The Magic Flute and China Live

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First and foremost, I need to whine a bit about this blog site that I am using. It has a faulty saving mechanism, and if you ever see my blogs end abruptly (like there is no period at the end of the sentence) than you can assume that something got cut off. So far it only seems like it cuts of a few sentences, so you're probably not missing out on much.

Tuesday, 8/19
We headed to class a little bit early this morning. When we arrived at the institute, there were a ton of other students there. Apparently other programs that study there during the school year have begun. We discussed the Napoleonic Wars, the Biedermeier era, and the Congress of Vienna. For the evening we had a trip to the opera, so I resolved that I would spend the afternoon pulling my life together. Someone suggested Mexican food for lunch, and I instantly jumped on board that plan. I have been craving a burrito (and Jamba Juice) so I was excited to get some non-schnitzel food. We took the streetcar to the restaurant, which was closed. The hours on restaurants here make no sense to me. Some close after lunch and re-open for dinner. I guess they don't have senior citizen specials (like IHOP) at 4pm. We had walked by a Thai restaurant on the way there, so we turned around and went back in that direction. I ordered the spicy dish (I had no idea what it was but there was a picture of a pepper next to it), and to my dismay it acutally made my nose run! It wasn't spicy enough that I could not finish it, but it was the spiciest thing I have had so far. The meal included a salad, spring rolls, the main course and a small bowl of watermelon (and they served tap water without claiming 'not possible') without any additional charge. It was one of the better eating experiences I had had since I have been here. Before I headed home, I took some time to address the question on our syllabus regarding the architecture of the Ring, Schonberg and Jugendstil art. I think Franz Josef's idea to give the Ring buildings an architectural style to match their function is kind of a Disneyland idea, but the result is visually very pleasing. It would be cooler if the buildings were actually built during their architecture's era, but since one is Romanesque that would be an unrealistic expectation. I have to admit, I'm a little obsessed with the Rathaus. I take pictures of it every time I go, and I can honestly say I am frustrated that no picture I take will ever capture the beauty of the building for my friends at home to see. I will have to write it off as one of the things about Europe that you can only really experience by being there. I listened to some of the Schonberg music when I was at the Haus der Musik, but I confess that I am not a fan of the twelve-tone style. I looked at some discussions online of twelve-tone, and I get the feeling that unless you have any idea about music theory, you won't really enjoy it. I felt that way about art until I took a class on art history. Jugendstil is the German word for "youth style" in reference to art, specifically tied in with the art nouveau style. Klimt is one of the main artists credited with Jugendstil, though I don't have any pictures (of my own) of a Klimt because of the museum rules regarding photography. I went home to do laundry, work on my blogging, and give myself a pedicure before the opera. When it was time, I put on my dress and we headed off to the opera house. We got there early, and went to our seats. Austrians have a weird seat-numbering strategy which involves numbers on the right and left that are the same, so you have to know if you are right row 3 seat 11 or left row 3 seat 11. Several of us were nudged out of our seats by other patrons for confusing this. The seats did not have a lot of leg room, and I could not see the stage at all. The opera started, and it was not what I had expected. They were singing, but there was more dialogue and it felt like cirque du soleil in terms of costumes and stage settings. There were none of the outfits I had imagined for a traditional opera. Apparently "The Magic Flute" is far from a traditional opera, so I was incorrect in expecting anything outside of craziness. As expected, I fell asleep several times. I could not even see what was going on on stage (despite my 70 euro-ticket) and I had no idea what was going on since they were singing in German. We went over the plot, but it was really so weird that I could not follow (from the top of the background part that I could see). Bored and warm, I was out like a light. I was sitting next to our program director, so I put my last efforts into not making it obvious. The most memorable part of the whole experience was the character dressed in blackface. I already discussed the lack of political correctness here, but I was shocked that something I would be ripped to pieces over in the US is proudly displayed on the Austrian stage. I discussed the matter extensively with my classmates and professor, and it seems like the consensus is that I am freaking out more than necessary and I need to accept that Austrians have a better sense of humor (and don't protest these 'trivial' matters). I obviously have a chip on my shoulder after sitting through that memorable senate meeting, but I was not the only one who experienced the culture shock of how acceptable blackface was on the Viennese stage. After the opera was over, everyone was determined to hit the night scene in our opera dress. My feet and stomach hurt, so I went home to change (hoping that once I made it home I would be too lazy to go out again). Giving in to peer pressure, I made it downtown, but after about 20 minutes when a classmate confessed she wanted to go home, the two of us hopped on the street car and called it a night.

