Music to my ears!

Hello!!

I am still alive everyone! I hope you all are too! If anyone comes to Salzburg, it is bound and determined that you WILL see some sort of musical performance while you are here. I, however, get many more chances to experience real Austrian and European musical performances than many!! I have already been to two concerts and they were definitely great to watch and listen to, but also a learning experience!!

I for one am taking a History of Music class here at Salzburg College, so I am required to go to at least five concerts and write reports on them. I have to say what pieces were featured, about the composers and their music and the history of the pieces, the differences between 'movements,' and my overall reaction and impression of the performance! This is definitely way more than I am used to knowing about music, especially classical music. I have been learning all about the history of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Debussy, Bach, Brahms, and many other guys that I may or may not have heard of!

So, the first concert. This was in the Schoss Mirabell, an old building that houses the mayor and offices of Salzburg government. I was expecting to go to a big concert hall with a stage and concert seats...nope. I walked into a rather large open room that had about nine rows of chairs on the floor with two or so chairs up front beside a piano! The room could probably hold a hundred people, but it seemed so much tinier than i was expecting.

This first concert featured W.A. Mozart, Claude Debussy, and L.V. Beethoven. There was a sonata with the piano and violin, one with the cello and piano, and a trio with all three instruments. The music was consider 'chamber music.' (any one reading this who knows about music and history has to understand that I do NOT know much about this kind of music and these are one of a kind experiences for me at this time of my life!) So, the piece was played, but you have to make sure you don't clap a pauses that seem like the end of the piece, cuz it is just the end of a 'movement.' Most pieces have 3 or 4 movements. If you clap, you both embarrass yourself like crazy and ruin the piece!! (I did not clap till the entire piece was done) Then, after the piece, the players get up and walk out while we clap, then they come back in and bow and we clap, they leave, come back and bow, we clap and finally when we stop clapping they stop coming back in and bowing. This concert was so nice to listen to, but it is just so different for me to listen to any kind of music with string instruments!!

My second performance that I have been able to go to so far was a very big orchestra concert. This concert hall did meet my expectations. We were in the big Salzburg Festival Hall where world-wide people perform year-round (especially during the big festival in the summer) and the stage is supposedly one of the biggest opera stages in the world. The house can seat 2,300 people. This concert featured Joseph Haydn, Bela Bartok, and Johannes Brahms. There were two symphonies and one concert with solo viola and the orchestra. This concert was so much bigger and better than the first. Of course, as it was an orchestra performance, there were so many more instruments. It was so neat to hear all the different ones together. There was still 'movements' and a conductor who left and came back after the pieces until we stopped clapping.

It was mesmerizing to see all the bows of the violins, violas, and cellos flying in the exact same way at the exact same time. But the thing that I will remember the most, is all the clapping at the end of the performance!! The performance ended with a very romantic symphony from Brahms and then the clapping began and the bowing happened, and went on, and went on. I think after the fifth time of the conductor coming back in, he finally got back on his podium, told us in German they were gonna play some Number 10 piece and we heard more! Then, we clapped some more. Twice more he came out and then got back on his podium and played us something Number 3. It was pretty sweet to get an encore for real. Finally after bowing once after the second extra piece the conductor shaked a lot of the players hands and left and the players started to pack up, so we had to leave and stop clapping finally!! Our History of Music teacher also came to the show with us and said that was a lot of clapping. He kinda laughed and said that was nothing!!! I guess I will just have to practice my clapping and become better conditioned!!

So, musical performances are not on rare occasion here in Salzburg. I will have a very trained ear by the end of the semester and hopefully be much more educated about music, its history, and about performances!!

Besides concerts, classes and homework, I have not been doing anything too much else. It is really crazy to believe, but I only have 3 weeks till I leave on my first break for 2 weeks to anywhere in Europe I choose to go! Time flies by really fast!

