The Ballet

Well, it was certainly an interesting experience! I went to see the ballet at the Staatsoper tonight! I was there in line at 5:10 for the 7:30 show, so I was something like 7th or 8th in line. I've never even been close to that close to the front, so it was cool! Gretchen ended up not coming, so I brought a book and read a couple of chapters of it while sitting down there....I got Parterre (orchestra) tickets, and when I got in, sure enough I found a nice spot in the very first row of rails! It made a huge huge difference to stand there where I wasn't under the eave and such, and today there were fewer people, so I had a little breathing room. The ballet was called "Wiener Abend" and it was basically a collection of pieces, none of which were actually ballets. The first piece was a Beethoven Piano Concerto (op. 73), which was very interesting. It's one of his more ubiquitous concerti, and although I can't remember when I've actually heard it, everything sounded familiar. The pianist was not very good, unfortunately.....he made a lot of mistakes (audible mistakes, like playing octaves wrong and screwing up scales.....it was weird) The orchestra was FANTASTIC, of course. The choreography was really really good.....there was a large scrim which stayed down for the exposition of the first movement which had Beethoven's signature in red letters on the bottom (I have pictures)....it was interesting to see people dancing in the background. There were these little lamp things which went up later, and towards the end of the concerto a large version of these globular lamp things came down to a point right above the chest of a reclining dancer, and a man then pushed it up to one side and let it go, and the giant pendulum continued to swing throughout the rest of the piece. It was pretty cool. After that was the first intermission....20 minutes, standard fare. I took the time to write down the opus numbers, but unfortunately I was not comprehensive due to the confusing layout of the bulletin....na ja! After the intermission they did two slow movements from Mozart piano concerti (nos. 23 & 21....21 is really really famous) They were both interesting....especially 21. These women who had been standing at the back of the stage during the first Mozart came forward gliding in these ridiculous floor-length 17th-century-black dress-looking things. (the kind that makes your hips look ridiculously wide) The glided so smoothly around the stage....it was amazing.....and at one point they sort of jumped out of them, revealing the fact that the dresses were not actual dresses, but in fact these rigid prop things that had wheels.....they kept popping up throughout the Mozart set....sometimes without a visible rider, sometimes with a man using one.....it was really funny. After the slow movements, they did 6 (it seems like more, but the bulletin said 6) dances that he wrote....I'd never heard any of them before (KV 571). They were all very humorously choreographed....it was hilarious. After that was another intermission, and then they did 15 quintillion walzes by (if I read the bulletin correctly) Josef Strauß (son of the famous Johann).....they were good, and you could tell that the orchestra simultaneously hated and loved them.....in one of them the orchestra even sang! It was really funny, but only to me (everyone else laughed at the strangest things, but no one seemed to think that 30+ string players singing a rudimentary drinking-song type melody was very funny......the high G they hit certainly was hilarious!) They were also choreographed well....there were two groups of dancers: one group was more elegant in dress and choreography and came in on stage right, and the other group was more modern and spunky (we're talking Austrian waltz spunky....) and came from stage left.....so basically every phrase of every waltz, because they're ALL repeated, was danced by first one group and then the other. It was interesting, but it was getting a little old after the 7th waltz......it was, in fact, the only time that night when I had any conception of time at all...during every other piece I was enraptured by the beautiful music and flawless dancing. During the waltzes I defintely was aware of the slow, arduous passage of time. Don't get me wrong, I love waltzes, but I was not expecting this many. Knowing that the last piece on the concert was a Mahler piece for string orchestra and Harp (didn't write down the info.....so I'm no help for this one) every time a waltz ended I thought "OK, the Mahler will be next....." only to be greeted by another canned waltz intro. It was a bit frustrating, but still enjoyable once I accepted it. The Mahler was gorgeous!!!! I'm not his hugest fan, but the piece was beautiful!! The choreography I was not too keen on, but to each his own, I guess....it was just this one couple, and the girl was always flailing and being all verklempt......it was not interesting, and certainly did not do justice to the music. Oh well. It was a great evening of music and dance!

What else did I do today? I got more money for the next couple of weeks, since I always break my €100 bills at the opera! The ATMs here are nice because you can request money in €10 increments and they give you 10s, 20s, 50s, and 100s, but it's not always easy to cash a €100 bill....but there they move so much money I hardly think it's a problem.....I've never even gotten a strange glance when purchasing my €3.50 ticket with a €100 bill....but at the supermarket they get really huffy even if you use a €50 for a small purchase.......in any case, that happened. I had a really easy test in German....nothing special at all. Classical Symphony was interesting....I did do all the reading, but it was a photo finish! We had an interesting discussion about sonata form, whether it's a binary or ternary structure, and indeed if the use of the terminology of sonata form is an efficient way of describing composition. Interesting, but esoteric. After that I went home, called the coach whose number Russell had given me (she wasn't there, but I talked with her husband for a while) After getting my spot at the Opera, I had time to take the U-bahn back home and call Michelle again (the coach I'm going to work with). I thought about using a payphone, but I realized that i needed access to my schedule and so I had to be at home. I spoke to her, and we worked out a time for two weeks from now. (she's full next week, and the week after that she's not in town) I also talked to Prof. Schachermeier about studying organ, and she said she would talk to some of her friends and get back to me next week! That's really exciting, because hopefully I'll be able to pay for occasional lessons, and almost certainly get a place to practice!! YAY!

All right, that's all for today!

P.S. Tonight my dream was realized......well, one of them anyway......I saw an episode of The Golden Girls in German! It was the one with the pregnant girl whose father throws her out and something about a dog that's attacking Sophia....the voices were strange, like all dubbed shows, but Bea Arthur's voice was spot on! Estelle Getty, however, sounded like she had a bad case of Emphysema, and Blanche just isn't the same with no accent! (Maybe she should have had a Bavarian accent....JB said the guys at Oktoberfest said that Bavaria was sort of like the Kentucky of Germany........) It was really funny, and I understood a surprising amount of what they were saying (it helped that I knew the basic plot.)

Another skipped day!

Oh, curses! I didn't write yesterday! Oh well, I remember yesterday surprisingly well.....the day began with...well, nothing! I got to sleep in, which was mahhhvelous. I woke up at about 10:30 or so and did some grocery shopping, mostly price comparison between Billa and Merkur. Billa is your average supermarket chain....they're a bit more ubiquitous than the other stores. Merkur is huge.....by far the largest supermarket I've seen here (it rivals some of the larger Gelsons and Bristol Farms back home with size and variety) and on average 5-10% cheaper than Billa, as I found out yesterday. I also found out (the hard way) that when you buy produce you weigh it and the tell the scale what it is and it prints out a sticker, which you then affix to your bag and thusly get charged by the cashier. The only time I've bought produce from the supermarket (and not the Naschmarkt, where everything is super-analog) was at Zielpunkt (another grocery store....it's small and there aren't any near us) and they had the same system as in the States, where the cashier weighs it there.....needless to say I did not do the whole stamp-printing thing, and when the cashier asked me if I had weighed (in incomprehensible Wienerisch, as the dialect is called) I could only shrug my shoulders. She gave me the "stupid American!" look and stormed off to the produce section to weigh my apples herself, which caused some resentment from the patrons behind me in line. The woman in front of me in line was nice enough to briefly explain this system in slow German and helpful gesticulation, so at least now I know what to do. It was scary, though, when she stormed off (I thought she was going to get her dueling pistol, or perhaps a bow and arrow to shoot a golden delicious off my head in lieu of monetary compensation....) Well, now I know.

After that experience, I dropped off all my stuff at home and went to Austrian Art and Architecture. Usually we would have a tour on Wednesdays, but we had a class instead to sort of jump-start the semester. It was mostly boring administrative stuff and the like....we did get our museum card, though, and a comprehensive guide to all the museums in the city, specifically which ones are free with the card. Especially now that the weather has taken a turn for the worse, most my activities will be indoors, and I think I'll be hitting up a lot of these museums in my free time. The museum card (which was free to us, but would normally cost the paltry sum of €14.50) doesn't get you into that many museums for free, but it's nice to know that I can go to, say, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (which I went to the first week I was here with the tour) as often as I want for free.....it's such a big museum that I couldn't see everything in one, or even two days. I hope they re-open the antiquities wing....when I went it was still being renovated. Anyway that was fun, and then after that I went with my music history class on a tour of the music branch of the National Library.

The building which houses the music collection is near the Albertina in the 1st district, and not too far from the Institute. We were somewhat of a large group, but due to a connection Dr. Solvik has with in library we were able to take our tour when the library wasn't open, so that we weren't disturbing anyone and we had the place to ourselves to do what we wanted. You're probably thinking "why wasn't the library open on Wednesday afternoon?" Well, university here doesn't start until October, and the National Library keeps fairly close to the academic calendar.....in a week or so they'll be operating at normal business hours. (normal Austrian business hours....no Sundays and maybe for a few hours on Saturday) Basically the way it works is you go up the elevator to the library, which is essentially two rooms: the first room you come to is a reading room, where you sit and look at the materials. I don't know how much you have to pay or who you have to shtupp to get borrowing privileges, if indeed they do it at all, but if I ever use this place I'll have to do all my work in the library. The room isn't that big....there's bookshelves on the walls that contain reference materials (New Grove, catalouges, etc.) and the complete works of the major composers, and then in the middle of the room are 5 or 6 tables, each with 6 chairs. Each spot at each table has a number, and when you come in and show your library card (which you have to get from the main library in the Hofburg complex...it costs €5 or something) the give you a ticket for a place at a table, which remains your place for as long as you need. In the adjoining room are more bookshelves with more indirect and secondary reference materials: biographies, critical works, stuff like that. Again, not too many books. The main collection of scores, monographs, autographs and so on (the collection was started by the Habsburgs and was started around 1500 or something....a long time ago, even by European standards) is housed in a separate room somewhere into which no one is allowed. So, how do you get these materials? Well, quid pro quo, there's an elaborate Austrian system for it, and it starts with the huge card catalogue. I imagine it's not that large in comparison to other card catalogues of larger libraries (like the main library in the Hofburg) but it's by far the biggest I've seen that I'll actually have to USE. In any case, you get the call number from this catalogue, fill out a form and turn it in to the desk. About 6 times a day they go into the stacks and retrieve whatever materials have been requested up until that time and bring them to the front desk in the reading room, at which time you can get them. Basically you have to go in the first day, find your stuff, request it, and leave (you could wait, of course). Then you come back and use what you have, find out if you need more, and request that, and so on and so on. It looks like a ridiculous system, and in fact there are three catalogues for scores; one for things that were added up until 1940-something, another for 1940-1998, and the stuff acquired since then is all online. I didn't understand from what Dr. Solvik said if you can search all the catalogues online (I think you can) but in any case you have to search each one, since they're not cross-referenced, which seems really silly to me. Anyway, I surreptitiously took a few photos, since I figured the Austrian bureaucracy would get really pissy if I tried to take shots when the library was in use......after the library tour I hauled ass back to the institute to get to work....I actually managed to make it back in 5 minutes, which is pretty good time from Albertinaplatz.

