Madrid!

I have a bad habit of running myself ragged on trips and spending the final day feeling like I got hit by a truck. So I'm writing this entry from the lounge of my hostel in Madrid while Emily takes a day trip to Segovia. I've been napping and watching Dexter and nursing a sore throat all day. It's not actually the worst thing ever though-after the ridiculous past five days, a day of rest feels pretty damn good.

Emily and I flew from Vienna to Munich on Thursday evening where we were supposed to catch a connecting flight to Madrid. Unfortunately our flight was running late and we arrived at the Munich airport right as our second flight was departing. Here's the thing about Europe though: we were given a free night at a nearby NICE hotel, free dinner and breakfast there, and a free shuttle to and from the airport. Not too shabby, right?
We were in Madrid by 11:30am the next morning! We checked into our hostel, which is right next to EVERYTHING (but that's basically everywhere in the city-it's so small!), and headed right to The Prado Museum, Madrid's hugely famous art museum.
The artwork there was great, but I wasn't really any more impressed than I am by the art I see in Vienna. The "masterpieces" listed on the museum plan were all things I was vaguely familiar with, but not dying to see. We had a great time though and spent over two hours there! I used all my art and architecture class knowledge to throughly talk Emily's ears off. I also IMMEDIATELY recognized a massive painting of Maria Theresa. Does that make me an honorary Viennese now?

(This is obviously NOT Maria Theresa)

After the Prado we got coffee in the Plaza Mayor and enjoyed the sunshine we'd been missing oh-so-much lately in Vienna. We acclimated ourselves with some of the major attractions in the city, such as the Puerta del Sol. By the end of the afternoon we could walk to and from our hostel without a map!

That night we went to a restaurant called Torres Bermejas for a flamenco show, located right off Gran Via, the massive shopping and nightlife street. We arrived at the restaurant at 9pm and stayed until almost 1am! The flamenco started at 9:30 and we enjoyed paella while we watched some of the best dancing I've ever seen in my life. I had chills the entire time! The passion and expression in the singing and dancing was unreal. Both Emily and I agreed that we could go back to Vienna happy and our trip had barely even started yet!



The next morning we tried to get up early and go see the bullfighting museum at the arena, but were sad to learn that it's closed Friday through Tuesday, EXACTLY the days we'd be here for! I was excited to see it, but I probably would have been horrified and freaked out once we got there. Even though we were showered and ready to go, we turned around and went straight back to bed.
After our impromptu naps we went on the free walking tour organized by our hostel. It was SO COOL! I'd never been on a free tour before and it was totally great because our guide works hard to make it informative and fun so that he gets the best tips possible at the end. We walked all through the city for about three hours, seeing things we'd already seen before, but learning all the stuff we never knew. We also saw a ton of stuff we never would have discovered on our own! We saw Madrid's most famous symbol in the Puerta del Sol, the statue of the bear eating fermented fruit. Basically all these animals eat this fruit and get so drunk that for a little while they stop eating each other and chill the fuck out. Bad ass.


The walking tour ended around 3pm and WE WERE SO HUNGRY so we found the closet place and INHALED (come on, you guys know me), some tapas. I had my first taste of jamon, Madrid's famous ham that is EVERYWHERE.


We spent the next couple of hours killing time and eating subpar pastries before going to the OPERA! I got in contact with a good friend of my voice teacher in Vienna who works as a vocal couch there and he just happened to have two free tickets for the dress rehearsal to Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Madrid opera house! We were extremely fortunate! I was a little thrown off by the fact that we got to sit though, it felt wrong.


The opera was THE WEIRDEST FUCKING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. AND I SAW SALOME LAST WEEK!
WHAT!!!!!!
This shit was ridiculously bad. It was all recit and the staging was insanely terrible, with the singers moving like robots around a set made up of blocks and straight lines and weird lighting. Even the program described the show as "vague" with "no real plot development" and claimed that it "wasn't for the conventional opera lover, but rather for the music lover in the strictest sense". Even the program couldn't pretend it was good! Not to mention it was scheduled to be close to four hours long.
We met with Professor Robin's friend during the intermission, talked about how "interesting" it was, and ROLLED OUTTA THERE AS QUICKLY AS WE COULD. The only good thing about the experience was that with the opera being in French and the subtitles in Spanish, I could call on my experience with every language I've learned since I was little and could sort of follow along! Sort of.
We were falling asleep as we walked and couldn't collapse into bed fast enough. It takes a lot out of you to spend all day on your feet in a country where you go through four different languages before you actually use the right one to order your food.

