Sunday, September 7, 2008

It's been a few days since I last wrote, so I've got to get caught up. Earlier this week I had my meeting with my academic advisor here (basically, he just checks to make sure the classes that I want to register for don't have conflicts). Although I didn't need much guidance with respect to courses, he did encourage me to go sit in on a class at the University of Vienna, because all courses are required by law to be open to the public, apparently. Sounds like a cool idea to me.

On wednesday night, I met up with a group of my friends at an irish pub down the street from one of my friend's apartment. It was a really great time and we were talking about making it a weekly occurrence. I don't know if we will stay as motivated to meet in the middle of the week once classes start, but I'd be really glad if we did. The bar wasn't loud at all and the 2 people staffing the place were really nice. I definitely enjoyed it. Here are some pictures that my friend took that night:





^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The flash made me look a bit pasty-white in that last one^^^^^^^^^^^^


Since my first lesson with my new teacher, Antoinette von Zabner, I practiced a bunch for a small audition that I had to play yesterday. There is a class here called the Music Performance Workshop, which encompasses a performance class, chamber music, private lessons (or a stipend if you study with a teacher outside the program, as is my case). The audition went so-so, but I'm pretty sure I got in. The main point of the auditions is to find people to match together for chamber groups.

During this whole weekend, Vienna hosted the Donauinselfest (Donau=Danube, insel=island, fest=fest). The Donauinsel is a giant island/park that was built in the middle of the Danube river for recreational use. Every year, there is a humungous music festival (6+ stages, over 500 vendors, 3 million people come) that is entirely free to the public. Well, the food and stuff is not free, but entry is completely free. Over the weekend they had probably over 50 performers and there was so much variety of music. One of the things that I thought was really amazing was the way that bands had such diverse audiences and that people really stayed to listen to music that you wouldn't expect they would enjoy. There was like a 80's metal band who covered Bon Jovi and other scream-y sort of 80's music and there were plenty of people in their 60's and 70's as well as young teenagers all standing in the crowd. There was even a section for kids with rides and things like that. It was pretty amazing. I don't have too many pics but here are some:

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

This was the band that was covering Bon Jovi - just evidence that there's a bit of New Jersey in everybody. They also played "Rock me Amadeus"

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

From Donauinselfest

After the audition yesterday, I decided to just wander around the city a bit. I ended up going to get a Schnitzel from a restaurant that is supposed to have the best Wiener Schnitzel in Wien. It was really really good. They brought out a giant Schnitzel that covered the entire plate, literally as big as a medium pizza. But of meat. I walked around a while and saw a random Strasse-Bahn and got on it. I ended up somewhere in the 20th district (somwhere where I probably would never otherwise be. It was great to walk around, not knowing exactly where i was, but somehow I ended up back at the donauinsel (the daytime pictures above). By that time, I had been walking aound for about 3 hours and I was exhausted. I came back home and fell asleep. Later last night I ended up going to this really cool outdoor bar that is right on the donau canal that has this giant fake beach right on the water. I didn't stay too long, but I'd really like to go back an check it out soon.

Today, I found out that there was a piano recital by a pianist whose name had actually been given to me by Dr. Giles named Wolfgang Watzinger. I trekked out to the 18th district this morning and found the house that the concert was in. The recital was very good and I introduced myself to Mr. Watzinger afterward and asked if I could play for him sometime and he told me to call him.

Tonight my roommates and I went to an Indian restaurant that Erica and I went to when we were in Vienna two years ago. It was great, but a little expensive.

Anyway, I've got to do my german homework for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll take some more pictures this week.