Erin's trips

So we had our concert this morning and then I had my last Itlalian diction lesson a little while ago and so Im done now. Its cold and rainy today which is kind of good because it makes me want to just go home and pack and I have to leave really ealry tomorrow and head to Vienna because I#m not to sure how the train to Prague is going to work or how getting to my still unknown hotel once im there is going to work.

So it was a pretty routine week last week. We start with gymnastik at 9:30 for an hour where we all get our butts kicked by a 55 year old man. We have to run around the room and stretch and do ab excersises and isometrics which get more intense everyday. Now we have to do the ab isometrics while doing our deep breathing hyper ventalating. Then I either have a musical class with the woman or a tech lesson with the guy again and then every other day I work with a vocal coach/accompianist who is thankfully american so we can have good english converstations. Then some days i have Alexander tech which is always awsome and then every day I have italian diction. The italian prof is really funny, very steriotypical italian. My favorite day though was saturday when he went from his usual tight white jeans and half unbuttoned dress shirt to liederhosen, it was great. Then Friday was a holiday so we only worked a half day and unfortuantly it was pouring all day and everything was closed so there wasnt much to do. Then Saturday we worked another half day, we didnt really have normal class though, just italian and a mini concert for the other people in the class. Again it was cold and rainy but thankfully it cleared up that night so i could watch Don Giovanni in the square with the castle over the screan and the moon eclipse over that, it was pretty cool. Still really really cold though so I didnt watch the whole opera which was too bad, it was fantastic and this years production from the festival. Then Sunday we had off completely so I slept in and then went to Schloss Hellbrun. It was cool, there are a lot of springs underneath the property so the emporer that built it had a bunch of trick fountains installed so he could spray people as they walked around the grounds. He also had a stone table with a wine cooler in the middle, and when people were getting to roudy he had a button that had water shoot up from a hole in the bottom of the chairs. There are also a bunch of little mechanical things that run on water pressure. The inside had some frescos and a room with fantastic accoustics and then a couple rooms of paintings of wierd or rare animals that the emporer owned. I also saw the gazebo from sound of music

THEN I was looking in a book of sound of music landmarks in Salzburg and fliped over to Schloss Frohnburg! Thats where I live! I have lived in the sound of music house for a week and had no idea! Its because it is the house they used for the front facade and courtyard and I only ever use the back gate, but ya I live in the sound of music house!

Later I walked up to an old chuch on a hill accross this river from the castle and the old town. Then I walked up to the abby from the sound of music and got there just in time for the early evening gregorian chant, so that was pretty cool. And then I ended going to the square again to see Romeo et Juliett which was unbelievable. Again this years production but just amazing singers. Unfortuantly it was the last night of the opera recordings in the square so i have to find something else to do now for the next week.

i forgot to add that although Ive been pretty much converted to fresh apricot jam, after 7 weeks and 3 countries I have finally found a jar of peanut butter

Last night I went to watch a play on the bis screan in the square but i was really tired and ended up going all the way back home, there is a really good opera on tonight though so hopefully i last a little longer.
This morning we all went to our group breathing lesson. Which was acctually runing around the room, stretching, isometrics and sit ups in our dress clothes and then a couple standard breathing things at the end. Next I had a diction lesson with a very italian man, he is funny. Then I ran over to my practice room becasue they overlap 15 minutes (im going to see about renting another hour later in the day) my room is in they very bottom corner of a basement which I am so happy about now because it is soooo hot out. Then I had to run over to masterclass (of course everything is in a different building) it went well and because it is so hot they are being quite relaxed about dressing up and we can sing in our barefeet because they teacher dosent want to wear shoes. Then I had to run over to my Alexander technique lesson which I just finnished so Im all ready for a nap now before tonights opera in the sqaure.

So I left Budapest on the 9th and 7 hours of trains later got to salzburg. The directions to the dorms they gave me was go to the poleizei bus stop and then it is 5 minutes walk from there. But they didnt say which way for 5 minutes so i wandered around for a loooong time and eventually got the gas station to phone a cab which drove me about a block and a half to a place I walked by more than once. Then I had to sit there for a few hours waiting for someone to check in even though it was within check in times so theoretically there should have been someone there. It is basicly a villa that is conversted to dorms, its quite nice we have a kitchen and I have my own room for the first time in 7 weeks. Yesterday I walked around the old town for a while and registered for classes. There is no set scheduelle for anything so I am in the situatio nwhere i can be easily quadrupal booked. Then I went up to the castle which has fantastic views of the citty on one side and the mountains on the other. I also saw someone who had rolled out a grand piano and was busking in a square. Unfortunatly i dont have tickets to anything with the festival there are some amazing singers in town that i am keeping my eye out for though. I found a big scream tv in a square as well that I think shows operas and concerts from past years and then a little later on will show a couple of this years operas.
This morning I had a practice room booked from 8 to 9 and then italian diction at 830, but i just ran down and told him i couldnt be there. Then we had our masterclass audition which was done entirely in german. There are 18 people and only three of us have bad german but the three of us had no idea what was going on. We all sang (there are some very good and very experienced people here) and then they said some stuff in german and listed off some names and then told us all to go stand in the hall. I just assumed that since my name wasnt there that i didnt pass so i would just be audiditing it was all very confusing. Then we all went back in and had a group breathing lesson with the guy who was nice enough to alternate between english and german. I went and talked to him after and he explained what was going on to me too, so i will be singing, i just dont start till tomorrow because im at the bottom of the alphabet. We have one lesson a day either with him or with his wife (the mezzo) but we wont know what time until tomorrow and hopefully it is a set time for the 2 weeks so i can straighten out the quadrupal bookings. Then I went to rent my practice room time for the next two weeks, i just had to guess when I will be free so hopefully it works out. Next I had a seminar on Alexander tequnique and had to book my individual lesson time for that too without knowing when i will be singing, those may have to be moved around and i dont even know when my italian individual lessons are yet. But now Im done for the day and will go get some greoceries and then maybe go see if that big screan has an opera on tonight.