Sunday was probably my favorite day of all, which is saying a lot because I was ready to go home happy after the first night!
We got up early and visited the Rastro market, a Sunday flea market that stretches on for what feels like half of the city! We bought too much stuff for very little money. Good thing we got there early too, by the time we left it was almost impossible to walk around!
After the market we went to Retiro park. It reminded me SO MUCH of parts of Central Park! It was an unbelievably gorgeous fall morning and I was in heaven. The park is full of vendors and street performers and even little buildings with art exhibits! We ate chorizo sandwiches and watched the boaters row around on the lake.


We spent a hot second at the Reina Sofia contemporary art museum just before it closed and got to take in the massive Picasso collection. The museum houses one of Picasso's most famous works, "Guernica" which I definitely took a contraband picture of (shhh....).


One of the guys from our hostel recommended a small square that Madrid locals love, so we went over there afterwards for coffee and more sun-enjoyment.
Our evening took a wonderfully unexpected turn for dinner. We hung out with two new friends of Bill, Chip and Steve, who both happen to be from NYC! They're both artists, Chip is working for the month on a new piece at the Reina Sofia, and Steve is just taking a quick Europe tour and was meeting up with Chip for the evening when he invited us to join them. He will even be in Vienna next week so I'm looking forward to showing him around!
Steve had a Time-Out guide so we hit up a great Tapas place and then a pizza place run by two brothers from Napoli. We spent close to three hours just hanging out and getting to know each other and eating delicious, delicious food. It was pure joy and I SO look forward to hanging out with them once I get back to the city in December. Small world, isn't it??


Unfortunately, we spent a fair amount of time outside and I definitely did NOT have a jacket. Emily and I were completely unprepared for the weather here, assuming that 70 degrees meant shorts and flip flops. I was able to modify my outfits, but the whole "not-having-a-coat" thing was hard to avoid. That paired with spending approximately twelve hours on our feet every day resulted in me waking up with a terrible sore throat and feeling like poop this morning.
Em and I had plans to take a day trip to Segovia, but after waiting in the train station for less than an hour I was spent. I went back to the hostel and Emily was happy to be the awesome adult that she is and go on an adventure all on her own! I am forever grateful.
So here I am, watching Dexter, Lie to me, Bones, and every other American TV show I'd forgotten about and trying to recharge. One good thing: SPANISH OMELETTES WERE MADE FOR SICK DAYS.

Tonight we'll probably eat something quick by the hostel and go to bed early because we have to catch a 7:20am flight. Our layover time in Munich is longer this time around so fingers crossed that we don't miss our connection again! If all goes according to plan I'll be back in Vienna by noon.
I MISS HOME SO MUCH. And no, not NYC or Indiana, but Wien. This trip is maybe one day too long. I miss the other amazing friends I've made and German and my classes and GOOD OPERA and Pasha and everything I've grown to know and love.
Madrid has been great, but God Almighty, I left my heart in Austria BIG TIME.

Classes resume Wednesday after the All Saints Day holiday and I hope to be feeling better by then and ready to get back into the swing of things!

Franz and Frederic

Performance workshop had their first concert Thursday and I really think it went incredibly well! The space is gorgeous, (duh, we go to school in a palace), everyone looked gorgeous, and everyone sounded gorgeous.

I performed a Lachner piece with Liz on clarinet. It was fun to collaborate with someone in that way! I'd never had to do a duet with an instrumentalist before and I really feel like I learned a lot.

Friday was SUPPOSED to be a day of studying and nothing else because we had our German midterm on Saturday, but as per usual, that definitely didn't happen.
After German class we were all hanging out and drinking coffee and decided to go on an impromptu trip to the Smetterling House (butterfly house) at the Hofburg. For those of you who don't know, I used to be PETRIFIED of anything remotely bug-like, including gnats and house flies. Butterflies were an absolute non-no. The last time I went to a butterfly house I was seven years old and ran from the entrace to the exit screaming hysterically.
As I've "matured" (hah) and lived in the Midwest for some time, I've slowly but surely overcome my bug phobia. In fact, I'm pretty smug about the whole thing.
But yesterday was the final test. I felt like I was fufilling some sort of destiny. Not really. But sort of.

