Mom and Dad Come to Vienna

Hello All,

In this entry I write on behalf of myself as well as my parents, because they are here!!! We’re making sure to update you periodically because if I waited until after they left, none of you would read this post because it would be so long. We are currently sitting on the train to Salzburg for our four-day excursion and digesting the last few days together.

On Friday, after my rehearsal I made my way to the Westbahnhof train station where my parents were being dropped off from their bus from the airport. We were of course thrilled to see each other and there were lots of hugs and, surprisingly, no tears. From there we found my parents hotel for them to drop off their bags and wash up a bit., before going out to get dinner. We ended up finding a really cute traditional Austrian restaurant where I introduced my mom to Wienersnitzel, which she loved. My dad had scalloped veal, which he was also very fond of. After dinner, we got Gelato and walked around the Stadtpark, which is kind of like Vienna’s central park and was right across the street from my parent’s hotel.

After that, I took my parents to my apt. where they met my roommates and dropped off a couple of their bags. They didn’t stay long because everyone was pretty tired, so they headed back to their hotel and everyone promptly fell asleep.

On Saturday, I met my mom and dad at their hotel (they were staying there for one night because my roommates had not left for their trips yet) From there we walked downtown and I introduced my parents to the Naschmarkt and Flomarkt. They loved all of the fresh produce and Viennese junk (the Fleemarket is basically a giant garage sale).   Then we walked to the Burggarten outside of the Hofburg Palace and had a  picnic lunch on the grass. The weather has been so beautiful. I’ll let my parents follow me around anywhere as long as they bring this kind of warmth and sunshine along… but then they always do because they are my parents. Yak yak yak yak yak.

Because I owed them so big for bringing the good weather to Vienna and, you know, raising me and stuff… I then had an opportunity to prove my love to them, especially my mother. Allow me to explain. After our picnic we went back to my parent’s hotel to pick up their bags and move into my apt. for the week. After getting on the Strassenbahn (street car) to go to my apt. my mom realized that she did not have her purse! Upon this realization, I remembered seeing her purse sitting next to her on the bench of the buss stop. Upon reaching our next stop, I proceeded to jump off of the bus, and do the 500 yard dash in record time back one stop, all the while huffing “please still be there, please still be there, please still be there.” My mother was puffing the same words while running behind me, and my dad was bringing up the rear, both with suitcases rolling behind them.  And much to my asthmatic lungs delight, I found the purse still sitting on the bench. (Keep in mind, Vienna is known for its gypsies… our angels were certainly watching over us) So that was our major adventure and my major work out for the entirety of my stay in Vienna. We were all a bit worn out after that, so after we ate dinner (that I proudly cooked) we went to bed.

Sunday was really exciting. We went to Mass at St. Stephens Cathedral in the inner city for Palm Sunday and it was with the Cardinal! After a procession around the church, we gathered inside the tremendous landmark of Vienna. One of the most moving aspects of the service was the music. I know that my family and I are biased, but I know I will remember this for years to come. The entire passion was sung acapella, primarily with three voices as the narrator, voice and Christ with the 30-person choir singing the responses of the crowd. The combination brought each of us to tears at different times.

That afternoon, I took my parents to the café across the street from my apt to show them where I regularly skype (video chat) with them and Aaron. I stayed for about an hour and talked to Aaron, while they walked across the street to the Easter market that is hosted by the church near my apt. during the Lenten season. They have vendors with handmade crafts, toys, baked goods, scarves and bags.

Then that night, I got to take my parents to the Opera and it was nothing short of incredible.  What I thought would be another night at the Vienna Staatsoper proved to be my most memorable concert going experience. We went to see Donzetti’s L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love). What we didn’t realize was that Juan Diego Florez- a pretty big name in opera- was singing the role of the lead Tenor.  At the end of his act two aria, the audience applauded for so long that they demanded an in-performance encore of the piece. But it wasn’t just his performance that was wonderful; the entire cast was stunning. I suspect that it was a young production, because the cast chemistry was just awesome. It is a comedic opera and it was so clear that they were all having so much fun together. I told my parents that they got to see something that doesn’t happen everyday at the Vienna Staatsoper and I’m so glad that their visit allowed me to witness it as well.