Anywho, I was working the closing shift at the library with Gretel (who's really cool), and we had this project that Frau Fischer had said was "really hard".....we thought she was being facetious, but she wasn't.....it took us almost the whole 2.5 hour shift to finish it....I won't go into the nitty-gritty, but it involved shuffling all these photocopied articles into different binders and such.....it was awful! Anyway, it left me with precious little time to do my reading for Classical Symphony, so I got behind in that, but whatever. After coming home I started to make dinner for Gretchen and I....she arrived at 8 and we watched History of the World Part I while doing really really easy German homework, and after the movie we watched the last fifteen minutes of Bridget Jones's Diary (just for Colin Firth and the "oh yes they fucking do" line at the very end of the movie) Yesterday was a good day, despite the fact that it was so busy and I didn't do a lot of the things I had promised myself I would do....oh well, there's tons of time for all that!

Second Day of Classes

Today I had German in the morning (more of the same....my friend Gretchen and her friend David transferred to our class today from Elementary II......it's a fun group, but we're such a huge class! almost 17 students now.....) Anyway after German everyone rushed to the three practice rooms, ruining my hopes of practicing there (keep in mind I had to sing Du bist die Ruh tonight....and by this morning I had only practiced for about 45 minutes.....) so I went home, made lunch (tuna sandwich again.....I finally found relish, so it's a lot better!) and went back to the center to check my e-mail and take care of other business......there's still so much to do....I still have to call Michelle Friedmann, the woman with whom I'll be studying (voice) here....I have to talk to Frau Schachermeier (sp???), the German professor who is an organist to see if I can hook up with a church to practice or maybe even a teacher! Anyway, (sorry for the sidetrack) at 11:45 I went to "The Classical Symphony" which may turn out to be my favorite class! I'm warming up to Dr. Solvik more and more, and I really enjoyed the discussion we had in class today. In any case, it sounds like all my classes are going to be a lot fun. After class I ran to the practice rooms, but once again they were all taken....so I took the U-bahn down to the practice rooms on Schönbrunnerstrasse.....basically there's an apartment building there (in which a few IES students live) and on the top floor/attic thing there are a bunch of practice rooms. It's really nice, and during the day there's usually not that many people there. When I got there at about 1:50 no one was there, and I stayed until about 2:30, after which I returned to the center to report to the library at 3:00 for my 1.5 hour shift.....so I was there until 5:00 "working" (it's about as much work as at Oxy, but it's fun 'cause I get to meet a bunch of people and I get a good excuse to ask for their name without feeling stupid......I even had a 10 minute conversation with Kate completely in German, which is always fun......I think I'm at the verge of taking another step forward.....anyway); at 5:30 I went to room 10 (the recital room) for the three-hour Vocal Performance Workshop. It's as much time as any other class, but a 3-hour chunk just felt really huge......anyway I was really really nervous because I know that I'm the most inferior vocalist in the workshop as far as technique (and most other vocal things) go, and I didn't really know my piece that well, so I immediately raised my hand to go first. I sang the piece all right.....I really love singing with a good accompanist....it always makes me feel good, even if I screw up a lot....the only things I really screwed up were my breaths, so even at the faster tempo that she took I ran out of breath a lot in the middle of already awkward phrases.....na ja. (oh well) After I sang Russell turned around and asked everyone who was familiar with the piece (most people raised their hands) and asked how many people understood the text, etc......then he turned back to me and said (sarcastically? I certainly didn't think so...) "Well, you've picked one of the easiest pieces in the repertoire!" I was sort of taken aback......you have to understand Russell is the nicest, sweetest man I think I've ever met.....he's so positive and affirming (and usually very indirect, but incisive, in his criticism) that I was surprised to head this, which sounded a bit like a sort of negative comment......I had no idea what to make of it at the time, but my face went instantly bright pink and stayed that way for the 5 minutes that he coached me. After I was done I felt better about it, but the whole thing was embarrassing. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but the environment seems very very unsupportive to me......I feel like a little kid who wants to play with the older kids and pretends well enough to do something to be marginally accepted.....this of course creates a self-feeding loop, because without confidence, I project an attitude of inferiority and any technique that I have tends to fly out the window....whatever. Eventually I'll find my niche, and perhaps with the help of my teacher, I'll continue improving. Anyway, everybody else sang (except 4 people, since they ran out of time) and they were all very very good, just as in the auditions. There's a lot of real divas in the group, and it comes across in a very interesting way in their performances. It's interesting to me that the two most talented women are also two of nicest and most genuine people in the workshop.....in the Institute, even. It was also interesting to hear what people want to do....many of them are preparing for recitals when they get back, so there was a lot of talk about wanting to learn more about different repertoire (or "rep" as some call it....) and different genres. It should be an interesting semester....also one of the violinists (of course I've forgotten her name) was sitting in because apparently she's going to get some sort of conducting opportunity......after I thought I had made it clear that that was what I was interested in......I'll have to be more forward, I suppose. I was talking to her about it.....she's really nice, and she sounds very very knowledgeable.....if nothing else I can learn from her. I honestly wasn't expecting to conduct here, and indeed I'm not sure I need the extra work, but part of me really wants to now, maybe just because the opportunity has already been given to someone else. (not in a competitive way, but now I know that it's possible....) Anyway after the long, long workshop I took the U-bahn back home, made a huge dinner of pasta for myself, bipped in and out of my roommates watching In & Out in the living room (having seen it so many times, I know all the audio cues for the really funny parts, so I only went in for those! ^_^)

I've been doing a lot of thinking today.....the re-entry into an academic environment, albeit one less rigorous than Oxy, is adding to the bearable amount of stress I had about being here in general: worries of financial, social, intellectual, physical, and spiritual natures; the result has turned out to be to much for me.......the kingdom of this semester is become the kingdom of my fears (sorry for the nerdy and not-well-thought-out Messiah reference......) I was thinking if it was worth it to do the performance workshop, for instance, because it's going to cause so much extra work and stress for me.....in the end I decided the experience and the ability to take lessons made it worthwhile, but I'm still sort of waffling. All my other classes seem like they're going to be fun....especially Music History since I've essentially already taken it......I like the staff here, for the most parts (I don't want to be too specific....this is the internet, after all......) and my friends here are great. Tomorrow I have a lot of clerical stuff to take care of, as well as class and closing shift at the library......yay for tomorrow and for today finally being over! It seemed so long......

P.S. My roommate Nick is still reading my copy of Errol Flynn's autobiography that I lent him......I'm always glad to share the joy of Errol, and it's hilarious to hear him talk about it........

Helmut

So.....here's the Helmut I've been talking about. Apparently he not only looks like a model, but he actually is one! I suppose this is only funny to us, who dealt with him so much in Murau.....he's a really nice guy, very Austrian. My roommates do a good impression of his accent, and the subject matter he espoused during our orientation. (every sentence contained the phrase "die Gürtel!" in a very rambunctious tone.....it was nothing short of hi-larious.

New Photos!

New photos of the city and my two recent opera excursions. Check 'em out!

Daphne

Just got back from seeing Daphne, which was pretty good. I'm not the hugest Strauss fan, so the lack of real melody (argue with me if you must) and constant movement and lack of resolution (harmonic or melodic) is effective, and can be quite beautiful (haunting, even) but after 1:45 it is hard to be affected by anything....I walked out in a complete sensory overload....The orchestra was HUGE....8 double basses and a huge brass section (I always count basses....it's a good indication of how big the orchestra is) The set was interesting.....Daphne's couch/bed thing was center stage and in front, and behind the bed were two large statues of Apollo and some other dude and directly behind them was a large classical structure which framed the back of the stage (it reminded me of a puppet show or something where there's a house or something which frames the action) Behind that was a big white space with these horizontal indentations which served as tracks for random pieces of the set as they slithered across the stage, plus two elevators, one small one for Apollo and the tree at the end, and a big one that ran the width of the visible stage (behind the structure thing) which raised and lowered this freaky- looking head out of which the Dionysian nymphs sprang (they were covered in red stuff....so almost everything that they touched had a tiny bit of red stuff on it). The costumes were interesting, but nothing truly spectacular.

The singing was just amazing, though, and the acting was good....good enough that I actually noticed it! I realized that the acting thus far has been OK, but tonight I actually walked away praising the acting as much as the singing. Perhaps because of the abstract take on the story (which I suppose Strauss intended...I'm not really sure what the deal is with that, and what other motives Strauss had in setting the story.....) which allowed them to be more expressive and emotive without looking semaphoric (not a word, but OSX did not correct me!). Apollo was jaw-dropping, Daphne was absolutely amazing, and although she didn't sing much, Daphne's mother had a great part (yay for women who sing low E's in opera!!). All the parts seemed so challenging, not just technically but musically, what with the strange melodies and incredibly high, unforgiving, tessitura. Like I said, it wasn't my favorite, and I'm not going to go run out and buy the CD, but it certainly was very moving.....when Daphne's love interest (he has some really Greek name....why can't I remember it?) died, Daphne's pain was palpable.....as she transformed into the laurel (a scene which was impeccably staged for the abstract setting) the transformation seemed to be happening....slowly, Apollo walks off stage pronouncing her fate, and she slowly rises from her couch, walks upstage, and the trunk of the laurel rises out of the ground; as she reaches center stage the orchestra suddenly hits a large swell and a spotlight shines directly down onto her uplifted face; she slowly, slowly inches her way towards the laurel, accepting it, embracing her new joy in being what she has always loved; she enters smoothly and lifts her arms as the transformation completes itself, and the rest of the trunk (all seemingly of glass) descends upon her awaiting form, encasing her in glorious immortality.*

Sorry this keeps jumping around, but I'm writing stuff down as fast as I can while I still remember. I stood up in the balcony again, which I really liked. Mike and Kate had bought seats in the gallery over on the right, and after the show I met them there and saw what it was like....it was a huge difference being only slightly closer to the stage. I got a picture of the final curtain call from that spot, so you can compare. It was a pretty full house, probably because this was the last of only three performances. The U-bahn was packed like nothing on the way back.....some cracked-out lady started running after Carla in the Opernpassage and trying to hit her.....scary.