The set up of the butterfly house was much different than the one I went to as a little kid at the Central Park Zoo or Bronx Zoo or whereever it was. The one at the Hofburg was set up like a mini slice of a rainforest, with waterfalls and trees and tons of different exotic plants basically dripping from the walls. It was also a STEAMFEST in there. It felt amazing on my lungs, but horrible in my winter coat.


The butterflies were all different colors, shapes, and sizes, and fluttered around unaware of all the stupid people gaping at them. Occasionally there were some little plates with banana slices on them where five or so butterflies were hanging out.
AND I SURVIVED!
I actually loved it!
I did a little victory dance in my head.


I studied a little in the afternoon, but met up with Belle, Matt, Josey, Ilana, and her parents at 5:30 to go to a Heuriger for dinner! We went to the same one we went to last time and because it's significantly chillier out now, we sat inside and had a wonderful, cozy, two hour dinner. It was definitely a good "break" from all the "studying" I'd been doing. To make myself feel better we had a rapid-fire review session between entrees and dessert. After that I stopped stressing entirely.

This morning felt really weird because it was a Saturday, but I had to get up and head to school like I do every morning during the week. I knew it was going to be a good day though because when I went to Anker for a croissaint before the exam the woman behind the counter took it fresh out of the oven for me. That's the kind of thing that gets me ready for a midterm.
Emily and I also had our friendship lambs with us (yes, we have stuffed animal friends, and yes, it's a long, long story), which I kept on my lap for the entirety of the test. Because these things work better than studying.

I finished the test in an hour because I'm a champ.

After we'd all finished with our exams we went to eat lunch at Cafe Griensteidl, which is apparently a pretty famous little cafe. It's right by the Hofburg and was recommended to us by Ilana's parents. We all got spaetzle with cheese (again recommended by Ilana's parents), and IT WAS DELICIOUS! Victory lunch: check.


(Frederic is obviously defeated by the mac and cheese feast, but Franz is still going strong)

Matt, Ilana, and I went back to my house and we watched an episode of Dexter and drank vanilla tea. Sarah joined in and so did Franz. Obvi.

We were back at IES by 3:40 for the SQUEEZENGER HUNT (scavenger hunt but IES "squeezing the juice" style). My team was made up of me, Matt, Emily, Josey, and NOT ALEXA (Alexa wasn't officially part of it, but she came along and was a vital member of team "Energy Legs", we just had to be really stealthy and make sure she was never in any of the pictures).
We had two and a half hours and 32 different things to find. The clues were relatively easy and we knew a lot of things because we'd recently visited them or learned about them in our classes! We POWER WALKED for the entire time and managed to check off about 26 of the items!


(Making a "ring" on the Ring)


(We had to get some random people to spell out "IES" for us... these are the third group of people we asked, we got horribly rejected a few times first)

Once we had handed in our pictures and check-list to be evaluated, we went to 1516 to get some much needed dinner. 1516 is this pub/restaurant place that has a huge sort of Austrian-American fusion menu. I got ribs with "BBQ sauce" AKA spicy ketchup (Oh, Austria...), and shared them with Matt. Who also got goulash. I felt AMAZING. This is really what the human body is made for: expending energy and pushing itself to its limits and then refueling. I feel like you see so much these days people being sedentary and over-fueling or people being overly active and then under-eating. All I know is I felt like the fucking Hulk after dinner and loved it.

The prizes were announced at an after-party at some smokey ass bar later that night. DRUM ROLL PLEASE....
WE WON THRID PRIZE!
Hurray!!! I think there were 13 or 14 different groups, so third place aint too shabby!
OUR PRIZE WAS FOUR 300 GRAM BARS OF MILKA.
WHAT.
Matt looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
That's over A KILOGRAM of chocolate.
Happiness was had by all.


