Ich wohne jetzt in Wien!

PSYCH! You thought I left the blog for good... but I'm baaaaaaaack ;)

I thought I'd give you an update on my life in Vienna (since this IS the VIENNA monologues after all) before I go on and on about my AMAZING trip to Venice this past weekend.

I'm now enterring my last week of the quarter. Finals week here is a breeze, and while Olivia is scurrying to get a ten page research paper written before Thursday, I'm taking my studies at a (surprisingly) leisurely pace... because I can--and it's the ONLY time I can take such liberties in my entire life. I've become extremely interesting in Richard Wagner and have found myself deeply moved by some of his music. It's so passionate and robust. The symbolism is sublime (well, other than the anti-semetic part) and his way of expressing it is so brilliant. He made me--a person who used to despise opera--fall in love with it. I'm writing my term paper on Wagner through the eyes of philosopher and long-time friend, Friedrich Nietzsche. I'm actually pretty excited to throw myself into this topic! My prof, however, is British and was a former musician. Knows everything about philosophy and music. Grrrreaaaaat. Guess I can't get away with writing a crap paper.

Our professor, Prentiss Dunn, is a hilariously awesome and intelligent man. We love him (all 5 of us in the class). He had us all over for dinner at his flat (complete with Biedermeyer furnishings) and we sat around, eating h'or deurves, sipping wine and listening to British comedy skits about the Ring Cycle. AMAZING. He says we're the craziest group of Americans he's seen come through the place... danke schon, danke! He also teaches a class on Beethoven that I was unable to take. The other day he took us all on a "Beethoven Walk" where we visited the living quarters of the musician, walked up to the vineyard-spotted mountain of Kahlenberg where Beethoven sought inspiration, the "Beethoven weg" and even stopped for dinner at a quaint Austrian restaurant. It was here that I sampled the seasonal drink "Strum" (literally translated, "storm.") This is becuase the wine is only half fermented, so the fermentation apparently continues in your digestive system (or so they say). Delicious. Only available during this time of year in Austria/Germany.

Speaking of Kahlenberg, Olivia and I have been there three times already. There are two mountains in Vienna--Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg. From the top, you can see the whole city of Vienna framed by lush forrests and fields. On a clear day it is the most inspirational thing (I don't blame Beethoven for venturing there to find a muse). The first time we weren't adventurous enough to hike to much farther from our destination... but the second time.... oooooh, the second time. Elisabeth, Olivia and I took the bus up to Kahlenberg and decided to hike over to Leopoldsburg (meanwhile stopping for a picnic and R&R time). Having NO idea which path to take, we just picked the prettiest looking way and went with it. We noticed we were generally headed downward, but we brushed it off. Eh. No big deal right? Well... after an hour we reached the bottom of the mountain. And realized that we would have to go ALL the way back UP again. We rested our legs and ate our lunches by the Danube river... made a swan friend... and headed back up the hill. Hill is an understatment. My legs were like jello. I was about to pass out. But we kept walking and walking... again, not having ANY idea where we were. After an hour we'd reached the top. We were too exhausted to be victorious. Despite our poor aching bodies, the view was SPECTACULAR. I felt like we were in Tuscany because there were vineyards and countrysides all around. It was the best physical exertion I could imagine.

I've come to love a delicious Viennese snack... comparable to my addiction to Nutella, which is on the brink of dangerous in case you wondered. This snack is none other than Maroni. Think a Buckeye. Like off the tree. Like Ohio State. There are plenty of these Maroni stands all over the city, and they take these edible buckeyes and roast them... so when bought (hot out of the oven) you peel away the shell and eat the cooked nut. It's sooooooo delicious. And most likely bad for me. But I don't care. Because it's perfect for a chilly day and it makes my tummy happy!

I left election season in the States to arrive smack dab in the middle of the Austrian election. Yes, Austria is ready to elect a new Chancellor. lol. There are two "main" parties, similar to the Democrats and the Republicans: the OVP and the SPO (socialist party). There are about 5 other parties including the Liberalists (LIF) the Grun party (Environmentalists "Green") and the notoriously right-winged FPO (fascist). The FPO, who's frontman I've heard described as a more eveil George Bush--can barely finish a coherent sentence, etc. But the FPO's ideals are that there should be no foreigners allowed to live in Austria. They're basically modern Nazi's.

