Sorry this took me so long!

Hello Friends and Loved Ones,

How are you all doing? I’m sorry to say that I do not have anything terribly exciting to report for the last couple of weeks. It appears that I have at last reached the state of “settling in.” But I will try to remember some of the fun things that happened or little tidbits that come to mind.

So of course I missed Aaron like crazy after he left, but my friends here were really great about keeping me occupied and having fun. It is great because now he knows all the people and places that I talk about.

Oh! I went to Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) last weekend with Danielle and Brian for a day. It was an… interesting experience.  First of all we spent 8 hours in the city and that was more than enough time. Let’s just say there isn’t much to do in Bratislava. There is one palace, one castle, and one cathedral we saw them all along with A LOT of broken umbrellas. The weather was… somewhat less than desirable. Who are we kidding, it was miserable. It was cold, windy, and pouring the entire day, but we were troopers! We found refuge first in a café, then in a McDonalds (it was the first time I’ve been in one the whole time I’ve been here, aren't you proud?) and Danielle spent time documenting all the broken umbrellas around the city, I think she has about 15 pictures. I’ll put up a few that I have. All things considered we still had a really good time. We certainly made the best of it and made sure to laugh a lot both at ourselves and the situation.

I had a really great coaching with my accompanist a few weeks ago. She asked me what I wanted to do after graduation and I told her all about my passions for service work. Then we started talking about how I wanted to find music to work on in Vienna that related to those passions. So she invited me over to her house! I went over earlier this week and we went through her music library to find pieces that related to spirituality and hope for the future of the world. It was great! She is an amazing woman and I’m so excited to be working with her.

I had my German midterm this morning, which went well. I feel like I have such a better handle on general concepts than when I took German my freshman year. It is nice to feel like I get it. And the rest of this week we all have midterms and then a short break. I have my exam for Art and Architecture on Monday and The Lied on Wednesday. And then…

I’m going to Venice! Since we don’t have classes the rest of the week, everyone is traveling to different places. So Danielle and Brian and I are going to Venice for guess how much… 38 euros round trip! The train company was running a special deal. So we’re taking a night train Wednesday into Thursday morning then we’ll stay for two nights and take a night train back Saturday into Sunday. I’m pretty pumped. I’ll be sure to write about it when I’m back.

Let’s see... I went to see Carmen at the Staatsoper last weekend. I debated a lot because I had homework to do, but ultimately decided that I’d kick myself if I didn’t go. (Sunday was the last time it was playing while we’re here) The production itself was great. We were not that impressed by the mezzo-soprano singing the role of Carmen, but loved the staging, costumes and supporting characters. It was fun to see a show that all the music was so familiar.

On Thursday night, Christa, Angie and I had a somewhat awkward concert going experience. Our performance workshop professor got us free tickets to a Liederabend (Night of Song) at a local conservatory. It was a baritone and piano. They began by singing a number of songs by Hugo Wolf and then things got weird. The baritone then proceeded to sit in a chair and read us a 30 page story (in German) about Mozart, with musical interludes by the pianist. We legitimately tried to pay attention for the first five minutes, but the next 85 minutes were hopeless. There was a woman in front of us having a giggle fit with herself and a man sitting near us with very long legs in a very small seat. So it was still an entertaining experience, just not in the way we expected it to be.

Those are the big things I can think of for now. I’m sure other things will come to mind and I’ll be sure to post about them. I’ll also add some pictures from the Bratislava trip. Sorry for taking so long to post. I’ll try to be better. Thanks for reading. You’re all in my thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Caitlin