Today I slept in, did yoga, and AM TRYING TO STUDY (aka, writing this blog). Later tonight we're going to see Fidelio at the Staatsoper! I'm super excited because it's Beethoven's only opera and rarely ever performed because the lead role is so damn hard. The tenor who sang Tamino for Magic Flute is singing the role though, and I'm sure it's going to be amazing! An added bonus is that I can bring my studying materials with me to standing room and am basically forced to review for the two or so hours that we wait on line. I am NOT bring my nook with me. NO, GEORGIA, NO.

Why we feed dinosaurs in winter...

I need a more original opening statement than "OH SHIT MY LIFE IS GREAT", because it doesn't make for a very interesting blog.
On second thought, OH SHIT MY LIFE IS GREAT.

I know I start every entry like this, but it really is true. As of today I've officially been here exactly two months and have exactly two months left. What the hell. I feel like I just got to Vienna, but also like I've been here forever. Thankfully, I seem to be using my time wisely because each moment is jam-packed with AWESOME. (btw, I pride myself on descriptive vocabulary).

Important things that happened last week:
-I learned which Apothekes are open late and on Sundays (unfortunately this was learned way too late, but now I know for the next time I'm DYING). Also, hospitals close.
-Homemade meatball night cooked by Belle paired with Hunchback of Notre Dame watching and homemade Mexican night cooked by Matt paired with... eating Mexican food.
-I had kebap three times and was over it by the third time. Decided I wouldn't have it at all this week to give myself a break. Wanted it today.

My weekdays generally just consist of great food, great people, great voice lessons, and lots of work. I don't mind the work because I love my classes. I try to walk to school every day and get to take in the gorgeous mornings and watch Vienna wake up! There, now I never have to talk about my weeks again.

Now for a more in-depth description of the weekend:
Friday during our usual German class time we instead went to the Naturhistorisches museum. Our teacher's husband is an archeologist of some sort and gave us a personal tour! At one point he stood by a massive prehistoric snail fossil and simply said, "I found this one". WHAT?! He also took us "behind the scenes" and onto the roof! We got to see an amazing panoramic view of the Museumsquartier and all across downtown Vienna.

WITH HIS SHELL!


Maria Theresa's STUFFED lapdog!


Um... I don't think they got the translation right on this one...



OUR VIEW FROM THE ROOF!

On Friday evening we went to see Die Zauberflöte at the Staatsoper. It was the BEST production I've seen there yet! They set the show from the imagination of the three boys, which I found absolutely BRILLIANT. The set was also very reminiscent of the set from our IU production two years ago... hmmm. Another thing I liked was that they painted the three ladies and the Queen of the Night in body paint and made them almost scary looking. They were beautiful and freakish at the same time. I've never seen them interpreted that way before! Of course I sang along with the chorus bits. I loved seeing an opera I'm so familiar with done in such an unfamiliar way. Needless to say, I was extremely impressed.

Saturday was a much needed day of resting. I slept in, did yoga, did laundry, and re-taught myself how to breathe. I love every second here, but sometimes at the end of the week I am DRAINED beyond belief and just need to set aside time specifically for rebooting.

Saturday night was probably the best night out I've had since I've been abroad!
I met Emily at the Naschmarkt for some Chinese noms and then we went back to her place. Julia had her friend Leo from Munich staying with her for the weekend and so a bunch of people came over and we all hung out and talked and drank and chilled. Julia's Austrian friend Dominic, (don't ask me how she knows all these people), was DJ-ing at a club that night and if you went before midnight it was only three euro to get in! The club was IN THE U-BAHN STOP at Karlsplatz and was actually really cool. It's a techno club and it was "Peanut night" so there were peanuts all over all the tables and counters. It was hilarious. The setup was nice, with couches and tables, but there was also a good-sized area to dance in the middle. It was a small club in comparison to some of the ones you'll find in Vienna, which is actually what I prefer. I could dance like a crazy person, but also had the option of just chilling and talking with friends.
The music was actually SO GREAT. It was techno bordering on dubstep and it had good beats. We went balls-to-the-walls and just danced around like fools. Sometimes it's great to go somewhere where you have absolutely NO idea how to dance to the music because you can just jump and flail around and throw caution entirely to the wind.
We danced until 3AM! I wasn't even really tired! We spaced the dancing out with telling each other how much we loved each other and hugging a lot. Or maybe that was just Matt and I.
Basically I couldn't have pictured a better place to spend the night or better people to spend it with.

