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.