!), but I set her straight and said I came aus den USA.  Then I ran into my teacher, and it was just the two of us standing in the hallway, so I thought Crap, there is no way we aren't going to start talking.  She's going to DISCOVER that I don't speak very good German and think I'm a total weirdo after I try to talk to her and explain.  Then she started talking to me.  I stumbled through these two conversations, but tonight I realized that they never switched to English like people usually do, so that means my German was good enough to carry on those conversations.  YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!  P.S.  There were way more people in class today, and they were all really pretty, but I turn better than most of them so it's ok.

Viennese Viruses

I don't know if there is something in the supposedly impeccable mountain water that we drink in Vienna, but I feel like I am getting sick here every other week.  I'm eating my fruit and veg (my friend Oliver says 'fruit and veg' with his British accent, and it tickles me to death), I'm trying to sleep enough, I am having a positive outlook on life and my ability to remain healthy, yet I still get colds all the time.  They warned us that we weren't exposed to the Austrian illnesses since they are different strains of viruses or whatever, but I just assumed that I would not be affected.  I idealistically presume that if I decide not to be sick then I won't.  I managed to make that work all week and made it through my rehearsals on Friday, but then I had to cancel my voice lesson yesterday (WHICH I HATE DOING) because I couldn't sing.  Well I could sing to an e or f and then it disappeared.  I don't think that would do if we were going to work on my audition arias...  That's enough about my diva cold and its effect on my life.

Everything is going really well in Wien.  The weather is beautiful, and workshop is in full swing.  I might get to sing in a master class with Linda Watson this wednesday (a Wagnerian soprano who studied in Vienna and knows our director)  if Ian (Papageno) and I can impress Michelle when we run through our scene before the master class.  It would be soooooooo awesome.  I hope we are prepared enough for Michelle, and she says Oh Katy and Ian, you MUST sing for Linda today!  You are amazing!.  I'll wake up now.

I bought some excellent apples at Billa yesterday, and they are rocking my Viennese world.  Waltraud has been gone all weekend, so I've been not wearing clothes and eating apples and watching a lot of BBC television.  My voice teacher ordered me not to do anything this weekend, and I obey.  Her Indian medicine man gave her some recipes that I am supposed to be trying, too.  I did the one with ginger, cayenne pepper, vinegar, and honey, but that is kind of a heinous concoction, so I'm mostly sipping on my ginger tea and thinking happy thoughts.  There is this sort of trashy show on the BBC called The Eastenders that I am kind of intrigued by.   It's like a soap opera at home, except they all have British accents so they automatically seem a little classier to me.


*I wanted to give a shout out to Uncle Roger and Aunt Nancy :-)  I don't have your email addresses, but Grandma and Grandpa said you were reading this and that made me so happy!  This is the only way I know how to say hello to you.  I hope you are doing well, and maybe I'll see you around Christmas when I get back?  Love you!
**Obviously I miss all of you who read my blog.  Even a little more than everyone else.  You are members of an elite group called "People Katy Likes a Little More than Everyone Else Because They Read Her Blog".  So ditto to * for all of you.

This email was sent to all of IES tonight:

Hi,

after a very spirited speech by Katy Merriman, on behalf of the student body, i hereby change the overnight check out times for reserved items. Starting today you can check out reserved items overnight from Friday (after 2:30pm) till Monday 11:00am.


Mfg Dieter 
(My boss who is in charge of the library/my future husband)





I have never had a prouder moment.  This just encourages me to keep fighting for the rights of library patrons not only in Vienna, but throughout the world.  We deserve to check out materials for more than one night only regardless of their size, popularity, age, or permanent reserve status.

Untitled. Although "Untitled" is a title, so maybe I should say "Titled"

Last night a young, Austrian boy asked if he could take my picture while I was eating pizza at an Imbiss* stand.  It was for a school project.  I said ja, of course.  What budding performer would say no to having her picture taken?  And more importantly, when am I ever going to see that kid again anyway?  I think he thought he was going to get a regular photo of a random girl eating pizza, but I didn't have it in me to just stand there with pizza in my mouth.
So I did something like this instead:

That kid had no idea what he was doing when he asked me if he could take my picture.  What a weird thing to ask a person eating pizza.

