Reflections on Vienna

This weekend, I experienced many farewells, a scary taxi ride, a short plane ride, an incredibly long plane ride, a graduation ceremony, and lots of laundry.  After all that, I'm finally back home.

Overall, this May term in Vienna has taught me many things; I have learned an incredible about not only the city, the culture, music history, but about myself as well.

After three weeks of frantic travel, classes, and exploration, I am having a mix of feelings about the ending of this trip.

I have been challenged in may ways. Adjusting to the Viennese culture, Lilo's house rules, and Dr. Reisinger's teaching style were often very difficult for me, more than I expected.  There were definitely days when I wanted out.  I think this trip has made me realize some things about myself that are something to think about, whether induced by travel, being responsible for myself in a new city, or just enduring a totally new experience. That's something with which I'll have to continue struggling.

On the other hand, it is impossible to deny that this trip is one of the best experiences of my life. Having the opportunity to spend so much time in such an important city has been an invaluable experience.  Despite the low points.  I have made memories I will always cherish; I have walked in the footsteps of some of the most composers in history, made friends I will always value, and learned more about both the city and myself than I ever thought I would or could.

I am incredibly grateful for the group of girls with which I have bonded during this month.  These girls,  have blessed me in so many ways; they have truly helped me get through this trip, but made it an incredibly powerful and great learning experience too.  I hope that we will always remain friends, and I hope that we'll even get to travel again together someday :)

I made myself a list my last night in Vienna:

Things I'm regretting:
 - eating gelato while running
 - congestion
 - unexpected halts (and getting ejected) from trams
 - not being able to see everything I wanted to see

Things for which I am very thankful:
 - Chocolate gelato
 - Almdudler
 - Easy subway navigation
 - Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, Strauss, and Schönberg
 - Monuments, statues and plaques reminding us of people from the past
 - Good talks with great friends

As a whole, this has been an experience I will never forget.  I'm thankful for the fun times I had, and the learning experiences as well.  I am thankful for the work and encouragement put forward by Doc and by Dr. Reisinger, and for the welcome into Lilo's house.

Thank you all so much for reading this blog!  I hope you have enjoyed my stories.  Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or want to hear more!

Auf wiedersehen (until we meet again)
Kelsey

Allison's picture - thank you!

http://tinyurl.com/k2smcqz

Finals and final day in Vienna.

Thursday, May 30.    Last day :(

This morning I woke up, prepared for a busy, busy day!

We had breakfast together, as we studied for our respective finals.  Lilo made sure we were dressed well enough for the weather (rainy and cold), and we were out the door.

I split up from the other girls halfway through the subway ride, since I was meeting up with the music students to attend a Pentecost Mass. We found our way to Saint Brigitta's church, where we were invited by Wolfgang to join him up in the balcony. The mass was wonderful - Dr. Reisinger was absolutely legendary on the organ, completely living up to the standards we expected.  The baritone we met the other day in class sang for the mass, was fantastic and friendly.

After mass, we took some group shots outside the church, and rushed to the subway to catch the next train.  We panicked through our hour-long final, writing furiously and frantically trying to recall every bit of information we learned in these three weeks. Hopefully it went ok.

Wolfgang walked us to the subway station, and then to the place where we were all having our Farewell Luncheon.  The food was delicious, we thanked the professors and Doc profusely, and we made plans for our last evening in Vienna.

After lunch, we went home to nap and pack.

We presented Lilo with our goodbye/thank you gifts.  My housemates and I had pitched in to buy Lilo some wooden shoes from Holland, about which she got really excited.  She sat us down with her friend, and the two of them showed us the pictures from their recent trip to Namibia.

Les Six (Abigail, Audrey, Allison, Meredith, Jessica and I) had plans to meet up at the subway station for Schönbrunn to see the Vienna Philharmonic perform with Lorin Maazel.  Unfortunately for us, the busses weren't running on their normal schedule, due to the holiday.  Hence, Audrey and I ran down the hill to catch the tram to the subway, getting to the station about 20 minutes late.

The other girls, along with Rebekah, were waiting there for us.  When Audrey and I ran off the train, the whole group of girls greeted us with excited screams.  Group hugs ensued. It was completely adorable.  (Truly - it was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.)




