First Lesson

Today was my first lesson. I was barely late. I didn't allow myself enough time for the bus to travel to the musikum. I had a really good lesson. One of the accompanists will always come for the last half hour of my lessons. My teacher understands where I'm coming from as a choral singer. She too was a choral singer and is a Lutheran from the midwest. She's already getting me to produce more sound than I am used to. I'm also finding that in practice, I really have to do more grunt work (ie stopping and reworking phrases, until I truly get them to be consistent).
Today was the first masterclass. Dr. Hardengbergh was teaching it. The emphasis was on German diction. It made me feel alot better. I was really afraid that I would be not nearly as good as the other students here. The four students performed very well, but I was glad to see that they weren't perfect and had stuff to work out, just like me.

Today was a fairly condensed schedule, but I still felt like there was a lot of time where I was just sitting around. Once I have lessons and coaching sessions, there are going to be even more odd gaps of time (ie I have an hour between voice lessons and german lessons to get to the college).

We went on a guided tour of historic Salzburg (the area around our school). The tour guide was so knowledgeable. She talked about the history of Salzburg. It was quite fascinating. I never knew that it was an independent country until 1800, ruled by Prince Archbishops. Not until the Viennese Congress (I think that's what it was called) in 1816? did it become part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She also gave us in-depth history about the Salzburg Festival as we passed the Festival buildings (which were once the Bishop's horse stables.) I had no idea that the Festival is such a big deal to the people of Salzburg. I am eager to see how it changes in a few weeks.

I didn't finish the tour at the Mirabell Gardens because I wanted to get my stuff from the college and head to the store. The tour was going over time anyhow. Once we were at the grocery store it took me forever to decide what to get. I was thinking about frozen dinners, but since I don't know German I wouldn't know how to follow the directions. When we got to the cashier, they didn't take visa so I panicked, but fortunately I spent E49 when I only had a 50. I think the people in line were a little frustrated because we had so much stuff and we didn't know that we needed stickers for the produce that is by the gram. They also make you buy grocery bags. So bring your own or you'll have to buy either paper or plastic (I think they should make this a requirement in the US as well). Overall, Austrians conserve so much more than Americans do.

The clouds finally gave way this morning. The sun was out at it was actually a very pleasant day. I was beginning to doubt whether or not Salzburg was in the Alps, but now that the clouds have moved on, I can see the real mountains. Kim was thinking it wasn't a big deal (she's from Salt Lake), but they are still gorgeous. The cool thing is that they are so close. There is a mountain right behind our hotel and supposedly a hiking trail. I must seek this out.

While I would love to go to Vienna for our free weekend. I've decided that I'd rather not spend the money and instead go hiking all weekend. I think on Saturday, after my recital audition, a few of us are going to hike up the mountain that our college is built into and scope out the Salzburg Fortress and Museum of Modern Art.

Here are some pics from today's tour:
(Mozart's Birthplace)

(Saint Rupert, he helped build the city after the Romans left)

(The Cathedral, the original one was torn down by the Archbishop, who had returned from studying in Italy, and built a new Baroque cathedral. Leopold and W.A. Mozart worked as musicians here)


(The Benedictine Abbey)


(The Franciscan Abbey)


(Salzburg Fortress)


(Salzburg University. It is being re-opened after it was closed in 1810 when Salzburg was annexed by Bavaria)

First days in Salzburg

I arrived in the Munich airport and had no idea where to meet the group. Fortunately over the next two hours four of us in the Salzburg program collected, but we still never saw the whole group. The entire group ended up walking right past us because we were next to the exit to the bus stop. While on the shuttle, we drove through what seemed the back roads to Salzburg. Everything was so green and it was raining. It reminded me so much of driving through the coastal mountain foothills. I really did feel like I was home in Oregon and that around the next corner would be a familiar town, but instead there was usually some small village with a huge church.

We got to our hotel: student housing apartments that are turned into a hotel during the summer. My roommate was asleep as I was unpacking. I didn't meet her until that evening when she woke up. She's going to be a junior at Rice and is originally from Ohio. We went into downtown to find something to eat. Nothing is open on Saturday nights, except wine bars. We found one place to eat. Anything else that we found was incredibly expensive. I will definitely have to buy groceries for dinner. The view is amazing from the pedestrian bridge over the river. We tried finding the college, but it was a little confusing and it started to get dark and we weren't sure when the buses would stop running. We headed back to the hotel.