I'm working in the library right now, as you can see.  My German homework is waiting for me on the desk next to my computer, but sometimes I get distracted by the computer that sits on the desk next to my German homework.  And also by the ridiculous book titles that surround me: "The Shock of the New", "The Austrian Mind", "Paths to the Absolute"- these are lofty art books.  Oh! Dieter has a job for me.  Peace out.

Raising the Bar-and Kicking it

Today was my first venture into the Viennese world of university sports.  I registered for Intermediate Ballet and Jazz classes, and today was Ballet Monday.  Sometimes I get myself into situations where I think This won't be too hard.  I can just fake my way through it and pretend I know what I'm doing. This technique often works for me, but sometimes there is a moment of utter panic the second you have to jump into the situation.  I felt this figurative punch in the gut as I opened the door to the dance studio that took me twenty minutes to find once I entered the building.  One thing you get really good at when you live in a foreign country is watching what everyone else does and then following along so you blend in.  I shuffled into the little locker room where I saw people in leotards and threw all of my stuff in a locker that I took a good three minutes trying to actually lock before giving up.  Just as I got to the door, the instructor closed it to start class, and there was one second where I thought I could just turn around and not try to do this and avoid a lot of embarrassment.  I shook it off and entered what I expected to be a big studio with lots of intermediate dancers and instead stumbled upon a mish-mash of ten people scattered at the bars in the middle of the small studio on the top floor of the building.  My first thought was Well, blending in and not being noticed is out of the question, so I made it my new goal to simply not be bad enough that I stuck out and was directly asked a question.  It turns out I am pretty damn good at intermediate ballet, and even when the instructor talked to me I kind of understood what she was saying most of the time.  I kind of sank into the class and just started understanding what she was saying and didn't have to translate everything into English.  It was awesome.  I only did a few ungraceful things, including my finest moment when I kicked the bar instead of delicately resting my leg upon it, but I think it was a successful adventure all in all.  I just wonder how long I can go without them knowing I speak a whole lot of English and not much Deutsch.  Whatever.  It's mostly in French anyway, right?

I wanted to finish off the day with an embarrassing picture to capture my excitement for and love of ballet (and to make my blog look more interesting).  Look away, ladies and gentlemen.  It's a keeper.  And yes, I am still wearing my ballet clothes right now, and class ended 4 hours ago.

Tosca Magic

I SAW TOSCA TONIGHT AT THE STAATSOPER, AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing.  I couldn't believe I was standing there watching that magic happen in front of me.  The singers were unbelievable, and the orchestra was outstanding.  I just wanted to weep at how wonderful it was to be there watching, and I wish I could have jumped onto the stage and sung with them.   Go Vienna.  This was so wonderful.

This morning I woke up with that sore throat thing again where I feel like I'm getting sick, but I am denying it.  I shall remain healthy.  There are so many stupid viruses over here that I haven't been exposed to, and they are all trying to attack me.   I'm going to Styria tomorrow (a place in Austria) to taste wine and walk around with some other IES people. I am sort of packed, and I have to be there at 7:15 am, so that leaves me 6 hours to sleep, finish packing, and get to the bus.  Tight schedule, but I can work with it.

School is good.  Classes are very different from Butler.  I'm learning a lot, but they aren't very hard.  That is probably good for me. I start ballet and jazz this week at the university...wish me luck.  I hope I understand what is going on!  I think I can fake my way through a dance class if I have to :-)  I look forward to it!

I can't believe it is October already.  That is crazy.  I'll be home in 2.5 months!  I can't wait to see everyone, but it will be very hard to leave here.

A New Post to Save Mr.Foote from Spanish Boredom

I have 8 minutes until my coaching with Michelle Friedman.  I'm having a very voice-happy week, and it is rocking my world.  I had a lesson this morning with Elizabeth Bice, and it was way better than the first.  I wasn't freaked out, so I sang better, and she didn't shoot sunshine and rainbows around the room so much so I wasn't worried about that either.  She is a great teacher, and I know she is going to be awesome for my voice and my...self...this semester.  Being in this atmosphere has actually made me feel a lot more connected to music, which is not something I expected at all.  I am really busy, but not every single second of the day, so when I have a little extra time I can do things like listen to Mahler symphonies or PRACTICE PIANO!!!!!!  I missed it so much, and I just played for an hour and a half and feel like a champion of the Klavier.  I have to go sing now.  More later.  I hope this is a little entertaining for you, Robbie.  I know it's not up to my usual standard of hilarity, but I wanted to throw you a bone.  Ciao!