I "read" the Heute (the free daily newspaper that circulates in Vienna) the day after the elections to look at the poll results: Werner Faymann with the SPO won, with the OVP not too far behind. But what was surprising, not only to me but to every Austrian I spoke to, was that the FPO got a record 25 percent of the votes... coming in right after the OVP. That's the most votes the FPO has ever received. Basically I'm living in a semi-fascist country. AWESOME!

A lot of you have been asking me what the perspective on the US elections in like here. Well, unlike foreign affair coverage in the States, Europe actually spends considerable amount of time on our news (because as we learned recently in our financial crisis, our actions actually have AFFECTS on other people in the world--CRAZY!). As I'm sure you can imagine, the Europeans tend to favor Sen. Obama/Biden but really would've rather seen Hillary in the nomination. McCain (and Palin especially) is receiving a lot of criticism. But because I'm always being bombarded with questions about my government and politics in my argumentative writing class (I'm the only American) I am following this election even more closely than any other... watching all the debates, reading the Times and Op-Ed articles. I feel informed. And I like it. (Granted, I don't prefer either candidate.) Most people tease us as Americans because we elected Bush not once, but TWICE. I never knew this, but there was a big scandal in Europe when a photographer and videographer for C-SPAN saw that there was a mysterious box-like shape portruding from Bush's back during the Debates with John Kerry. It's sad that he had to be fed answers for that. Wow. No wonder Europeans think we're clueless. It's at times like these, when I'm seeing my country's financial despair plastered everywhere around me... that I don't want to come back home. My fear is twofold: I'm frightened because this crisis will be affecting my children someday... my life... my mortgage... But I'm also frightened because I don't completely understand the source of everything (I've never been a huge buff about business and finance) and that mystery scares the living daylights out of me. All I know is that the Austrians are shaking their heads: "The U.S. shunned communism and endorsed capitalism to the death... now they're the living proof that capitalism doesn't work in this age." With the government controlling our banks, are we not resorting to communism? Hey. Whatever works.

In general, I've felt very well recieved as an American. Only once have I been turned away because my German wasn't "advanced" enough--and that was the first hair salon I went to. Most Austrians have been friendly and willing to speak with us about cultural differences. The random Austrian men think it's this fantastic rarity to find an American girl... no, correction... the Austrian CREEPERS lol. We've made some random Austrian friends. Like Julia, our next door neighbor. She's in her mid twenties and just finished her thesis on something to do with cultural studies/psychology/something like that. She's very chill and very real. We talk to her about guys, life, where to live when we're older... usually these conversations take place in our shared kitchen, where we'll sit on the countertops, sipping spiced wine while the dirty dishes soak. She was very interested in learning what "highschool" was like in the States; was it really like those T.V. shows and movies she always sees? P.s. Everything you've heard about European school being harder = LIES. Julia never had ANY homework. She thinks were workaholics.

Speeeeaking of Spiced Wine, I attended a Medieval Food Festival at Webster a few days ago. Olivia is taking this History of European Culinary Arts class in which she learns about the progression of food and eating habits over time and then gets a chance to actually cook these authentic dishes. They opened up one of these days to the campus... we came into the Gallery and it was all candlelit with Medieval Cantigas playing in the background. We were given a glass of spiced wine (it literally tastes like you're drinking cinnamon) and then were oriented to these outrageous foods in which we were about to indulge. There was marinated beef, spiced pears, pureed wine-soaked strawberries with pomegranate seeds, spinach cakes, peas porridge, boiled pork "apples".... sounds weird, but it was SOOOOO GOOOOOOD.

I can't get away with not writing about my musical experiences in the MUSIC CAPITOL of Europe. Great music is so accessible in Vienna... it should be illegal. I can get 10 euro seats (like, comfortable 5th row seats) as a student at the Volksoper. I can get a stehplatz (standing place) at the Staatsoper for 4 euro. The Musikverein (home of the Wiener Philharmoniker and other visiting orchestras) for 6 euro. I'll give you the brief overview of what I've seen & heard so far:

I saw Wagner's "The Flying Dutchmann" at the Staatsoper a few weeks back--perfect for the 5 of us who were currently in the Wagner class. This was my first live, professional opera EVER. Granted, a Wagner opera isn't your light and lovey Mozart operetta by any means... I mean this is some heavy robust music. The storyline is was alright, and the general production was very well done. The Dutchmann was brilliant as was Erik. The diva soprano was.... blech. Awful. She swooped up to basically every note and her pianissimos had no energy. Ew ew ew ew ew. Although I was disappointed with her, I was generally pleased with my first opera experience.

