So I have some to the conclusion that mosquitoes are at the top of the food chain, not humans. My lower legs and feet have pretty much been served on a silver platter to these pests and as a result I now have cankles!! :( I swear it, they breed like rabbits here! I'm not letting it dampen my spirits while on this trip but it definitely doesn't help when I'm severely allergic to them and every bite I have gotten has swollen up to about the size of a tennis ball. Its ok though because through this experience, I have come to appreciate the ankles God gave me ;)
Ok it's been a few days so I have a lot to cover, but I'll try not to overwhelm you :)
Sunday was definitely a deal breaker for me. I got the chance to experience two amazing and awe-inspiring performances!! Right off the bat I went to one of the many beautiful churches here and heard the Schubert mass in E-flat major performed by the church choir and orchestra. It is just so refreshing to sit in a church with mountain-high ceilings covered in paintings and statues of angels, and then to hear music that was originally composed to be played in this setting was just fa nominal! I was very impressed at how well these musicians performed seeing as they are only volunteers! The only thing that ruined the atmosphere was the organist. I can't even explain how horribly they destroyed to mood of the service!! During communion and postlude I swear on my dog's life it sounded like they took their forearms and slammed down all the keys at once! At first it just sounded like it was in a minor key with a lot of diminished triads (which I think is inappropriate for church anyways) but it modulated into some kind of horror film soundtrack! I wish you could have seen the look on some peoples faces! I'll tell you one thing, it would have made an awesome MasterCard commercial because it was PRICELESS.
Later this evening, my friend Cayla and I went to a Wagner opera at the Staatsoper (the main opera hall in Vienna previously managed by Mahler) and only spent 3 euros on a standing place ticket. Luck was on our side that night because the only 2 open seats in the house just happened to be right next to our music history professors! Our feet were already aching by the end of the first act (keep in mind this opera was 5 HOURS LONG) and we were about ready to leave but scored seats that would have cost us 70 euros! It was well worth it, I have never seen so much musical and technical quality in a performance in my life. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the 150 person pit orchestra was actually 2/3 of the Vienna Philharmonic!!! HOLY COW!!! No joke, I honestly had chills the whole time. Every section of the orchestra was so tight in their playing with each other and they just had the creamiest sound I have ever heard. Definitely an experience I will never forget. :)
Yesterday our music history professors took us out on an excursion to the house where Franz Schubert lived for the last part of his life and then died. Schubert is one of my favorite composers so this was quite a treat! The museum was smaller than the Mozart house but still had some really awesome stuff in there! They had his pair of glasses on display and his piano which he played for guests at his home!
And this is totally off topic but due to one of the German text boxes about an "earth closet" (bathroom), I learned where the word "crap" came from! HAHA I know, of all the things I am learning here, that is not one I expected! The reason this word "crap" came into existence was because the man who invented the toilet was Thomas Crapper! See, you really do learn something new every day :)
Lastly, I just had my second lesson yesterday afternoon and it ended up being 2 1/2 hours long!! And for only 40 euros! That's quite an amazing deal if you ask me :) I get this from my professor at Central W.U. but didn't expect to find the same genuine care for my progress here in Vienna. To be honest I had no clue what to expect but I am VERY happy with the teacher they paired me up with. I have never met an elderly man with so much energy and passion for teaching. I am so blessed by the fact that all he wants is for me to learn as much as I possibly can and become the best I can be. Like I have said before, the style and technique here almost contradict everything I've learned in the United States. It is good for me though to be able to learn multiple styles and approaches to playing cello. In the long run, if I ever have auditions in this area, I will know what they look for as opposed to if I were to have auditions in the US. The more flexible I am with style and technique the better. Not only so I can switch easily between the two depending on where I am, but I can take the best of both worlds and incorporate them into my solo playing.
On a more personal note, this experience as a whole so far has been improving me on a deeper level. Above all, my relationship with the Lord is what is most important to me. Back home, I find it so easy to put all my trust in God and to rely on Him for all my strength. I found it effortless because I was in a comfortable and familiar place surrounded by people who love and support me, but it's different here. I came into this knowing that it was going to be hard and that God was going to use this as a way to mold me and teach me more about who He is and what He really is capable of doing in my heart. Especially before my room mate Jessica got here, I was just thrown into this foreign country knowing no one and having not a clue where anything was. As soon as I got on that plane to Europe, that was God's way of taking my training wheels off and naturally, as any child does while learning to ride a bike, I freaked out. Not having much previous knowledge of my own that I could refer to or fall back on, I had to learn to give absolutely every thing to God, even things as simple as which U-bahn (subway) to ride. As the days go by, I learn how to trust Him with bigger and bigger things. For example, before my lesson yesterday I literally thought I was going to die. I was having the worst cramps and was about to pass out on the way to my teacher's house. I was running early so instead of calling and rescheduling, I sat down on a park bench and decided to just pray and put my health in His hands. As you have read, this definitely paid off. I not only made it to my lesson in good spirits, but it was the best lesson I have had since the beginning of summer! This is one thing I absolutely love about our Lord. You learn to trust Him and He blesses you beyond what you even asked for :) I feel like I'm getting the hang of this. I'm over the initial shock of the training wheels coming off and finally getting comfortable riding on 2 wheels. I can't wait to soar with God and see what tricks He will teach me ;)
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