Wednesday, 8/20
Refreshed after a good nights sleep (unlike the party animals in my class who stayed out till 4), Kelsey and I had breakfast together. She explained to me some of the drama involved with her role on a Title Nine committee, and I admitted that I had no idea what Title Nine was. She is on the UCD golf team, and the idea of Title Nine is that athletic departments have to give funding in a proportionally equal way between the male and female teams. The obviously causes a lot of stress on the department, and Title Nine is the reason why ASU dropped 3 athletic programs this past year. Currently, UCD is facing a lawsuit from the women's club field hockey team for not complying with Title Nine, and Kelsey gets to do some work on the defense side of the case. We finished out breakfasts and we headed to class. We have two different routes we can take on the U-bahn to get to class, and we decided to "race" to see which is faster. The time difference proved irrelevant. In our lesson we discussed the Congress of Vienna (again) and the reign of Franz Josef. Franz Josef seems to be the most popular Austrian leader amongst my classmates. He does have the most tour stuff in town dedicated to him, but he ruled for 68 years and seemed to be an intelligent and hardworking ruler. When class ended, I found the group I had planned on going to Schloss Schonbrunn (the summer palace of the Habsburgs) with after class. Typical of such a large group, half of them bailed. I headed off to the palace with a different group than I had planned for, but I was still going to the place I wanted to see in good company. One of the girls I was with is proudly a fan of the kasekrainer (cheese sausage) so we all went to a hot dog stand for lunch. Everyone in the group was part of the greek system, so we spent the lunch hour laughing about stories from our sorority/fraternity experiences. It was kind of nice to be reminded of home. After lunch we headed to the palace, which was built after Versailles with the intention of being on par with the French summer home. While he occupied Austria, Napoleon lived in the Schonbrunn palace. We took a tour of the imperial apartments, which were more or less identical to the imperial apartments I toured at the Hofburg. We did get to see the ballroom in which John F. Kennedy met with Khrushchev during the Cold War. We finished the tour, and half the group was tired and wanted to go home. The Schonbrunn gardens include the Vienna Zoo, which has a baby panda bear and two baby polar bears. I was going to the zoo whether or not I had company, but fortunately 2 girls wanted to see the bears as well. Part of the intrigue of the zoo was the numerous advertisements for the baby bears all over town. The ones for the panda have the bear's baby picture and the phrase "China live". The bear wasn't born in China, but I guess they wanted it to seem more exotic. I took a million pictures of the animals, and was entertained by the selections they felt were zoo-worthy. There were multiple deer exhibits. Shayna told me that a zoo in Israel had a squirrel exhibit. I guess any animal that is not native to an area is considered zoo-worthy! We stayed at the zoo for several hours, and the best part of the visit was the sea lion feeding. They had stairs for the sea lions to climb and belly flop off of to try and get a fish. It was very loud and splashy, and the kids closer to the pen got drenched (like a mediocre Sea World show). Around 6pm we had all seen the animals we wanted to see, and headed home. I got off the U-bahn a stop early to get some groceries. I found a bag of spinachy-looking stuff and eagerly bought it. I ate it for dinner, and though it was not spinach, it was amazing to have something green and leafy in my system (even shredded lettuce is beginning to look tempting). Exhausted, I whipped up a quick salad, throwing some random stuff in that I haven't eaten yet (like two oranges). I actually feel a little under the weather, so I just stayed in my room, chatting on Skype, writing e-mails, and working on this blog. Goodnight!!

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Photos

Vienna 450
dressed for the opera

Vienna 453
front view of Schonbrunn

Vienna 459
backyard of Schonbrunn

Vienna 473
a "Do Not Feed The Mongoose" sign

Vienna 475
the not-so-tiny polar bear twins

Vienna 491
China live!