We walked through the cold drizzle to see the concert at Schönbrunn.  The 7 of us pushed our way through the crowds to see the concert, making our way through crowds of Asian tourists, cute Austrian boys, and others.








We stayed for the first piece, then decided once everyone started putting up umbrellas that it was too cold and rainy to stay longer. We pushed our way back through the crowds to the exit.

Les Six (Rebekah headed home) decided to hit up a bar we liked very much.  We ordered drinks, had some more good conversation, and eventually said our farewells.

Audrey and I grabbed our last Vienna gelato from our favorite stand, and ran to the subway station so we could catch the last bus home.

We hit the sack, ready for sleep, but not ready to leave.

House of music and Don Quixote (also, scariest walk home ever)

Wednesday, May 29

Today, our second-to-last day of the Vienna May term, was a rough day.

I woke up, and took a later bus to school. I got to the AAIE where all the other students had class.  I worked on my homework, studied, and checked my email for a couple hours.

I set off on my own to the police station to de-register, which was a nice walk.  The de-registering process took very little time, then I headed back to the institute, appreciating the walk.

At noon, the music class students met up to do our final excursion: visiting the House of Music.  The museum was really cool - they have different exhibits based on different composers, like Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and a ton of other composers we studied.  The museum is very interactive, with things to listen to, play with, and a game at the end where you could conduct the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The museum was a lot of fun, but we spent much of the time arguing about how to take our final. Long story short, there was a time conflict between going to the mass for which Dr. Reisinger was playing and having the full time to take our final.

When we got back to the institute, we spent some time working on homework and studying.  I got a letter from my Dad, which made me feel a whole lot better.

Abigail and I headed to the Staatsoper to get standing room tickets for the ballet, Don Quixote. We spent a lot of time in line talking to a young couple from Australia, Kirstie and Luke. They were in Vienna for just a couple days, one of their many stops on their THREE MONTH tour of Europe!  They told us that they were traveling all over, and that they had jobs waiting for them in the UK whenever they're done traveling.  Abigail and I enjoyed talking to them very much; they were very cute, had lots of stories, excellent accents, and fun to talk to.

The standing room experience at the Staatsoper is crazy - you stand in line forever until you can finally get tickets, then you stand in line for further forever until you can get into the actual theater.  Then they let everyone in at the same time, you run in between the railings and mark your spot with a scarf or a sweater or some other way.  Then you are free to leave and come back before the show begins, and everyone is able to lean on a railing.

Don Quixote was completely amazing!  The show was the first ballet I've ever seen all the way through (other than the Nutcracker), and what an introduction to the ballet world!  The performers were incredible, the musicians were flawless, and we enjoyed every minute.  It was totally a blast, and I loved getting to do it with my buddy Abigail.

The walk home was less fun - we got out of the show late, so I had to walk the last leg of my journey home.  It was already dark, scary, and cold, which was anxiety-inducing enough; however, halfway to Lilo's house, I passed a family with a big black dog that made me even more nervous. I was fine, until the dog began to chase me, at which point I freaked out and ran home. Super fun.  I'm really cool.

Anyway, weird day.  But it was wonderful to get to experience the ballet and the museum.

Double-post for lazy days

Monday, May 28

Today was full of papers and class.

I woke up, and went to class.
After class I wrote a paper and willed my computer not to die.
After paper-writing, Audrey, Annika and I spent too much money on souvenirs.
After souvenirs, Annika, Audrey, Abigail, Jessie, and I went to dinner at Della Lucia.
I ate pasta with something, and I have no idea what it was.
After dinner, we went home.
I worked on my paper about Bruckner all night and went to bed.

Nothing more to report.  No pictures 'neither.


Tuesday, May 29

Today, as usual, we woke up, caught the bus, and got to the institute early.

Before class, Abigial and another girl from our music class, Laurel, visited the Imperial Library. Incidentally, this library provided the inspiration for the library in Beauty and the Beast!











The library was pretty cool - they had an exhibit that discussed news that changed Austria.  I got to see things like Beethoven's death mask, an ancient papyrus scroll, and an original copy of a book by Freud.  Very cool.