Sunday I slept in and then met Emily, Matt, Julia, and Leo for lunch at our favorite open-on-Sundays pizza place. Here is a dirty secret: I have discovered a liking for ham and pineapple on my pizza. I know this goes against all logic. But I can't help myself.


After lunch WE WENT TO THE ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
OEFHISUDBSNKJHBFGIJOAKNDHSBFGIUDJOANKFHSBDXGIUJFANKFSDBHGIUFJOASFNKBHGIUOJFESBGR
I have been talking about the zoo since the last time I went. I don't care that it cost 14 Euro (WTF?!). I would go every fucking day if I had the time!
It was a gorgeous crisp fall day out and we had a blast! Some of the animals that had been outside the last time I went were now in their indoor winter homes and I could see them much more up-close! I must have stood with my mouth open three feet away from a Giraffe for close to ten minutes.



Once sufficiently wiped out by the zoo, Matt and I went back to my apartment, made vanilla tea (SO GOOD), and I was introduced to Dexter. Shit. Now that's one more TV show I have to give a little piece of my soul to. SO worth it though, I love serial killer "good guys", (think Hannibal Lecter).
We went across the street to our favorite neighborhood Gasthaus for dinner and sat a table away from Belle, Ilana, and her parents! Party of Americans!
I spent the rest of my evening studying with Julia. All in all, BEST WEEKEND EVER. (Until next weekend).

This week we have our first performance workshop show on Thursday. I'm singing a Lachner duet with clarinet which I actually love. Lets just hope I can keep the verses in the right order!

Salzburg and Natalie Dessay!

Who says the cold and rain has to put a damper on things?

I woke up at 5am Saturday morning and was out of the house by 5:45 to get to the train station and meet Matt and Emily for our day trip to SALZBURG! If you're unfamiliar with Salzburg, it's named for it's salt mines and was also the birthplace and home of Mozart, as well as the location where Sound of Music was filmed. Not to mention it is breathtakingly gorgeous!

I feel I need to add this as an important side note: winter came on Friday and came to stay.
Thursday was a sunny, warm 70+ degree day and Friday was 50 degrees and raining. This was the continued theme for Saturday and it looks as if there's no turning back.
We had already bought our train tickets so we thought, what the hell, we'll make the best of it! And surprisingly enough, we actually did!

(Matt eating Anker pizza for breakfast on the train...nomz.)

The train ride to Salzburg is around three hours long so we pulled into the station at 10am. Our first stop was the Hellbrunn fountains. One of the Prince Archbishops built the palace as a summer home some 400 years ago. Apparently he had quite the sense of humor, which is apparent in the fact that he had countless fountains installed, hidden in bushes or statues, which would squirt water out at his innocent guests. He even had an outdoor dinner table installed which would randomly shoot water out of the chairs! In those days, one couldn't stand up in the presence of a seated noble, so all the guests had to squirm in their seats as water shot up their asses. PERFECT.


(They awkwardly took our pictures throughout the tour... Emily was NOT pleased with the weather conditions.)

We walked through the gardens and got to see the fountains and statues. It had been pouring while we were waiting for our tour to begin, but lucky us, the rain stopped right as we entered the gardens and stayed stopped for the entirety of our visit! Usually the tour guide doesn't warn people about the fountains because you kind of know what you're getting into at the start, but thankfully he let us know when to stand back so that we didn't have to walk around for the rest of the "winter" day in soaking wet clothes. Everything mechanical in the place was solely operated by water! They even had a wooden stage filled with over a hundred little figurines who moved about to music. This thing has been in operation since the mid-1700s! WHAT, THAT'S TOO COOL.


It was also especially awesome because Belle and her friend from home were able to meet up with us there! They had taken the train into Salzburg the night before and were staying until Sunday. Psssh, paying for hostels, who does that??

(Me and Emily are always, always twins.)