I have found that our shower can't keep the water in, with curtains closed and everything, so our bathroom has been turned into a pond. I talked to the front desk and they sent someone down, but I think all he did was mop it up. Otherwise, the rooms are very nice and have a kitchenette and fridge as well as cooking utensils. Our breakfast and lunches are taken care of, but we have to find dinner ourselves. I have found that it is almost impossible to keep up with the vegan thing here. But that is alright, I kind of knew it would be hard and that I was already planning on having a few splurges. I'll just learn to eat like a European.

For the first day of the program we met at Salzburg College (where our classes are, an American university). We had introductions. It was kind of intimidating hearing that there are grad students and students who have been studying intensively at conservatories. Oh well, I'm just here to learn not be the best, but I am wondering why I ever applied for the recital competition. The staff seems really fun. I was placed in the 11:30 beginning German class, I have lessons at 9:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays and I have my first coaching session on Thursday. I am taking lessons from Lori Bade a mezzo who teaches at LSU (Baton Rouge). We also use the Ukranian church across the street for masterclasses, lessons, and practice rooms (St. Mark's). As well as the Musikum across the river.


We had a foot tour of old town (our side of the river). There is a lot of shopping in this area as are there lots of churches. I'm learning to navigate around. It really isn't that hard, it is a fairly small city. I found mass in English at the Salzburg University chapel at 17:00, but apparently there is a church right behind out hotel. This is a very Catholic city (remnants of Holy Roman Empire).

I have done a good job refraining from shopping too much. Because everything is ridiculously high in price and the dollar is so low, it is too expensive to buy clothing. I did get an umbrella decorated with Mozart manuscript and a shawl for my dress at H&M.

Hopefully I will be more diligent about regular blog entries from now on so that you won't have entire essays to read.

Tower of London and Tea

My last day in London involved a lot of walking. One thing I have come to realize about my visit is that my favorite experiences were not the tourist hot spots (I hate tourists, even though I am one of them, I guess I just don’t like inconsiderate ones, and there are a lot of those). Eric was able to take the day off. After eating breakfast while listening to last year’s spring choir concert, we rode the bus to Trafalgar square. We walked through St. James’ park to Buckingham Palace. Not that impressive. I mean it’s just a building. There were so many people, so many stupid people (ie a crowd walked across the crosswalk when an ambulance needed to get through). I snapped a picture of the palace, and we continued towards the Thames. There was a parade of guards on the way. I don’t know why people are so obsessed with the guards with the big fuzzy hats. They are not going to smile because they are being paid not to smile. We walked along the south shore of the River Thames. We were going to go to the Tate modern, but I wanted to have time to see the Tower of London, so we stopped in front of the Tate and ate our packed lunches.

We continued to walk (it was quite a ways) and right before the tower bridge there is a hotel called “The St. Olaf House” so of course we had to get a picture. The long walk was a really great way to just hang out with Eric, good conversations. The Tower Bridge is quite impressive, one of the signature landmarks. Once we crossed the bridge and went to the Tower, it was such a long line to wait in (about 10 min.). We were back in the land of the tourists. One lady was even snapping pictures of the Tower Gift Shop. So we started joking about how that is truly the reason to come to the Tower, the wonderful gift shop. The actual tower was somewhat interesting, but the stuff I was really interested (King Henry VIII and Co.) was rarely mentioned. I think that was because they didn’t keep solid records of what happened where in the Tower (prison cells, executions, bedchambers, etc.) Not once did they mention St. Thomas More. I was really hoping he would have shown up. I’m such a Tudors fan so I was a little disappointed when there wasn’t much info about them.

Both Eric and I were ready to go, we didn’t bother to wait in line to see the crown jewels. We already were late for tea time with one of his parishioners. Owen, Eric, and I went to Lucy’s house for tea. Francesca was another parishioner who was there. Unfortunately Lucy had three cats so both Owen and Eric’s allergies were flaring up. Lucy was very animated. She had a stroke the last year and was unconscious for a month. What an amazing recovery. The only signs of the stroke are that she has pain in her knee, one of the legs drags more, and she can’t recall certain words. She would get flustered when she couldn’t remember words, especially because she was an actress years ago. Her flat was very packed with books, pictures, and collectibles. It was a very lovely tea time, though she put milk in my tea. Doesn’t bother me, it’s just that the milk tastes gross in tea. She also had a bowl of figs she wanted us all to eat. Eric and I weren’t too crazy about the figs, but she kept on insisting that we eat them. So I ended up eating two, but then she insisted that we take them with us as we headed out the door. Owen will have to figure out what to do with them (he’s basically a culinary genius).

