Ja! Wien ist fabelhaft!

Yeah! Vienna is Fabulous! [that was german this time]

This is going to be a long blog- just a warning. My trip to Vienna to visit friends, Paul Dab, Kevin Rilling, and Laura Michaelson was absolutely fantastic. I loved vienna- and even more, I loved getting to see my old dear friends and make so many new awesome ones :D Let the photos begin!

Tuesday: Left from marseille, connected in Munich, flew into Vienna. I wish I could paint because the view from my window flying into Vienna was absolutely stunning. I looked out on the sun as it sank behind thick burgundy clouds casting a fan of glowing light across the gray mountains that sat as faint, yet strong shadows in the distant evening light. The ground below looked like a vast patchwork quilt of weaving light and dark greens, oranges, and browns. As we lowered and neared the ground I could see that each of these strips of colors were different rows crops. It was simply stunning.

I met my friend and fellow percussionist, Kevin at the bus station and we made a little treck through subways and trams until we arrived at their awesome apartment. Those lucky boys-- they have someone come in and clean their house every week! She even does their dishes!! ridiculous. After chatting and "reunioning" for a bit, me, kevin, and paul went out to grab some dinner. We were momentarily lost, but soon the boys found where they wanted to go- and I got to have my first Viennese beer. hehe

Wednesday: I got to tour all around the city seeing a few museums and cathedrals, then seeing the center where my friends do their studies. Its amazing how old and ornate everything is in Europe- their study rooms are like ancient palaces! I met up with my other friend, Laura there and we were instantly gossiping all about blair and people back home. haha it was good to be with a gal from blair again!

What amazed me about vienna was how much music there is there-- it seemed like everyone had some instrument strapped to their back or was on their way to see a great performance. I wish that there were this much music in Aix, but each city has its advantages and disadvantages. All I know is that I really do want to go to Vienna again someday, perhaps to study music for a bit. German didn't exactly come easily to me, but I wasn't there for very long either. I was thankful that pretty much every single person there spoke english (we americans are so lucky.)

Here we are touring the sites around Vienna!

This included going to a market where I got to try Dragon Fruit! It was like a hot pink kiwi! mm!!

Wednesday night we went out to a restaurant that specialized in wine. I got to try a couple types. I swear, I don't ever drink like this in the states- wine and definitely beer aren't really my thing, but.. when in vienna! I got to meet a bunch of paul, kevin, and laura's friends. It was a ton of fun! We went out to a bar that seemed to be a club! We danced a whole bunch and had fun... and then found our way home verrrry slowly. The regular buses had stopped running so we had to wait for the very slow night buses. Took forever and was FREEZING [insert thanks to my mother for mailing me my heavy coat!!]

Thursday:

I attending a private conducting class where Paul was playing the piano for the conducting student. It was interesting to observe! Then we met laura for some grade A chinese food! was delicious!

Then paul, kevin, and I met up and went to tour the Haus der Musik where we saw a big Vienna Philharmonic museum and a very interesting interactive sound/visual museum.. it was.. entertaining to say the least!

My friend, Paul, and Bernstein's Jacket :)

Listening to a sound room thing? weird.

They had an interactive conducting video! I got to conduct the vienna phil! :D

That night we went to hear the Cleveland symphony perform. They performed two of Debussy's Nocturnes and Liszt's Faust. The interesting part about this concert was that we took advantage of something very typical in vienna, but not so known in the states: the standing room. Its this area in the back of the concert hall where you can get tickets for very cheap, fight for a way to the best view, and stand to hear the concert. Being short has its advantages, as I got to snag a spot right up front.

The hall where the Vienna Phil performs usually-

Here's the standing room area in the back of the hall- before it filled up.

On the walk home, we passed the opera house where they were performing Marriage of Figaro that night- here's the giant video screen the have set up in front of the opera for people to go and sit out and see the opera for free from the street! Even though it was a frigid night, there were tons of spectators sitting and watching from the sidewalk!

