So I know that it is 6:30 ish in the morning where I am but I just woke up. I will probably go back to bed but I just wanted to type some because I'm wide awake. This week as been very interesting but fun at the same time. I haven't done anything musical wise this week because I had to work my butt off for this German Final I had yesterday. When they mean 3 week intensive German course. They really mean INTENSIVE. I learned all of these verbs, how ask for things, negation, and I probably learned over 500 words. It weird how it is sticking to me because usually it doesn't. My voice teacher here just assigned me two German pieces and it is weird how I knew a lot of the words. I still had to look up some to do a full translation of the piece to know what it means but it was very strange that I could pick up on some words. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to do this final which was 6 pages long and I was not told consisted mostly of fill in the blank. It was fine. I don't think I did AMAZING on it but I did well. Frau Meyer, my teacher, always knows when I'm having some trouble because apparently I give these facial expressions that make her laugh all the time. She knows though when i give different facial expressions that I'm either lost or confused. She came up to me and told me I need to learn how to trust myself because I'm not a bad student I just don't think that I can learn it. Which is very true. It is really overwhelming, but I want to learn it. If this is where I want to live in less then 10 years. I HAVE to learn it. After I took my test I went to a bar called 1516. I ordered water....it was free and very good. Everyone else got a beer or hot chocolate with bailey's. I had a voice lesson at 5:15 my time. So I had to go make the hike back to my voice teacher's house. I actually enjoy going to her house because it is so far out there. The window that she makes me look out oversees all of Vienna and all of the vineyards too. It is beautiful. She is right by the WienerWald (Viennese Woods). It is absolutely beautiful. Also I love my voice teacher. I learn so much in the short amount of time. She makes me laugh and she has so much knowledge. She truly is an amazing women. I love her technique of teaching too.
I found out yesterday that I will be giving a recital here. I knew that but I didn't know any of the details. I will most likely be giving the recital in Mid-May. The minimum time will be 40 minutes. (Wow a 40 minute recital of just me. It makes me anxious haha) It has to have a small group of German Lieder pieces which are Schumann, Schubert, Wolf, Mahler, etc. I'm really excited. I don't know where 40 minutes of music is going to come from but it will happen somehow. I also have to make a program and it has to be recorded so Butler can see that I did a recital. When I come home I plan on doing the same recital somewhere in Indiana haha. Either at my church, Butler, or where ever I can find a place.
It feels weird knowing that I'm going to do a recital because at Butler only Juniors and Seniors do recitals. I'm really excited and I'm up for the challenge. I will have to prepare a lot but it is completely worth it.
Last night I went to a club, my first club experience and maybe one of my last in Vienna haha. I really did have a lot of fun don't get me wrong. The club was called Club Loco! It is free entry so a lot of IES people go there. I just had to pay a euro for coat check. The music was great and I went from 10 to 11:30 haha. I started to fall asleep. It doesn't help with going out on the town when you usually for asleep before 10 o'clock. Two nights ago I feel asleep at 8ish and woke up at 8 in the morning. Well anyway going back to the club. It really was a lot of fun, but after walking in I realized that every bar in Vienna is smoking. Whomp Whomp. After the first hour I could feel my voice and my throat becoming dehydrated. Also my lungs started to get really tight so I had to leave. I can't do that every weekend. I don't know how some people do it everyday. My friends dragged me out. They wanted me to have fun because I stay in every night or go to some music event and then go straight home. I'm glad that I went out though. It was a fun experience.
This week is a break week for me before real classes start. I decided to stay in Vienna while most people are going on this IES Germany trip. Today I will be going to the big shopping street called Mariahilferstrasse. I just want to look to see what the style is here. I will also be taking a small stop at the Schonbrunn Palace. It is the only royal palace that I haven't seen. I think it was the winter palace for the royal family, but now it is connected with the oldest Zoo in the world. I'm excited. I also think I will try and go to the opera tonight. I want to go to a musical event every night I'm here. Anyway my body is starting to fall asleep again. I love you all bye bye
BEN BEN BEN!! I wish I were there with you; it sounds absolutely FABULOUS! Except for the smoking club, not so fun. The shopping street and the marketplace and the opera... so jealous. I guess it didn't really occur to me that you would be gone even through May! I miss you TONS! Speaking of recitals (which I'm going to want to hear a recording of, or be personally invited to the American version), Andy and I are putting one on together in April. Should be exciting! Last night we had a Friday night orchestra concert, which was surprisingly well attended since it had been snowing all day and the university had closed. Pictures at an Exhibition and Dane sang the Grieg Songs from the concerto competition! We stole the fraternity's composites last night during the lock-in. Hilarious! I was on Team Snu. Music History was a total bear this week. We had a two day exam. Wednesday was the listening (pretty sure I only got two points right) and Friday was an outline, short answer, and fill in the blank. I died a little. But nonetheless. I miss you TONS! Have a relaxing week!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love,
Anna