I started classes today: German is exactly the same, except in a way crappier room, and of course, much shorter! (9-10:15) Austrian Art & Architecture was really good.....hearing about all the great places around Vienna we're going to visit really makes me excited about the rest of the semester. Music History was OK......I didn't realize that it was going to be exactly like 261/264 at Oxy....but I'll probably learn more from Solvik than I did from Baur. (it wasn't all his fault...it was also my freshman year and I barely remember anything from any of my classes)

We had a couple of interesting discussions today: the first in AA&A (as I'll call it, since I'm sick of spelling 'Architecture') about what art is. I didn't come to any world-bending conclusions, but it was interesting to see how we all approached the matter. For instance, at first there was some dispute about whether or not an audience is needed for something to be art (someone brought up the tree in the forest...of course) and I pointed out that even if no one else experiences it, it still affects the person who created it, and that's enough. Then we got on the subject of art created by animals and whether that's really art.....an interesting notion, and I suppose it is, even though I'm sure that chimpanzees have intentionality, but second-order? Do you have to have beliefs about other's beliefs to produce art? It seems so....do some animals have this? I don't know.......from there we were talking about aleatoric art, and different levels of randomness and if that is still art.....even though art requires an artist, does the artist have to consciously dictate everything? Perhaps not.....the whole thing was really quite thought-provoking. Next, in Music History, we talked at length about "genre" and "style period," and the difference between the two. I'm too tired to go into that conversation, and besides it was much more mundane, but still quite thought-provoking.

I have to sing again in the Performance Workshop tomorrow....I finally chose "Du bist die Ruh," even though I've never sung it before and I practiced it for the first time this afternoon after work....oh did I mention I'm working at the library? It's a fun little job....today was my first day. I got oriented around the library and met some of my fellow employees....they use cards, so I'll have to grow accustomed to that system, but I suppose it'll build character. They also use Dewey Decimal and not Library of Congress, so I'll miss seeing all the hany-dandy letters in front of the call number that give you a clue as to what genre you're dealing with. They have a pretty good CD collection, and by the time I leave I'm sure they'll all be on my computer! ^_^ I'll be working about 10 hours a week at €5 an hour, so that's a good portion of my weekly expenditures covered right there! Heck, I could even save up for some sort of journey! Well, we'll see about that. After hearing everyone's traveling stories the bug really hit me. I know I keep waffling, but I'll just have to be patient and see what happens. Everything else is going quite well, and I'm still having an amazing time here...the experience is unparalleled, really.

Jetzt muss ich meine Hausaufgabe schreiben und danach ins Bett gehen. I am sooooo tired tonight, probably because a strange form of homesickness prevented me from getting much sleep last night. Tonight, more sleep is definitely on the agenda!


*super-nerd alert: Leto II, anyone? I was definitely reminded of the scene where he begins his transformation.....there really are only a few plots in this world!!

Last Day of Break

I did....next to nothing. I got up nice and late, and went to the MQ to check my e-mail and find a song to sing for the re-audition on Tuesday. I finally paid for PDF versions of "An die Musik" and "Du bist die Ruh," which are two of my favorite Schubert songs....anyway, I put both of them in Sibelius and put them in a do-able key (both Bb) and I think that I'm gonna go ahead and sing An die Musik, even though it's shorter, but the range of Du bist die Ruh is better for my voice, especially in my getting-over-sickness state. Well, I spent some time doing that, and socializing with all the people who got back from the 3-city tour today....it was interesting hearing everyone's stories....it kind of made me wish that I had travelled during the break, but I think in the end staying here was better (especially because of the whole money thing) I had a nice, simple dinner and more people came to talk, so I hung out with them, and now I'm going to bed so that I can get up at a decent time tomorrow. Yay for sleep, and bigger yay for classes starting! (I can't believe that September is almost over.....the time has already flown incredibly.)

La Boheme

Amazing! Just amazing! Sure, Puccini's not my favorite composer (by a LONG shot) but I just loved it! We got there decently early, and we were just inside the door. The ushers tonight were being really nasty...they even locked us in! Nick was still outside waiting for his friends, who turned out to be inside anyway! And of course he couldn't get in 'cause the doors were locked....It all worked out, though, and I relayed that we had bought tickets in the upper gallery, so he just met us there. It was fairly crowded, but I don't know how it usually is up there...tonight was my first time up in the top balcony. It was kind of nice because you have a much better view of the orchestra and you can hear everything a bit better, but at the same time you have to strain your eyes a lot more, and it's weird to me to always look down. I mean, for €1.50 more I could be standing on the ground floor....also, since we were in the second row, there wasn't a rail behind us, so I couldn't do the old butt-on-the-lower-rail trick. The opera itself was good, and the singing was absolutely amazing. It was more light-hearted than I expected....I have never seen it, so I didn't really know what the plot was like at all. Correction: technically I have seen it at an outing that I went to with LACHSA, but I don't remember anything because they did it in English without subtitles and I think I fell asleep anyway....plus it was LA Opera second-tier cast, so I doubt the singing was out of this world....tonight it certainly was! Mimi certainly was, and Rodolfo! He was damn good!! I meant to get their names after the show, but when I went to the places where tehy have the casts posted they had already changed it to the cast list for tomorrow night's performance of La Favorite (which I don't think I'll see, thanks.) It was nice being able to see the orchestra, although we couldn't see the conductor. It was fun going with a huge group, although most of them were IES students that I didn't really know.

Feeling Better

Quote of the Day today is actually from yesterday, but whatever. Bush was giving a press conference with the prime minister of Iraq....it was interesting to hear all the things they had to say.....and by interesting I mean unbelievable. Anyway, Bush was talking about....something...it all blurs together, but he definitely said that he was trying to fight hypocrisy, which is why he was "trying to be as clearly as possible." It was fantastic.

Anyway, I didn't do too much today...went to the MQ quickly and did a bit of grocery shopping. I had a quick lunch of kielbasa and potatoes like last night's dinner, and JB & I had delicious fried potatoes, green pepper, red onion, and sausage for dinner. It was really really good. Oh yeah, all of my roommates (except Brad) came back today.....Cabot was already back (he went to the opera tonight) and JB and Nick came back from their whirlwind tour of Amsterdam, Prague and Munich (where they had a great time at Oktoberfest) and Mike came back from his audition in Zurich, which he won!! The audition was for a chance to participate in the Zurich Opera Orchestra Academy, or something, which basically means that you get a pittance to live off of and you play in the Zurich Opera Orchestra for one or two years, basically until you win an audition for something else. It sounded like a tremendous opportunity, but he's not sure if he's ready to drop everything and start.....apparently they'd want him there before Oct. 5th, which is ridiculously soon.....he'd have to drop out of IES, lose the money he's already paid his school for the semester, have to get out of a lease and all this other stuff.....he's thinking about it. In any case it must have been a thrill to win the audition.....and although Zurich isn't as musical a city as Vienna, it would still be a life-changing experience to play in a professional opera orchestra in Europe. In any case, he's thinking about it.

Nick brought back the brigade of girls that were over here last week, so tonight should be interesting. I'm feeling better on the whole, and I hope to go to the opera again tomorrow to see La Boheme. Must conserve strength!

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And a fun night it was! Nick mulled over whether or not to go to Zurich, and after talking to his parents and his teacher I think he's decided to do it, but I'm not exactly 100% sure. What an opportunity that'll be! I hope he does it.....I stayed in Cabot's room talking to him for a while, then I thought it might be fun to be social, so I went out and joined the group. It was OK (at least no one threw up) and we sat around and told bad jokes for a very long time....at some point someone suggested that we watch a movie, and as they perused my DVD collection they decided to watch Princess Bride, which I had just watched with Gretchen. What is it with this week and seeing movies twice?? Anyway, I went to bed before the movie was over, since I was too damn tired. So that's the end of that night!

At home

Now I'm back at home, having just cooked dinner for myself. Today I made a more complicated meal than the usual pasta and bottled marinara....I threw sautéed some potatoes with onions and some sausage I picked up at Merkur....it was really really good! It was definitely a nice change of pace...I still feel pretty sick, but mostly just in my throat....for some reason after returning from the MQ I had so much energy, even though I felt awful. After cooking I cleaned up a bit and continued working on laundry........and here I am!

OK.....

So, I'm at the MQ, and these two guys just took my picture...........I thought they might have been, since they were pointing a camera at me, but I paid them no attention. They didn't look creepy or anything...the one with the camera was clearly a professional, since his camera was HUGE and looked ridiculously expensive. I had my headphones on, but as they were leaving one of the guys said "Thank You!" to me, I took my headphones off and said your welcome, and then they said "What are you doing?" and I said I was checking my e-mail, so they asked me if this was were the hotspot was, and I said yes, and we talked for a while....I realize now I should have asked them why exactly they were taking my picture.........oh well! It was still funny......I must of looked quite hip in my H&M wool sweater and my iMac and headphones.....they looked like they were with the whole fashion week thing that was going on, since after talking to me they went into the center of the square where all the set-up is taking place. That was really funny!

A Truly Magical Day

Today was fantastic! I had so much fun! I woke up at 9:00 to meet Gretchen at IES to check mail, and afterwards we went to the Albertina, which is a big private museum with many moving exhibitions and a small permanent collection (very small) of Austrian art in some Hapsburg apartments....I have no idea what the history of the building is, but I guess the fact that there's Hapsburg apartments should be a clue....I don't know. Anyway, first we went to the Rubens exhibit, which was absolutely amazing! There were tons of paintings, and the exhibit was arranged not specifically chronologically, but more by theme....it was interesting. Next was the exhibit entitled "Michelangelo und seine Zeit," or "Michelangelo and his times".....the title was a bit misleading, seeing as how there were maybe three actual Michelangelos and the rest were his students, or students of students, or well-wishers, or people who had heard of him.....it was weird. Also, there were no paintings, only sketches, studies, and cartoons....and TONS of writing on the walls (in German and English, thank goodness) It was basically like walking through a doctoral thesis on how Michelangelo affected the artistic community of his time.....it was okay, but it was kind of disappointing. The next exhibit we saw was possibly my favorite....it was of a German painter whom I had never heard of named Neo Rauch. He was born in Leipzig in 1960, and according to the little blurb in the pamphlet, he's been "distinctively asserting himself as one of the most important contemporary German artists." All the paintings in the relatively small exhibition were large, powerful works. They were done around the same time, if my memory serves me. His style is sort of dreamlike, in that perspective was very skillfully toyed with, and although the situations and position of all the figures seem disturbingly familiar, many of the secondary objects are decidedly out of place. He also utilizes certain shapes, space-bending effects, and color schemes very often which gave all the paintings a sense of harmony with each other.....the exhibition was designed extremely well in that regard. I really loved his work, and so I looked for the book of the exhibition in the bookstore, and it was surprisingly cheap! I think it was €19 or something....I decided instead to get another book of his work, since it was only €26 and it had a whole bunch more of his stuff. It's a good book, and I still can't get over the fact that it wasn't ridiculously expensive.....the book for the Rubens exhibit was only €32, and it was HUGE......it was a fantastic museum all in all, and there's a Chagall exhibit in December which I'll have to see.