After the library we had lunch, I blogged, and we headed to class. 

In class, we had a presentation, then a special treat - Dr. Reisinger had an open rehearsal during our class time with a grad student.  They will be performing at mass on Friday for the holiday.  The grad student was a baritone from Greece, who's voice was absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed him very much, and he did a lovely job.  We also got to hear Abigail sing for us, which was doubly awesome :)

After class, Abigial and I went to a local dessert cafe called Aida for some pick-me-up sweets (and tea).  Man, we love tea.  

During the afternoon, Abigail, Jessica, Audrey and I visited the Belvedere castle.












The grounds were really beautiful, as well as the castle.  It was a lot of fun to sit in the sun, take pictures, and people-watch.

The Belvedere is also the place where Anton Bruckner (the composer) spent his last four years, at the invitation of the Emperor.  He had a nice apartment, where he worked on his final symphony.

Abigail and I found it and took some more pictures. 

 






The four of us found a place for dinner in District 3, near Abigail and Jessie's house.  We had more introspective conversation, followed up with gelato.

Audrey and I caught the bus home, and went to bed.

Mines and Mauthausen

Sunday, May 26 

This morning, as usual, we woke up. 

Audrey and I leisurely packed and headed down to another excellent Austrian breakfast.  Seriously, these breakfasts are great. Lookout U.S., cuz I'm gonna start eating cold cuts and gugelhof every morning. 

We set off for the Hallein Bad Dürrenburg salt mines. It's exactly what it sounds like - people mine salt there.  Originally, salt water deposits were trapped inside the rocks when the tectonic plates shifted (y'know, geology and stuff).  Now they do everything by machine, rather than with tiny pickaxes and headlamps (although that would be AWESOME).

We got to wear these fancy white suits into the mines to protect our clothes:

 

Nice, right?  Jealous, right? 

I bet you are now!  By the way, the girls pictured above are pretty fabulous people.  

So we went down these big stairs to the entrance of a tunnel, where we boarded a tiny train.  It was basically a long wooden board on wheels.  We all lined up on it, one after another, held onto each other, and blasted through the tunnel into the mine!

We got to watch these cool informational videos with entertaining portrayals of historical figures.  

The important thing here though is the SLIDES.  As you go lower and lower into the mines, they have these cool slides for you to go down.  You line up in small groups on the slide, then ride the thing down on your butts to the bottom!  What a blast.  Abigail and I (mostly me) were nervous, but we did it!

Yay slides!









We finished our tour of the salt mines, then all piled into the bus for lunch.  We went to the Rosenberger, where we enjoyed a tasty lunch and great conversation. Doc told Abigail and I about the research project and book he's been working on - he has researched the life of Dr. Fried, who began the Vienna Summer School. He was especially looking forward to visiting the concentration camp that afternoon, since Dr. Fried's brother died in a connected camp.



Mauthausen, the concentration camp, was a big experience. It was very moving. We were able to explore the camp thoroughly - we saw the barracks (where the prisoners slept), the memorials, the rooms where the prisoners were gassed, and the quarry where the prisoners worked carrying rocks up the hill. There are photographic exhibits in some of the old barracks, with pictures taken as documentation.







Overall, the experience was very powerful.

The memorials there recognize different people groups who were victimized by not only Mauthausen, but by the other concentration camps.







The thing that stuck with me the most, however, was the juxtaposition between the sadness of what happened at the camp and the beauty of the surrounding landscape.  Despite the cold and the rain, which set the appropriate mood of the camp, it was impossible to ignore the beauty that has persevered through the years. It is hard to comprehend that such horrible things happened in our world, but knowing that we can recover as humans and do what we can to prevent it from happening again is something to hold onto.

After visiting the camp, we drove home to Vienna.

Lilo had made our special "goodbye" dinner for my housemates and I (Annika, Rachel, and Audrey).

We celebrated Audrey's birthday with wine and a special birthday flower!  :)

Our weekend in Salzburg was really cool - we got to experience a lot of history, learned a lot about the past in Austria, celebrated Audrey's birthday, and survived the rainy weather.

Feeling lucky to have the Salzburg experience, and luckier to be able to come home to Vienna!