Prentiss Dunn invited our class to a Haydn festival dress rehearsal at the Esterhazy Palace of Haydn. It was GORGEOUS. So ornate. And the acoustics in this hall were fantastic. The festival orchestra we saw was pristine... their sound... crisp and clean. They are the most well know performers of Haydn's works. I actually don't know what particular work they were rehearsing when we sat in, but the soloists and chorus were top of the line. Yeah, it was good. And the nice Serbian taxi driverguy didn't charge us for the ride back to the University because we were cute American girls. Somtimes it pays to have boobs. (Okay, well the other girls can say that more than me.. but... whatev... I make up for it in my unbelieveable charms! lol).

Olivia and I had the great privlige of getting some of the last standing places for the the Musikverein two and a half weeks ago. The Lucerne Festival orchestra was playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 (honestly, my favorite. I heard it for the first time on 91.5 on my way to BATB rehearsal one night... and it was the second movement... I literally cried in the car. It was absolutely sublime). The pianist was Helene Grimaud (who literally raises wolves on the side, no joke). Not only is she a bonafide French hottie (I've never met a French woman who hasn't been a hottie) but she played the hell out of that concerto. Phenomenal. Claudio Abbaddo was conducting... this cute, short little man who conducted like Frank Bianchi and I loved it. So expressive. The rest of the program was Stravinksy's "Firebird" (ALWAYS a goose-bumper) and Tschaikovsky's "Die Sturm." There was a point during Die Sturm where the orchestra had such an intense and heartstopping pianissimo that I realized I wasn't breathing. I have never heard anything like it. This concert was the best music I've ever experienced. Period.

Tonight, Olivia, Elisabeth, Greg and I went to go see "Der Fledermaus" at the Volksoper. It's a comedic operetta that I didn't know much about to be honest... other than it contains the famous "Laughing Aria" in Act 2. However, I have come to love the operetta... or maybe moreso this particular production. The singing was pretty awesome, but the comedy and acting outshined the voices. These people were fantastic actors... (the fact that they were primarily singers made this even more surprising to me lol). It should be noted that this opera is completely in German, and although I was able to pick out words and phrases in context, I relied heavily on the English subtitles projected above the stage. AH! But there's a catch. Der Fledermaus is an operetta, meaning it's not entirely sung... there are spoken sections and scenes in between. The only things that were translated were the SONGS. None of the scenes were translated. This is when I learned that comedy transcends language barriers. Comedy in Austria is the same as comedy in the US. Funny is funny. And I was proud of myself that I was able to actually understand what was going on. Even got one of the German jokes! *pat myself on the back* Lots of memorable music in this one. Beaucoup de plot twists. Lots of funnies! I recommend it!

Originally, we had all planned on going to the "opening night" of La Boheme at the movie theater. That's right--seeing an opera at the movie theater. Anna Netrebko, who is the face of Opera, plays Mimi in this motion picture (which was filmed in Vienna, by the way). The movie looks SPECTACULAR. Even the trailer gave me goosebumps. Then again, La Boheme does hold a special place in my heart. The first time I was exposed to La Boheme was when I rented the 1980's video of the Metropolitan Opera doing the production. The storyline was aboslutely beautiful and passionate. The music was perfect for a romantic sap like myself. So powerful and moving. I literally bawled my eyes out during the final scene. For those of you who don't like opera, this is the work that will change your perspective forever. I think I might try and see it tomorrow night.... or maybe I should study for finals... hmmmmmmm....

I've been trying to locate an English speaking church to go to on Sundays... and have succeeded to an extent. There are a good handful of churches offering services to the English speaking crowd--Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Non-Denominational, Baptist. Not too shabby considering I'm in a foreign country. I can't remember the last church I saw for German speaking people in America lol. Anyway, I tried the Vienna Community Church first. It's a non-denominational church by Stephansdom (my aboslute FAVORITE part of town). The cathedral is lovely and bright, and the music... oh the music! Alas, the pastor is... well... incoherent. He uses analogies that just don't make sense. For a while, you really feel like he's on to something... but then he never closes the circle. He leaves you hanging. And you miss the message in all the ambiguous stories. So the next week I tried Christ Church which is an Anglican/Episcopalian church. I've never been to an Anglican church before, but it was easy to find compared to the Methodist church. So I thought I'd give it a shot. They were having the First Communion service, so there were no seats left and the liturgy was different that day. Surprisingly, though, I knew the intoned responsories... which is truly a mystery to me since I've never been to an Anglican/Episcopalian church. lol. Hopefully I'll have better luck next week!

