Sir Thomas Allen

Yesterday afternoon, instead of a master class within the program, we all had tickets to a master class that was being conducted by Sir Thomas Allen. This master class was the first for the season as part of the Salzburg Festival. Sir Thomas Allen is from England, on the border of Scotland.

The majority of the master class was given in German (with a scottish accent), but he did also speak in English as well as a little Italian and French. It depended a little upon the singer and the language the piece was in. Yvonne, my voice teacher, was sitting in front of us, so she turned around and translated a little for us. I think my favorite quote from the entire master class Sir Allen actually said in English "Sopranos spend a lot of time on their knees." At the time, the soprano singing was doing Zerlina's two arias from Mozart's Don Giovanni. In the first aria she's pleading with Masetto (her husband) to forgive her. In the second aria, Masetto has been beaten up and she's comforting him... the majority of these two arias are being sung on her knees... however Sir Allen knew exactly what everyone would think with the comment.

The last singer was a Bass.. who had all of us with his first spoken word. It was one of those deep voices that just sends shivers down your spine. As soon as he started singing we were all fanning ourselves. Jackie fell in love right away. We had the chance to speak to some of the singers and Sir Allen after the master class. Most of us were all too nervous to go talk to the bass. Jackie finally did, but was like a star stuck school girl. We also had to ask Sir Allen if he'd be willing to come give a master class with us. Unfortunately he was flying back to London today, otherwise he said he would have loved to.

Once we all left, we headed back to the college, and grabbed our things. Then Jackie, Brendan and I went for a drink at the Irish Pub a couple doors down from the college. There is no German spoken in that pub. We talked about the master class, our own experiences performing at events such as weddings and musicals in hs (Brendan and I both did "Oklahoma" played Curly and I played Laurey).

Once I got home, I had dinner with the family then just relaxed up in my room. I enjoyed shutting the blinds so that it was pitch black in the room and then sleeping in this morning.

Once I got up and had breakfast, I played with the girls for a while. Then we all had lunch together, and I came into town to practice and meet up with Jackie. We have to get our train tickets for Munich tomorrow and tonight at 7 a couple of our professors are giving a Schumann recital at the American church across the river.

It's raining again... I should go buy an umbrella today.
Ciao!

Es ist Donnerstag! (It’s Thursday!!)

I am very excited it’s Thursday! This week we have Friday (Frietag), Saturday (Samstag), and Sunday (Sonntag) off; absolutely nothing has been scheduled for us. Some are traveling to Prague and Vienna for the weekend. A few of us are just going to go Munich for the day on Saturday.

We didn’t end up going out for Jackie’s birthday yesterday. Instead we’re going out tonight as we don’t have to be up for class tomorrow.

Yesterday Martina and the girls picked me up at school. It only took Laura 30 minutes to bike here. We went to Demel’s and had dessert. The girls were good while there. However, when we were finishing up, Lisa got a little anxious and started walking around the table and called “mama” a couple of times. Then some older man started saying something to Martin about it. This man was not happy. We left pretty quickly after they had some words back and forth. I didn’t have a clue what they were saying but I got the jist of it.

Then the 5 of us went to McDonalds for dinner (not one of my favorites, but I had a tomato and mozzarella salad). It started raining, so Laura, her bike, and I took the bus home. The rest of the evening I spent studying for our German quiz this morning.

I only had half a lesson this morning with Yvonne. She had rehearsal for a concert and had to leave. For the second half I just rehearsed with my pianist, and Yvonne and I will make up the other half of the lesson next week.

This afternoon we have a master class that is part of the Salzburg Festival. Sir Tomas Allen will be conducting the master class. It’ll be interesting to see what language it is done in and to see who is singing.

Ciao

(The pictures are of the storm that is currently rolling in as I type this post.)

Guten Tag

I had a nice quiet evening at home last night. I did my Deutsch homework, ate dinner with the girls and kept an eye on them for a little while before their grandmother arrived. Martina and Martin had a dinner to go to with one of Martin's clients. Lisa was put to bed, and I read for a little while, but at 8, I shut the blinds and was asleep by 8:45. As I can't sleep in in the mornings, this was my compromise.

This morning we had to but sentences together that Jasmin cut up. It was like putting a puzzle together then putting the conversation dialog in order.

After class I completed my homework and started to make flash cards for our quiz tomorrow. Then 4 of us went to a cute little cafe a couple of blocks away to get some coffee.

We're having lasagna for lunch, then a master class at 2:30. At 5 Martina and the girls are meeting me at school and then we're going to pick up Martin. From there we are all going to the cafe Demel at Mozrt Platz. Martin received a gift certificate for 4 banana splits. I'm really looking forward to it, and it is a nice day today.

On our trip Monday, a bunch of us starting quoting lines from "Mean Girls." So, today, we're all wearing pink. (For those that don't know the movie, there's a line that say's "On Wednesdays, we wear pink!")

It's Jackie's 21st birthday today, so after Demel's I'll probably come back to the school for a little while then meet up with the gang to go out for a bit. Neither Jackie nor I want to stay out late, we both have voice lessons first thing in the morning.

Have a wonderful day!

Morgen!

It’s another rainy day in Salzburg. Despite the rain in the morning yesterday, the afternoon was beautiful.

We spent the entire afternoon at Hellbrunn Palace and Watergames. First we took a tour of the water fountains the Arch Bishop/Prince created. He liked to play tricks on his guests. While sitting at the table, no one was allowed to stand unless he stood. As such, if he turned on the water (which would shoot out of the seats) they were not allowed to get up, and his chair stayed dry. Throughout the entire gardens are fountains that could turn on catch any passer-by and get them wet. There were also little figurines that moved and were powered just by water pressure.