I will be hanging around Salzburg this weekend. Esther and I may go horseback riding, swimming, or some other recreational activity to keep life interesting. Friday, us girls plan on having a night out and hopefully we will find some dance places and meet some new people. I am still loving every minute here. My host family is still as great as ever and I am feeling alive and well.

I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying all that you are up to. Keep in touch and take care!

Miss you all,
Love ya tons,

Dana

Oktoberfest

Hello all,

I went to Oktoberfest! It was absolutely amazing. Believe it or not, people can go to Oktoberfest and have a good time without drinking loads of beer and getting drunk, cuz I did.

Oktoberfest is a drinking fest, but so much more than that. This festival originally started as a wedding. There was a wedding where all the breweries wanted to make an especially good beer for the celebration. When they did this, the wedding party lasted four days because the beer was so good. After each year the party getting bigger and bigger, they had to move the party outside. And because it gets colder in October, they had to move up the dates to start in September. So now Oktoberfest is a big festival (similar to a state fair) which goes on from around Sept. 20 to Oct. 5. There are over 20 different beer tents which people try to get into. The tents open around 9:30 everyday of the festival. If you have reservations, then you can go to your tables whenever, otherwise, people stand in HUGE crowds outside of the doors waiting for them to open and then it is a big push inside and rush to find a table. We were a little late, so we did not get to stay inside a tent, but we were right outside of one and it was still super.

You can only order food or non-alcoholic beverages before noon, and NO BEER. However, right at noon...the beer starts flowing. With servers carrying 4 to 6 of the liter mugs full of beer IN EACH HAND, eventually everyone is served. It is a sight to see the men and women carrying an enormous amount of mugs full of beer. It is just crazy!

I went to Oktoberfest with a group of eight. We did try to get into the beer tents, but were unsuccessful and managed to find an outside table of the Augustiner Brewery Tent. (Each tent generally is served by one brewery, therefore one kind of beer per tent) The tables we were at were near some Italians and lots of Germans. It was so spectacular to be able to communicate with people from all over the world in one place. I find this part of Oktoberfest the best and most amazing. I talked to a bunch of Bavarians, Italians, Spaniards, New Zealanders, Americans, Irish, and Britains. This one festival is an attraction literally world-wide. It isn't about the beer (well for me it isn't), it was about the community and social atmosphere that you can feel throughout the entire place.

From around 10 in the morning until 7 or so at night, we had a great time talking to people and seeing the place, and going on rides. Some people did get carried away with the beer, but that is expected at such a place. Also, because there are so many people at this festival, and so many people needing to use the toilet...loads of people just went behind vehicles or garbage cans. Otherwise, you had to stand in line for about 15 minutes just to go to the bathroom. Oktoberfest was an absolute great experience. It was a whole bunch of fun and I am not sure anything can compare to it. It is an experience worth being repeated.

Hope you enjoy my interpretation of Oktoberfest. Hope everyone is good and still having fun and staying alive and well!!

I may be off to Prague this weekend or laying low.

Keep in touch!


Dana





Yea for Oktoberfest!!





These are real signs that were on a ride ticket window!!

I am really holding FIVE LITERS OF BEER IN ONE HAND!! I could work at Oktoberfest one day!!

Mezzo-Mix!! This is Coke and Fanta mixed together-a European favorite!

Americans and Bavarians hanging out together as one!!

Prost!! In Bavaria, when one wants to toast to something, you say Prost!






Like Budweiser Horses, but for Paulaner Beer!

Oktoberfest from above!

Walking through!

Hans, our beer server carrying TEN LITERS OF BEER!!



End of Night, time to go home!!

Sound of Music Fans...

Here are some photos of places used in the Sound of Music film...watch the movie and see if you can match the photos to the places!!

HIKING!!

To Right: Top of Untersberg, Chris, Me, und Aubrey at cross

Left: Top of Untersberg (you can see the cross)

Group Photo: Esther, Aubrey, Becca, Chris, and Me on way up MT!

