Exciting Times

Hello Family, Friends and Loved Ones,

How are you all doing? I’m well. I write this while waiting to go to class in about a half hour. This past week was a bit stressful at times, but was worth it when Bridget got here. Before she arrived, I had an eventful week musically. I had planned to perform in a solo recital at IES on Saturday and there was some unexpected preparation that was needed the week leading up to it. I had planned for several weeks to sing a Mozart concert aria, “Vado, ma dove?” that was coming along nicely, but I had also been asked to sing a duet with a girl in workshop with me. In summary, she was very enthusiastic about performing the piece, but was not the best about working out logistics for rehearsals and such. Therefore, it ended up demanding more time than I anticipated and I got frustrated with the lack of communication. But the performance ended up going well for both pieces and was certainly a learning experience.

On Thursday, I had signed up to sing in a Master Class with a guest instructor, Carolyn Hague. Carolyn is the head of the Lied department at the Conservatory in Vienna and is very highly regarded throughout the city. I sang Clara Schumann’s “Liebst du um Schönheit”, a piece that is very close to my heart so I was glad to sing it again and get new input. Working with Carolyn was wonderful. She challenged me to think of the piece in new ways and continue to grow in both my interpretation of the song and in general as a musician. In addition, by watching her teach I gained tools that I could use if ever teaching privately.   It was a very rewarding experience all around. Oh! And she went to University of Maryland!

If anything else hugely important happened during that week, I don’t really remember it because it all pales in comparison to my weekend. I got to see Bridget! For anyone who doesn’t know, Bridget has been my roommate at UNH for the last 3 semesters and will be again when I get back. We met during a freshman pre-orientation service program and she is now one of my best friends. Bridget is studying in Dijon (like the mustard), France this semester and was able to come to Vienna for the weekend. It was wonderful! We have been able to skype periodically since coming to Europe, but since we are used to talking everyday after getting in from classes, we had a lot to catch up on. As much as I love the people that I’ve become close to while here, it is not quite the same as spending time with a friend who I have that kind of history with. 

I picked her up at the Westbahnhof around 8 AM on Saturday morning. From there we went to IES so that I could change and warm up before my concert at 11, which went very well… but was long. We got out of the building around 2 and found a cute pizzeria to eat lunch.  She was pretty tired from her trip and the only thing we really wanted to do was chill and talk, so we basically went back to my apt. and did just that for the rest of the night.

Bridget does not have many opportunities to travel while staying in France, so I wanted to make sure she got to see Vienna too.  We kind of did a whirlwind tour of the important stuff. Sunday morning, we went to mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which was very cool. We are both really involved with our church at school, so it was really great to share that again.

Then we went inside the opera house so that I could at least show her the lobby, which is pretty impressive. Not much was open since it was Sunday, but we walked along the Ringstrasse (the street that is currently where the wall to the city used to be and encircles the 1^st district). There, I showed her the Hofburg Palace, Parlament and the Rathaus (city hall). Then we wanted to go to the Natural History Museum while it was still open. Unfortunately, they were closing in 15 minutes, so we ran through the exhibits at warp speed, but got in free, which was sweet!

By then it was about 6 30, and we were both cold and wet (the weather wasn’t great) so we went back to my apt. where Bridget packed up her things, we ate dinner and made our way back to the train station. I missed her the second she stepped on the train, but I am hoping to meet up with her in Paris for a weekend before I leave and we get to live together all next year. I feel so fortunate to have her as a friend. 

Monday, I was tired from staying up late/getting up early to finish an assignment for the Lied, but I had a meeting that afternoon that got me through the day. A couple of weeks ago, IES forwarded us an email from a woman looking for help on a project regarding peace activism in Vienna and Austria. I was curious so I emailed her back and we arranged to meet. It was incredible! Okay, let me explain. Jalka is probably in her 70’s and basically is her own non-profit organization. She traveled the world for almost 20 years and then became a psychotherapist, but then left that profession to begin Konfliktcultur. Her organization is centered around spreading the message that Peace is not simply the absense of war, but each individual taking the responsibility to actively create peace around them.

She has collaborated with other organizations on numerous projects, most notably working with the city of Vienna to implement peace activism education in language courses.  Her current endeavor, Peace Matters, is a four-step project. It begins by surveying youth about their current knowledge of peace activism in their country, which (not surprisingly) is very limited. She will then work to create an international online resource/institute that will create knowledge and dialogue between people of all different backgrounds. And she hopes to turn this online institute into a physical institute by 2015. Pretty cool, huh?

Okay, so where do I come in? Well, it turns out the fact that I speak English is no inconvenience. After she described the project, I told her I didn’t care what she asked me to do, I just wanted to be involved and offered to help with data entry of the surveys.  Jalka had this in mind, but also wants me to do more than just tedious jobs. She wants me to be really engaged and can use my English skills to do that. She speaks very good English, but has asked me to look over her translations for grant proposals and the website when it goes up.

If it is not already obvious… I’m so thrilled! There are just so many exciting aspects to this opportunity. First of all, my involvement in this project does not have to end when I leave Austria. Because so much of it is online, I can easily stay involved by helping Jalka make connections with organizations in the states to involve them in the dialogue. It would also be really great, if we could collaborate to eventually replicate her same study in the states. Beyond the project itself, there is so much I can learn from this woman, just by learning more about how she got where she is, and the logistics of how she carries out a project like this. She is a truly inspiring person.

My first task is to look over an application for a grant that is in English, and send it back to her in the next couple of days with suggestions. Then she said we will figure out what to work on next once my parents leave. It is all very fulfilling for me for me too because I have not had the opportunity to be involved in  community service while here. This has been really difficult for me, but I feel like this is the perfect outlet for all of those energies. I will surely keep you posted with how the project is going.

Here is her website if you want to learn more: http://www.konfliktkultur.at/

So now it is just a matter of getting through the next two days and being patient before my parents come! They fly tomorrow, and arrive in Vienna at 2 30 on Friday. We are all so excited to spend time together and for me to show them the city. We are also going to Salzburg and Innsbruck for a few days. It will be really wonderful. We’ll be sure to take lots of pictures during the week and I’ll write all about it.  Okay, time for me to go.

Until next time,

Caitlin