Rainy Salzburg

Saturday, May 25

This morning was not promising, weather-wise. Rainy, and stinkin' cold. 

We bundled, piled onto the bus, and made off for Salzbug. 

On the bus, I listened to the soundtrack to "The Sound of Music."  Cheesy, but appropriate. Hearing the musical peak of "climb every mountain"as we were driving past the snowy peaks of the alps was quite an experience.  

We separated into two groups and met our tourguides outside Mirabel Gardens.  We explored the gardens, in which we enjoyed the landscaping, wedding photos, and extraordinarily high amount of Asian tour groups. Our tourguide showed us an early opera stage, Mozart's "Magic Flute" house (where he composed the opera), and explained the significant statues surrounding the fountains.

Fun fact: the fountain in this picture is the fountain around which the Maria and the von Trapp children run in "The Sound of Music!"

After Mirabel gardens, we wandered towards the fortress, passing through a shopping district. We passed Mozart's birthhouse and one of Mozart's apartments.

We walked across a cool bridge that had padlocks around the links all over the place.  Apparently this is a new tradition, started in the last couple years. Supposedly, couples write their names and the date on a lock, lock the padlock to the bridge, and throw the key into the river. That way, love lasts forever.  Hooray!

Look, Mozart's organ!

We explored the cathedral where Mozart was baptised and played organ every sunday, through a big square in the middle of the city, and through the graveyard where Mozart's family is buried.

Can you tell Salzburg likes Mozart?  I thought the publicity stunt was bad in Vienna, but it actually makes sense there; Salzburg claims Mozart as their own now, but certainly didn't when he was alive. 

After our walking tour, the two groups met up again to climb up to the fortress. This was no easy feat, let me tell you.  We were huffing and puffing all the way; our feelings ranged anywhere from "I'm actually dying" to "at least I'm not as cold."  What an experience.  At the ticket both, all 60 of us linked up on the 45 degree incline, attempting to prevent other tourists from shoving their way past our group and cutting in line.  Again, what an experience.  After receiving our tickets, we climbed the rest of the way up the hill and explored the fortress.  The view was beautiful, if dizzying.

Photo op!

We spent some time up on top of Salzburg, conversing with another (smaller) group of college students from Lee University in Tennessee who were travelling through Germany.

Coming down the hill, we stopped to see the Nonnberg Abbey, one of the oldest women's convents in Austria.  Also, the place where the nuns in "Sound of Music" detained the Nazi soldiers from following the escaping family.

We stopped for gourmet soft pretzels from a very busy stand.


Abigail, Rebekah and I had a brief lunch at the Cafe Tomaselli, which is supposedly where Mozart had his coffee in the morning.  Whether this is true, I have no idea, but I can say for certain that their desserts are delicious.

After lunch, everyone again piled into the bus where we headed for Germany.


We visited a Nazi Documentation center, located near Hitler's "Eagle's nest."  The documentation center was very well put together, with heavily detailed information.  The exhibit covered everything from the movements that began and evolved into the Nazi regime, the impact of the changes on different people groups, first-hand pictures and accounts, and more.  The museum was powerful and moving.

After a surprisingly short bus ride back to Hallein, we were served a lovely warm dinner.  Our group o 6 (Jessica, Abigial, Meredith, Allison, Audrey and I) had splendid dinner conversation, where we learned a lot about each other and laughed a lot.   The conversation continued after dinner in one of our hotel rooms, where we were joined by Boyu.   What a great group of ladies - we learned a lot about each other and ourselves, and had a lovely time.

We went out for drinks for Audrey's birthday too - the hotel has a Mexican restaurant in the basement, so we all got fruity drinks to celebrate.  Happy b-day, Audrey!

Bonus!  

Pictures with Mozart. 

Abigail (left)

Kelsey (right)

Psyched for Salzburg

Friday, May 24 (Day 18)

Today was jam-packed, crazy, and involved an outrageous amount of running.

We woke up and rushed out (met alicia, cleaning lady), and moved quickly - we had an icky-sicky housemate that we wanted to get to the institute as soon as we could.  We made it, and everything was fine, but somewhere in the phone call  where I explained "My housemates and I are at Karlsplatz, and [insert name here] is sick" they interpreted "All four housemates are dying from explosive vomiting, and have somehow made it all the way to district 1 together."  So reconciling the two was interesting.

