Oooo Es Ah.

Back in the OOOO EESSS AAHH

Had a quick bite with the parental units and than Pam and I drove back to BR and I moved into my new apartment in Highland Hall. By moved in I mean all the excited RAs helped me through all my luggage in the main room and I put my bedding on my bed (after disinfecting of course) and promptly passed out until 7:30 this morning when I had to go to a mini training of sorts for the new job o roo.

The transition back to the US has been more difficult than I thought it was. Driving? WEIRD. Traffic? So frustrating (ok, so maybe that's not necessarily a new thing). Air conditioning? WEIRD. No really, even though my car told me it was 102 degrees today the air conditioning weirds me out a little. It makes funny noises and gets really cold. I don't know. The humidity was so new to me that it was hard for me to breath for about 15 minutes after walking out of the airport. WEIRD. I've lived in the South my whole life...this should not be a problem. Talking on the phone? Odd.

I want to walk everywhere now and I plan on it, well almost everywhere anyway. I've been rethinking all of the distances that I would normally drive and some of them are ridiculous. However, a big problem is that BR sucks and there are not good sidewalks or well lit areas in a lot of places. There's no reason that I shouldn't be able to walk from my new place to the grocery store at the end of my street (the EVIL Walmart "Neighborhood" Grocery) or to my friend's apartment about a half a mile a way, but wait, there's absolutely no sidewalk on Highland. NONE. No lights either of course. I don't get it. I do plan on walking to my church job from now on though (much easier now with my new place) and even to the Coop bookstore a couple of streets over. Look at me weird BR people for walking, but at least I won't have road rage like the rest of you.

I miss Salzburg so much. I miss the city, the public transportation (Stadtbus 4!), the culture, many of the people from the program and especially the teachers and coaches.

I'm nervous about my new position and LSU. I just plan to be more of a loner this year for many reasons. Mentally I think will help me with my focus and to not get caught up with comparisons and bs. There's just something missing for me here at LSU. Maybe my new job will help fill the void, but I'm not so sure. I really want to like Baton Rouge and LSU, but there's just something missing. I feel like my time in Salzburg has helped empower me in a way to find that void. Here's to hoping!

Since my time in Salzburg has ended so must this blog. If you're interested in reading about my life more you can follow me by clicking this linky poo: SayJeeJaySee (Play on words! I love word games!) Although many times it's not so much about my life as my random thoughts and findings and questions.

Tchüss!

London

London Heathrow Radisson you have been classy. Chandeliers, marble, and Pam and I's McDonald's dinner followed by a 5 pound bottle of wine and a Mars bar, yes London, you have class.

Back to Crapon Rouge tonight.

You're breaking my heart.

List of things I do not want to do:

1. GO BACK TO THE US

2. GO BACK TO THE US

3. GO BACK TO THE US

4. Oh, you get the idea.

Seriously do NOT want to leave this place. I've grown so much musically, personally, and in physical size. Ok, so maybe the last one isn't so good, but if I moved here I'd actually start denying myself food instead of finishing the bread basket everyday at lunch and eating Käsekrainer for an afternoon snack followed by eating an ENTIRE haselnuss Milka bar in 5 minutes. Me and Salzburg? Yeah, we're in an intense love affair fo realz.

However, this weekend on the train back from Venice in an attempt to try and not drown my sorrows of leaving Europe in the giant sized haselnuss Milka bar, I made a mental list of things I'm looking forward to and some of them shocked even me, but most of them, not so shocking:

1. CEREAL. I haven't had cereal in 5 weeks, 5stinkinweeks! I eat at least one bowl of cereal a day usually. This leads me to...

2. Milk! I mean, they totally have milk here, but they don't drink it like Americans do. You can only buy milk in liters here. No gallon jugs, which I go through by myself in a week.

3. Regulass coffee. I savor my 2 cups at my host house every morning, but when you go to cafes here you can't just get a cup of black coffee, it's all espresso stuff. GIVE ME BACK MY 12 CUP COFFEE MAKER AND MY FOLGERS, PLEASE.

(You guys like how everything has been food related so far? Ironically I'm obsessed with the food here too.)

4. LSU Season Football tickets. So this is really the only one that actually shocked me. I'm legitimately crazy excited about football tickets! I'm still deciphering this one.

5. Movies. I really, really miss going to the theatre or even just netflixing movies. It's just not as big of a deal here.

6. Last, but not least, my family and friends. But seriously, you guys could just come visit me here.

So now I leave writing this blog to go pack. I have to attempt to figure out how the hell I packed everything to get here and pray my luggage is still under 50 pounds. Tomorrow I have my German final (which I'm obviously studying very hard for), my Figaro trio performance, a big final dinner with all the host families and everyone at the college, and a ticket to Le Nozze di Figaro with Gerald Finley as Figaro!!! Then I have to be on the bus to the Munich airport by 4:30 Thursday morning. I'm thinking sleep may not happen tomorrow. So this is my last blog coming to you from Salzburg and I couldn't be sadder. LSU, you have big shoes to fill.

