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! ^_^)
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! ^_^)
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