10 Great Things About Today

1. I have never experienced such perfect weather.  It is so beautiful right now!
2. Tomorrow is my first voice lesson!
3. I found a thrift store in my neighborhood.
4. I have discovered the most delicious mustard on the planet, and I am eating it right now.
5. Two of my answers in German class were right today.
6. I get to go grocery shopping when I am done with this post.  I love grocery stores.
7. I practiced before noon.
8. I finally bought school supplies.
9. I got to skype with almost all of the fam a few days ago, and I am still smiling.
10.  I can walk around the apartment in my underwear for the whole weekend because Waltraud is in Rome.

Falling Bananas

Tonight on my way home there was a girl with clacky heels walking behind me down my street.  I was concentrating on the sound of her clack clack clacking, when suddenly I heard a strange THUD.  It wasn't like a car door shutting or a person falling.  It was more like a sort of light smack.  I looked to my right and saw a banana peel sprawled on the top of a car and thought boy it would be really weird if a banana peel just fell on the roof of that car, but that's sure what it sounded like.  The third sound I heard was a meek, "Oops!", from behind me.  I could not believe my eyes when I turned around and saw the high-heeled young woman jog across the street and RETRIEVE THE BANANA PEEL SHE HAD ACCIDENTALLY THROWN ON TOP OF THE CAR.  Oops.  You tried to get rid of that banana peel by throwing it into the park across the street, but you actually threw it ON TOP OF SOMEONE'S CAR.  Your bad.  My entertainment for many days to come.

My Love of the Norton Anthology

For all of you music nerds out there, here is a beautiful sight that I just want to remind you of:

You have to hold your computer up to a mirror to read the title, but you all know what this is.  This semester I will be reaching back into the depths of Music History and reading VOLUME 1 of the history of Western music again.  It's for my theory class which doesn't make sense, but I only know what the professor is saying half the time anyway.  Epitaph of Seikilos was the first thing I opened up to, and a flood of sophomore year memories overwhelmed me.  That seems like such a long time ago.  Oh Norton, you are my constant companion.  

My First Day of School

is already not typical because it is 8am, and I still have 4 hours before my first class.  Making my course schedule is like choosing which toppings I want to put on my ice cream sundae.  School is my sundae, and this fall philosophy, theory, the classical symphony, and performance workshop will sprinkle it with goodness.

The trip ended well, and I only ended up getting lost in two of the three cities.  In Prague we rode the tram about 30 minutes in the wrong direction until we realized that maybe we didn't recognize where we were because we were going the wrong way...  Suddenly it was 3am, and we were on the outskirts of Prague.  The thing about the outskirts of Prague is that tourists don't go there, so they are ugly places.  Fortunately an intoxicated group of Americans (it felt just like home) approached the same tram stop where we were cowering and gave us directions back toward the center of the city.  Thank goodness for dunk Americans.  They always seem to show up just when we need them.  We asked two guys in Krakow for directions, too, but I don't know if they had been drinking or not because I was a block away trying to read a giant map of Krakow.  I always think that if I have a map and my impeccable sense of direction, there is no way we can get lost.  My mistake...

I have to go eat some Viennese breakfast.  I missed Vienna so much while we were gone, and I felt relieved when we finally got back.

My thoughts and love are in Wabash and at Grace College right now.  I love you all, and I wish I could be there with you.

I Don't Know What Country I'm in on a Daily Basis

Just kidding.  I usually do.  Today we drove through Slovakia from Krakow to Budapest.  I spent a lot of time on a bus... doing nothing is exhausting.

I was in Prague for a few days last weekend!  It was beautiful but too touristy for me.  My friend Siena and I went to the Modern Art Museum and wrote on the John Lennon wall.  I also saw La Traviata at the National Opera something or other Theatre....  Every opera house over here is named close the the same thing, and I mix them up.  I know, what an amateur.  It was pretty good except the tenor had about four different voices that he switched into depending on how high or low he was singing, and Violetta didn't really have the right kind of voice to sing the role.  I guess that makes it sound bad.  Haha.  The first act wasn't too good, but I liked it by the end.

