My First Blog, but Reposted Here

For consistency, I moved my only other blog here too from tumblr.  I wrote this I think in late August.

 

Intensive German class, swing dancing, and the Palais Corbelli

My first blog!!!  That’s me in the Alps before arriving in Vienna!

My brain is somewhat fried from almost three hours of German class…interrupted only by the angry landlady who protects the space from the likes of us students and faculty. I was just about to ask my presentation partner in front of the class, “Wo wohnen Sie?  Ist das weit?” when she came busting in, followed by Helmut who quickly closed the windows as she spoke in German to us all.  But we are beginning German, so we don’t really know what she was saying.  All the same, it is a beautiful space to be valued and protected, and I admire her vigilance.  I’m sitting in the study room, which is gilded in beautiful gold and white, with mirrors reflecting the light from a crystal chandelier in the middle of the room. 

In German class today we learned more about how to give directions to various places in Vienna (das Rathaus, das Kunsthistorichmuseum, der StaatOper).  I’m starting to figure out where things are and how to get to them.  I feel like I’m in that game Civilization where the map is a blurry fog that clears as you progress each turn of the game. 

It’s clearing a lot from learning more about Vienna, such as a lecture I attended on what famous art and architecture one should see while in Vienna and where it is, but for the most part I’ve gained a lot from just going to these places.  I was walking past Stephansplatz to go home (There’s an U-Bahn stop there) when I got a call from my friend Sophia saying there was going to be swing dancing at the Volksgarten!  I met Sophia, Julian and Abby there and we mostly watched local young Viennese dancing to awesome swing era music (shout out to my cousin Cara!!).  I was trying to be the lead with Abby at one point, and failing miserably, so an older Austrian man showed me how to listen to the music and to take little steps.  So I got to dance and mingle with “real live Austrians” as the IES director Kent would say!  I love how everybody is smiling and having a good time with swing dancing, whether you’re dancing yourself or just watching.

Let me just say that Vienna at night is spectacular.  Not that it isn’t beautiful during the day too…but at night during the summer at least, tents blossom up in front of the Hofburg, all kinds of music flows in the streets, the film festival at the Rathaus offers free concerts, ballets, and food from all over the world!  I went to watch a film of a performance of Mahler’s 8th Symphony last week, along with an Eric Clapton concert from the Montreux Jazz Festival a few days before that.

This weekend I went to a free violin and piano concert at the Haus der Musik and learned a bit about Listz’s life, then I rode the ferris wheel that is in Prater Park with Sophia, Julian and Peter.  It was built in the same style as the Eiffel Tower.  It was somewhat updated after all the cars were burned up during WWII, but the structure itself is still from turn of the century Vienna. The skyline of Vienna is low because nothing can be taller than the south tower of St. Stephans.  There are many trees in Vienna too, which I didn’t really notice until I was up in the ferris wheel. We also got a deal on this 5-D Vienna Airlines experience, lol.  It was kind of like Soaring over California…sort of.  I can understand why the circular wing (which was supposedly successfully flown one day before the Wright Brother’s flight) didn’t catch on, just based on the lack of control on the 5-D flight we were on, hahah.

 Next time I won’t write so much since I know pictures say the most and frankly I don’t like reading blogs much so I won’t make you read mine all the time, but I figured for my first one I’d give a more verbose description of my day and part of my weekend.  I love my apartment in the fifth district and my roommates are great :) I’ll write again soon, but I need to go practice now and eat, so bye!  I’ll leave you with some pictures that FINALLY seem to be cooperating.  Technology….

The Belvedere