After a quick lunch of pasta Gretchen & I went to the Mariahilferstrasse to shop.....she picked up some awesome stuff at H&M....I got this sweater I've been eyeing which was marked down from €34.90 to €4.90! It's a large knitted wool sweater with a huge collar and really long sleeves....it looks like it'll be very warm indeed. After that we walked around and stopped in a couple of shops, then headed back home stopping for gelato on the way. (the same guy that I always see there was working again today.....he's so strange! he's nice and all, but he's just....very strange)

I tried to convince Gretchen to come to the opera with me, but she didn't want to. It was kind of fun going alone, since I got to read in the line, etc., but it is better to go with people. Tonight was Rigoletto, with José Bros as the Duke, Anthony Michaels-Moore in the title role, and a wonderful Stefania Bonfadelli as Gilda. (I'm listing these names in the thought that perhaps someone will recognize them....I certainly don't) I got in line at 5:00 and it was already outside the door. From now on I'm going to get there 2.5 hours before the performance instead of just 2. I actually got a spot in the 8th row, but I was shoved over to the side, so unless I leaned forward and over I couldn't see about 1/9 of the stage on the right....no big loss, really, since no one ever sings over there. Anyway, it was absolutely amazing!!! Every opera I see there is the best one I've ever seen....I wonder how long this'll keep up! Anyway, the production was pretty straightforward and not all weird and po-mo like Hoffmann and Zauberflöte....I realized that that's probably because Rigoletto, like most Verdi operas, has a clear and straightforward plot and isn't all abstract and interpretive....I mean, Hoffmann is an abstraction of abstract stories, and Zauberflöte is just a giant masonic allegory. Anyway, all the singers were really really good, especially the Duke (who is officially the only tenor at the Staatsoper who was perfect...never honky or annoying....not the best actor, but not much was required of him) Rigoletto was also very very good....I had forgotten that "La Donna e Mobile" was from this opera, so when the duke started to sing it I was sort of taken aback....also when he sings it from inside the house, alerting Rigoletto to the fact that the body in the sack is not, in fact, the duke, but actually his fatally wounded daughter. I'll never hear the song the same way again. All in all, it was fantastic, and although going alone was a very different and liberating experience, it's still better to go with friends.

Andrew called not too long after I got home, and we talked for a while....I laughed harder than I've laughed in a while.......I just am really really happy at the moment. Then I called Grandmother, but she didn't answer. She called me back in a few minutes, though, and we talked for a while. It was also great to hear from her....it's been far too long since we've talked. Now, it's off to bed to sleep in after my exciting day!!! YAY!

Today and Yesterday

Yesterday I went to the MQ and stuff, walked around, etc....came back and met Mike, we went to dinner at Schnitzel King, which was good and fairly cheap. Afterward he packed for his trip to Zurich, and after he left Natalie and I watched Bridget Jones's Diary. I can't remember what else I did that day....it wasn't terrificly exciting.....

Today was a little more interesting....I was awoken early (10:00) by the cleaning lady who didn't look very happy to see me, so I quickly showered, grabbed my computer and headed to the MQ to check my e-mail. After about an hour and a half there, I left to go back home, but at the Karlsplatz hub I started going towards the U1 instead of the U4, so I thought I'd take the U1 to Reumannplatz since I've never been to that part of the city. I got off one stop short of the end of the line, Keplerplatz, and saw a cute church, so I stopped in. Afterwards I got an order of french fries from a little stand for only €1 (I had to wait a while for them to cook it, but I was proud that I understood what they said to me!) and while eating them I watched some kids play soccer in a park. After that I walked around some more and went to H&M and found a really funny cheap button down shirt in my size (XL) for only €1.90, which was reduced from €14.90, and any size other than XL was €7.90. For the first time, being fat saved me money! Anyway, I bought the shirt and this really nice green t-shirt to wear with it for €7.90. I also stopped at a TurboSchuhe (like Payless Shoes) and a C&M or A&M or something...another cheap clothing store. Anyway, after that I thought I would try and find the thrift store that I saw on the Wiedner Hauptstrasse, so I went back to Karlsplatz and took a Strassenbahn down the Wiedner Hauptstrasse for a while, and got off after the strassenbahn went underground and walked back toward the city center to look for the thrift store. I found the most ridiculously strange church....unfortunately it wasn't open, but it hardly looked like a church from the outside....more like a prison. Anyway, at some point while walking down the street I realized that I was no longer in possession of the H&M bag....so I spent the next hour re-tracing my steps trying to figure out where I could have left it.....long story short, I never found it, and after going to two different H&M's I found the shirt again, and luckily the same T-shirt that I had purchased before was only €4.90 at this store, so I bought two. Even though I essentially lost €10, it was still a good day, and now I have these two fabulous t-shirts and this hi-larious button-down shirt....it's white with little green tennis rackets making vertical stripes. It's hilarious....it's no wonder it was so cheap.

After getting home, I was so tired that i didn't feel like waiting in line for the ballet and standing through it too, so I called Gretchen and we had dinner at her place instead. After a delicious meal of potatoes, sausage, and frozen vegetables, we tried to make these strange dessert dumpling things.....they were almost gummi in consistency........it was pretty weird.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Albertina with Gretchen, and in the evening I'm going to see Rigoletto. Yay for Opera! It'll be nice to do a musical thing again....it's been far too long.

New Photos!

New photos, but since there were only 8 or so, I appended them to the end of the last new photos gallery, which I renamed New Photos (9/21/04) Enjoy!

Another Fun Day!

Today I woke up nice and late and headed over to the Museumsquartier, where I checked my e-mail and uploaded blogs and photos. After that I walked home, which took me far less time than I anticipated....I wandered down a couple of side streets and got some nice photos....my favorite little steret was Papagenogasse, which led down to the Theater an der Wien, on which there was a statue of a bird-man (possibly Papageno, I guess...) After that I was a stone's throw away from the Naschmarkt, which I decided to walk down even though I knew everything would be closed. It was really really cool.....all the shops boarded up and so on....I took many photos, and there were definitely at least 3 other photographers there taking advantage of some of the cool shots. It was pretty funny....I kept turning corners and seeing the same guys shooting....after stopping in a park to dump photos, I continued down the Naschmarkt and eventually got home.

Soon after I returned home, Mike and one of the girls who lives upstairs invited me to go to Schönbrunn with them, so I tagged along. It was amazingly gorgeous.....an absolutely HUGE estate. I think it used to be the imperial summer home, but I could be mistaken. Anyway, we were there for about 1 1/2 hours walking around, taking pictures, and taking in all the beauty. We still didn't get a chance to see all the grounds....I guess I'll just have to go back! After a long wait at the U-bahn (the ticket machine was being amazingly slow.....it took more than 10 minutes for 7 people to get their tickets) we went back home to cook dinner. After a quick trip to the Egyptian Man on the corner to pick up a few more eggs, onions, and some bread, we cooked a delicious meal of eggs, ham, french toast, and fried potatoes. Wow it was really, really good.....there's nothing like some eggs with ham, peppers, and onions to satiate you after a long day of hardly anything to eat. So....that was my day. It was tons of fun, and I took scads of pictures. When I go to the institute or MQ tomorrow I'll upload them all.

New Photos!

More new photos....artsy shots of the 6th and 5th districts, some shots from my excursion down the Mariahilferstrasse, and some pics of the party that my roommates threw. Enjoy!

Fun day

Last night ended strangely....many "beer tears" as JB dubbed them....this one girl ended up in my room (of course), and a total of two of the girls ended up crashing here....luckily with Brad gone there was an extra bed, plus the futon. So...that whole thing was interesting. I did, however, get to spend some quality time with Cabot, one of my roommates whom I had heretofore not known very much about....he's really awesome. He's a very inconspicuous person (one of the drunk girls apparently had never even seen him...she was like "Were you in Murau?" and Cabot said "yea, remember I was at [such and such a function]?" It was hi-liarious.) but he's very funny. He's just a really cool guy. He has a girlfriend back home...they've been together for 5 years! So we talked for a while about the whole long-distance thing.

Today I went to the MQ and took a few pictures, than I walked down the Mariahilferstrasse and saw lots of really cool things. It's a very interesting place....it's glitzy and expensive and trendy, but there's still a sort of Viennese reserved quality about it....it's very strange. I went down this little side street/alley thing and found my way back to the Haus des Meeres, and from there I went up to the little gelato place that I go to.....I had the weirdest conversation with the guy there (in German) and than he got really aggravated that I didn't have exact change. It was a very strange exchange all around....

I went to Hofer to buy groceries, and on my way I walked through the big flea market that happens on Saturdays by the Naschmarkt....I found this really great sign that I wanted to buy, but when I went back after going to Hofer I couldn't find it again.....oh well. I'm going to go see if there are any concerts that i want to go to tonight....otherwise I'll probably just stay here or maybe go out again. Tomorrow I'll have more pictures to upload....I've been taking so many lately!

Yay for quasi-drinking parties!

There's a quasi-drinking party going on in my room....too bad that most of the girls that are over are kinda toasted (and not terribly interesting, even while sober) One of them has been doing the same silly magic trick (mind-reading...you ask people about stuff, write down a force, then ask them to tell you, then during the next one you write down the previous one, etc., until you end with the force....she wasn't really doing it very well...) over and over again....I figured it out like instantly. I would be having fun if I was drinking, but I'm not, so I'm not having fun. I'm clearly the socially awkward one here, especially since I was chillin' with Cabot before he went to take a walk, so now I'm the one that takes pictures of everyone else in their ties (I took a pic with my camera too....might as well commemorate) I was so bored that I accepted Froscherl's challenge to blackjack.....after the first hand I lost, and, well, I didn't feel like playing anymore So know I'm uploading the pictures and contemplating going to bed or watching a movie or something.....luckily the party is confined to the foyette, so no one is in the nice big room.

Last Day of Intensive!