At the concert, I ran into a blair alum that I knew who performed my string quartet last year- Ben Deitrick! I had no idea that he was living in Vienna and he had no idea that I was there to visit, so it was really a great surprise! The whole gang of us went out for a bite to eat after the concert-- we had lots of laughs along the way!

Here we are representing the VU sign:

Also noted- like in hollywood where they have the walk of fame- they have the walk of fame for composers in vienna! here's bela bartok :)

Friday:

Paul, Kevin, and I woke up early and headed to the train station to get tickets to Salzburg. We all pretty much passed out for the entire train ride there, though I tried to stay awake as long as I could to see the absolutely gorgeous fall colors that covered the hills. Once we got to Salzburg, we headed out of the trainstation and eventually got our bearings.

We found the old town, walked in the big stone entrance, and there was the house where Mozart was born:

We spent the whole day exploring the town, seeing cathedrals, getting lost a bit, having a fabulous Italian/Autrian/Indian/French lunch [where the kind owner gave us free bubbly water after I asked him if water with gas or without was cheaper.. I guess he pitied us poor students].

Here was a man playing the didgeridoo in front of a big cathedral- he was rakin' in the dough too! Quite a performance-

We made a really steep hike up to the city's fortress that sat perched high on a hill.

It was well worth the hike- the view and the sun set was spectacular!!

We had so many laughs along the way too, it was so much fun.

After a quick dinner,we found ourselves out of time and seriously running to catch the train out of the city! I don't even know how we caught it, but we did.

Saturday: Paul and I hit the town in search of a score for Rhapsody in Blue as well as a halloween costume. We found the latter, but no gershwin score :( Oh, and then paul made me very happy- he took me to Subway for lunch!! I know I know, I'm a terrible american for wanting my home comforts, but I have been craving a subway for far too long! haha

Then we made our way to a palace called Schoenbrunn where we walked all around the beautiful gardens and up a big hill to get a cloudy but great view of Vienna.

In the evening we went to catch another fabulous Cleveland symphony concert- but the standing room this time was packed!! We heard a gorgeous performance of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto and then a thrilling performance of Shostakovitch's 5th symphony. It was fantastic!

Saturday night was halloween and it was epic and SO much fun and I'll just let the photos speak for themselves here. There were so many fabulous new friends that I was sad to be leaving, though we all vowed to keep in touch. For my costume, I was a blue bird! Nothing too creative, but I did like the mask. :)

Thats me and a friend-

Group of friends, some old some new!

My dear friend Paul :)

ben- alum from blair I ran into in vienna- and a new friend Jodie!

It was just getting silly by this point.

And even more tired by this point...

Sunday morning I had to get up very early - 6:15am- to catch a bus and then my plane in the cold, gray, raining air. But all went smoothly and soon I landed in a bright, warm, and beautiful Aix. I was sad to leave vienna, but definitely got the rest and laughter that I needed.

Miss you all! Auf Wiedersehen!

-Dani

Chaque Jour- Une Nouvelle Aventure!

Each day a new adventure!

I made it my secret goal a while back to have a different adventure every day in Aix. By now, I can confirm that I have pretty much met this goal. This past week is a blur though.

Monday- It was my roommate, Lindsay's, 20th birthday! Sweet Savannah went out a bought her a cake and flowers with which we all surprised her monday night! It was hilarious because Lindsay was working out in our room when we all came upstairs and barged into the room to surprise her! haha, poor girl still had ipod earphones in as we sang happy birthday. :D here we are, having moved into the kitchen:

Tuesday- Had my internship like usual. I wasn't planning on conducting that night, but when I arrived, the director explained that he had to go conduct another rehearsal and would be there only for the first 30 minutes- could I take over for the rest of the time? haha.. ahhh. I wasn't quite prepared musically or mentally, but we pushed through it. He told me later that he was going to have me conduct Rhapsody in Blue at the orchestra concert in november. I'm SO excited :D I love that piece, and it's perhaps a bit cheesy, but cool that the little american girl is conducting one of the most famous american pieces.