For dinner Eric and I went and got fish and chips take out. It was incredibly greasy, but it wasn’t bad. I think I still prefer halibut over cod though. They put vinegar and salt on them, but it wasn’t nearly as strong in flavor as I was afraid it would be. They also don’t use tartar sauce, but we still did the American thing and pulled the ketchup out of the refrigerator. After dinner we continued listening to choir music and had a good conversation. Then I packed up my stuff and watched the news for the weather. Owen came home and the three of us had some tea before heading up to bed.

I wasn't able to sleep at all because I was so worried my alarm wouldn't go off in time. So I only had an hour or two of sleep when I got up and left the house by 4:10 to walk to the Camden Road bus stop and then get off at Paddington Station to take the fast train to Heathrow.

Ticked off by tourists at Trafalgar

My second day in London involved going to morning prayer (Franciscan prayer) at St. Pancras (another church in the group of Parishes that Eric works with, this is the church that Owen works at). It was very similar to Benedictine prayer but there were more moments of silence. The church is very old. It has been believed to be one of the oldest sites of worship in England (used by the Romans). The church has been reconstructed a few times but it still has some of the old Norman masonry.

Eric and I got a ride to the parish office in one of the lady's cars, it was so weird to drive backwards and was especially weird because it was a manual and she was shifting with her left hand. She dropped us off at the parish team office so i could check email and Eric had to work. After checking my flight info, I got on the 29 bus to Trafalgar square. Oh man did I find the tourists!
So determined not to look like a tourist, I walked quickly to Westminister Abbey. Eric said to find the street that Big Ben is on and head down that way. I just followed the signs to the abbey. Somehow I couldn't find Big Ben. Then I followed the audio tour of Westminister. I became rather overwhelmed by the amount of tombs/memorials. Most of them were overly and ornate and I really didn't care about. The ones I cared to see were generally the most humble looking actually. It's funny how the overly ornate ones were for people that I and probably nobody knows these days, but when they were alive had buttloads of money and just gave monetarily, but in the long run never benefited mankind while the people we still remember today: writers, composers, etc. had small stone slabs or busts.
On my way out of Westminister I realized why everyone was stopping in the middle of the sidewalk (pavement in UK terms). They were snapping pictures of Big Ben. I found it!!! I had walked right passed it when I was distracted by the huge parliament building.
Ignoring my hunger I walked down to the Thames but then realized I was getting a headache so headed back to Trafalgar. I ate lunch on the steps of St. Martin of the field church. Then still feeling hectic I walked into the church and listened to a chamber ensemble rehearsing Vivaldi. It was very nice to get away from the tourists, they just totally stress me out because they act so stupidly and have no regard for what's around them. After buying 3 cheap scarves that were on sale I headed back to Camden on the bus. I still had a headache and was stressed, so I took a nap for 30 min. Then Eric and I headed to dinner. Before dinner we headed to Regent's park to walk through the rose gardens. It was exactly what I needed. After such a stressful day of city it was so nice to breathe again in this huge gorgeous park. Then we walked back to Camden and got Curry 4 U for dinner. Indian food is the cuisine of choice in England. After dinner Owen and Fr. James came over and Fr. James had great advice for what to see in Rome. I had fun staying up chatting with Owen and Eric. Owen's impressions of French and American accents were so hilarious (He's from Wales). To end our evening, we listened to awful, overly cheesy Michael W. Smith and other shallow praise music.

