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.