So now we are on our way to Salzburg, where we will stay for 4 days, 3 nights, with a visit to Innsbruck for one day. I’ll be sure to write again once we get back. We all send our love.

Love,

Caitlin (Mom and Dad)

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

Images of Venice

1. Can you tell I'm happy?

2. One beautiful view of many.

3. Our hostel room.

4. One of those really cool things I can't afford.

5. Our breakfast each morning.

6. Beach!

7. My favorite canal/picture.

8. A cheesy photo that I asked Danielle to take of me so I could share it with you.

9. Vivaldi's House

10.Kerry, Nisha and Me on the Gondola.

11. Our Gondola driver and the top of Brian's head.

12. Cemitiri Island - isn't it pretty.

13. Cemitiri Island from the outside... I told you it was curious looking.

14. Demonstration of glass blowing on Murano

15. A picture of the plaza near our hostel.

A Stranger in Paradise… Me in Venice that is!

Hello Folks,

It is true, I have found paradise. I have officially fallen in love with the city of Venice. Not to be confused, West Virginia will always be the place where my heart feels home, but if I am at home in WV, Venice can be my heart’s vacation spot. From the second we stepped off the train I was absolutely taken by the city. Words (and pictures) simply cannot describe the beauty of this place. I think what I loved most though was not the beauty, but the sense of peace that the water provided. Vienna is beautiful, but it definitely feels like a city with loud noises and all the hustle and bustle. But Venice is quiet and calm. It was just the get away that I needed in the middle of a busy semester.

Danielle, Brian and I left Vienna around 9 pm on Wednesday night after a successful few days of mid-term exams. It turns out that half of our program was also going to Venice because of the cheep deal. (Only 38 euro round trip) The ride was uneventful and we all slept well. We arrived in Venice around 8 30 am Thursday morning ready to take on the day. After a short ride on the water bus, we found our hostel which was very cute. The room wasn’t huge but we had our own bathroom and it was the perfect size for the 3 of us. They brought us breakfast each morning too, which was awesome.

After dropping off our stuff, we were pretty hungry and went to a nearby restaurant to get our first Italian pizzas. The weather was nice enough that we could sit outside. While eating, we saw Kerry and Nisha, two of our friends from IES who were actually staying in our same hostel and we met up with them again later. Then… we explored. So the way the island is set up: there is the grand canal that runs through the middle, and 300 or so smaller canals that branch off of that and the rest of the streets are ally ways, some narrower than others. First, we just explored the area around our hostel, which was filled with shops and souvenir vendors.

Then we made our way to St. Marks Square, which is pretty much the center of the city. We went into the cathedral, which was So Cool! For the non-musicians, St. Marks Cathedral is where any number of major composers held the position of Maestro di Capella, including Monteverdi. This church was the center of Renaissance and early Baroque music much the way that New York is the center of Broadway music today. We talked about St. Marks a lot in my music history class and I have sung a good deal of Monteverdi in choirs at UNH so it was pretty cool to know that I was standing in the presence of greatness.

And then… we got Gelato (or Gelati in Italy) = Heaven! You all know my allegiance to Kimball Farm Ice Cream in Carlisle, MA, but Kimball’s still doesn’t come close.  Simply put, Gelati is pure joy on a cone.

Finally, we met up with Kerry and Nisha and went out for dinner where I got pasta and we had a quirky waiter. That night we were all exhausted from the trip and it was raining so we crashed early.