Wednesday- whhhaat a day. We awoke to the blasting and whipping mistral winds and lashing cold rain. And what was worse was that the entire group had to all take a big trip to Marseilles to have a mandatory (according to our student visa) health exam. As we unboarded the bus we all popped out our umbrellas, most of which were instantly inverted by the wind. It was quite a scene- all of us walking down the grey streets holding our umbrellas sideways, since that was the direction in which the rain was falling. To our surprise, the first thing on the health exam was a chest exam! Definitely top adventure of the week. Then they told us to keep our x-rays.. hahah- so we were all sitting out in the lobby comparing spines and rib cages. Oh, France.

here's my chest:

Thursday- last day of classes before our Fall Vacation week. I gave a presentation in class that I was really excited about.. but it ended up being way too long and I couldn't finish. :( I was sad, but it was my own dang fault. It was a presentation about Stravinsky's Ballet, Sacre du Printemps. I just got a bit too excited about it I suppose.

Thursday night I had dinner with the director of the conservatory and his wife. They're so great and kind. They took me out to a nice restaurant and treated me. I had delicious pasta and had lots left over, but didn't want to waste it, so I did the most american thing ever- asked for a take-out box. Every one sort of laughs at me when I do that here, but then they explain how they support it! The couple at the table next to us even jumped in on the conversation and were saying how good it was not to waste and what not. Haha, all the same, I still get curious glances. I'm startin' the revolution in France, I tell you what!

Friday... weekend... what happened? I did tons and tons of work. I have way too much work for this dang vacation. Had to read 100 pages of a french book, outline a paper about a poem which therefore involved really analyzing the poem, do some art history reading, aaannd I still have to write a 10 page paper in French all about my internship. Its part of the internship credit requirements. blah.

All of my roommates had left for vacation by friday- I leave for vienna tomorrow [tuesday] *yay!* So I had the place to myself for the weekend. It has its good and bad sides. I definitely sang and blasted music, I cleaned up the apartment and it stayed clean :) But I was sorta bored during the evenings.

Friday, my friend Patrick, who was still here, and I went to a mexican restaurant! I was soo excited to have black beans! Patrick told me that the owner had explained to him that they have to import the black beans.. they really don't have them in this country!!

Saturday Patrick and I tried to go to the Alps for the day. This was by far the biggest fail of the week (haha!). We took the bus to the Aix train station where there was supposed to be another bus to take us to the city Digne, at the base of the Alps. We could not find this bus.... so we missed it. It was very sad. Here we are... waiting for the bus.

so we laughed, split a chocolate bar, and explored the trainstation like it was a tourist site. Then we took the bus back and I had a productive saturday.

Here's patrick taking photos of the train station :D

Our silhouettes, waiting for the dang bus that never showed.

Sunday the time changed in France and I didn't know.. so it was a confusing morning. M. Camatte (conservatory director) invited me to mass at the cathedral right next to my apartment. Not just to attend, but to sing with the choir! haha. Because of the time change, I'll just say that I didn't think I had made it in time to sing, but in fact I really had. I'm going to try to sing with them next sunday that I'm home. What a hilarious experience! But I did get to meet the organist and piddle around on the beautiful organ there after the service. Here are photos:

Tomorrow I leave for Vienna! I'm going to visit some of my dear Blair friends. Can't wait. Many photos will appear soon.

Love to you all,

Dani

Il sent comme l'hiver

It smells like winter.

Or at least winter is quickly approaching. Its starting to get dark earlier and tonight, I suppose because tonight's satrday night, the streets were bustling with people, lights, and cars- just like the christmas shopping season. I'm ready for it though. The air is crisp and when I jog its cold in my lungs, but it feels good. The other day I just stopped and breathed in that fresh, woodsy, smoky smell that reminds me so much of winter.

The mornings are lovely. I had to wake up early one day [7:30am] and was humbled to see a beautiful purple sunrise spread across the sky:

Really, the cold came in one day- the day with all of the winds last week. It got really cold that day, and just stuck!