Oh yes--the "REAL" reason that I'm in Vienna. Her name is Althea-Maria Papoulia. Soprano diva extraordinaire. The best teacher I've ever worked with. Period. She's AMAZING. She's sung all over the world and has had leading roles in some of the finest opera houses in Europe. (Look for her DVD on Amazon.uk. Bizet's Carmen. 2003.) Her husband is the second chair in the Wiener Philharmoniker and they have the cutest little daughter (whom she refers to in my lessons as "the kid") named Ariadne (LOVE this name. It's gorgeous). Despite all of this fame and talent that would give anyone a right to be snobby and "TG," this woman is the sweetest, funniest most helpful person. She used to study business at the University and didn't decide she wanted to study opera until she was 20. Within two years she had learned most of the major opera roles for her voice and was getting jobs by the time she was 24. She won the Maria Callas Competition around that time too. That's what I call sheer talent. Sometimes in my lessons she'll get on 15 minute tangents about poilitics, or her former sex lives (yep, she even gave me pointers--AH!), or her cheerleading career in the University (ask Olivia about the day she stood up from the piano and did a cheer...), or the day she found out she was pregnant ("Come here and kiss your pregnant wife!"). I honestly feel like I've known this woman my whole life.

I meet with Althea twice a week for an hour. Having 2x the lessons per week has been surprisingly helpful in my learning... and I actually practice now, which is astounding, I know! What she's been able to do with my voice just in the 8 weeks I've been here is amazing even to me. And she makes me feel good about my voice. She realizes that I'm a small girl with a respectively small instrument... I'm not going to be a dramatic soprano. And she never makes me feel like I have to be. She has developed and opened up my voice in a way that is soley "my voice." And she describes it in a way that makes complete sense to me. She pushes me, but never to the point where I want to collapse into tears. My Junior recital pieces have come a long way. Particuarly the Schumann "Frauenliebe und -leben" because as a female, she's helped me to relate to this woman's journey of finding her true love, the joy of marriage, and the joy of bringing a child into the world (what the song cycle is essentially about). I can do the coloraturas and melismas of Exsultate, Jubilate sooo much easier now. Singing feels good again :) Yaaaaay!

And Olivia and I have begun working on our duet for our Junior recital, "Sull'aria." Which we're so excited about :) March 28th, 5 o'clock. Mark it on your calendars people!

Althea lives at the very edge of the city in a lovely little condo-flat. It takes me a little over an hour to get there using public transportation... but it's nice to get away from the "city" and feel like I'm in a "provincial town." And I get to listen to my iPod like all the cool Austrians. And I feel like I blend in. And I like it :)

I haven't been plagued with homesickness too awful much, but that is not to say that it doesn't occur. There are certain times where I just want to be in the comfort of my friends and family, or I'll see something that reminds me of home and I get semi-sad. Luckily these bouts last but a few minutes and I'm back to loving my life again. Sometimes when I'm walking in the park or sitting on the U-Bahn I'll think about mom and dad, and my aunt and her boys... how much they're growing up... and I start doing that mopey thing where I listen to emo music and brood on my homesickness.... Or like today, in the middle of the opera, when I suddenly realized it was October 10th--Eric and my 4 month "anniversary," and I almost cried. But in those moments I always lose myself in thinking that I'm here forever and that all hope is lost and gone. Then I have to remind myself that I'm here for two more months where I will be experiencing the most amazing adventures. And my life will continue on as normal. And my panic attack goes away.

Truth be told, I will miss Vienna dealy when I have to leave. Were it not for the wonderful people who I am honored to call friends and family, I would never come back.

But alas, it is 2:30 in the morning here... and I'm STILL awake! Ahhhhh! Anyway, I will post soon about our trip to Venice :) Gute nacht!

Tschuss, ciao, ba ba!
Laura