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.