Hello, HALLO,

Today was spectacular!! I got to hike to the top of Untersberg! That is the name of the MOUNTAIN I hiked/climbed today with my host dad, roommated, and college friends. You will see the pictures of the mountain on my blog...that is the mountain I climbed! There is a cross on top that I got all the way up to.

So the day started at around 6:45 when I woke up. I got ready and we headed out on a 5 minute bus ride to the foot of the mountain at 7:30. And there we started up the mountain. It was my host dad, me, Esther (roommate), Aubrey, Chris, and Becca (college friends). It was a little slow going at first, but then we got a pace going!

At about 10:00, it was getting very hard! We had not reached the top yet! We finally reached a little resturant that is perched near the top and I had some HeiSe Schokolade (hot cocoa). It had gotten so cold being up so high. We had been IN the clouds for quite awhile and we still couldn't see much more than 50 ft in front of us.

We had our drinks and then headed up more. Becca and Esther stopped at the cable car place and decided to take that down rather than walking all the way back down the trail. The rest of us headed up to the very top to see the cross. You will see I was wearing quite a few clothes...it was cold! We even walked by some snow that was about 1 1/2 feet deep!! It was only a few spots, but it was still that cold and even windy. We made it to the top and it was so cool!

Then, it was time to make our way down. We started down around 1:00. It was pretty hard to go down as it is a mountain and rocky and a little steep. It was a great workout!

We made it down in 2 hours. It felt wonderful! "Ich habe den Untersberg bestiegen." (I had been to the top of Untersberg.) My legs were definitly shaking though!!

Well, it was such a sweet experience and I wanted to share it with you all!! When we got back, us Salzburg College students went and played some hard-core, muddy FuSball (soccer). It was loads of fun!

Tonight I am just taking it easy and filling everyone in on my great hiking experience. Tommorrow I head to Salzkammergut...very beautiful region with lots of lakes and salt mines! Salz in Salzburg is for SALT!! Just to let you all know!

Hope all is well!

Dana

All For Julie

Hello,

I have been in Salzburg for almost an entire week and I have already seen almost the best part of it...places that were in the Sound of Music!!

Yes, that is what I said, the Sound of Music. It is super fantastic, and Julie...you need to come visit Salzburg someday because you will LOVE IT! I was able too see all the horse fountains that Maria dances around and the kids sing on. I got to run through the little awning that they all run through when singing "Do Re Me." There are horse carriages everywhere like the one the kids sing in. In addition, this weekend we all get to go on a Salzburg "Albus." They do not look quite like the one in the movie, but it is the same idea! Also, the beautiful scenery they show at the beginning of the movie of Salzburg is what I look at every day. If you watch the movie and the shots of older looking European buildings and a big white fortress/castle...that is exactly where the college is! Even more, the huge house that is used as the family's home isn't just one building. The front where Maria meets the butler is one building, the backyard where Maria comes singing back to is another building, and Maria's room is just a room from the local Hotel Bristol, which is just across a foot bridge over the river from the college. We will get to see inside the big building they used for the main shots like the party sometime soon. My host family has the movie in English, so Esther and I watched it this week. It was wonderful to see all the places and know that we get to walk by them everyday!

Besides the Sound of Music, I have been going to class this week and learning a lot of history and trying to work on my German. It is going to get better I think, but it will take some time. Also, Esther and I went for a really long walk one night. It was really great to be out on a nice evening. On our way back however, there was a little pen on the side of this rather main street with SHEEP in it!! I knew I could smell something on the way by the first time, but neither Esther nor I saw anything, but there was definitely sheep in a little pasture/pen and one ewe even had 2 babies! Also, we were over halfway home and I saw this car pullover up a little ways. When we got up there, this lady in a nice little (very short) dress and high heels was trying to catch a rabbit that was on the side of the street. It was a pet rabbit as it was white w/ a few specks and not brown like a wild one. We got up there and the lady asked for our help. So Esther and I went over and tried to catch this rabbit and hoped it didn't run out into the street when cars went by. I almost had it this one time, but it ran the other way. Then we finally made a little circle around the rabbit (me, esther, and the lady) and I caught it!! It was pretty exciting, I caught a rabbit in Austria!! Then the lady was gonna take it to it's owner, I guess?