I had my final this morning...it was quite easy. Most of the fill-in questions and sentences were directly from our homework, so it was really very easy. After the test, I went home and made lunch, then I went and walked around the Mariahilferstrasse, which has tons of stores and things. First I stopped by the Mariahilferkirche, which is right by the little pedestrian street I use to get to the Mariahilferstrasse. It was a nice church, and I think I might go hear the Schubert Mass in Eb next month.....I went into H&M, where they had some pretty cool clothes which were fairly inexpensive. They had some nice button-up shirts which I think I might go back and buy. I also wandered down to the Neubaugasse stop to figure out exactly where the Merkur is and what the fastest way out of the station is. Down by the Merkur there's a cheap shoe shop....I guess it's like Payless. They had some relatively interesting shoes, but I don't think I need any more shoes at the moment! I went into this other shop called A1, or something, which was a very fancy, modern-looking technology store. There were a whole bunch of computers, and there were rectangular prisms of glass that were in a bin with a shopping cart label....I guess that you can take them and store info on what you want to buy on them, like little shopping carts. The place was really futuristic and cool.....there was a bar on the upper floor, but I didn't go in. The other cool store I found was this place called "Allerlei." It's hard to explain exactly what it was....they had cheap, 99¢ store-style stuff, but also lots of fake ethnic stuff, like african masks made in Indonesia and drums and things....they even had a whole wall of wooden penis sculptures and metal tribal figures in exotic sexual positions.....I took pictures! I bought a few things....including a couple of gifts for friends (so I can't post them here! ;), some cheap headphones (my cheap ones that I use on the U-bahn broke...) and some vanilla wafers. Like I said, this store had an amazing variety of useless crap....fuzzy handcuffs "for those you love" cheap, bagged spices, lots of glasses and cheap little crappy things.....it was quite possibly the funniest thing that I've seen here. I took some OK pictures, but the higher resolution makes 'em look way better. I also took some pretty snazzy pictures from our apartment.

I've been lax about writing, but I also haven't done much

The last two days haven't been too exciting....did I mention that I registered? I got all the classes that i wanted....German, Austrian Art & Architecture, The Classical Symphony, Music History, and the Performance Workshop. I have my German intensive final tomorrow, and then we start classes after the 10-day break.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Rathaus, which is the location of the seat of the city government. The tour was in German, which was kind of fun because I basically understood almost everything that the guide said! The first room we went to had this giant fireplace thing that was given to the government by the Italians after the building was built, but they couldn't figure out where to put it, so they stuck it in this room. Apparently every Burgermeister (mayor, I guess) gets his portrait painted, and after they're dead for a certain amount of time their portrait hangs in this room, and eventually they rotate into the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It's a really cool building all in all....part of the Ringstrasse project...I'm pretty sure it's neo-gothic. It's funny, 'cause there's all this gothic stuff everywhere, but in some ways, it's clearly a building that was built in the 19th century. Anyway, there's a statue of a guy perched on top of the highest towers....I missed the reason way, but it some to do with making the building over 100 meters high and the Votivkirche...I'm not really sure. Anyway, they have a replica of the statue in the plaza in front of the building...it's pretty cool. From the third floor of the building yhou get a really nice vew of the Ringstrasse and a lot of buildings in the first district. We also visited the big ballroom, which was to have capacity for 1,500 waltzing couples....in actuality the maximum occupancy is around 2000 people. After that we squeezed into the main council chamber (there were inexplicably tons of chairs stacked right in front of the door.....thank God there wasn't a fire.) It was really nice, with a mahogany and gold ceiling and a large mural with different important figures in Viennese history (the original Hapsburg guy, the guy who started the University, Maria Theresia, Franz Josef, Mozart and some other composers....it was really cool. The room also boasted this ridiculous light fixture that was maybe 30 feet in diameter or so.....it weighs 3.2 tons and was apparently built for some building in Paris, but when they found they couldn't fit it in the building, they sent it back and they put it in this room (apparently partially because the fourth wall of the room was still unfinished so they were able to put it in that way). It's so large that in order to change the many, many light bulbs inside there's a little catwalk where the guy walk around and accesses all of the sockets....I can't imagine climbing up a ladder to walk around a giant chandelier. What a job that must be! There are five beautiful stained glass windows, all of which (except for the center one) are replacements made after a nearby bomb blast blew them out. The center one is also not original, because at some point they changed the old two-headed bird (for the monarchy) to the single-headed (for the democracy). I got some great shots of Froggy that day....he's thinking of changing his name to "Froscherl" to acclimate himself to his surroundings....he's still thinking about it. (I think Frosch is German for frog, and the -erl or -rl is the Austrian version of the German -chen, which acts as a diminutive like our -y or -ie....for instance, "Mädchen" in Austrian is "Mäderl"....it just sounds like you're swallowing the word in a strange way...)

After going to the Rathaus I went home, picked up my computer, and came back to the Institute for the Music meeting. It really sucked, because all the instrumentalists found out their ensembles and their repertoire, while all they told the vocalists was that we had to meet individually with Russell (which is great because he's the nicest person I've ever, ever met) and we all basically have to re-audition before they give us repertoire. I understand that one short audition isn't exactly enough time to figure out what we should do, but they could of given us something for the time being....it's not like we're not going to do different things this semester! Oh well, it's OK. I asked Solvik (Music History teacher and administrative head of the performance workshop) during the meeting about taking lessons in a different instrument.....he got very defensive very quickly. I think he thought that I meant in lieu of our main instrument, but I meant in addition to it.....oh well. He's an interesting fellow. After the meetings, we listened to this guy (why can't I remember his name???) talk about his experience starting his chamber music festival (which has since become probably the most well-renowned chamber music festivals in Vienna) and how he couldn't get any money and all the little bureaucracy squabbles he had to deal with....the point of the talk was to educate us about a different possibility for a career in arts management....but the only thing I got out of it was stay the hell of away from it, especially in Europe! Interestingly enough, donations to non-profits are not tax-deductible, so it's hard to find donors for things like this where they don't get a lot of exposure. Also, when the government agrees to "fully fund" you, they give you 10% of your budget. Anyway, it was a long lecture, but interesting nonetheless, especially in comparing what I know about arts funding in the states.

After all that I went home and did very little, and at 8:30 I met Mike to go over our dialogues for today's oral exam. We each wrote 3 dialogues, and mine were fairly crappy. We mostly just talked about stuff....very little work was done, mostly because I had eaten more than .6 kg of uncooked penne which I inadvertently for just me, and I was really bloated and felt like I was on crack. After Mike left I had a great conversation with JB, one of my flatmates. He's really cool. BTW, my flatmates know I'm gay. Apparently Brad (JB's roommate) is also gay.....I thought he might have been, and apparently he actually is! Now every time I see him we're slightly more queeny with each other than we used to be....it's really funny.

This morning my roommate Mike woke me up as he was leaving for class, so I threw on clothes and ran out the door. (apparently I turned off my alarm clock without realizing it....god damn it) Anyway, I was there on time, albeit not so fresh for our oral test. Luckily in the raffle we drew the "Redensarten" dialogue, which was one of the ones Mike had written. It was really good....the theme was to use more than three "Redensarten," the idioms I mentioned in a previous post. He wrote a really funny dialogue about a guy whose business is bankrupt, and it used no less than 5 of these idioms....it went pretty well, and I only screwed up one of my lines. During the break I had my meeting with Russell (the guy in charge of the vocal workshop) and we talked about the stuff I had done, and I made sure to make sure he knew that I was not a vocal major! He didn't mention any conducting opportunities, but he did mention that one of the German teachers is an organist, and that I could talk to her about lessons from her or someone else, and maybe even playing some of the organs around here! I also found out that one of my classmates comes from a long line of organists, and she herself plays a bit! It was nice to know that I wasn't alone...anyway after that meeting I had my meeting with Anneliese about the library job. Apparently I'll be working 6-8 hours/week at €5/hour, which isn't shabby! I found out my schedule the first Monday of classes, so it'll be interesting what kind of work schedule I'll have. After that, I went home and took a 3.5 hour nap, which was well-needed, considering all my recent sleep-deprivation. After that I had dinners with my roommates, who had made quite a feast of steak, potatoes, and asparagus. It was really quite good.

Wow, I guess I really did a lot these last couple of days! Na ja, I'll have to post more frequently. I can't wait for the break....I'm gonna do all the touristy things and shoot tons and tons of pictures! Now I should stop and study for my final tomorrow! Wish me luck! (even though when you read this I'll have already taken it....oh well! ^_^)

New Photos!

I put up some new photos.....they're from the concert I went to at the Ruprechtskirche and our tour of the Rathaus this afternoon. Enjoy! (also, in all of these "new photos" posts, the subject line is a link to smugmug.....just FYI! ^_^)

More Early Music at the Ruprechtskirche

Tonight I met Mike and Kate for the next in the early music series at the Ruprechtskirche. It was a conert of early italian songs, duets and other short pieces....it featured works by Monteverdi, Kapsberger, Piccinini, Picchi, and Frescobaldi. The two tenors who sang were absolutely incredible....one of them was from southern California! Their blend was absolutely amazing....and the Theorbe player! Completely amazing! He and the gamba player occasionally put their instruments down and picked up these early guitars and backed up the vocalists. It was insanely cool. I took some snapshots of the perfomers during the curtain call, which I'll upload soon. Also, I shot some pretty cool pictures while waiting for Mike and Kate to arrive (I didn't realize that they were already down in the courtyard, and they thought it was really funny that I didn't see them....boy was my face red, since I walked right past them.....) It was a great evening.....probably the best concert I've seen here yet. The Monteverdi and Kapsburger pieces were especially fantastic......anyway, I have to stop writing since I have to finish my dialogues for my oral exam (on Thursday)

Smugmug update

So I've changed the format of smugmug just slightly.....every time I put up new pictures I'll make a gallery for them, and then afterward I'll differentiate them into different other galleries....this way when you check the site, you won't have to scroll to the end of each gallery and guess how many I've uploaded. Usually I'll also post something small here on blogger informing the interweb of the new pictures. Thanks again for checking up on me....I hope the blogs are sufficient for y'all to get an idea of what kind of crazt shenanigans that I get myself into.....the pictures help, I'm sure.

