- cried, out of both excitement and pain about German class. I’m beginning my third week of German now and it’s definitely challenging! Even the native German speakers ask why I chose to learn German, because it is just such a difficult language for all. The students in my class are from around Europe, which also feels like a disadvantage because they speak at least 2-3 other languages. But nevertheless I am enjoying it, and am excited to finally learn how to express things I’ve wanted to in German, even if I get the sentence structure comes out butt backwards when I say it out loud. As long as I get my daily studying in outside of class I’m keeping up well.
- went to Donau Insel Fest: Europe’s biggest open-air free Music Festival. It spans about 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) that over 3 million people attend annually. It’s held on a narrow island in the Danube River with 21 different stages, some small some big. It was Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. until midnight. I went with a girl I met at a bar the night before, Viktoria, which is a whole story within itself, as I haven’t made a friend that fast in my life! I meet people easily and will chat with almost anyone who approaches me, but it’s definitely hard to find good, real friends who are keepers that you click with instantly. For some reason I decided to chat it up with her since she was near me, and we talked for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only 45 minutes or so. We exchanged life stories and gave each other our contact info and hung out the entire rest of the weekend. We went to Donau Insel Fest on Saturday and Sunday with her friend, Lukas, who was also very genuine and down to earth. The unfortunate part was that she lives in Salzburg about two and a half hours away, and only comes here to Vienna every so often to visit Lukas who lives here and DJs. We were invited by him to the club he was performing at on Saturday night, and boy did I sure get a big taste of the nightlife. The club was called “Pratersauna” and is one of the best clubs in Vienna. There were 3-4 different rooms with different electronic music DJs, and then an outdoor area with a huge deck, a pool and a grassy garden area with lounge chairs that people were relaxing in. I don’t know why they call it “nightlife” in Europe when really it’s the “morning life” since everyone here goes around 12-1 a.m. and stays until 6 or 7 in the morning. I’ve never had a night like that in my life! It was definitely different but fun. All the people here dance as loose and as free as hippies, no one is dirty dancing nor self conscious of themselves on the dance floor, they just “feel the music.” As one person said to me, “Don’t you just love the music, it feels so good!"
- saw President Putin. He was in Vienna to sign an energy bill with Austria (for the South Stream natural gas line.) I walked out of my German class near the Belvedere Palace and saw a bunch of people crowded around the perimeter of a park, some with flags and chanting things. I asked a woman what was going on, and she responded “Putin! Putin!” in a throaty Russian accent. I reacted to the statement and decided I’d stand around and wait for his appearance since it seemed to be such a big event. After all, it’s not something that I’d be able to see in the states. Little did I know that I’d be waiting two hours for his little butt to show up. But the environment of people waiting anxiously for a famous persons arrival is what makes the wait time seem shorter. I got a first row standing spot right up against the gate with a clear view that I didn’t want to give up. I realized the flags were Ukrainian and Russian, and then on the other side of the park there were protestors and gay flags. Everyone chatted in Russian and Ukrainian as the Austrian police stood their ground inside the gates surrounding the park, while bomb sniffing dogs came around. The Russian military band finally showed up and started playing, and the excitement of the big group of Ukranian and Russian supporters skyrocketed and they started chanting loudly. As the Russian national anthem played, Putin arrived with his entourage, got out of one of the black vans, and walked towards the monument in the park. There was a wreath of red flowers and a Russian flag in the center which I guess he pledged his allegiance to. He acknowledged his supporters with a wave and left after about 10 minutes. I was surprised of the security: there was a helicopter hovering around the area for the two hours I was there, but I don’t know if it was police or the news. The entire park is surrounded by a 2 lane road with two-way traffic and the street trolleys, with a major intersection, but it was never closed off at any point. There were only policemen inside the park and security guards around Putin. But, in short (pun intended), he is the tiniest little man and I had to squint to find him. Even if he was alone without his groupies around him, he wouldn’t be an easy target!
- felt incredibly blessed to have found a wonderful voice teacher here. She is a dedicated teacher with a wonderful, well-known international reputation. It’s not easy finding a good teacher, whether in music or anything else, but this teacher was recommended to me by my voice teacher back home, and she is simply amazing! I had heard about her technique for a while now so I was definitely excited/nervous to finally have my first lesson with her. It went so well and she said she was very impressed and surprised with how quickly I caught on (which I was too since I'm a slow learner.) I clicked again with her as if I found a another new best friend! After only two lessons within the past few days, she’s found a sound in me that has been waiting to get out! The best part is that she is genuinely interested in me, my past, my future, and has patience and confidence in me to take me on long-term as a student to further develop my voice. It definitely gave me more motivation, and all I can hope is that things continue to go upwards.
- met a 21-year-old German student who is making a 4 month/5,000 kilometer bike trek around Europe: http://daniellechelt.wix.com/bicycle-eurotrip https://www.facebook.com/Bicycle.Eurotrip His name is Daniel. He wants to see the European continent and had only a small amount of money, so during his free time as an Erasmus exchange student in Sweden this past spring semester, he planned the journey. He wrote to companies such as GoPro and other outdoor/travel companies who decided to sponsor him (much to his surprise) and provided him with some video equipment, camping gear and the likes for his travels. He was only two weeks into his journey, and Vienna was his last “westernmost” stop. The eastern countries he will be visiting will be very limited in internet, which is how he’s been meeting and staying with locals (i.e. couchsurfing.org), and his German and English will be useless (keeping in mind that the alphabet is Cyrillic script.) I was bombarding him with questions and asked if he was crazy and he replied “well you have to be a little bit crazy to do something this crazy!” I assumed that he must be an avid biker or involved in either sports or physical fitness of some kind, but when I asked him, he said he has absolutely zero interest in bikes or physical fitness whatsoever, which we both laughed about in irony. Meeting Daniel was a privilege and he will always be someone I remember. His motivation is inspiring and I’m so excited for him and look forward to keeping up with his trek.
It feels good getting to finally feel like I’m living a life while also pursuing these other passions. Viktoria was talking about different European countries and about the Austrians' motto: “work to live and not live to work.” It’s definitely a good motto to remember to live by for anyone of any background, anywhere. And you’ve heard the cheesy saying “shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will still land among the stars” but that quote also never rang so true to me as it has here now. I feel if you really aim and work hard for the highest and best goal that you want to achieve, that even if you don’t get there, you will still achieve a career or path that is just as much related and fulfilling as that highest goal that you originally wanted. As people, we are always working towards something higher throughout life, in the aspects of career, philosophy, passion, religion, love or anything else. It’s human nature to want the best and to be the best, it’s just a matter of who manages to not get caught up in the rat race while on the ride. So for now, I’m taking things as they come, enjoying the moment, and trying not to worry too much about the future, because while many of my goals now are still the same as they were five years ago, two years ago, and six months ago, it’s inevitable that they will change within the next 3-6 months, but I’ll be ready for it and take it in stride.