After Hellbrunn we went back into the center of town, frantically searched for somewhere to eat (come on Salzburg, leave SOMETHING open on a Saturday afternoon!), and met up with our tour bus for THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR.
YES. WE REALLY DID A FOUR HOUR TOUR ON THE SOUND OF MUISIC.
AND YES, IT WAS GREAT.

Our tour guide was this hilarious man who was obviously doing anything he could to keep himself entertained. Matt, Emily, and I were throughly amused. The tour is only offered in English, (go figure), and the bus was completely full.

We drove around the city and he pointed out some stuff and we got out for some as well. We saw the lake behind the Trapp family house, the abbey, the bridge they danced across, and much, much more. Our final stop was a little ways out of Salzburg, in a town called Mondsee, where the church in which Maria and the Captain got married is. In reality, the actual Trapps were married in the abbey, but, as was made clear at the very beginning of the tour, the movie is a bag-o-lies but much more interesting than real life anyways.



On the way to Mondsee it started SNOWING. Not just a flake here and there, but SNOW.ING. The thermometer on the bus read 3 degrees Celsius. It felt as if we'd been catapulted into a winter wonderland, and from the warmth and safety of the bus, I really enjoyed watching it through the window. It made me a tiny bit homesick though!
Just as quick as the snow came it was gone and by the time we got to Mondsee the sun was actually kind of shining and the ground was dry.

The church was really, really beautiful, and we got to go inside and walk down the isle and pretend to get married and act like a-holes as much as we liked! It was funny though, because I've been taking this art and architecture class and this church was more interesting to me from an artistic and historic point of view than from a Sound of Music geek point of view.


(Emily and I both married Matt.)

After the church we had about a half hour of "free time" before we had to get back to the bus so we stopped at a gift shop, warmed up with some coffee at an adorable little cafe, and bought some emergency fruit (as per usual).

On the ride back to Salzburg they played the Sound of Music soundtrack and we watched some of a documentary in which "Liesel" is followed around Salzburg 40 years after the making of the movie and has over the top reactions to everything.

Once the bus dropped us off we walked through the Mirabell gardens, which is where most of the song "Do-Re-Mi" was shot. The gardens are lovely, and the rain continued to hold out on us!



Our intention had been to walk through the gardens to the Mozart Wohnhaus which is where Mozart lived from the time he was 17. Inside there's one of his pianos and a lot of his letters. Unfortunately, due to some bad tourist information booklet reading, THE HOUSE WAS CLOSED! Heart-brokenness was had by all, but Belle and her friend showed up and suggested we attend a little 45 minute Mozart Sonata concert in the basement of a church nearby. We had to get our Mozart in SOMEHOW, right?
The church was nice and warm and cozy, but the sonatas were EXTREMELY standard rep and, according to our pianist in residence, Emily, the women performing them managed to botch them anyhow. I thought it was very pleasant though and was given a chance to take a breath and let my toes defrost.

We made it to our train station about 45 minutes before the train was supposed to leave at 9pm, so we sat in the station restaurant and ate some goulash and warmed up (yet again). We also talked about what an AMAZING day we had! I can't believe just how wonderful it turned out to be. This just goes to show that life is unpredictable, and you just have to roll with what you're given. When you don't put expectations on things, sometimes life gives you even more than you could have hoped for.

The trip back to Wien was just as easy as the way in and we passed the time by reading our souvenir Sound of Music books that we bought. An English-speaker really needs to proof read these things before they go to press. Germans really seem to love their run-on sentences and pictures placed next to things that they have nothing to do with.
After a 20 hour day, I was home and snuggled up in bed by 1am to get my beauty sleep BECAUSEEEEEEEEEE.....

ON SUNDAY I WAITED IN LINE FOR SIX HOURS TO SEE NATALIE DESSAY IN OPENING NIGHT OF LA TRAVIATA AT THE STAATSOPER!


Matt, Shelby, Julia, Emily, and I got there at noon for a 7pm performance. There were only like ten people in front of us! We probably could have gotten there closer to 1 or 1:30 because of the icky weather (still butt-crack cold) and the fact that it was a Sunday, but no matter, I would have just sat around my apartment being excited for an extra hour and a half (although I would have been much, much warmer).