Then we walked through his palace and looked at all the beautiful rooms. After we had all completed that tour, Phoebe took us (or those that wanted) to hike up the mountain to see the “month” palace with a beautiful view of the city. (At least because of that hike, I’m not longer sore).

We walked down the other side of the mountain. On this side of the mountain is one of the first theaters ever build where the first German opera was performed. There is a stage (made partially out of cement) and the backdrop was carved out of stone. Also carved out of the stone was an entire “backstage” area with a bench carved out and stairs to that people could be on different levels for the actors to be on. Of course we all climbed up standing and sitting on the different spots and sang; though none of us could find an opera chorus or song we all knew.

Next we walked along the path back towards the palace. We stopped at a little wade pool. I was the only one brave enough to wade in the chilly water and walk all around. It’s there to help cleanse and get your circulation going. The water is so clean and refreshing.

The final stop on our little hike was the gazebo where “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” was filmed in the Sound of Music. We had a lot of fun taking different pictures there.

I didn’t end up getting home until 7:30 and by then I was ready to just go to sleep. However, I did eat dinner with Laura and Martina, red a few poems in German to Laura, then did my German homework. Once that was done, I read for a short time and then fell into a very deep sleep.

In German this morning, we’re learning the rooms of the house and items/furniture you may find in those rooms. We made posters and drew pictures. My group had the Kitchen (die Kuche) and made a very colorful poster with silly cartoon drawings of kitchen appliances.

I hope all is well in the States.
Ciao

Guten Morgen

I woke up this morning and when I got up out of bed, and felt like I could barely move. I am so sore after yesterday, I feel like an old lady with hip and knee problems. That 3.5-mile walk was killer. On the plus side I don’t have a black eye.

There are 76 stairs in the college to get up to the library where we all hang out. It was not a fun climb this morning. So for now I’m just relaxing till lunch. Then after lunch we’re going to Hellbrunn Palace and Watergames (to many known as the Water Palace).

Phoebe just sent us all the group picture she took in front of Wolfgangsee. There are 33 of us: 31 singers and 2 pianists.

Ciao!!!

Well today’s been an interesting day! I had a nice morning with the family eating breakfast. Then they left for church and I was finishing up getting ready for our outing to Salzkammergut. I managed to miss my bus by about 2 or 3 minutes… not thinking that it was Sunday. When I looked at the schedule, the next bus didn’t leave for another half hour. That would’ve made me late and quite possibly miss the trip. With the family being gone, and having no other options, I walked; fast!! I couldn’t remember how to get to the river from the house (which would’ve been shorter) so I followed the bus route. I was hoping that as I got closer to downtown and more bus lines converge I’d catch one… I finally did but it was only for 3 stops, which is maybe 5 or 6 blocks. I then got off in the center of town and booked it across the river to the platz where those of us staying with host families were getting picked up. I was about 10 minutes late, but the bus wasn’t there yet… I was thanking my lucky stars!! I completed a 3-mile walk in 50 minutes. I was really hot by then despite the chilly morning, and my calves were burning. It was very nice to sit on the bus once it came.

It ended up being a beautiful day; very comfortable with a light jacket or sweater. The only time it was really cold is when we were up on one of the mountains for lunch.

We started at Mondsee, which is a town along the Moon Lake. The main attraction of this town is the large cathedral; which is where the wedding was filmed for The Sound of Music. The church at the Abby in Salzburg is not only too small for a film, but people are not allowed in it. Mondsee is a quaint little tourist town. There is a story/ legend of a dragon at Mondsee. He only ate virgins. Once he had eaten all the virgins in Mondsee he moved onto Salzburg, and died because he couldn’t find any there. The PG version is that after eating all the virgins in Mondsee he fell off the mountain into the lake and died, which is why this lake is so much warmer than the others. In reality it’s just a shallow lake.


Next we drove by Wolfgangsee. This lake and town are named after the St. Wolfgang and is one of the deepest lakes in the region. The story says that Wolfgang, a bishop, had left town to find himself again, he needed to be closer to God. He was followed and bugged by the devil. Finally Wolfgang took a hatchet and said that wherever it landed in the woods he would build a church. He eventually found the hatchet alongside the lake and built a church. Sometime ago the original church was destroyed (I think by a fire) and was rebuilt on the same spot.


After stopping to take some pictures, we drove up one of the mountains for lunch. It was quite the drive… just switchbacks all the way up. Some people had to move to the front of the bus. It was pretty rough for those who don’t do well on winding roads. Near the top we stopped at a farm. This farm has been in the same family with the same last name (familienname) for a few hundred years. Everything on the farm is homemade and completely organic. The cows are only fed hay and grass. Up on the mountain, the grass has a lot of naturally grown herbs among it. This gives the milk a different quality. The cows produce milk with a higher concentration of fat (around 5% vs the cows don in the valley that only produce a fat concentration of 3-4% which doesn’t seem like much, but it is). We saw how where the make the cheese, milk the cows (which are never fenced in) and where the cheese is aged. There was one new calf in the barn, which he was selling to another local farmer that our group got to name. As a group of singers, we named her Pamina (the leading soprano in Mozart’s The Magic Flute). The lunch was delicious and completely filling. It’s now 8pm and I’m still full. We had some of the homemade cheese (which has won Gold just about every year), homemade meats, sausages, butter, and warm bread. I still can’t get over how absolutely wonderful that meal was.


We had one more town we stopped in Hallstat. This town is along another lake (Hallstätter See) and as the mountain is right there, there is not much space for building and cemeteries. This town is famous for it’s bone room. As there is not space, and the gravesites are so small, a body will be buried without the head. The skull will sit in the sun to bleach to a nice ivory color then placed in the bone room, sometimes it will be painted by the mortician. Different symbols mean different things: roses – love, ivory-honor... and so on. After ten years the body will be replaced with a new one, I’m not entirely sure what is done with the one that was in there.