After Prague we were in Krakow until this morning.  I have never made a "Bucket List" because I think that is kind of stupid sounding (no offense to those of you who have made one).  If, however,  I had made such a list, visiting a concentration camp would be at the top of it.  I was really into reading Holocaust literature when I was in middle and high school and always thought it was so imperative that I get to see one some day.  On Tuesday we went to Auschwitz and toured two of the main camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau.  It isn't really something you photograph or talk about on the bus back or even try to describe to anyone.  You know what happened there, and then suddenly you realize that it is all very real.  You are standing where millions of people died.  You are entering an execution courtyard and seeing the last thing thousands of people saw before they were shot in the head.  You are passing through a cold, grey room where 800 naked people were gassed to death at one time.  It isn't pictures in books or the stories you read that can really make you realize that such an unfathomable thing actually happened to real people not very long ago.

Tomorrow we are touring Budapest a bit in the morning, and then we have a free afternoon.  I have no idea what I'm doing yet, but this city is huge and I will definitely make good use of my time.  I will post more when I get home on Sunday.  I'll be way funnier in that post, too, so don't worry you should keep reading this blog.

Moldy Cheese

I like to play this game at the grocery store where I buy a new random kind of cheese every time I go.  I think this sounds like a really fun game, and until tonight it has turned out quite well for me.  However, this game can go seriously wrong when you open the wrapper and think your cheese has molded.  You are outraged at first, but then you think Wait a minute.  Maybe this cheese is supposed to be moldy.  Maybe Austrian people like moldy cheese and it's a thing that cheese people know about but we average cheese eaters aren't aware of.  Or maybe it's one of those things that everyone but me knows.  Naturally my next step was googling "why is my Pirol cheese moldy?" and "do people eat moldy cheese?".  I know now that it is no big deal to eat such a disgusting thing, but I just can't stand it.  I tried it twice, and now I have moldy cheese that I don't want to eat because it's gross but that I want to eat because I bought it.  It's so bad.  Here, I will take a picture of it for you.

I think this is one of those moments when Laura is like, "Katy, how can you not know the difference between a pigeon and a dove?"

Die Nicht-So-Zauber flöte

Tonight I decided to go to the Stadtoper.  I packed my reading materials for the two hour wait in line for standing room tickets.  I read my reading materials.  I waited in line.  I paid 3 Euro for what I was hoping would be an exciting night of inexpensive but brilliant singing.  I marked my spot with the black, newly-purchased going-to-the-opera scarf I bought just for saving my place at the railing.  The overture started.  I sang along in my head with The oh so familiar Magic Flute.  The opera ended.  I was disappointed.

I don't know what was going on tonight, but that was so NOT what I expected.  Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought seeing an opera at the Stadtoper was going to be one of those jaw-dropping, I-wish-I-were-this-good experiences.  Instead I was just confused.  Pamina and Papageno were AMAZING, but aside from their singing I was so underwhelmed.  It looked a bit thrown together, the singers were ok but not what I had hoped for, and I just felt like I was seeing a tourist-focused kind of production.  I don't mean to be totally rude, but good lord it was just not what it should have been.  It really feels like the place is trying to cram as many operas into a week and make them as visually stimulating as possible so that every tourist who comes here can say he or she saw The Magic Flute in Vienna and it was pretty.  The staging was icky, and everything just didn't feel together.  The performance as a whole didn't have that feel of focus and... I don't even know how to describe it, but good performances have it.  It was so weird to come away dissatisfied!  I totally didn't expect that.  Fortunately there are tons of other venues like the Volksoper to go to, and this one performance is not going to keep me from going back.  I just might avoid Die Zauberflöte for a very long time.  I am all zauber'd out.  Oh wait.  I'm singing the Papageno/Papagena duet this semester...hahahahaha.
I finished my book while waiting in line, so that was pretty sweet.

I went to the Prater this weekend and took some pictures of the amusement park.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is an amusement park in the middle of Vienna.  Well, it's actually a little right of center but it's very close. It's a little creepy but mostly amusing.

My greatest accomplishment today was reading two chapters of Roald Dahl's Danny, the Champion of the World in German.  I don't always understand it, but it is really fun.