First Day in London

My flights were surprisingly mild in retrospect. But I would say that the flight from PDX to Detroit was a most unfortunate one. There were multiple crying babies, screaming kids, and a barking dog. In addition to this, I threw up on the plane. I thought it was motion sickness, but i never actually felt dizzy. After talking to mom on the phone in the Detroit airport, we figured out that the reason i threw up was because I ate 2 week old rice milk on my cereal. I ended up watching Devil Wears Prada after trying to watch two new movies. After that I watch Pocahontas and fell asleep. I never realized that Pocahontas really shouldn't have been able to communicate with John Smith because they didn't speak a common language. Apparently if you just listen to your heart the winds will speak for you. If only this could work for me in Austria.
It was raining when I got into London. I rode the tube from Heathrow to King's Cross. I never made it to platform 9 & 3/4, because I didn't know how to get to 9 and 10. It was very busy, I hit morning rush hour. Looking for a more permanent, dry location to meet Eric, I wheeled all of my bags into the British Library. This meant they had to inspect all of my bags, I felt awful holding up the cue.
Eric came not long after I drank some tea in the cafe and mastered a few sudoku's. We walked all the way from King's Cross to Camden Square (the park that the vicarage is on). It was a long way to haul 50+lbs. of luggage. I felt disgusting, not terribly tired, but I took a two hour nap after showering anyway. Still feeling rather out of it I decided to venture down Camden Road. It was pouring down rain, so it was extra ugly. But I was glad to get out and walk around. I found a late lunch at Falafel King or something like that. Camden has been one of the slums of London since the Victorian era until recently its been bringing in a young professional crowd and is being developed. The vicarage sits right between the fancier homes and the busy Camden Road and social housing. By the time I made it back to the vicarage, I was soaked. After changing into my dry pj pants I turned on the tv and found that British TV is just as bad in the daytime as the US. Eric was showing Tim around the new parish. Tim is going to take over Eric's position next year as the pastoral assistant. He was incredibly proper and polite. Eric was saying he's kind of like the standard Englishman. We all had tea and had a very interesting conversation about the differences between English and American social standards. London's a bit more relaxed than the standards we were talking about. Apparently they don't make eye contact with strangers, they don't complain to people not even to family (they have a grin and bear it mentality), and you have to transition into deep conversation topics after much discussion of light material like the weather.
We then had tomato soup and headed off to St. Michael's for the confirmation mass.
At mass, this was an Anglican mass but was exactly like a Roman mass at home, I sang in the choir. It was lots of fun and when Owen (Eric's roommate) introduced me to the choir and said I was from the states they all said "we could tell". This was the largest group of Confirmees that the parish had seen. Confirmation is also first communion in the Anglican church.
I went up for a blessing but the bishop try to give me communion. After the mass I chatted with Liz, one of Eric's old housemates. She's an young opera singer in London and her husband is a jazz violinist, they just moved out of the vicarage and into a flat in Camden. I also met a guy from Estonia and chatted with him for a while. After awhile I headed back by myself. Eric gave me a key so that I could go to and from the vicarage on my own schedule. He had to stay later to clean up after the confirmation reception.
I slept fairly well and didn't feel too jet lagged with the exception that I woke up the next day at 4:45 because the sun was coming out.

Quick transition

It is now 1 AM and I am just finishing up packing. I leave for Europe in a few hours. I'm a bit nervous: I've never left this country for more than a day. I've never travelled by myself either (except the flights to get to and from MN). It is really hard to realize what it will be like.
Before I get ahead of myself, I must talk about what I have been up to for the past two weeks. From June 24th to July 7th, I was working as an activity director (chaperone) for the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene. This was one of the busiest years for the SFYCA. They sang multiple concerts. They sang the naitonal anthem at the opening ceremonies of the US Track and Field Olympic Trials, sang a concert with Garrison Keillor and Maria Jette, sang in a tribute concert to Bill Bowerman (founder of Nike), sang their full program concert, sang at the patron supper, and sang the Bach Magnificat under the baton of Maestro Helmuth Rilling. I had the great pleasure to sing with the choir for the Magnificat (they asked some alumni to sing with the YCA to beef up the sound to carry over the orchestra). THis is my favorite choral piece and it was incredibly surreal to be singing it with the Bach expert himself.
My job consisted of making sure the kids went to bed, were at rehearsals (on time), and being temporary care giver. While I was not doing that, I saw the 5 Browns in concert, drank coffee/iced tea at a variety of coffee shops (I attempted to try a new one every day), hung out with the other AD's, colored in my Disney Princess coloring book, practiced some singing, and completed a few sudokus.
This year the kids were really cooperative. Last year was rather hellish. I feel like I got to know a few kids more than I had expected to. They sang so beautifully and I was moved to tears multiple times. I felt more attached to the OBF family more so than any other summer. Beautiful music and beautiful people, makes being a part of the festival a must each summer.