After walking around and seeing the bone room, a couple of us went to a café. I had café diplomat. It was coffee with eggnog and completely delicious.

On the way home we passes the headquarters for Redbull.

I got home just as the family was sitting down to dinner, not that I could eat anything. Then the girls and I were playing (really they were chasing me and at times, I, them). I do hope I don’t end up with a black eye tomorrow because I one point a heel connected with my eye. Once Lisa was put to bed, Laura and I sat out on the balcony and sang songs to each other. She sang in Deutch, and she dictated to me which language I should sing in. A couple of time she had me sing in Deutch, but mostly she asked for English.

Don’t be surprised if I come back to the States saying “Ja” (Yah: meaning yes) and “Super” as these are said all the time over here.

Well, I now need to relax. I definitely got my workout today between my 3-mile speed walk this morning and walking all around the Lake District today (hiking up goodness knows how many stairs). I hope your are all having a wonderful Sunday (or Monday as the case may be).

Cheers!

Guten Tag!

We walked around a couple of flea markets in the rain and cold. My jeans are now wet/damp up to my knees. Gwen, Katie, and I all bought authentic Salzburg Dirndls. In the stores they run from 200 to 600 or more Euros. At the flea market it was only 40 Euros. We’re all really excited… maybe a little too excited. I think we may all wear them on Monday. I tried on another one that isn’t exactly a dirndl its some other type of Austrian dress that was much nicer. Everyone loved it on me, especially the boys. It basically pushed up my boobs, but it was 85 Euros.

After we all bought our dirndls we went to the famous café Demel at Mozart Platz. It’s a little bit more on the expensive side, but the pastries are delicious!! There were no tables inside so we ended up sitting outside on the upstairs patio. It was cold so we all got some sort of coffee or hot chocolate. I got Manage (white coffee) and I can’t remember the name of my desert for the life of me, but it was delicious. It had chocolate moose, cream, and brandy.

The winners for the competition were posted. I am not one of the winners, but I still feel like I had a personal victory. I have not had good experiences with auditions, and this was a good audition for me. The caliber of singers is also high. Truth be told a part of me is a tiny bit happy. Now I can really just concentrate on learning, and working on my technique, instead of freaking out over performing in Salzburg during the festival.

Then we walked back to school where I’m not relaxing and hanging out while drying off a bit before catching the bus home. With all the rain, the dance around the fountain won’t take place, so I think I’ll just curl up with a good book and some tea. Then get a good night sleep for tomorrow. I have to be at the bus at 9:30 tomorrow for our trip to the Salzkammergut.

So for now, Ciao!

Gruß Gott (Greetings)

Well this morning I got up and after getting ready for the competition, hair, makeup and such, we all enjoyed breakfast together. I didn’t eat too much as I was a little nervous. Martina was kind enough to make me a sandwich for after the competition figuring by then I will have calmed down and would want to eat.

I got to the college and put on my dress and heels there. After warming up, I walked over to St Mark’s where they were holding to competition auditions. The judges were Dr. Moteki (one of our coaches) Dr. Enman (another coach) and Mr. Douthat. Mr. Douthat is my voice teacher’s husband who is from Austria. He is a professional singer who sings throughout Europe.

The audition went extremely well! I remembered just about everything Yvonne and I had gone over in my lessons. I started with “Poor Wand’ring One,” then Mr. Douthat asked for “Rejoice, greatly O daughter of Zion” from Handel’s Messiah. Next Dr. Moteki asked for “Mandoline” by Faure, and finally Dr. Enman asked for “Orpheus with his lute” by William Schuman. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I am also hoping that as one of the oldest here having a more mature voice and being more polished will come to my advantage. I think the list will be posted later tonight, but am not entirely sure.

It’s cold and rainy today, but it has warmed up a bit since I first left the house. I do hope the rain lets up a little in the next 15 minutes or so. A bunch of us are getting together and going to the Salzburg version of a Flea Market. Everything is supposed to be quite cheap and a great place fore souvenirs. Then tonight a bunch of us are going out. It’s the start of the Salzburg Festival activities. If the rain stops, there is to be some sort of dance. It’s done every year (weather permitting) at 10 or 10:30 (once dark) at the fountain. The dancers wear the Austrian dirndl and lederhosen and dance around the fountain with torches. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will take place! (Or here they press their thumbs.)

I hope you wake up to a beautiful day!

Guten Tag!

A few of us went wandering around before lunch. We crossed the river and ran into the marionette theater. They had a performance of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) at 2 (14:00). The five of us were able to get student tickets for 18 Euros. We walked back to the college for lunch and arrived a bit early. Lunch was breaded catfish. We wanted to eat quickly because our lunch is at 13:15. It took forever for the waitress to bring out dessert (most days you get it as soon as you’re done with the meal). We didn’t want to miss dessert because they’re always so good and because the Austrians hate to waste food. As it was, a few didn’t come to lunch because it’s Friday and we didn’t have any afternoon classes. We were about to leave and head over to the theater when it was brought out.

As it turned out, 6 others joined us for the marionette Die Zauberflöte. We just made it to the theater in time for everyone else to buy their tickets and to get to our seats. The performance was interesting. The story line was there, but they cut out all the best arias (actually just about all the arias) and only kept the Papageno/ Papagena duet. They managed to complete the entire opera in just over an hour. They had supertitles in a few languages, but it wasn’t of the lyrics, it was just a one to two sentence of what was happening.

After the “opera” we girls went to Europark to walk around. We went to the “Bag Store” because a couple wanted new backpacks. There we ran into one of the boys, Ian. The six of us walked around together through Zaro and H&M. (H&M has much better clothes in Europe than in the state). It started raining when we were in the mall. We all ran to the bus. Only two of us had umbrellas so when we got off and had about a 2 block walk, Katie took Ian’s jacket and held it over her head, Megan used her shopping bad, Ian just walked in the rain, Sara and I had small umbrellas and Gwen ran back to school.