In class, we had 2 presentations jammed into an hour, and then left for a field trip!  Wolfgang ushered us out of the classroom, down the 2 flights of stairs, and through the city to get to the next subway station over.  I wish I had filmed this entire endeavor, because it was very entertaining.  Imagine 11 college students lightly jogging through the crowded streets of the 1st district trying to keep up with a curly-headed organ professor. The thought is entertaining on it's own, but factor in the last 3 minutes when we thought we'd miss the train, and Riesinger broke into spurts of jogging. We made it just in time, but it was a close call.  A hilarious close call.

Our field trip was to the Central Cemetery, one of the biggest cemeteries in Europe.  The only one bigger is in Hamburg, Germany. The cemetery holds 3 million - with room to grow.  It's still very much in use; we saw a funeral procession as we walked through the cemetery this morning.

A word about Austrians and death - very different perspective than our views on death in America.  In Austria, death is a part of life, and they don't think of it as depressing at all.  People venture to cemeteries on the weekends to have picnics and visit the graves of their relatives quite frequently. So, visiting this cemetery was not at all a somber occasion - we got to see the tombs of people who were greatly admired.

Johannes Brahms

Franz Schubert

Ludwig van Beethoven

Arnold Schonberg

We also ventured into the beautiful church they have at the cemetery.  They don't use this church as much for funerals anymore, except for really big-deal people. It was really beautiful inside.

We left the cemetery after exploring the church, navigating the subway on our own (Wolfgang left us), and stopping at Billa to grab super quick lunches.  We all loaded onto the bus, and left for Salzburg 20 minutes later!

About an hour into the trip, we stopped to see Melk Abbey.  The abbey is the home of Benedictine monks, and has been running for over 900 years.

The building is very cool.  We had a very intelligent and darling tourguide, who took us through the museum portion of the abbey.  Tourism is one of the most lucrative operations that the monks have these days, which allows them to continue to support themselves independently (along with other forms of income and donations).

The museum has different rooms all in different colors, which signify distinct aspects of the Benedictine tradition.  One of the coolest things for me was the handwritten book the Benedictine creed, which is on display here. Very cool.

They also have many treasures, some still used in religious ceremonies, and some preserved.

Lots of cool things to see.

Model of Melk Abbey

We saw one of the rooms where they used to feed the guests who stayed at the abbey, around the time of Maria Teresia.  Those three windows at the top of this picture were where the orchestra played.

View from the balcony of the abbey.  Beautiful!

Girlies after the tour. 

We also got to tour the library of the abbey, which was extensive.  No pictures allowed :( but I can assure you, it was incredible.  Many of the books were re-bound to match the decor of the library, as per the custom of the Baroque period.  They have reading rooms where anyone can come and stay for a time.  They also have scrolls from the works of academics who were involved in the monastery at some point  - including one from the Dalai Lama!



We also got to see the chapel of the monastery.  It was incredibly ornate, with tons of gold, ornaments, and treasures. There were several different altars for different saints, which was interesting.  The space was certainly incredible, but too ornamented for my taste.

After the church, we explored the gardens of the abbey, and took more pictures of the view before piling again into the bus.

On the drive to Hallein, the town where we would be staying the two next nights, there was absolutely beautiful scenery to enjoy.  Rolling hills leading up to peaks of the Alps, fields with flowers and waving grasses, houses with animals in the gardens, everything.

For me, nothing could have enhanced this experience more than listening to Mumford & Sons.  It was a really wonderful thing.


We also drove past a significant landmark - we saw the church where Maria and Georg were married in "The Sound of Music!"  It's a gorgeous church, and a dramatic sight to see from the road, part of a town tucked in between the mountains.  We reached Hallein soon after, and enjoyed a fabulous, filling dinner.  A small group of us were tucked into a smaller dining room, which allowed us to have quality dinner conversation, covering everything from hidden talents to pokemon tournament attire.

After dinner we explored the chilly, rainy town, enjoying ice cream and live performers on the square.