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pagena

I've been watching a bit of European television, and I can't help but notice how nice they are to each other on shows that are supposed to be mean.  Two examples: 1. The X Factor. Maybe everyone but me knows about this show, but I have only recently discovered it.  It is the equivalent of American Idol. EXCEPT IT'S NOT.  They pick random people to sing a really poorly accompanied song for a panel of three judges who are touched by every performance no matter how bad they are.  They find merit in someone's story or energy or ability to overcome a horrible something-or-other that has happened to them.  Based on the cool stares I observe on the subway and the awkward look-away I get when I flash my Midwestern smile at strangers on the street, I would expect the judges in this part of the world to be a bit more critical.  It's almost like they want everyone to feel good about themselves instead of just having one winner and a lot of losers...crazy...
2. The Weakest Link:  Same host. Different personality.  Sassy British lady starts conversations about contestants' jobs and homes and whatnot instead of immediately tearing into them and making them feel stupid right off the bat.  She throws in the occasional jab but all in good fun.  It is nothing compared to the cut-throat, no nonsense "You ARE the weakest link, Goodbye" lady we know in the U.S.  Americans would hate this version.

I don't think this is very pertinent information.  I just wanted to share my observations.  I also learned how to make a really cool craft on a German children's television show.  It sounds like I watch TV all the time, but I really don't.  It's just nice to have on when I'm in my room.  The apartment is always QUIET.  This is a change for me since I am always LOUD.

I got my music for the performance workshop today.  I'm singing the Papageno/Papagena duet from The Magic Flute, a soprano solo in a Bach cantata, and part of an Argento piece for clarinet, soprano, and piano.  I love my music!

This is on my walk to school.  It is on Ringstrasse, the main circle that goes around the inner city.

Green Pills, Rain, and der Bibliothek

My first weekend in Vienna was not a lively one, but the good news is I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER.  I was super sick, so I just slept and took strange green pills all weekend and skipped the bar hopping and party going.  Not that I would do that in the first place, Mom and Dad...  There is a huge event this weekend because the Ubahn is going to run all night on the weekends for the first time.  You can print out a ticket online (which I did just a few seconds ago!) that lets you ride any line all night and gets you into 31 different clubs for free.  I don`t think I am much of the clubbing type, but it should be an interesting night full of getting lost and riding the subway I guess.  I just got hired to be a librarian at IES for the music workshop! Hooray!  Today will be filled with making copies of music for the performance workshop meeting tomorrow.  I can`t wait to see what I get to sing and start learning new music. 

It has been rainy all week, but I like the weather a lot.  Blustery and a little chilly.  It`s a bit dark and romantic, and I totally buy into it.  This morning I wore my big tan trenchcoat and Laura`s black boots (thanks for letting me borrow them) and did that thing where you pretend you are in a movie that is all about you and right now you`re in the opening montage- other people do that, right?  Maybe not.  I bet Laura knows what I`m talking about. 

I saw 60% of Don Giovanni on the big screen at the Rathaus last night before I got too cold and went home.  The production was very...interesting.  They used an all white, rotating set with lots of doors and sliding panels and whatnot.  Contemporary dress, which seems to be a big thing in productions here, and nudity galore.  Don`t get me wrong- I fully support naked people on stage.  I just thought it strayed a little too far from the path, and the new elements of the production didn`t really enhance it for me.  That`s just my opinion...

My New Sunglasses are Pink

This is Lily.  We went to the Naschmarkt today in the sechsten Blicke (6th District) and bought all kinds of goodies.  I got a few zucchinis, ginger root, hummus, and an assortment of OLIVES (the best fruit, yes it's a fruit folks, in the world), and sunglasses to replace the ones I lost on the plane.  All of the guys say hello to you when you walk by, but it's only because they want you to sample their olives and then buy a bunch of stuff from them.  I like to pretend I'm a native who knows not to talk to them unless I want to buy something.  Auditions went well despite my severe anxiety which I realize I poured into my last post.  I'm sipping ginger root tea (thank you Mary Anne Scott for always reminding me how much I like this) and trying to study for a German test tomorrow.  Well I'm not really trying right now, but I will when I finish this.  Right now.

Pre-Audition Blog

We have a music performance workshop class that all of the overzealous musicians (including myself) are auditioning for starting today.  I thought I'd get a head start and go on the first singer day, and then I went to bed last night with that eerie feeling like maybe I will wake up in the morning with a cold or maybe it will go away.  My throat is ON FIRE, but I can still sing.  Except now I'm in that scary place where I want to be warmed up but not over-sing today.  I just practiced with my accompanist and barely got through the last one even though I didn't sing all of them the whole way through.  This is not going to be the end of the world either way, but I hate walking into auditions scared.  I just do not get the vibe that everyone here wants to be supportive and share music with one another.  It's hard to put a bunch of performance majors together and expect us not to be a bit cut throat.  Lucky for me the coolest person in the world named Lily just sat down across from me.  She sings, and she makes my day.  I'm also hoping we get at least one awkward singer just to shake things up a bit.

