German, museums, and classes, oh my!

So much to tell! I'll start with yesterday. Yesterday was our first day of classes, and thus was very exhausting. First was our European Fine Arts class, which is kind of an art history class, and a European history class all rolled into one. The class is taught by Herr Professor Kroell, who is a very interesting Austrian man. Our lecture yesterday was three hours long, and all about the history of the Austrian empire. It was an extremely interesting, albeit long, lecture, We disccussed how Vienna changed geographically, along with the rest of the Austrian empire, and about the socio-economic climate in Austria within itself, and in relation to Germany. After that, some friends and I went to this cafeteria type place down the street from the Institute for lunch. At this particular establishment, you pay for the size of the plate you get, and there are different stations with food. So, I got the smallest plate possible and trotted off toward the fruit. After I had begun constructing a fruit mountain on my plate, a man came over and informed me that I had to use these special bowls for the fruit. So, I transferred my fruit to the appropriate dish, and went over to the check out counter. There, I explained in German (very exciting) what happened with the bowl and the plate, because the plate was still on my tray. This was great, becuase I actually spoke pretty fluidly (I think I may have just made up that word), and the guy understood me without asking me any questions, or having a confused look. Hooray! This was my German triumph of the day. So, then I went to Dr. Vincent's apartment for my voice lesson, which went well. Then at three everybody else came over to the apartment, and we had opera workshop, and discussed repertoire for the scenes program. I am doing the opening scene from Die Zauberfloete (Mozart), a trio from The Barber of Seville (Rossini), and a duet and a trio from Cosi fan Tutte (Mozart). There's also a Lakeme duet, and some scenes from Don Giovanni. I am SO excited for the opportunity to sing this music here in Vienna. It is a dream come true. I live in the city where mozart wrote Cosi fan Tutte, and Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute). In fact, Die Zauberfloete was premiered here, with Mozart conducting. How awesome is that?!?!? Maybe it's just a nerdy singer thing, but I find that very inspiring, and mind-blowing. Anyway, moving on. So, after opera workshop, Joseph and I went on a quest for My Fair Lady tickets. We went up to the Volksoper, and got them. Then we wandered around for a while, stopping in a Billa, which is a pretty cheap grocery store, on the way. After that, we walked some more, and then decided to get some food. We got kebabs. Yum. After that, we hopped on a random streetcar and rode around for a little while, before meeting our other peeps back at the theater. Did I mention that this production of My Fair Lady was entirely in GERMAN?!?!?!? It was crazy. It was a great chance to listen to some uninterrupted Deutsch. Hearing all of the songs that I am so familliar with in that particular show in a foreign instead of English was very enlightening. And a little bit odd. It was really fun though, and I spoke German with some very nice Austrian ladies. So, that was yesterday. Whew! Today I had German class, and then went to the Wien Staadt Museum, and saw some very interesting models of the city. I ate a delicious vanilla pastry, and had this crazy carbonated Austrian drink. Afterwards, we had opera workshop. Yay! Amy and Rebekah worked on the Lakme duet, which was lovely, and then we got to do our Magic Flute trio. That was interesting, since Emily, Britain, and I hadn't rehearsed together in a month. It was really fun though. Then we had master class, followed by dinner with my Hausfrau. Dinnner was so intense. The food was delicious. We had very traditional Austrian pork with Knoedeln, which was a bread/dumpling thing. We also had a purple vegetable soup, and a heavily spiced fruit dessert. The intensity came because ,again, Frau Feest speaks no English, and absolutely expects us to keep up with her German. I did pretty well. I talked about the food, my family, the city, school, health, and music. Frau Feest loves music, so we talked about vocal training, Verdi, Mozart, and Schumann. I told her that I am singing "Lauchen und Weinen," and she could sing the whole thing without even having to think about it. I was impressed. I also learned a lot about pronunciation, and a slew of new words. She also asked Britain and I if we wanted to make singing our careers, and so we told her yes, and then talked about that for a little while. Needless to say, my brain kind of hurts right now just thinking about it, but I was pretty proud of myself! It was like an hour and a half of solid German! Well, I have to go do my homework. Gross. Bis Morgen!