I have a couple great pics from this afternoon I’ll add later once I’ve uploaded them to my computer and then have Internet again.

Time to go home for dinner!!
Ciao!

Morgen!

The quiz went extremely well this morning!! In just 2 days I learned to count to 100 in German. I think it helps that I’m not taking a bunch of other classes. After the quiz we all went up to the board and put things we like in English then she translated them all for us. Of course a couple of the girls put handsome men, which Jasmin said didn’t exist. The boys put Austrian women, and Jasmin said they hadn’t really met any yet because they’re forceful strong willed women. Then she showed us a power point of the Salzkammergut.

After lunch we have the afternoon off. A few of us are going to go check out the Europark which essentially a mall. It’ll be fun to go walk around and window shop with some of the girls.

Tomorrow is the competition then on Sunday we’re going to the Salzkammergut. It’s the lake-district in the mountains outside of Salzburg. It’s absolutely beautiful; I can’t wait to see it for myself. Here is a link to a video... and there are many more of the area on youtube!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9abuxi_Ojo

Chances are I won’t have much access if any to the Internet this weekend. So looks for a bunch of posts Monday morning. I’ll just type them all ahead of time and post them when I get access.

Miss you all!

Ciao.

Abend!

This afternoon’s master class was taught by tenor Robert Dundas, a colleague of Dr. Hardenbergh’s. As such, it was mostly tenor’s who sang in today’s class. Robert Dundas has had a very good career in Germany and Austria and is not teaching at the college level back in the states.

After class I was up in the library making flash cards (out of notebook paper) for my Deutch quiz tomorrow. We have to be able to introduce ourselves (name, age, and where from), count from 0 to 100, and we have roughly 40 nouns and 22 verbs we have to know the translation of. Week 1 has just flown by.

I left school early and came home to further study in my room. Going through flash cards lying on the bed when you’re a bit tire is a bad idea. I did end up falling asleep for a short time. Then Martina and the girls got home. Martina started preparing dinner and put Lisa to bed. Laura came into my room, and together we went through my flash cards. She was helping with my German and I, her English. Soon dinner was going to be ready so she and I headed downstairs. We ran around the yard a little chasing each other and jumped on the trampoline.

Martina made salmon with a wonderful sauce, rice, steamed veggies, and a cucumber salad, served with a wonderful white wine. It was all delicious!! After dinner Laura and I put a puzzle together. Now it is time to finish studying before bed and watch the storm that’s rolling in. The temperature which was 90-something and humid is going to drop to 72 with rain tomorrow. Then Saturday is supposed to be 65 with rain. The break from the heat will be nice, but I do wish it came without the rain.


Ciao!

Guten Morgen

After crashing last night, I woke up feeling well rested this morning. This morning I had breakfast with Laura and Lisa. I made us all toast with strawberry jam and I also had a small bowl of cereal with coffee. I’m sure the girls ate more once I left and Martina and Martin came down.

Being surrounded by German, I’m starting to understand more, or at least get the basic impression. I’m still not good at formulating a sentence of my own yet… at least not without the help of my notebook and book from class.

Right after class I had my second lesson with Yvonne. We’re working on attacks and cleaning up my middle voice to create a crisp clear sound. Also keeping the line going. With the competition on Saturday, I wanted to sing both “Poor Wand’ring One” from The Pirates of Penzance and “Willow Song” from The Ballad of Baby Doe. These are the two pieces I’ve been debating over as my starting piece. (With the competition we get to choose the first piece and the panel of judges choose the 2nd, and if they so choose a 3rd or even possibly a 4th.) I wanted Yvonne’s opinion on both pieces. The majority of the time we worked on “Poor” and at the very end of the lesson we ran through “Willow.” She loved both and didn’t have too much to add for Willow, but as far as a competition for a recital spot goes, she and the pianist chose “Poor.” It’s a showpiece and crowd pleaser, which is good for a competition like this. It also shows off my voice very well. I just need to remember to keep my “AH” long and tall verses spread which cuts off the sound.

P.S. The garden's in the picture are across the river from the college. They are part of a small palace of sorts. It was built by one of the bishops that ruled over Austria. He built it for his mistress and her many children she had by him. It is in this building that there is the "Marble Room" where the winners of the competition will perform their recitals. This "Marble Room" is famous. There are always weddings and chamber concerts taking place in there. It is one of the only original rooms still in tact from the original building.

Guten Tag!

I was thinking while on the bus this morning that I had forgotten to mention something yesterday about my voice lesson. When doing warm-ups, we started with the middle range and then high. After that she wanted to test/hear my lower range and as I was hitting a low “f” in my chest voice with really good volume she looked utterly shocked. Yvonne said she has mezzo’s who can’t hit that note that loud. It was pretty exciting, and I felt like I could’ve gone a couple notes lower.

Apparently Wednesday’s are student’s day in Salzburg. This means some bars, shops, and café’s are half off.

We got our tickets for the festival. I have a lot of master classes, Don Giovanni, Jedermann which is the “every-man’s play” shown here every year since the very first Salzburg Festival, and Lirderabend which will be a concert of German Lied... I think.

Lunch today was quiche and potatoes with tiramisu for dessert. It was delicious as usual.