Heuriger

I just got back from a Heuriger....a traditional Austrian night of new wine, pressed meats, bread and cheese spread, and general merriment. It was tons of fun (I was kind of the drunkie, but not so much anymore) and the wine was very good. The best part was that IES paid for everything! ^_^ The food....well, it was cold pressed meat and bread and such, and although good, kind of unilateral, if that's the word. First they served a new white wine with a flask of mineral water, so you could mix your own "G'spritzt" (one part Mineralwater, one part wine). After that they served individual shot-like glasses of red wine, which was also good. Some people brought Sturm, which is like white wine that hasn't fermented yet....to me it tasted like cider with just a touch of bile flavor....everyone else seemed to like it, though. I took a bunch of pictures which I'll upload at my earliest opportunity. Yay for semi-drunken conversations trying to be in German.......it was really really awesome.....then Mike (roommate, not the other Mike) and I rode the U-bahn back with the creepiest crazy guy I've ever come across.....his mouth was practically dripping with some bluish substance, his eyes were half-open, and he kept leaning over to me and trying to talk to me....it was nice and easy to pretend that I didn't speak any German.....the whole thing was pretty creepy. Well, at least the night is over, and I have very little homework.

Oh what a day!

Today I went on a little adventure: I put my guidebook and my journal in my little backpack and set off on the U4, my only goal: to get completely and utterly lost. I set off on the U4 and got off at the Gürtel. After I left the station, I saw a Strassenbahn, so I boarded it. I rode it for about three or four stops, and after it went underground I got off. Then I walked around for a while, until I found the Wiedner Hauptstrasse, and I saw lots of cool little things. I really loved this one little thrift store in particular....it was called "Punkt" or something [Merkur is actually what it was called, I remember now 9.14.04], and they had a lot of really nice, cheap clothing. They were also playing Edith Piaf, which really made me smile. I followed some signs to Karlskirche, and there at Karlsplatz I boarded the U1 with the intention of going to the Prater. I go there eventually, and I walked around the Prater for about 45 minutes. It looked like a relatively fun place, if not a bit expensive. It was basically a giant carnival, with rides, food, try-your-luck games, and everything. After that I took the U1 to Schewednplatz to catch the U6 to the AKH, which is right by the Hotel Donauwalzer, which is where the Glee Club styed when we were here. Due to my illness, my previous knowledge of Vienna was completely confined to this area, so I thought it might be fun to go back. Unfortunately I got off on the wrong stop, so I had to walk a ways before I found the Hotel. I hung around there for a bit, then got back on the U6 to Westbahnhof where I caught the U3 to Neubaugasse, which is near my apartment. I didn't realize that there's a big supermarket there on the way down to the U-bahn terminal, but I ran in and got rolls (which I've been needing for a while) and a Corona to have with dinner. (my first beer since Murau.....God it was good! Then I walked up to the Mariahilferstrasse, and from there back home. It was a fun little excursion, and it helped to orient myself in the different districts and on the different U0ban lines. I just finished dinner, during which I watched Cinderella on my computer. Now....I don't know! We'll see!

Oh what a night

Apparently tonight was the night that everyone decided to party.... perhaps because so many people had tests today at school.....I don't know. I saw a huge group at the subway station on my way home, and I thought "well, at least they're going the other way...." As I walked up Eggerthgasse I saw two of my roommates, who said they were going out because there was "a huge group of people" in our room. Sure enough, as I walked in the door, this inebriated girl (who I vaguely recognized) looked at me and said "so're you readyda goout with us?" [sic] and I was like "um....no, I'm just coming home" I saw Nick (the only person in the huge group who actually lives here.... except for Hannas (sp?) who lives upstairs and practically lives here...) and he assured me that they would leave soon, which they did. They probably left 30 seconds or so after I got there, so at least now I'm alone! But to back up to the wonderful days I've had:

Yesterday was great! I had my actual audition (since only instrumentalists auditioned on Wednesday) which was OK.....I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all the students here in the program.....I don't really know what I was expecting, but this is far and above my expectations. There are in fact four other male vocalists, two of whom I didn't even know were music majors! All of them sounded really amazing......really all the vocalists totally blew me out of the water. It's gonna be fun working with all of them! After the audition Mike and I decided to treat ourselves to Chinese food, so we found this Chinese restaurant on the Kärnterstrasse which was very, very good! I had chicken fried rice and Mike had pork lo mein. (I told him that he should call it "pork lo meinen!" ha ha ha ha ha)

After dinner I went home, where I saw JB. He asked me if I liked to sing barbershop, and I almost wet myself. I calmly replied that yes, I do like singing barbershop, and so we sang a couple of tags with Cabot and Nick. It was really really fun. I forgot how much I love singing barbershop. I added that I brought a book of book of barbershop stuff (published by SPEBSQSA) with me, so we sang a couple of songs out of the book. All in all, it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Today we had a German test, which was very easy. Mike was doing laundry at the institute (since he doesn't have a laundry machine at his apartment) so I waited with him while he did that. Afterwards we decided that rather than take advantage of anything that the city had to offer, we would have a small dinner at his place and watch the South Park movie and a few episodes of Sex and the City, which we did. His place is cute, but very small. It was fun to stay in one night and just have a gay old time. (I'm priceless!)

And that brings me to tonight, when the huge group of people was in our foyette. I wonder what strange and wonderful adventures to which they journeyed forth?

I forgot about our fun German class

We spent the last part of yesterday's German class learning about German turns of phrase which involve household objects. We also spent time translating American idioms into German. It was a whole lot of fun! I wrote down all the phrases that our class translated, and now you too can play the fun game of "Guess the American Idiom!"

• Die Lichter sind an, aber niemand ist zu Hause
  
• Die Scheße schlägt (or fällt) auf den Ventilator. (The equivalent German phrase is "Die Kacke ist am Dampfen")
  
• Er Trinkt mich unter den Tisch.
  
• Ziehen die Wolle über ihren Augen
  
• Legen Sie wieht alle ihre eier in einen Korb
  
• Er bezahlt mich unter dem Tisch
  
• Das Gras ist immer grüner auf der anderen Seite.
  
• Ich fühle mich unter dem Wetter.
  
• Er springt von der Wänden.
  
• Leute, die in gläsernen Häuser wohnen, sollten keine Steine werfen. (oder nicht mit Steinen werfen)
  And my favorite German idiom:
  
• Sie haben narrische Scwammerln gegessen, which means "They have eaten crazy mushrooms"
  

Organ Concert at Stephansdom

School today was uneventful....I got a B on the test, which is what I expected, really. We have another test on Friday, and I'm sure I'll do better. After class I went to Hofer with Mike and got some salami, blood orange juice (which is DE-LICIOUS), and these Hazelnut and Chocolate wafer rolls, which are also delicious. I went home and made myself a couple of delicious sandwiches with my new salami....unfortunately the rolls have become stale, so I'll have to buy more tomorrow.

Tonight I went to an organ recital at Stephansdom.....uh, can I say amazing? 'Cause it was pretty amazing.....first, the organist (Johannes Ebenbauer, who is the Kapellmeister) did a 7-minute improvisation "in stile antico," which was fairly awesome. He improvised two fugues, both of which were pretty excellent. After the improvisation he played a suite by Clerambault, two choral preludes and a Toccata and Fugue by Bach, and Mendelssohn's second sonata. The Bach was, well, Bach....and the Mendelssohn was really really cool. After the Mendelssohn he improvised a postlude, which was pretty much standard scary Catholic postlude fare....after the concert my friends and I went up and got his autograph, which, although sort of embarrassing, provided a pretty cool souvenir. Hearing organ music in Stephansdom was a pretty amazing experience in and of itself, especially since it was also my first time inside of the cathedral. I see what they say about organ music infusing a church with life.....one could almost see the artwork and statuary gain a bit of movement as the phrases of Bach's fugue wafted through the the pews and up towards the vaulted ceiling. It was a truly great experience! I'll be sure and go back next Wednesday night....and it was only €6.50! All right, now off to bed!

P.S. The one sketchy thing was buying my ticket....I gave three €2 coins and one €1 coin to the guy for the €6.50 ticket, and he pointed at it and gave me the "this isn't enough, you stupid American" look, so I took the €1 coin out of his hand and replaced it with another €2. He then gave me a program and €1.50 in change, and I sort of stared at him, but I shrugged and walked away. When I saw Mike, I noticed he had a blue ticket for the show, and I realized that I had not gotten one. (I assumed that the program was the ticket) So I went back and explained to the guy (in English) and he said, "are you joking?" And I looked at him sternly and said "no, I'm not joking, you didn't give me a ticket." He shrugged, looked at his partner, who tore off a ticket for me and said "well, I really hope you are not joking....." It was kind of weird and sketchy in a strange way......I don't know. At least he spoke English....I'm not yet at the level to argue with someone in German. That's it. Now bed.

Baroque Music at Rubrechtskirche

Today was pretty uneventful....class, then a 3-hour nap, and then I met Mike and Kate at Rubrechtskirche to see a baroque music concert. It was really good....the ensemble was called "Pygmalion", and was tranverse flute, baroque oboe, baroque cello, and harpsichord. The concert consisted mostly of trio sonatas, with pieces by Telemann, Schaffrath, Quantz, and Fux. It was really, really good....the Ruprechtskirche a romanesque church in the Stephansdom Quarter, and since it's really just a box, it has excellent acoustics. It was a lot of fun! It was kind of expensive (€11 for students) but it was well worth it. The players had really good ensemble technique, and the harpsichord player was out of this world! (he's originally from South Africa, and started taking organ lessons at age 9.....most of his bio was for organ; I suppose that if you can do one the skills transfer to the other...) Like I said, tons of fun. I had a bit of trouble finding the church, but luckily I had left plenty early. I went home after the concert, cooked a humble dinner of spaghetti and olive oil, and had a good time chatting it up with all the other IES students who were inexplicably hanging out in our little foyette, as I choose to call it.

Other than the concert, nothing spectacular happened.....I'm really nervous about the audition tomorrow, because apparently it's held in a big room with everyone watching everyone. AHH!!!! Oh well, I think it'll be fine. I think Mike and I are the only male vocalists....at least I haven't met any others. I practiced today after my nap....I sounded OK, but the practice rooms also have ridiculously good acoustics, which isn't necessarily helpful when you're trying to gauge how you sound. ::sigh:: Well, I mustn't worry.....maybe I won't even have to sing in the masterclass proper if I play my cards right.

Tomorrow....not much else scheduled, except the auditions. I was going to go to the organ concert in Stephansdom, but what with the sizable length of the Audition...Experience......it looks like I may not have time. We'll see. Bis später!