Not only did I see sheep and catch a rabbit, I got to go to a Salsa dancing class on Thursday night! It was so fun. Esther's and my host mom told us she was gonna go and we asked if we could. So, we went to this little studio to find that we had an amazingly sexy bodied Latino salsa dancer as an instructor! It was so great to dance salsa (and also look at this Latino man with a very nice body!), but it was a complete workout! While I walk up steps, I can really feel the pain in the thighs! I may continue to go with my host mom, or I may do some dance classes at the college!

That is all that went on this week I believe. Tomorrow (Saturday), I am going with my host dad up a mountain hiking. I guess it is tough and a little dangerous, but I will be super safe and my host dad said if it even gets a little too difficult for anyone who goes, we will turn around. I am really getting some workouts here, so that is good. If I didn't have physical things to do, I don't know what I would do with myself!

Well, I hope everyone is very healthy and safe and happy. I am still having a great time and loving Salzburg.

Later,
Dana

A little slow...

Ok,

So, I figured I would be super busy doing things and having work to do...Nope. I have over 2 hours to sit on a computer and wait to do something. The weather is not very nice, so I can't waste time going for a walk. I haven't had any classes, so I don't even have any homework to do yet. It would be pointless to go home and then get there and come back right away, so, I am going to write to you all again and tell you a little more about living in Europe.

First off, my favorite part of our week trip through Germany was again Heidelberg and Rothenburg. Heidelberg seems like such a livable city with a mixture of inner city attractions (shopping, castle, museums, and tourist hotspots) and nice residential places with easy access to hiking trails and scenic spots. Rothenburg is such a great place to visit. It is one of the oldest Medieval towns with it being the only town in Germany with its outer wall still standing. Rothenburg is super touristy, but so nice and friendly. The shops are cute and everything feels homey!
Besides those cities as being nice to visit, singing Karaoke in Nuremburg was the greatest. A big group of us went and we all sang together. We sang lots of songs ranging from "I Will Survive" to "Bohemian Rhapsody." Everyone is so nice to hang out with, and everywhere we went we had a lot of fun.

Now after going back over my Germany trip, more on Salzburg. It is such a beautiful city. It may have nearly 150,000 people, but it feels more like 50,000. It is so quiet and clean. Austrians are not always the most social or friendly appearing people, but that is just their culture-to keep to themselves and be more private. Salzburg College is actually one rather small building in the old city "Altstadt." There is a large fortress overlooking the old city which is absolutely beautiful. I also have seen the outside of the building that they filmed the last scenes of "The Sound of Music" where the family was hiding in before they went to the mountains.

Well, I believe that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing great. We have another walking tour of the old city today with the college. I hope it is interesting.

Later,

Dana

The First Week

Hallo Ya'll,

After a five hour delayed flight in Chicago, an extensively long and tiring train ride to Trier, Germany, and five days of non-stop touring of German museums, cathedrals, and historic towns, I have made it to my final destination, Salzburg, Austria.

The week trip through Germany was fun, but it was truly exhausting and got a little boring at times. However, all the other students are super cool and are so much fun to hang with! But, finally, we were able to be assigned host families and get into some homier ground.

I have a great family with host mom and dad and three kids!! I am rooming with a great girl, Esther. We totally have a great time together in our shared room and hanging out with our host family. We do share a room, but it is super cute and cozy and we have our own desks and bathroom!! Our host parents are very involved with their own kids, along with having time to talk and teach us some things about Austria. Totally a great situation!!

So, after all this new stuff, I have finally just finished my first day at the college. Today was only orientation, but it feels great to finally be getting organized and a steady schedule down.

I will not be able to post everyday, or maybe not even every week, but I will post some pictures and keep ya'lls posted on this great time I am having in Austria and Europe!!

Dana