Master class was fun today. Dr. Hardenbergh likes to tell stories. She told us one today about how she couldn’t roll her “r’s” until she was in graduate school. She had thought it genetic after speaking with a speech pathologist in high school when she was taking Spanish. Her Spanish teacher had threatened to fail her unless she pronounced the word correctly with a rolled “r.” Once in graduate school, she was told she couldn’t be a singer unless she learned to roll her “r’s.” At the time Dr. Hardenbergh had a roommate who could and she would just watch her roommate do it from every angle to see if she could figure it out. It wasn’t until sometime later when traveling abroad and in a summer program, I believe, that she could suddenly do it. It made me think back to my undergraduate when I couldn’t roll my “r’s” in the front (which is needed for Italian especially) but I could roll them in the back. It wasn’t until my senior year when Dora, my former voice teacher, told me to start rolling my “r’s” in the back and see if I can inch it forward. I tried and after just a day or two I could do it. I was very excited. It’s these little achievements that feel just amazing.

After the master class, a few of us were just hanging out in the library, catching up on e-mail, facebook and skype. I signed up for a practice room from 16:45-18:30. Then I had rehearsal with the pianist from 18:30-19:15 for the competition on Saturday morning. Rehearsal went well… and he knows the pieces that are tricky, for him anyway. I, however, will just sing over anything he plays pianists don’t tend to screw me up anymore thanks to rehearsing with my mother. (It’s not that you don’t play well mom, but playing the music I now sing is quite difficult as I’m sure you’d agree).

Because of the late rehearsal, I didn’t get home until about 20:00. Lisa was long asleep, but the others waited to have dinner till I got home. I had a quick dip in the pool to cool off while Martina made dinner, then we enjoyed dinner sitting out on their patio. It has been very warm this week, but it looks as though it will start to get chilly this weekend.

We enjoyed a nice dinner together followed by coffee and cake. By the time we were done it was already 21:30 and I still had homework to do for German, so I ran up the stairs and now that it’s done it is time for bed!!

Gute Nacht!

Guten Abend (Good Evening)

Mein Name ist Lauren (Lah oo ren). In German, my name has 3 syllables and the “r” is rolled… no American “r’s” here. I actually kind of like it like that.

Lunch was some sort of meat with creamy mashed potatoes. It was delicious!!! Then we all hung out for a bit at the college before going across the alley to St. Marks for our first master class. Dr. Esther Jane Hardenbergh was a lot of fun. Four people sang and we talked about things like presenting yourself for an audition, recital, master class… basically any time you perform. We mostly worked on German diction. The goal is to not sound like an American (at the very least). Nothing worse than someone coming in to your country, calling themselves a professional singer and then proceeding to butcher you language. It was a wonderful class and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s as well.

After the class a group of us left our bags at the college in a closet and walked over to the Stiegl beer garden. We got a little confused at first so we walked half way up the mountain before we realized it was down below us and would’ve actually been a much shorter walk. We just chalked it up to a good workout working off our lunch and a chance to get some great pictures.

Around 6 we left, and headed in our separate directions. I picked up my bag and caught the bus home where Martina and I ate dinner together. As it was so warm today, she cut up fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and put them on a plate with olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and fresh basil from the garden. It was splendid, and one of my favorite meals.

I just completed my German homework. I have started using little words and phrases as much as possible both at home and while walking around.

Now I’m going to relax, read and quite possibly fall asleep early again tonight.

Gute Nacht!

Gruß Gott (Greetings)

This morning German class was a lot of fun again. We learned a few verbs such as sien: to be, haben: to have, lieben: to love, gehen: to go, and kussen: to kiss. We also learned a little bit about sentence structure… I’m hoping I retain it. As far as the conjugation goes, I think I’ll be all right. The sentence structure gets complicated.

I had my first voice lesson with Yvonne directly afterwards. She’s going to be absolutely wonderful to work with. We did some warm-ups and she’s helping my with the initial attack of a not so it’s not to airy, but crisp, clean and clear. She said I’m definitely a coloratura and that my high range is marvelous, though I need to be sure to give more energy, air as I ascend. I believe I hit a very good high E and possibly even the F. I never look at the piano as I warm up because I tend to psych myself out on the high notes. When the pianist came in I san “Una voce pocco fa” from Il barbarie di Siviglia. She’s really going to help me get my head lined up, so my neck is straight and my chin is not up putting stress on my larynx. She was really impressed when she told me to do something and I usually got it right away, but they are things I need to practice and she will continue to remind me over the next 7 lessons. I can’t wait for Thursday!!

Pretty soon it’ll be time for lunch… I wonder what we’ll be having today.

Tschuss!

Guten Abend (Good Evening)

For lunch during the week we co to a little restaurant down the street from the college. Today we had a dumpling dish with an egg mixture almost like scrambled eggs. It was very good. In my previous experiences in Europe, the serving sizes are much smaller than we find in the US. This dish, however, was anything but small. To top it off they also had some sort of chocolate cake as a dessert.

After that meal, I was quite glad we were going on a historical walking tour of Salzburg. The tour took us all around the town and our guide pointed out many places throughout where parts of The Sound of Music was filmed. The tour ended at the famous cathedral after a good 2 hours of walking. I think I’m starting to find my way around the old historic part now.

After the tour ended a few of us walked to the market and split a huge chocolate covered pretzel, though the bread was more like a croissant/pastry than our pretzels. On our way back to campus we stopped and each bought an original hand-made Mozart Chocolate Ball (delicious!!).

Once back at the college, I picked up my bag and went to catch the bus home for dinner. I played a game with the girls and Martin when I first got back then had my dinner. Martina had made a salad that contained sliced smoked sausage, cheese, peppers and pickles. It was really good. She also had homemade apple strudel with a homemade whipped cream to put on top. They say things don’t taste the same here as in the states… and they are right!!

Then Martina and I enjoyed a small cup of coffee and talked for a little while. Now I’m about to get ready for bed (despite the fact that it’s only 8 (or as I should say 20:00) and read for a while.