I went to this film thing last night in front of the Rathaus (it's like the town hall except it looks like a beautiful palace and not a typical government building).  They play recordings of operas and concerts on a huge screen since it isn't opera haus season yet.  Tonight is Hansel and Gretel.  I think I shall go.  It's pretty cool because I just hop on the U-bahn (subway system) and find a close stop.  I'm becoming quite seasoned at public transportation.  

I'm in Intermediate German I for the 3 week intensive that we have before we start classes.  I forgot a lot of stuff from a year ago, but I think I can catch up.  Yesterday I gave a tourist directions in German, and today I ordered food without the server switching to English because he assumed I was a tourist.  Success.  I'm going to go finish being nervous before this audition starts.  On the bright side I get to hear all of the other music people this week (which should be a mostly bright side kind of experience) AND I have class and auditions in a palace everyday.  One point for Harry.

P.S.  I'm kind of paranoid about random people reading my blog, so I like to know all of the people who subscribe.  Now I know the list of subscribers is really long, but I managed to sift through it and find a person called "Bill".  I know a few Bills, but I can't identify this particular one.  So Bill:  If you're out there and reading this blog, thanks for keeping track of me, but who are you?  

Liederhosen und Bier trinken

I don't know if my spelling of the title is correct, but none of you will care and I appreciate that.  There is a lot of weirdo singer competition floating around in addition to the "I can speak German better than you can" stuff, but it's nothing to really complain about.  It's very interesting to watch how everyone interacts with different people and who ends up hanging out together.  Last night we danced with these dancer guys wearing liederhosen who came in to do a performance for us of their clog-like Austrian dancing thing.  It was hilarious.  This old guy named Hans played the accordion, and by the end of the night he was the only one who wasn't at least a little drunk.  This hostel was like a frat house last night, and I don't even know how it happened.  I laid low and hung out with people, and then I did some swing dancing with one of the staff members, Kyle, who reminds me of Al from Home Improvement.  I will post much more later, but right now I'm going to interview for an English teaching internship!

Hey! Here's an awesome picture!

We're at the hostel in Mariazell for orientation this weekend.  It's beautiful.  I listened to Belle and Sebastian while we charter bussed through the mountains.  I don't think I'm ever coming home.

I have no idea what time it is.

I'm in a hostel lobby loving on the wireless internet in Vienna!  Hooray!  It took 24 hours to get here, and I just hauled my 50 lb. suitcase up six flights of stairs, but now everything is fine.  Hostels are kind of weird and strangely quiet given that this place is full of young, crazy people.  I met two strapping young men on the train who are going to my school too, and we are now calling ourselves Harry, Ron, and Hermione (my dream come true).  I swear it was JUST like the movie, guys.  We were on the train with our luggage talking about Hogwarts and all the great stuff that's going to happen this term.  I spoke German to a woman on a bench today, and Ron (who speaks German fairly well) got that embarrassed look on his face when you have to tolerate someone who is butchering a language but insists on using it nonetheless.  Whatever, Ron. She understood me.  I also made two new bffs on the plane today (or yesterday maybe) from Greece and Hungary.  I gave them my chicken and they gave me their vegetables.  I'm going to go shower it up hostel style now and go to sleep for a long time.

Day One

I'm sitting in the international terminal of the airport in Chicago slowly sipping a latte in preparation for: 1. The very long flight I am about to board, and 2. All of the coffee I will likely be drinking in the next four months.  I was a hot mess throughout the week leading up to this (sorry Mom, Dad, Laura, Kyle, and Joe), but now I am strangely calm and enjoying the planes, trains, and Japanese conversation that surrounds me (a flight to Tokyo is about to board). I confused I-70 with I-74 this morning due to my stubborn insistence that I knew where I was going on the way to the airport, but all is well aside from that blunder. (Again, sorry Mom).  I can't wait to get going largely due to my love of airplane food but also because I'm SUPER EXCITED to go to Wien.  That's Vienna for all those readers who haven't taken Beg. German I and learned the names of cities and countries auf Deutsch.  I know it's going to be difficult to keep up with my vast knowledge of the German language and culture, but just do your best as you read along (this is a joke).  I'm going to go eat a $7 sandwich before I tackle airport security and get something confiscated.

I'm actually happy right now.  I'm just really bad at taking pictures of myself.