We ate sandwiches from the U-Bahn Anker, drank coffee and tea, and pretended to do homework and study. I finished all my concrete work for the weekend so I brought a bunch of ambiguous work like German vocab to study and music that I need to memorize the words to. My one fatal mistake was bringing my nook along as well because I ended up, for just shy of six hours straight, only reading. The plus side is that I started this really captivating, (obviously), new book and I haven't really had any time to read since I've been here so I got to extreme make up for that!
I also ran into my friend Amy Crossman, from HIGH SCHOOL. WHAT?! She is studying in London and was in Wien for three days and was also getting on line for standing room tickets. How crazy is that?!

We took turns walking to the Starbucks down the street and going inside to defrost and use the bathroom. It was like a toaster in there which was awesome, but made walking back out a total bitch.
As always, they let us into the lobby three hours before curtain, so by 4pm we were happily inside. By this point everyone had given up trying to do homework.


Because we are SUCH pros at pushing old people, we got ridiculously good parterre spots! This is what sitting around in the cold for six hours is all about!

After a typical frantic "Kebopera" dinner, we headed back to the theatre for the performance. It was BREATHTAKING. I have yet to be a huge fan of the sets or the choruses of the Vienna Opera, but Natalie Dessay blew me out of the fucking water. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about her voice, but I soon realized that I was just thrown off by the fact that she was SO DAMN EXPRESSIVE WITH IT. I have never heard someone sing like that before in my life. The tenor was also fabulous, as was the bass. It was a stellar cast. I also had never seen La Traviata in its entirety before. I sobbed through the entire half hour long death scene. I couldn't call my emotions "sad" though, I felt so deeply moved that my actual feelings were almost unidentifiable.
We're going to go back one of these nights to wait outside the stage door for Natalie. I'm not usually one for autographs, but WHOA, I can't not meet this woman.

After the opera we all went back to Matt's house where they made Milka hot chocolate.
Recipe:
Shave Milka with a cheese grater. Melt Milka in a hot water bath. Add milk. Add an entire container of cream. Add maybe a little hot water. Maybe. Drink.



I didn't partake because God only knows how ill that'd make me, but my friends happily drank their liquid chocolate bars and I was just glad to be there with everyone. And besides, one would expect nothing less than the consumption of pure melted chocolate at the end of another fabulous weekend!

Matt's birthday, Heuriger, and Lange Nacht der Museen!

What is my life. No, seriously. This can't be real. I am so fucking blessed.
This weekend has been unbelievably amazing. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that any of this is actually happening.

The end of the week was pretty much same as always, with tons of music and work and Kebap and trying to fit in naps.
Friday is when the awesomeness really began. I was finally able to do a yoga podcast for the first time since last Sunday, which always immediately makes things 150% more bearable. (It also makes me 150% more bearable!). Julia came over and we yoga-ed it up and then sat down to a delicious dinner prepared from scratch by Belle and Sarah! They made a couple chickens and potatoes and tons of veggies and our whole apartment smelled kind of like Thanksgiving, but mostly like comfort and love.


After dinner we all headed over to Shelby's apartment for a little belated birthday celebration for her and an early birthday celebration for Matt! It took us a little while to get there because the Strassenbahn decided to NOT BE RUNNING ALL FRIDAY, but we eventually made it by way of a random bus. We brought Matt a tupperware of birthday-eve dinner because he wasn't able to make it in time BECAUSE OF THE BROKEN STRASSENBAHN.
Shelby had made some gorgeous gluten-free desserts and we all sat around and ate and talked and they drank champagne and it was really lovely. I also brought Matt a little cake from the gorgeous bakery by our house so we sang happy birthday twice, one for each awesome birthday celebrant.



After the party we headed over to the Travel Shack for some more drinks and hanging out. I wasn't really in a going out mood, but once we got there I ended up having a pretty good time. Some other IES kids found their way there and there was some pretty badass music from my middle school years playing, so I couldn't complain. At midnight we SCREAMED happy birthday at Matt and before we left they brought Matt a bunch of birthday Bailey's shots with a sparkler candle stuck in a Twinkie type deal. Classy celebration, if you ask me. He also did a fire shot, which is where they light the alcohol in your mouth on fire and then sprinkle cinnamon on it to make it spark. Again, class.
We left before 12:30 so that we could catch the bus before it stopped running, which was fine by me because now that I haven't been drinking redbull, I CANNOT STAY AWAKE.