Tomorrow we have our first master class with Dr. Hardenbergh who is the director of the program and a professor at the University of Miami. Tomorrow’s master class will be focusing on German diction. After the master class, a bunch of us are planning to go hike half way up the mountain towards the castle and go to the Stiegl brewery and beer garden. Our wonderful tour guide was so nice to point it out for us as well as how to get there. She also told us it is the oldest brewery in Salzburg.

So for now, Baba! (Austrian slang for hi and good-bye much like the Italian’s “ciao” or the French’s “salut”)

Guten Morgen

Last night after we were kicked out of the library, 5 of us went for a little walk down the famous shopping street Getreidegasse. There we got some ice. I chose to get two scoops, one of nutella and one of cappuccino. The mix was very good. We continued to walk down the street which and passed by the house where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. Shortly there after we all went our separate ways and caught busses home.

Once home Martina and I looked at the schedule for the coming week trying to decide when to have dinner together and such. She and I then drank a glass of Stiegl beer which is brewed right here in town.

I am picking up a little German with the help of some of the others who have taken German before as well as Martina. She is also good at helping me with the difference in “proper German” or high German and their dialect which is considered low German. She even has a game she bought for Laura to help learn English that she pulled out for me to learn some German words. She is very impressed with my ability to see a word and pronounce it correctly. So now when she say’s something and I’m not quite hearing it correctly, she writes it down for me and then I can usually say it.

Martina says she can understand my English very well. Her first two exchange students were from Texas and she had the hardest time understanding them. I can only imagine how tough that must have been.

I woke up at 6 this morning to shower, get ready, and eat breakfast before having to catch the bus at 7:35. The Geistburgers didn’t start moving about until 7. They were quite impressed that I was up so early.

German class was a lot of fun. Our teacher is Jasmin, a graduate student in Salzburg for German and French Education. Today we introduced ourselves (in English) and learned basic greetings. We learned the formal, informal, and some Austrian dialect/slang. She also told us about some cultural things we may not have known about.

After Class I had 30 min to warm up and then had my first of 4 coachings. This one was with Prof Enman. It was wonderful. He was a lot of fun to work with. When we first started talking about my repertoire, he was quite surprised. After my audition yesterday, he thought for sure I had a lovely, milky lyric sound. Then he and I started to go through “Dearest Mama” from The Ballad of Baby Doe ad he quickly changed his mind, or that I could do both lyric soprano and coloratura (very marketable). We worked on this piece for a while and I learned a few interesting things about it and my voice. Then we moved on to “Poor Wand’ring One” from The Pirates of Penzance.” I sang through it once and he had absolutely nothing to say or add to it. He loved my cadenza at the end as well as my high E-flat (reminding me not to psych myself out on the high note as it sounded wonderful).

The last piece we worked on was Faure’s “Apres un Reve.” He could tell I loved the piece and that I enjoy singing in French. There were a couple diction things he corrected; the difference between singing and speaking French. Had I been speaking it would’ve been perfect. One woman coming in, in a week or two to do a master class is Mary Dibbern. Enman said I would really enjoy working with her. She is one of the fore-most coaches in regards to French chanson/diction. Maybe with his recommendation and that of my teacher’s, I may be able to sing in her master class.

After my coaching, I went to a short walk down to the river with one of the girls to go to the bridge and take a couple of pictures. Now I am just handing out in the entrance hall with a bunch of the others waiting to go to lunch at 13:15. I’m slowly getting used to the 24-hour clock… or at least attempting to use it.

Auditions

Well we ended up canceling the BBQ because of the dreary weather. Instead we made salad and Wienerschnitzel. Let me just say... it was Incredible!!!

Our auditions were in a room in St. Mark's Chapel (shown in the pic). I finally decided this afternoon to sing Salamander by Brahms. It went well, but the professors were laughing at the end, and said it was a good thing I wasn't able to see the faces my pianist was making as he was playing it. It's not the easiest of pieces to play by Brahms. We were told the list of our assigned voice teachers would be posted at 5, so 4 of us went to the Republic which is the internet cafe we will probably all haunt a lot to pass the time. Of course the internet was down again today. So as soon as we finally got their attention around 5 to pay our bill, we came back to the college, and are now all hanging out in the library using the internet here.

I have been placed in Dr. Douthat's studio for the next five weeks and will have my lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-10:30. Over the course of the 5 weeks we will have 4 coachings. My first coaching is on Monday from 10-11. As I am in the beginner German class, that will be at 8am M-F.

There is already a slight divide between those of us who are staying with host families and those who aren't. It probably didn't help any that that is how they split us up when we went on the tour yesterday. We're not being any too quiet in the library. It's really bad when singers get together and start laughing... as Sierra would say.. we all have a "singer's laugh."

Technically I believe the building is supposed to close at 6 on the weekends, but no one has come to kick us out yet. It's not like they won't notice we're here. Pretty soon I think we're all going to go get some Ice (for you Americans ice cream) before we all head to our homes for the evening. Classes do being first thing tomorrow after all. We may end up being kicked out by the cleaning lady soon anyway.

Miss you all!! Ciao!

Edelwiess

Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you great me;
Small and white, clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss,
Bless my homeland forever!

The family has gone to church. I didn’t quite wake up early enough to join them. Perhaps next week, after a week of studying German hopefully I’ll be able to follow along a bit.

It’s a cooler morning this morning than it has been since I arrived. We did get some rain last night, so maybe we’re finally getting a break from the heat.

I have yet to mention the window’s they have here in Austria. They are the neatest things. If you turn the handle one way the window will swing in the room, opening wide. If you turn the handle another, the latch mechanism changes and the window attaches at the bottom and opens like the way an oven door would, but it only opens a little. This way it is great for when it’s raining, to prevent rain from getting in and keep the rain from getting stuffy.