So what has happened this week? On monday I had my organ lesson and my teacher gave me the key to the organ in the huge cathderal where I was supposed to meet her last week [see previous blog for photo of the organ]. She gave me the key!! So I can practice there whenever I want pretty much, but I always awkwardly have an audience of hordes of whispering tourists, all snapping photos or video of the organ, and therefore- me. haha.

I feel like I have a different adventure every day that I'm here. On the first day that I went to this organ on my own, I had to try to figure out a) how to get up to the organ b) how to turn on the organ c) how to escape from the organ.

My teacher warned me that once you were at the organ console [keyboards] often it was difficult for students to find the door to leave, as it is hidden in the decoration of the wall. Indeed, I did find myself in what felt like a nancy-drew mystery trying to press all parts of the wall to find the door when it was time to leave.

Here's my path:

1. find the door around behind the organ

2. Climb a stair case that's in the ancient wall. Of course, at the top of the stair case there is a painting of JS Bach- something that must be included in every organ entrance everywhere.

3. Here's from the top of the stairs looking down.

4. and then, when its time to leave the organ balcony, I have to try to find a door in the decorated wall. Can you tell that this is the exit here?

So that was my organ adventure for monday. Oh, on thursday I was in the balcony practicing when all of the sudden one of the tall lamps up in the balcony with me started sparking and caught on fire!! I had to escape through the wall and run and get someone. I was afraid that the whole beautiful organ was going to burst in flames!! haha. The fire disappeared though, and I just took it as a sign from God that I should stop practicing for the day. :D

So, moving on. I'm going to give the abridged version of this story: I love my parents. :) They both sent me unbelievable packages this week and they're so kind. On wednesday I had the most phenomenal lunch- grapes, salad, and PBJ. Thats right-- those things you take for granted, ho-ho! not here! In my salad were one of my most missed items- craisins... mmmm... and the PPJ... peanut butter is pretty much nonexistant here... weird right? I was so excited about my lunch this day, I had to document it. Thanks to mom and dad for making it happen. :D

Tuesday we had a wine-tasting dinner that was a lot of fun. I like rose and white.. not red... and not more than 2 glasses at any meal. :) I also now know how to swirl wine and look like I know what I'm doing.

Wednesday and thursday were blurs of school work and the usual. Lots of work here. I'm staying on top of it, though I really want to spend some time composing. I've been focusing more on french than music here, but I suppose thats understandable.

Friday [last night] was an epic adventure: Every one in the group decided a couple weeks ago that we would through a huge Around the World party- each apartment was a different country with different foods, games, decoration, and of course drinks! My apartment was the great U.S. of A!! We had frenchfries, a bunch of american candy that we were able to find here (M&Ms, Twix, etc), LOTS of Beer, and of course a bit of Whiskey. My roomate, Lindsay had this phenomenal idea for transporting all of these items that we had to buy. You see, we of course have no car here and the grocery can be up to a mile away. 2 small girls transporting tons of heavy bottles and food? She proposed that we actually bring a suitcase to the grocery and put all of the beer in it and then wheel it back home. It was the best idea ever. and what's even funnier- not a single person in the grocery gave us a second look as we loaded up our suitcase at the end of the checkout isle. :D Here we are trying to heave the suitcase up our 4 flights of stairs:

It was hilarious, that night the entire group [20 students] plus all of our french roommates [perhaps 12 frenchies], plus 4 parents that were visiting(!)-- were all walking, running, laughing through the streets of aix! We had a great time in the cool evening air!

Needless to say, every one's apartments were wrecks saturday. haha. We all slept in today, got up, and cleaned a lot. It was lots of fun :D

Classes are going well- I feel like I have much more time here to be much more prepared for my classes. Its a good feeling. In other news, I lost my boyfriend and then successfully made a delicious quiche for dinner tonight!!

Midterms are NEXT WEEK. ahh! Then we get a vacation- I'll be in Vienna! :D Can't wait.

With love,

Dani

Here I am, thrilled to have heinz ketchup at a restaurant. the simple things we miss. :)