Saturday morning was perfectly lazy. I slept in, did some yoga, and just sort of booped around the house for a while. At three we all met by the U-Bahn to head over to a Heuriger for more birthday celebrations for Matt! A Heuriger is a restaurant/winery that serves only wine that it grows in its own vineyard, which is situated directly behind the restaurant. The 19th district has a ton of these, there are streets lined with restaurants and behind them are rows and rows of vineyards. There are beautiful patios and gardens to sit in. The weather was PERFECT! The sun was shining and the air was cool and smelled like fall.


We got to the Heuriger at around 4:30 and didn't leave until almost 8:00! I have never experienced anything like that before. We ordered a round of wine, (I got fresh sparkling white grape juice and it was THE BEST THING EVER), then schnitzel, then more wine, then coffee and dessert. It was so relaxed and laid-back and European, I almost couldn't stand it! Completely counterintuitive to how I usually live my life. I really learned how to slow down.


After the finishing up we headed to the Museumsquartier for the "Lange Nacht der Museen". It's a special night where ALL the museums in Vienna are open until 1am and you only have to pay 11 Euro and you GET INTO ALL OF THEM! There's special bus service to take you between them too. It was so cool to see the pure enthusiasm for this event! The streets were strewn with people and everyone was out having a blast and seeing as many museums as they could.
We went to the Naturhistorisches Museum first. Compaired to the Natural History Museum in New York, this thing was shit. It was literally just cases and cases of things; mostly replicas. The only really cool part was that the Venus von Willendorf is there. We learned about this little sculpture in Vienna Art and Architecture class. It's estimated to have been made between 24,000 and 22,000 BC! It's a gorgeous little statuette and it's thought to be a fertility symbol. Seeing her up close in person was so much cooler than seeing her on a little slide in class.



(Belle being a bio nerd)

The next museum we went to was the Belvedere. We had intended to go to the Upper Belvedere to see the Klimt stuff, but it was closed so we had to go to the Lower Belvedere to see an exhibit we knew absolutely nothing about. BEST MISTAKE EVER. It was a Hans Makart exhibit about the senses and it was THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I feel in love with this artist. The colors and the shapes and the hidden subtleties were so amazing. I have never been so affected by art before in my life. I took lots of illegal pictures:






The last museum on our list was the MOMUK, Vienna's museum of modern art. WHAT A CONTRAST TO THE BELVEDERE. This was the craziest fucking museum I have ever seen. I was beyond confused and bewildered and oftentimes disgusted by some of the stuff I saw. I made so many friends because everyone was looking around completely befuddled and making eye contact with one another. Half the stuff was just stupid, like a painting of solid blue or an overturned chair. Other stuff was offensive, like a juxtaposition of Barbie paraphernalia and Holocaust images that made my stomach churn. That isn't art, it's just shock value.
There was a Picasso that was pretty cool and a wire sculpture that hung from the ceiling and, to me, could possibly represent balanced chaos. That stuff I can consider art because it says something to me and makes me feel something. A stationary running vacuum, (yes, there was one there), doesn't do shit for me.

(WHAT IS THIS?!)


(This one I DID actually like, it's the balanced chaos one I mentioned).

By the time we were done at the MOMUK it was almost 1am and we were POOPED! We were going to go dancing at Lutz for a while, but the cover was 10 Euro (because there were no male bouncers to work our feminine charms on this time), and we were too tired to spend money to pretend to be awake. I was so content to go home completely satisfied rather than to go home an hour later, exhausted and cranky. I seriously felt like it was MY birthday, I had the most wonderful day.

Today, (Sunday), is just a typical Sunday. I slept in, did yoga, finished up my homework, and am now doing laundry and trying to learn the German for my performance workshop music. This coming week looks promising, with Matt cooking Indian for us on Monday, a potential piano concert on Thursday, services with Ilana on Friday, Salzburg on Saturday, and La Traviata with Natalie Dessay on Sunday! All this interspersed with learning beautiful music, beautiful German, and about beautiful art. If I'm lucky I'll throw in some yoga and some Daily Show watching.
I lead a charmed life.