Auf Wiedersehen! :'(

Days in the Life

It's been eons since I've updated in blog years.

My birthday was a fabulous here! My hosts are amazing and I went down to breakfast and was greeted with a Sacher Torte with a huge sparkler/firework on top. I was a little scared that the whole dining room would catch fire, but apparently the sparkler is American made? My Host Frau knitted me socks! No need for pics because I will wear them all the time. At lunch I ate yet another cake that Brigette, the chef extraordinaire at the college, made for me. Later that afternoon was I was honored to sing at a recital at the Schlosskirche Mirabell (Church at Mirabellplatz right by the famous Mirabell Gardens). I felt very good about the recital. I'm beginning to love music singing even more and I'm not so sure I can give this up like I thought I would do just this April. Doctorate? Performance certificate? European study? Decisions, decisions.

After the recital, which my host, Gerhard, attended (!) Pam and I went back home to a delicious dinner followed by an outing with 10 or more friends from the program to Die Weisse a biergarten with incredibly delicious beer! I had such a great time and I was really excited so many people came out to celebrate with me! :)

Wednesday and Thursday are a bit of a blur. I'm pretty sure I just had regular classes, rehearsals, coachings and lessons. If something interesting happened I've already forgotten. Big surprise there.

Friday I had a German test and went to a neat cafe here in Salzburg called Afro Cafe. They have delicious tea! After lunch and an opera rehearsal tenor Eric Cutler came and talked to the program. It was very interested and exciting to hear s

omeone talk that has actually made an international career in opera. However, he also won the Met competition at 21 so that basically jumped started his career. Whenever I get frustrated about people who just end up falling into things like this I always refer back to Renee Fleming's biography. She worked her bootie off to get her foot in the door.

After dinner back at the house Pam and I met up with some friends at the city center for the showing of a production of La Traviata from the 2006 Salzburg Festival with Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko. WOW. Just wow. I have to buy the production on DVD because I was so moved by the entire production.

After we watched Traviata Pam and I took the bus to the Hauptbahnoff (Train Station) and met up with Dr. Moteki and Bill to get on the night train to Venice! The night train was very, very interesting. If I come back to America with any diseases it's from this train. However, it's so practical! I slept way more than I thought (it was nice because it was just the 4 of us in our car so we didn't have to sleep in the same car with any unknowns) and it made the 7 hour train ride feel like nothing. At 8:34am we arrived in Venice and had the most amazing day. The city is absolutely gorgeous! We just got lost and walked around all day, but hit the main touristy spots, San Marco square, St. Mark's Basilica, Doge Palace and some other palaces/museums. I was just in awe of all the Baroque architecture an

d the beautiful water and scenery. Italian culture is definitely quite different though and I must say I didn't find any one Venetian friendly or nice in the slightest. Both restaurants we went to the waiters stood and talked with each other the whole time and would just saunter over when they felt like it. Venice is definitely a touristy city. I feel like I heard more English yesterday than Italian.

Today consisted of sleeping for 5 hours after our train got in at 4:30am this morning and a nice lunch with our Host Frau and her son's girlfriend who has been living with us for the past 3 weeks. We had one last lunch together as Susie returned to Vienna today. I really enjoyed some of our discussions and she was such a nice person. Pam and I then went to the college to practice some and then went to the Billroth for Bill's birthday and just socialized for an hour or so.

I only have 3 days left in Salzburg, 4 in Europe and come Friday I'll be back in the USA. Honestly, I'd much rather stay here and I'm slightly dreading going back to Baton Rouge. I am, however, very excited to see my parents on Friday and wish I could see the rest of my family, but I unfortunately probably won't until October. Other things I'm excited about include season LSU football tickets, my new Res Life job (I'm also a little worried/nervous about this too though), and working on A Little Night Music. It will be a very full semester.

My last 3 days here will be filled with one last lesson and coaching and some rehearsals, a German Final and the final concert which I will be singing Susanna in the Cosa Sento Trio for and then that night I will get to see Le Nozze di Figaro with Gerald Finley (!) at the Haus for Mozart!

Bliss, pure bliss

Martha Argerich/Nelson Freire concert?? BLISS. I'm on cloud nine. Wow.

"A ginger sling with a pineapple heart..."

I've got a lot of catching up to do on this thing! (Also, 3rd blog entry title from the SAME album. Come on, people. Take my bait for comments. Geez.)

Friday I had a German test that turned out quite great! Definitely made up for my not so stellar grade last week. After our German test our Professorin made us go on a scavenger hunt in the city asking various vendors about fruits, veggies, and flowers and than we had to meet at the Cafe Republic and order and pay in German. After lunch I couldn't find the post office so I asked someone in German where it was and I actually understood enough of what she said in German to find it perfectly! Yay Me! So totally not a big deal, but it

was a giant leap for me.