Oh, how I loves me my tests

We had our first test in German class today....I'll find out how I did tomorrow morning. I think I did OK, but I can't be sure. It was the kind of test that was comprised almost exclusively of questions from past homeworks, so now that I know how to study I'll certainly do better on the next one. For some reason, after doing really hard preposition stuff, we've backtracked all the way back to subject, direct object, and indirect object, which are ridiculously easy in German. What's hard is the declension of all the cases, which we already had to do with all the prepositions. Whatever. Afterwards I went home and made an awesome tuna sandwich with these really good (and really cheap) rolls and €79 tuna from Hofer. Mayonnaise comes in a tube...I had to choose between 20% fat and 80% fat......I chose the 20%. I also got another, smaller tube, of a substance which I had to guess was mustard.....luckily I was right. After having the sandwich I was still hungry, so I made myself another sandwich with lunchmeat and this cheese I bought which comes from Mariazell....the cheese is okay, but it's strangely sharp and tangy in a way I'm not used to......it's kinda funny, but it adds a nice texture and taste as long as I don't taste it directly.....I then went back to the Institute to go to a lecture that the art history professor, Dr. O, was giving about seeing art in Vienna. It was pretty cool, and I learned that if I take the Austrian Art & Architecture class that I want to take, I'll get a museum pass which gets you into all the public museums for free! (Amanda had mentioned this, so I was glad to know that I, too, could capitalize on this opportunity...plus it looks like an awesome class) Private museums like Albertina and Leopold still cost money, but apparently it's not too much. After the lecture Mike, Kate, and I went to the "Building of Fun" on Kärtnerstrasse, which is a major north-south pedestrian avenue that runs through the center of the city and right by IES. Basically, the BOF (as it's called) is a CD/DVD/Video Game store....we browsed their CD collection, which was nice, and a whole barrel of cheap CDs.....we each bought something; Kate and Mike got some great deals on the bargain stuff from the barrel, while I (under Mike's advice) bought a Florence Foster Jenkins album.....yeah it's hi-larious. (I'd never heard of her......Google her name to find out more about her) It was marked as €10.99, but for some reason she looked at it, opened it, looked at me and said (with a rising intonation) €2? So I nodded, and paid €2 for it. I guess it was because it had already been opened??? I really couldn't say.....perhaps it's just because she knew how AWFUL it is.....yet so hi-larious.....yet so awful......yet so delicious.

Anyway, I went home to have dinner with my roommates....they made ribs and potatoes, but the ribs had way too much fat on them.....they were delicious (Brad's a really good cook), but almost impossible to eat since more than half of each piece was inedible. Now I have to stop avoiding work and do my silly German homework. What adventures await me tomorrow?

Restful Sunday

Today was a nice restful day...I got up at about 11:30, which was really nice. After tooling around the apartment for a while, I headed down to the MQ and posted blogs and pictures. After that I got pretty hungry, and I remembered that Dr. O mentioned on the bus tour yesterday that there was a Burger King in Millennium City. Now, that really struck my fancy, so I charged myself with seeking out this BK. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to reach Millennium City by public transport, but I did know that it was along the Donau. I took the U1 to one stop before the Donauinsel, knowing that this stop must be near the bank of the Donau. I then reasoned that the Tower must be north of where I was, so I started walking. It was only after walking north about 1.5 miles that I realized that one street west of me there was a bus line......I was pretty tired by that time (keep in mind I still had my bag with my computer in it, so I was carrying a few extra pounds) so I took the bus two stops to Millennium City, which is like a big mall thing. There I paid €5.50 for a Whopper, fries, and a Sprite. It was damn good, I'll tell you what. It really hit the spot, plus I burned all those calories by walking 1.5 miles, what with backtracking and all. Anyway, I went to leave, and I remembered seeing an U-bahn station close by. I went back, and seeing the blue "U" cube, I entered the station. I heard a train coming into the station, so I started running towards it. It seemed to be going in the right direction, so I ran faster. It had already closed its doors by the time I got there, but some kids had managed to pull one of the doors open. Quickly noticing that the next train did not arrive for 7 minutes, I quickly capitalized on the youngsters' endeavor and joined them in boarding the train. After stepping aboard, however, I realized I had made a mistake. For one thing, U-bahn trains come once every 4 minutes at the most. Secondly, the train I was on was larger than an U-bahn and looked decidedly different. I immediately started internally freaking out, thinking to myself "what am I riding? Does my ticket cover this? Where the hell am I going????" Well, keeping a calm exterior (and scolding myself for thinking with my feet) I found the nearest map, and deduced that I was on one of the city trains that have a larger reach than the subways and don't really go into the city center. I realized that in two stops I would be able to transfer to the U1, which was the train I took the Donau in the first place. So I got out at the stop, and after wandering around the kinda sketchy terminal for a while, managed to find the U-bahn station and board the U1 to Karlsplatz, where I transferred to the U4 to Kettenbrückengasse. It was an interesting adventure (and all for the sweet taste of a Whopper!), but at least now I know how that whole thing works. Now I must return to studying for my German test tomorrow! ^_^

OK, so I updated my photo gallery with the last three day's worth of photos. I also added a gallery devoted to to adventures of Froggie. (if that IS his real name....) Also, I'm changing all of my blogs so that the time that it shows what time they were posted in my local time, so that it makes more sense. ("why did he go to the opera at 6 am?")

After Die Zauberflöte

Amazing performance, yet again. We got there at the same time as we did for Hoffmann, but there were easily twice as many people. We waited in line in front of this group of Japanese tourists, so I got to practice my comprehension in that other language I only sort-of know. By the time we got to the ticket counter they still had spots on the orchestra level, but what I didn't realize is that they REALLY crowd people into the standing room. At Hoffmann there were enough people for one person per subtitle screen, but there were easily 1/2 again as many there tonight....people in two rows behind the last rail, in the aisle, everywhere. Thank God I'm not claustrophobic.....I went with 5 other IES students, so we all squished into one row. Here's the breakdown:

Act I: First, overture. Definitely the best live Mozart I've heard....well, ever. The conductor was....I forget her name, but she was the only woman in the orchestra. The set had a half-moon full of stars along the house left side, and a green impressionist-looking pattern on the curtain and the house right side wall. The set basically comprised of a big open cube with Tron-esque lines on all sides....the bottom side (on which a great percentage of the action took place) was tilted about 20º ccw, the right and upper sides of the cube can swing out, and there's a curtain type thing which occasionally swung out to make the 6th side of the cube, for instance, the first time it opened was the three ladies as they slayed the largest dragon I've ever seen on stage....it wrapped around the entire cube and went almost down into the pit, and each part was individually animated by a stagehand in black. Behind the cube sometimes there was a moon above a woman's face (for the Queen) and sometimes a sun over an eye (for Sarastro). There were tons of little openings in the walls and the floor, and also a little cube downstage which was used to conceal people and the like. Tamino (Roberto Saccá) was good, but really honky on "Dies Bildnis" (I know it's tough, but this is the freakin' Staatsoper) The three ladies, also very good. The boys were from the Sängerknaben (the Vienna Boys Choir) so they were naturally good. They were dressed in white and had different headpieces....Tom-Sawyer-like indian headdress, bowler hat, and some other ridiculous thing...but in the second act they were wearing 18th century getups, complete with wigs! Whatever...The Queen (Milagros Poblador, who played Olympia last night) was pretty good, although she did that sing-in-the-mouth thing which I still think sounds weird....whatever. She was a great Olympia! Pamina, played by Genia Kühmeier, was nothing short of amazing, though....her voice was absolutely stunning. Monostatos....OK, although I couldn't really hear him. The priests were very good, and Sarastro (Alfred Reiter) really shone on his low notes....not so much with overall phrasing, but he had a nice tone. Papageno (Wolfgang Bankl).....well, what can I say about Papageno? The funniest part of the whole show was when he compares the portrait of Pamina to the genuine article....he goes down the list of traits, starting with Pamina's blond hair. Now, Genia Kühmeier has lovely dark brown hair....so Papageno looks at the portrait, says "Blonde Haare:" looks at Genia, and says to the audience "na ja..." It was HI-larious. There were lots of memorable little touches....during "Der Vogelfänger" there where little fake birds flying around the stage on wires, one of which Papageno caught (although it bit him....ha ha ha). During "Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton," a scheißload of supernumeraries in animal outfits came on stage, including two crocodiles holding hands, a hippopotamus with a ghetto-booty to rival my own, and a really cute giraffe that re-appeared many times throughout the show. It was a really cute effect.

Act II: WAYY longer than I realized.....and I mean way longer. I forget that whenever I listen to it I skip like half the second act, along with all of the talking parts. It was interesting....the chamber of trials was a big cube within the huge stage-cube, which got all red for the fire part and started leaking water during the flood part....it was cool. Papagena was really, really good.....during the end of their duet he started taking of layers of her bird-petticoat thing (the velcro was pretty loud) until she was in these pantaloon-type things, at which point they ran after each other while singing about all the children they were going to make, presumably on stage in front of us. It was a pretty suggestive approach, but when you think about it, it's a pretty suggestive duet. The end was really, really strange. When all the bad guys are "cast into eternal darkness" they just sort of faint on stage, only to be resurrected by the three boys during the final chorus. The boys also bring Papagena and Papageno out of the small cube which they went into to make their babies, and somehow managed to reach in and fish out a little boy and girl, also dressed in Papageno-costume. The whole thing reeked of Deus ex Machina, what with everyone (Queen, ladies, moor, and all) dancing around at the end and being all happy. Oh well, I suppose it's all for the best. The production was amazing....the only real detraction was the insane amount of people crammed into the Stehplatz, and the resulting heat. Note to self: try not to go on weekends!

In the early afternoon we took an IES-sponsored bus tour around Vienna....I won't talk about it much, mostly because I'm way to tired, but also because I'll be re-visiting almost all of the places we went and describing them here in more detail. We stopped at the Belvedere.....it was just absolutely beautiful. I'll have to go back there, if for no other reason than the great art museums there that we didn't get a chance to visit. We also went to the Hundertwasser house, where I got some grerat photos. Hopefully I can upload another batch of photos tomorrow....I also have to study for my first German test! AHH! ^_^

After Hoffmann

Well, the opera was amazing, just absolutely amazing. The building is gorgeous on the outside (except the west side, part of which is being restored), but it is especially gorgeous on the inside! The procedure for buying standing room tickets is nice and streamlined.....the line starts inside and the tickets seem to go on sale a little more than an hour before the performance. We got there at 5:20 for a 7:00 show, and we got great spots....it costs €3.50 for orchestra level spots, and €2.00 for balcony spots. Unlike the Met, the standing room spots on the orchestra level are not under the eave, so one can actually see the whole stage....plus the house is relatively small and acoustically great! I was worried about getting spots together, but I forgot that you can just go to wherever you want and tie a scarf around your spot. We got spots in the fifth row of railings.

