Wien, Wien, nur du allein!

I haven't written in a while because I have been absolutely exhausted almost every night. Tonight is no exception, and it is late, but I need and want to write and share of all the adventures I have had this past week! Forgive any sentence fragments, repeated words, bad grammar or typos. My writing may be overlooked when I am tired!

Everything is easier now, and comes naturally. I live in Vienna and I belong here. Getting around might be the biggest factor in feeling as if I am a part of this city, not just a visitor. There are still some interesting things about the culture here, which I find different but not different enough that it affects me too much! For example, the past few days have been extremely hot and sticky and sunny. I love the sunshine, but the heat is almost unbearable and it takes more of my energy. Taking more energy away means I need more food and more to drink, which also means that I have to spend more money. There is not really any air-conditioning in Vienna. My apartment is very hot, and it is hard to sleep sometimes. The light comes in at around 4:45am, and the sun doesn't set until around 9:30pm. The days seem extra long, and with the skylights and sheer curtains in my bedroom, I tend to wake up, delirious, at around 5 or 6 am almost everyday. Sometimes I can go back to sleep, but sometimes I wake up and I am wide awake. It makes it hard for me to socialize at night because once it gets dark, I get very tired! In addition to the heat, people here don't shower as much. I guess it saves energy, but it does NOT save me the unpleasant experience of being in standing room for concerts, or in tight, sticky corners of the U-Bahn, and smelling horrible body odors all around me. Gross.

I love the mornings in Vienna. I'm usually by myself in the morning, and the city is fairly quiet. With the exception of a few crowded U-Bahn stops, the mornings are simple and peaceful. I enjoy going ins Cafe, und ein Kipferl und eine Melange bestellen. A Melange is a Viennese coffee with milk in it. I think it is mixed a certain way, but I'm not sure, sorry Sam! :) Freitags are frei. Fridays are free. This morning, I woke up early again and was able to get a good start on the day in the city. Emily and I met up so that we could buy tickets for the Vienna Boys Choir. We also stopped by the Staatsoper box office to see if we could either have seats for Cappricio (with Renee Fleming), or for Tannhäuser (Wagner!). Both shows were either completely sold out, or the tickets were over 150 Euros. We left, and figured we tried, and we could always try for standing room on the day of the opera. But then! We were walking back from the Burgkapelle where we got tickets for the Boys Choir, and to see the Spanish Riding School morning workout, and I stopped by a window which had Staatsoper tickets. It was a touristy information/souvenier place, and I asked the lady there if she had tickets for Cappricio. She happened to have just two tickets left, for only 50 Euros, to see Renee Fleming sing Strauss in Vienna! It made my day, and I told the lady that it did, and she smiled. I basically screamed when I got out of there. I am so so excited for this.

I saw Pierre Boulez, a famous composer and conductor, conduct Debussy and Bartok tonight. His conducting was so interesting to me. It was very conservative in that he did not have a huge amount of contrast, yet he got the contrast that was needed for the music. I wished I could have seen his face while he conducted! He did not use a baton, and his hands were a little floppy and almost puppet like! From far away, he was the cutest old man! I don't know what he is like as a person, other than that his music is unique. He definitely used a 'less is more' outlook on conducting. He was not as physical as the intense conductor of the Verdi Requiem, which we saw on Thursday night. I love "La Mer," the Debussy piece for orchestra which depicts some scenes at sea. I can hear the waves crashing, the water sparkling, and the storm coming. It is very beautiful, and you should listen to it, if you haven't yet!

Aside from the value and the thrill I get from going to see music played live, I think my favorite thing I have seen so far is the Schönbrunn park. Today, I got to see the inside of the incredibly huge palace where the Emporers of Austria used to live. Even Young Mozart once walked in these fabulously decorated rooms. I learned an incredible amount today. I just wonder what it would be like to live in such a large home! It gives me a real idea of how royalty actually live, or lived in history.

You might be wondering what the title of this blog is? It is a lyric to a song. When I started blogging, my grandparents, who come from Wien, began to tell my mother about this song because of how I write so lovingly of Vienna. A funny coincedence happened. My voice teacher, Donna, asked me if I knew of this song, and she started to sing it. I said no, and then I had a realization that the words were the title of the song that my Oma wanted me to listen to. When I told my voice teacher of the coincedence, she gave me the music, and suggested I work on it too! It's a cute song, and has both German and English verses. I might just have to do it at my senior recital in the Fall! 'Wien, Wien, nur du allein,' means 'Vienna, Vienna, only you alone!'

And boy, do I feel that way! What a lucky girl I am!