Friday was exciting. First we took a short trip to the island of Murano. Still a part of Venice, it is known for its glass blowing. In fact… that is the only thing that happens on this island. After getting off the waterbus, we saw a demonstration for 2 euro that was very cool. It is crazy the way that they can just whip shapes out of half melted glass in the end of a stick. Then we walked around the shops and looked at all the pretty things that we can’t afford.

On the way back to the main island, the waterbus made a stop at a curious looking island and I asked if we could get off and see what it was. It turns out that this island was called Cemetiri and you guessed it, it is the Cemetery Island for the city of Venice. I know, it sounds like it would be morbid, but it wasn’t at all. Actually, it was beautiful and one of my favorite parts of the trip. Brian was joking around asking if I had picked out my plot yet, because I told them that that is where I want to be buried. In all seriousness though, I’ve decided that this island is what death should look like. All of the gravestones were close together, as a community and every single one had fresh, bright, colorful flowers. The sun was shining that day and it just felt like such a happy place, not dark and dreary at all. I probably could have stayed there all day walking around, but I didn’t get the same sense from everybody else so we headed back to the main island.

When we got back we got some lunch and began shopping. I got myself a couple of shirts, and a painting from a local vendor of a canal.  Oh! And then we went on a Gondola ride! (I almost forgot) For about 16 euro each, we got a half hour ride down the Grand Canal and through some other smaller canals. On the ride our gondola-man pointed out some important palaces and… Vivaldi’s house! We realized that we were being super touristy by going on a ride, but it was totally worth it.

After eating dinner, we went back to our rooms to chill for a bit before trying to go out and do something fun that night. We came to learn that there is no such thing as nightlife in Venice. We eventually found an Irish pub… that closed at 12:30. Well… we tried.

By Saturday, we had pretty much run out of things to do.  There were certainly museums that we could have checked out but didn’t totally feel like trying to find them so we just kind of wandered for a while. That is easy to do in Venice; the cool part is… you always end up at St. Marks. One of the things that Danielle’s guidebook recommended was to take one of the waterbuses all the way up and down the Grand Canal, which we did. Several of us fell asleep on the ride but it was beautiful. At the end of the line we got off on Lido (like the pizza place in Westminster!) one of the other islands that some of our friends were staying on. We walked around there a bit and found a beach! That was exciting. Then we headed back to the train station, got dinner, and got on the train to go home.

3 days was the perfect amount of time to be there. We had enough time to see what we wanted to without feeling like we were cramming it in or getting bored. It was all nice and relaxed with no complaints whatsoever.

I still can’t quite get over it all. I will probably rave about this trip for months.  The best part is that I woke up this morning (Monday) feeling totally refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the semester.  Hopefully that will last, haha. My roommate from home, Bridget, is studying abroad in France this semester and coming to visit me this weekend. We are both really excited for it. Then, 4 days after she leaves, my parents get here to spend spring break with me. So there are lots of exciting things coming up. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing about it. I’ll be sure to post again soon.

Love,

Caitlin

I promise to put up some more pictures with me in them. Most of them are on Danielle's camera, so I'll try to get those from her soon. 

1. Oh! And we had really good Sushi.

2. View of Bratislava from the castle on the mountain.

3. Primate Palace- we couldn't take pictures inside

4. We matched... and it wasn't on purpose, freaky?

5. The epitome of our day...

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

Pictures!

Okay, so they are kind of in reverse order of the trip, but I'll try to label them and see where the captions end up. From the top:

1-3 At the Ball

4. Aaron at the Naschmarkt

5. Me on the train on the ride home from Budapest

6. Us at our table at the Hungarian Restaurant

7. Our view as we walked into the restaurant!

8. Us on top of a castle-like thing.

9. Me channeling my inner Leo

10. Us looking out over Buda (this is one of my favorites)

11. Aaron and I on the bridge over the Danube

12. The relic of the right hand of St. Stephen

13. The copula of St. Stephen's Basilica

14. Parliament

15. Aaron sleeping on the train to Budapest, or at least pretending to

16. Aaron at the airport, ready to go