Ich liebe Wien!

Coffee at ManuFaktur-a happy haunt
Mahler III night with Pierre Boulez!!!
A nice walk I took, in my favorite weather!
Yvette! My Sigma Sister!


On the 27th I had my Mahler midterm which went pretty well! I was proud of my closing statement, I managed to wrap up the whole semester in one sentence. Awesome. After that I went and picked up miene Ballklied-my BALLGOWN for the "Golf Ball" at the Hofburg palace, I'm goin on Nov 11th. :) YAY! I promise to take lots of pictures.
On WEDNESDAY I saw Mahler I and Kindertotenlieder (soloist Thomas Quasthoff) with some IES friends plus Jacy, and had a fantastic time. I got all teary at the end of Mahler I; I miss UOP and playing in an orchestra soo much, and the playing was so beautiful. :) Afterwards the IES crew went to Manufaktur and had a post-concert talk, which included conversations about other people's boobs and the Halloween party from the night before....funny!
On the 28th I also had my Art and Arch Midterm to turn in, piece of cake! I totally could be a tour guide here now, so come visit!
The highlight of my break was seeing PIERRE BOULEZ conduct MAHLER III which I have been studying all semester in Mahler class. Oh my goodness, it was outstanding! The Vienna Boys Choir, Musikfruende and an amazing soloist (didn't catch her name, I didn't buy a program). I was floored, I was mesmerized, I was in love! This is why I am a musician. What a life!!!!! And since it was such an important performance, there was a fantastic old lady fight for "the bar" which I think I have mentioned before, and even better is that I got it on tape!

I'm starting to really feel comfortable here and appreciate the lifestyle. Now that I am settled in with schedule, taking lessons, getting lots of feedback on my playing and settling into my art classes, I am pretty happy!
I practiced all week, so that felt nice, I am playing a movement of Mozart III on Nov 8th, I'm very surprised by how far along my sound is coming. Franz has me playing in a very different way, and I'm working sooo hard. I felt like I was going to pass out at my last lesson, plus I was really sweaty because I ran there. I didn't want to be late!
I celebrated Halloween half-assedly, I drew a label and taped it to my green shirt(I was a bottle of Jagermeister) and went to my friend Alison's apartment. Everyone was kind of worn down, biggest perk was that I met their Austrian friends, who invited me to hang pre-Christmas! Yay!
On Nov 1st I met up with Yvette, who is an SAI working in Vienna (well, now located in Madrid) for Cirque du Soliel. We had a fantastic discussion about the future of the fraternity and modern music. She's really inspired me to speak up about a few issues that are important to me; and so I was very grateful to meet her. After coffee with Yvette I went to the Kaisergruft to see if the Hapsburg graves were open (usually they're completely enclosed but they open it once a year)...unfortunately they stopped admitting people at 1:45, so I long missed it. I didn't know that this was a National Holiday-All Saints Day, similar to Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, where you honor your deceased family members...Bernadette's mom had to explain this to me on Sunday. She probably thought I was really funny for not realizing all the stores in Vienna were closed. :)
After meeting with Yvette I went to the Kunsthistoriches museum and meant to just take a stroll through a couple rooms but ended up there for a few hours. Picked up a poster for my room (only a Euro!!!) and headed home. Really great visit, and I get in for free with my card, so I should do this more often.
On SundayI met up with Bernadette, where I showed her my last less-than spectacular german test, so she walked me through a couple things and I proofread her summary of Oscar wilde's the lonely Giant or something....I love visiting with her!
Today I got my midterm back from my "What is Modern Art" class, which a ton of people totally bombed. But I got an A! My teacher approached me after class and said my test was 'refreshing' and asked me how many art classes I'd had before. None! Wooo! I'm so proud!
I love you all, and thank you for reading!
Tchuss!