This afternoon I have my “audition” which is really more for the teachers to put a face to name to voice. We do get free wifi at the college, so I may be spending a little time there after my audition to catch up with things online. Tomorrow I begin with German classes and will find out my voice lesson schedule. Then in the afternoon we’ll have a walking tour of Salzburg, which will probably much, more extensive than the one we had yesterday.

One thing they told us yesterday was that with the Salzburg Festival about to start there would be famous musicians from all over wandering the streets of this little town. In other words we should not be surprised if and when we suddenly run into someone on the street. They also said, should we meet a singer, to not hesitate to walk up and introduce ourselves along with the program. This program is now in its 26th year here in Salzburg, so many have heard of it. It is our hope that upon introducing ourselves, we may be able to have them come and do a master class, or at the very least come and talk to us about their life/career. We will re-arrange our schedule however needed in order to accommodate them.

Martina, Martin and the girls are home and I’m going to help Martina cook for the BBQ this afternoon (which I have to miss for my audition). They say hello to all of you.

So for now, Ciao.

Orientation

Well, orientation was good, and exhausting. It’s a smaller group this year than it has been in the past. Salzburg College itself is quite small, so even during the year the number of foreign exchange students that attend are small in numbers. I would say there are between 30 and 40 of us. The pic was taken from our library window at Salzburg College.

After they told us about the program and what to expect, we were introduced to the faculty and then we introduced ourselves. From there they split us up into those who are staying with host families and those who are staying in the dorm (which is really the hostile here in town).

Of all those staying with families, I am the only one without a roommate. I’m still not entirely sure how that worked out, but I’m enjoying it. Martina, Martin and the girls are wonderful.

The tour of town was good, but I’m not sure if it really helped me any or if it just confused me. Salzburg is small enough that with a map and some exploring on my own, I’ll be fine. I also had no trouble with the bus getting to campus and back.

After the tour around town that lasted an hour or two, we were shown where the hostile is because we may have a coaching or lessons there. The hostile is about a 10, 15, or 20-minute walk from the college depends on how fast you walk, and how good you are with walking up the side of a mountain. Needless to say, this time it took forever because we were all already tired from the tour. To top it off, its not all uphill, its downhill some as well… so either way you walk it, it’s uphill both ways.

Once we were up there and she showed us the rooms we could use for practicing as well as the room for the coaching’s, we all walked back down and went to the Republic Café that’s right around the corner from the college. The Republic has free wifi for its customers, so we all had a snack, drink and pulled out our computers. Shortly after we did, the wifi went down (just our luck). We had it just long enough for me to check my e-mail and copy and paste my previous blog entries.

I managed to get home right before the thunderstorm started. Martina had made pizza and a nice salad for dinner. I colored with Lisa for a little while and then it was time for the kids to go to bed. I went upstairs with them and red to Lisa in German (I can read well with good diction, I just don’t know what everything means) but Martina was impressed. Then I sang a couple American lullabies and even sight read 3 or 4 German lullabies that the kids had.

Now I’m relaxing a bit before hitting the sack. Martina had a few books in English, so I think I may start reading Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility.

Gute Nacht.

Guten Morgen

Guten Morgen

With the rainstorm last night came slightly cooler weather!! There’s a nice breeze and it’s comfortable to be outside.

It’s no surprise that I am sore today. Between lugging my luggage around Wien and Salzburg, and then going for a bike ride using muscled I haven’t used in ages. Not to mention the bike seat was really hard. I also managed to get a bruise on my left calf from the one time I lost my balance on the bike, and didn’t quite fall, but close enough. Martina and I couldn’t stop laughing when that happened.

We had brunch together at 10am out on the patio. Martina and I prepared scrambled eggs, fresh cucumber, yellow sweet pepper, meats, cheeses, and cereal. We also had coffee, and orange juice with mineral water. It was quite good.

Lisa and Laura didn’t sit for long. They went to the trampoline and started spraying each other with the hose. At one point Lisa got very upset over something, and with Laura sitting on Martin’s lap, Lisa ran to sit and snuggle up on my lap where she stayed for some time.

I am getting in the habit already of typing up my posts in Word and will post them as soon as I have Internet access. Don’t be surprised when multiple posts show up from different parts of the day, or even multiple days.

Pretty soon I need to head out to Salzburg College to meet and greet and get my schedule, and whatever else they have planed for today.

Ciao

First night in Salzburg

I arrived in Salzburg shortly before 3 and it’s no cooler here than it was in Wien. My host “mom,” Martina, and her two daughters, Laura (5) and Lisa (2.5), were there to pick me up. Martina and Martin are a young couple, so they’re not so much host “parents” as friends. It turns out I am their 9th exchange student. They are already teaching me little things in German. Some of the words and phrases I had known at one point, but had forgotten.

It turns out; I am the only student staying with them. When I was filling out all the applications, all the information said we could request a single, but they were hard to come by. I didn’t request one, and got one. This family is absolutely wonderful. Laura wants me to speak English so she can work on hers, and Lisa doesn’t speak much, but took to me right away and spent half the evening at dinner in my lap.

When we arrived home, Martina and I enjoyed an afternoon snack and some coffee. Then I was given the grand tour of the house, and I began unpacking. Once I was almost finished unpacking, we all went down to the pool in their yard to cool off. After some time in the pool with Martin, Martina and the kids we sat out on the lawn and Martin brought out champagne as a welcome. Their neighbor also came over and joined us.

After we were done, Martina, Laura and I changed and went for a bike ride into downtown Salzburg. There she showed me where Salzburg College (where I’ll be studying) was along with the bus stops (S-bann) both where I get off and where I get on. I was definitely a little shaky on the bike at first; I haven’t ridden mine in probably 5 or 10 years.

Once back home, I finished packing and showered. Then I helped Martina cook dinner and carry it out to their patio. On the patio we enjoyed pasta with a salad, red wine and two of their friends.