After dinner Pam and I went back into the Altstadt for the outdoor screening of the opera Der Rosenkavalier. It was a fabulous production from the 2004 Festspiele. I'm now in love with the soprano Adrianne Pieczonka. It was the most focused lyric voice I've ever heard and such a great performer.

Saturday morning the entire group took a tour of the Festspiele houses. Rocking. After that I had a ticket to see the Mozart Matinee at the Mozarteum. At the OLD Mozarteum, not the new Mozarteum or the Universität Mozarteum. I know people love Mozart around here, but I really wish they would stop naming everything the same thing. Once Kirsten and I finally found it we enjoyed ourselves. Quick side note: Did you know you have to pay for programs in Europe? The concert was with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg with conductor Ivor Bolton and soprano Ruth Ziesak. The orchestra played one of Mozart's Divertimento and his symphony in E Major. The soprano sang "Porgi Amor" and the concert aria "Bella mia fiamma, addio-Resta, oh cara." I left the matinee so happy! The music was all so wonderful and how can Mozart not make you happy?

After the concert I met up with some people and went to the fortress. The museum was a little lackluster and borderline boring, but the view was absolutely amazing and I'm easily amused so the cable car ride up and down was quite fun. All 30 seconds of it...but here's the view from the cable car ride down...

Later Saturday night a small group of people got together and we went to the StieglKeller. Stiegl is a beer that is made in Salzburg and is very popular. I decided to try another radler since the first one I had I hated and a certain girl, I mean Dave, told Pam and I to try a Stiegl Radler so we did and it was AMAZING. The special last night was a Grapefruit Radler (a radler is half juice/fanta and half beer so in this case it was half Stiegl half grapefruit juice) and it was so good. We than watched some of the Domingo concert on the outdoor screen, but left quickly in search of another bar that Erika had recommended to her. There wasn't anything too special about it so Pam and I opted for catching the last possible bus to our house instead of staying out too late, however, thanks to the excursion we got the bus at a different stop and in turn found out about the bus taxis everyone has been telling us about for 4 Euros from 2 Austrian teenagers who were most definitely drunk or high or something. Even amid their red, droopy eyes they were still very informative.

Sunday was very relaxing. No alarm clock? Amazing. BBQ with the hosts for lunch? Rockin'. Practice session at the college? Eh, ok, still frustrated about some musical things. Haselnusseis for a snack and reading by the river? Bangin'

Tonight I plan on trying out those bus taxis as I have tickets to a piano concert with Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire. The program consists of Brahms, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Ravel, and Schubert so it should be absolutely amazing.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you...

To be forward, today was a pretty crappy day for me. I hate how the way I sing directly correlates with my mood. Yesterday after Tom Enman's masterclass I felt great! He helped me like whoa and I just felt so great about my singing. Today I woke up feeling not so good, than went to German, practiced for an hour and felt really great, than went to my lesson and felt like shit. My teacher just gets really excited and when she does that she throws rep at me like crazy. Today we sang through 5 arias, I think? So A) I have no idea what to really work on for next week and B) there's this particular technique thing I need help on that I've been trying to master for about 3 years now that I didn't grasp today and than got really frustrated and just had a mental block for the rest of the lesson. I couldn't get over the fact that I still can't freaking do it and than stayed frustrated for the rest of the lesson.

ANYWAY

After grabbing a tiramusu ice cream in between opera scenes rehearsal I felt a little better. (Yes, food also directly effects my mood). Than I went to a great master class with Michael Schade (a part of the Festspiel). I got to see Michael Schade in the opera Thais with my parents in December so it was pretty great. The singers were all my age or slightly older (25 or so) and fabulous. In one way it made me think, "What the hell am I doing? Why am I not that advanced?" but in another way it just made me want to work harder. It was a great experience nonetheless. I also enjoyed that he didn't consistently talk in German. Yay for him being Canadian and slipping into English randomly!

After the masterclass I attended the mid term recital for the program. I didn't have to sing, but instead have to sing on a recital Tuesday...on my birthday. Weird? Cool? Awesome? I guess? Odd numbers really bother me so I'm not looking forward so much to this birthday. No really, I don't want to be an odd numbered age that isn't 21. So maybe I'll keep telling people I'm 22?? Decisions, decisions.

After the midterm recital Pam, Brett, Bryan, Lindsey and I wandered around for 30 minutes or so trying to find the Weiss Biergarten. With Brett's great German skills and his asking numerous people we finally found it and were quite happy. It was very regal and triumphant if you ask me. It was such a fabulous place! Lots of fun was had and traditional food was eaten (Bratwurst, potatoes and saurkraut).

Basically my crappy day turned into a pretty great one.

Prize for anyone who can guess what album the song lyrics from this post and my last post are from!