The opera itself with also incredible! Here's a breakdown:

Prologue: good, although Hoffmann was a bit honky and the offstage chorus was behind...things were cut/truncated....the "respect for the bald ones" thing was gone entirely....and not missed, I'm sure. The muse did her speech as a recit, and she has a great voice!

1st act (Olympia) was very interesting....the set had a huge eyeball in an old-fashioned camera thing on stage right and a giant skeleton on stage left, and in the center was the box where Olympia was. This box had a little rotating platform on it, so when Splanzani is first showing her off and when she dances with Hoffmann she rotates like a doll on showcase. The stage had a relatively steep rake, and there is a sloped ceiling which, with the walls and the rake, connected to a single fake vanishing point, thus creating an illusion of a far-reaching space upstage. In the 1st and 3rd acts, the chorus sang from the top of the walls, in a small-looking space between the top of the wall and the ceiling. I didn't explain that very well, but it's the best I can do so late at night. The costumes were pretty good....and Olympia! Wow she was great. High note: F#, and the second verse was a real free-for-all in terms of embellishment.....she really went all-out. I think the guy who played Lindorf was at his best in the first act, but mayhaps I'm just partial to the character of Copéllius. In any case, it was amazing. Little men in beekeeper outfits dancing the waltz...what more could you want?

2nd act (Antonia) Well, Crespel was awesome, but good basses are always awesome. Hoffmann was not as good as the first act, but not as honky as he was in the prologue. Fritz outdid himself in his aria (for God's sake, he was swinging on the chandelier!), and Dr. Miracle also played a very convincing (and chilling) role. The woman who played the mother was also amazing.....perhaps the second best female voice in the cast, next to Nicklauss. As for Antonia, she was OK. She was really quite good, but there were a few moments where she just didn't make it happen for me. Some of them may have been intentional, what with her character's problems with singing in the plot, but part of it was that I just didn't really like her voice. The staging took a strange turn here, also, what with the addition of a random supernumerary who was supposed to be Antonia as a child, I guess....I don't know, she kept popping up. Also, there was a huge piano which people kept playing (and it magically sounded like a full orchestra....ha ha ha) and when Miracle talks to Antonia alone he came out of the piano, which was an interesting move.

3rd act (Giulietta) I never realized how short this act was! After the barcarolle, Giulietta started making out with Nicklauss....yea it was hot. The set was simple...just some gondolas which rolled out and back again after the act, and a huge-ass askew mirror on stage right. What's-his-name....bad guy....yea he was in a wheelchair, and Schlemiel was dressed all in white and a baldcap.

Epilogue: Amazing. They did the final chorus "while in love you may grow" thing, and the staging was incredible. Gradually characters and chorus members from each act gather on stage as the muse sings to Hoffmann, who is writing at a desk. This culminated in the three women placing their respective symbols together in the center of the stage: a plastic arm for Olympia, a rose for Antonia, and a mirror for Giulietta. The final chorus was just amazing....I haven't heard it in years, and it was great to hear it again.

After the opera we went to a little cafe, where I paid €2.10 for a mineral water. (almost 2/3 of the price that a paid to see a 3.5 hour opera....yeah) After sitting there for about a half an hour or so we left, and I came home to an empty apartment. I'm going to go to bed now.....I really look forward to sleeping in tomorrow, since I don't have to be anywhere before the bus tour of the city at 12:00. Yay for sleep!

TGIF (or VDIF, Vielen Dank, ist's Freitag, if that works....)

This afternoon my German class (and three other classes) went to a Kaffeehaus on the Naschmarkt to practice our German. It was pretty fun......IES paid for each of us to get coffee of our choice and Apfelstrudel. I got a cappuccino, which was pretty good. Mike got a Grosse Schwarzen, thinking that it would be larger, but actually it was just a straight-up double shot....it was intense. The apple strudel was nothing short of amazing....we each got this huge piece....I think it was around 5 and a half inches square. After we left the Kaffeehaus I went home, since I was so close anyway. I walked through Naschmarkt, but nothing struck my fancy at the time.....so I went to Hofer to pick some more Brie and other provisions. (I ate almost a whole wedge of Brie by myself yesterday.....it was relatively small, but still.....so today I decided that the 16% fat might be better than the 60% fat.) I found this really cute asian market on the street by the Naschmarkt; it's run by this very nice Japanese man. I've decided that I need to mentally review my Japanese and try to talk to him sometime....just for something to do.

Tonight I'm going to the opera with a bunch of people.....we're going to see Tales of Hoffmann. I'm meeting them at the Kettenbrückengasse terminal at 5:00 and we're going to stand in line for Stehplatz tickets. I'm really excited.....Hoffmann is one of my favorite operas. Since I know it so well, I think it'll be easier for me to stand through it.....part of the trouble I had standing through some of the operas I saw at the Met was that if I wasn't familiar with the plot or music I had no way to gauge how much time was left. For example, Nabucco seemed freakin' endless because I had no idea what was going to happen or indeed what was happening at any moment. However, Don Giovanni didn't seem that long, since I was basically familiar with the plot and music. Well, we'll see how it goes tonight....I hope that we get tickets together...>I'm not sure if they just stick you in a random place or if they put groups together.....

I took some pics of the Naschmarkt today.....by the next time I hit up the MQ I should have some shots of the Institute and the neighborhood surrounding my apartment. Every time I put up a new batch of photos I'll post a blog announcing that fact, so you don't need to compulsively check the picture site. (I know that you all are holding your breath) I'll write more after the opera tonight!

Third day of classes

Another great day in Vienna!

German got much harder today.....we reviewed adjective endings, which was never my strongest point. It'll come back, I suppose....and certainly 201 is way more helpful for me than 102 for bringing my knowledge back....it's still unfortunate that I won't be able to transfer any of the credits, since I've technically already taken 201....also, the only 400 level music history class they offer this semester is Baroque and Classical, which I've already taken. I think that this whole process will involve a lengthy letter to IPO and Dr. Girton explaining the situation.....

I had my advising meeting with Dr. Schier today....it was helpful, I guess, but I didn't realize how incredibly limited my options are. Well, we'll see how it goes at registration. I don't even know what I'm going to audition with for the masterclass....Dr. Schier seemed a bit more optimistic about my chances of conducting something than I initially was....I'm still not keeping my hopes up. I'm guessing that I'll have to audition with voice, since I really doubt that I'll be able to do organ at the masterclass (seeing as how there is no organ at the institute....I did hear one today that sounded like it was coming from the Music University, though.....oh, did I mention that the Music University is just across the street?) Well, we'll have to see what happens with that too...if I end up being able to take organ lessons. That would be pretty sweet. Also, I turned in my application to work at the library today. (IES apparently has a very limited work study program....I wish they'd mentioned it before I got here!) The librarian told me that I was the 9th to apply, and that she has nine slots, so if no one else applies, I'm pretty much in. I figure I have a good chance, since I'm pretty needy plus I have 2 years experience working in a library. They pay €5/hour, which would be a handsome sum to collect per week, even if I only work 3 or 4 hours per week.....it could subsidize my opera excursions, as long as I only do Stehplatz. (Mike and Kate already bought actual seats for something that's coming up....some 5 act Verdi thing which I really don't want to see, especially if it's a choice between standing for 5 hours or paying €30-€40 for a seat.....

I hear Nick in the other room on the guitar.....It's weird living with four brass players and a classical guitarist.....the strange melange of practicing noises in the afternoon is something I will not soon forget. I don't mean to imply that they are all constantly practicing in the room....they usually don't.....but sometimes JB will play a few notes while Nick is playing some diddy to impress some chic and Mike will be blowing in his mouthpiece.....anyway, it can be a bit funny. I suppose it would be funnier if I broke out with Queen of the Night or something, but I'm a bit too shy for that sort of thing.

BTW, I think that my roommates still don't know I'm gay. Isn't THAT hi-larious??

I looked up information about the Staatsoper today, and I made a preliminary schedule of when I want to see which performances. I hope to go to Hoffmann tomorrow night, so we'll see how it works. I hope to eventually make similar plans for the Volksoper and the symphony and other stuff.

Mike, Kate and I saw Don Giovanni in front of the Rathaus last night! It was really, really cool. We got there about an hour and 40 minutes early, so we got really good seats. An hour before the concert they put on a recording of Cecilia Bartoli singing some vaguely Mozart-sounding arias.....neither Mike nor I could figure out if it actually was Mozart, since none of them were familiar to us.....we thought perhaps it was either really early Mozart, or perhaps the Salieri album. In any case, sitting in front of the Rathaus (huge neo-gothic building) and listening to Cecilia Bartoli as the sky darkened and the stars started to come out.....well, it was pretty freakin' awesome all around. The show was good too....it was the video recording of the Wiener Staatsoper production, which they projected onto this huge screen. There were all sorts of vendors there selling food and useless trinkets. Also, there was this crazy Austrian guy who walked up and down the aisles talking to himself during the entire movie. It was kinda funny, actually, especially since he really seemed to be enjoying the opera (as was the person he was talking to....) All in all it was just really great. There were easily 600 people there....it was pretty awesome. And the best part is, I felt completely comfortable riding the U-bahn back at 10:20 at night.

I think I might be in the first stages of the depression that the IPO people were so fond of talking about. I definitely experienced the "honeymoon" period in Murau and my first few days in Vienna. Today, however, I've just been really really tired.....I ate almost a whole wedge of Brie by myself for lunch (it was freakin' awesome, too.....I got the Brie and crackers at Billa, which is one step higher than Hofer, where I usually shop) I've been staying at home all day fooling around and eating.....hopefully I won't actually get fully depressed. I don't know. Until I snap out of this funk, I can postpone my plan to lose massive amounts of weight.

I called home two days ago, and I talked to Andrew yesterday (I called him on Tuesday too, but he was in class). It was nice to hear from everyone, but at the same time I think it made me feel a bit more homesick. I keep telling myself that it's not that long of a time, and that I should focus on doing as much as I can while I'm here, since I'll probably never get an opportunity like this ever again. It's not as if I hate it here and I want to go home, but I definitely look forward to eventually returning home.

It's nice to get e-mail from everyone....I'm sorry that i don't have time to respond, really, but I promise once IES gets their internet back up I'll be more able to respond.

There are these weird noises coming from outside....construction? fireworks? I can't tell.......strange, that. Anyway, I should go write my German dialogue, seeing as how it's due tomorrow and I have to use all those freakin' prepositions. **sigh** Yay for the German case system! (except not!)