It’s already 12:20am here, and brunch will be at 10am tomorrow. Then I am to be at Salzburg College at 1pm for orientation so-to-speak.

Gute Nacht!

On the Train

Right now I’m sitting on the train to Salzburg, though we haven’t left the station yet. I’m attempting to cool off; we’ll see how that goes.

All the guys in the cabin are attempting to arrange our luggage on the racks to they fit without falling off… including my heavy stuff. One of them practically lifted my suitcase with one hand over his head and onto the rack… It’s got to weigh around 50lbs if not over.

I’ll be the quiet one in this cabin since the others are all speaking German quite fluently. After spending just a day without being able to say much more than “danke” or thank you in German, I can’t wait to actually learn more.

Going through tunnels is interesting; it was dark except for the glow of my computer.

I did miss the 11:20 train I had been planning to catch. I miss read the monitors and read the arrivals instead of departures. No matter, there was another at 11:40. I tried to call my host mom, but the call wouldn’t go through. I do hope to get a hold of her because I’ll be about half an hour later than I had initially planned on.

I was quite confusing when I first got on the train to figure out where I’m supposed to sit, and carrying my luggage up the stairs was interesting as well.

It looks as though after a couple of stops the train is getting full. There are a few just standing in the hall outside our compartment sitting on their luggage. This train reminds me of Harry Potter with the compartment that seat six and the trolley that passes by with drinks and snacks.

This morning I got up and finally found my way to the train station, bought my ticket, and got some breakfast. When I was wandering around last night attempting to find it, I missed it because the building/entrance was masked by a ton of construction.

I am very glad I did some weight lifting over the last few months. Still, I can already tell my arms, shoulders, and back are going to be quite sore for the next day or two. I’m sure compared to many others; I packed relatively light, especially for a 5-week trip. However, packing as light as I could still turned out to be kind of heavy especially when you’re lugging it across the streets and U-bann of Wien.

For now since I don’t have Internet on the train, I am writing this in word and will copy and paste it later. I have a feeling I may be doing this a lot. I’ll keep up my journal and then copy it when I finally get to somewhere where there is wifi.

Wien!! (Vienna)

I made it safe and sound! part one of the journey is complete. We landed in Vienna shortly before 3pm local time. I picked up my luggage and caught the train to the center of the city where I took the U-bann (subway) to Mitch's apt. I did get temporarily turned around when I got off the U-bann but it didn't take long to find his apt and the key he left for me.

Once here, I checked my e-mail called mom and dad, and washed up. It is hot and humid here. Kinda makes Normal seem a little tame.

I went out again to Stephansplatz to see Stephansdom, or St. Stephen's Cathedral. I walked around the platz, square, for a while, saw some break dancers, then found a cute little cafe to have dinner and some good local Austrian beer! I just sat there for quite a while people watching and enjoying my food.

Its about 8:40pm and with the long day of traveling that started yesterday with little sleep, I'll probably call it a night pretty soon and will catch the ÖBB to Salzburg tomorrow which will take about 2.5 hrs and my host mom Geistberger is so graciously picking my up at the train station in Salzburg.

So I'll say gute nacht to all.

Amsterdam

It is just after 1am back home in Normal, and I'm sitting at the Starbucks at the airport in Amsterdam. I have a 4 hour layover before leaving for Vienna at 1:15pm... or as they say over here 13:15.

It was absolutely wonderful to have a ride to the airport with Norma. She was shocked I managed to pack for 5 weeks in one suitcase and a small carryon. To top it off my suitcase is only about 40lbs and there's room to spare. If there's one thing I've learned from my grandmother its how to pack.

The flight here was smooth and on time. I have discovered that on the big jets such as the one I was on, I am too short to be able to lift my carryon into the overhead compartment. Luckily one of the women sitting next to me helped me get it up and took it down for me at the end of the flight. The dinner of beef in a cranberry sauce with potatoes and spinach was quite good. The wine could've been a bit better... but I'm not one to complain since it was free.

I did actually manage to sleep a little on the plane, and I hope to get another nap in on my next flight so that once I get to Mitch's apt and clean up I can go explore Vienna in the afternoon.

For now I'm just enjoying sitting on a comfy chair where I have room to stretch out my legs and not feel like I'm being squished over to one side by the woman who sat next to my on the flight. Some day I really want to fly business/1st class just to see what it's like.

Here's to hoping the rest of the day traveling goes smoothly and I find Mitch's apt with out much trouble.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll be setting out for Austria for my last 5 weeks of summer break. Yesterday was my last day at work before I leave. I no longer have to worry about catching the bus or train to Chicago, Norma Roberts is being kind enough to pick me up from my apartment and driving me to O'Hare.

I have completed the majority of my packing, I even managed to pack my favorite gown. All that is left is my computer and a few toiletries that I'll pack in the morning. I just hope I don't forget anything. I've managed to pack small enough that my suitcase can still be extended to fit more in... room for goodies to bring back.

There are a few things I need that I haven't packed such as bug spray and an umbrella... I figured I'd just pick them up there.

As of right now, I'm not entirely sure where I'll be staying on Thursday night. My friend Mitch that I was planning on staying with is flying to France for work Thursday morning. He said I can still stay at his place, we just need to work out how I'm getting his keys and I'll need directions to find his place. As a backup, my mother found a hotel where I can get a single room (with bathroom down the hall) and breakfast for just 29 euros.

We'll see what happens!!

1 Week

In just a week I will embark on my journey to Salzburg. I will first fly into Vienna and plan to explore the city for the afternoon as I simultaneously catch up with an old friend, Mitch, from college. I have yet to start packing, and have a nice little list of things to complete before heading out. Hopefully I haven't left anything off my list.