Recent Happenings

I am so behind on blogging that I actually just made a list about all the things I need to blog about. That's pretty sad. There are some entries that I have written already, but either Blogger has been weird or I still need to edit some stuff. Eh. Anyway, I'll just do bullet points now because there is a lot of ground to cover (yes, it is yet another super long entry).

Vienna Boy's Choir

• The concert was at the Musikverein. This is also the building where the Vienna Philharmonic performs the famous New Year's Concert. Pretty awesome. Sadly, the concert wasn't in the same concert hall, but during the intermission, my friend (who was visiting from Germany) and I were walking around randomly and we actually saw the Großer Saal (Great Hall) where the New Year's Concert is held. There were some random cellists/violinists practicing in there. It was beautiful.
• Those boys have skills (obviously). The concert was seriously amazing. Their voices were unreal and it was pretty cool because they integrated the singers' other skills as well. For example, one piece included one of the boys on double bass as an accompanist. In another piece, one of the boys played piano. They were all really skilled. The concert was pretty expensive, but I think it was well worth what I paid.
• I wonder what their lives are like... I think the boys were maybe 9-13 or so in terms of age. They have to practice so much and do so many concerts all over the place... They probably don't have any time to just *live* like other kids their age.
• It really bothers me when people in concert things/performances take pictures when they are explicitly told not to because flash and shutter noises may be distracting (and disrespectful) to performers. Yet, SO MANY PEOPLE took a billion pictures and there were so many flashes and shutter noises. Eurgh. Oh well. This also happened at the ballet performance I went to at the Staatsoper (Homage an Jerome Robbins... it was really weird).

Brahms-Saal, Musikverein

Musikverein

Belvedere

• Beautiful (inside and outside). The gardens are quite nice too, but I don't know what happened to the flowers. It looked pretty bare. Hmm. Anyway, the Belvedere has a lovely collection, including Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss." They also have that famous painting of Napoleon ("Napoleon Crossing the Alps") that we've probably all seen in our history textbooks.
• The Lower Belvedere has some strange modern art collection right now. I can't decide if I like it or not. 
• On the way to the Belvedere, there were some weird dudes on the tram. They were definitely American, and talking about shooting people. Then one of the guys was scratching his leg so he kind of lifted up his pant-leg, and there was this weird scar on his leg. It looked like he was shot there or something. It was rather freaky.

Belvedere Palace

Some room inside

Front

Café Hawelka

• My friend and I went there and just talked for around 4 hours. It was awesome. We were discussing some pretty interesting stuff and somehow, that made the café experience more "legit" because that's kind of what people went to cafés to do in the past -- to exchange ideas. The whole environment inside Hawelka is different from Prückel. Café Hawelka is incredibly well-known because it was a popular place for famous authors and artists. Inside, it is very erm... "gemütlich" (cozy, kind of). It's pretty dark and there is random artwork on the walls. Usually it's pretty crowded but somehow, it's still really relaxing. Also, the melange (similar to cappuccino, but better in my opinion) is fantastic.
• You may have noticed in all my café pictures that drinks (like coffee/hot chocolate type drinks) always come with a small glass of water. I'm pretty sure this is an Austrian thing because my friend from Germany was confused. Anyway, yeah, so it's typical for water to be served along with your drink. Also, you usually get water throughout your stay... though you should probably order another drink if you stay for a really long time.

Hot chocolate & Melange :)

Life Ball

• Every year Vienna holds the "Life Ball" (19 years running) to raise HIV/AIDs awareness (and tolerance for homosexuality, I think, but the main thing is HIV/AIDs). The ball itself costs about €20,000 for entry/a table so uh... well, obviously I didn't go. Plus I probably wouldn't go to a ball anyway even if I had that kind of money, but yeah. However, the opening stuff is free. It was held outside the Rathaus (like many things are here) and it was pretty intense. I saw Bill Clinton, Janet Jackson, and Brooke Shields while I was there. Some interesting people also performed including Natalia Kills and Natasha Bedingfield.
• I don't think Natalia Kills ever got recognition in the States, but apparently everyone in other places knows who she is, so... okay. She has a similar music-style as Lady Gaga, but her stuff is more "dark." Also, I think her voice is better (she's excellent live). Hmm. Mirrors is a pretty catchy song (search for the Cherrytree House live version, if you're interested).
• The Life Ball was a very strange combination of a serious topic + partying. I think most of the people were just there to drink/smoke/see outrageously flamboyant people, which is kind of sad because that meant that they were not listening to people talk about HIV/AIDs, which was kind of the point. I don't know how I feel about this. Oh well. I actually did listen (okay, I struggled with the German bits, but many of the speakers there were speaking English) and I learned some interesting stuff.
• Vivienne Westwood (designer, if you didn't know) was one of the speakers and she failed majorly. She accidentally said, "Discrimination is the root of intelligence" instead of (what I presume she meant), "Discrimination is the root of ignorance." Oops, haha. Luckily, I don't think many people noticed, but all the English speakers around me were like, "Wait... what?!"
• They always do a fashion show and this year, it was with DSquared2. The clothes (if you can call them that since they consisted of basically... nothing) were really weird. The best part was when one of the models fell. Okay, that's really mean... but it was kind of amusing. Sorry, I'm a terrible person. Oh, and an erm... interesting group from Ukraine performed. I won't go into that but it was quite awesome.
• The Rathaus looked really beautiful (not that it isn't usually, but yeah).
• There was a really adorable dog! It was an Akita (so many people kept asking the owner what it was) and it was... huge and fluffy haha.
• There were intense parties. There was one at the Volkstheater for all the people who couldn't get into the actual ball, and then there was ANOTHER party after that one, which started at 4AM. Intense.
• Vienna is so beautiful at night. I mean, it's always beautiful, but it feels different at night, somehow. I never really ventured out into the city at night, but now I'm addicted. I went for another walk tonight, heh.

Volkstheater/people

Rathaus/Natalia Kills on the screens

Dog! :D (sorry, low light + unsteady hand = blur)

Random

• I was reading about taking pictures "at the hip." The photographer was talking about how people act unnatural the moment they realize a camera is being pointed at them so he basically takes creeper photos of people while the camera is just hanging at his hip to get more legit pictures. Of course, tons of people were arguing about how he wasn't a "real" photographer then since he just takes random pictures, but whatever. I think it's a cool idea so I tried it.

Random people on the U-Bahn

• People are starting to leave. Exchange is coming to a close. How is this possible? I realize that I still have over a month left, but with all these people leaving, it really makes me realize that my time here is almost done. I still remember stepping off the plane and taking that random (pointless) bus from the airplane to the gate at Schwechat like it was yesterday. I mean, I think most people are "ready" to go home. In a way, I am too, but at the same time... I'm really not looking forward to it. I mean, I would like to see people and eat certain foods, but otherwise, there isn't much I miss about home. I'm actually more content here, for the most part.
• I feel like most of the Americans here are actually antsy and stressed out by the ... lack of stress here? It's weird. The other day, someone was freaking out because they felt that Austrians took things too leisurely. Like, nobody runs intense marathons or is a workaholic. Maybe that's just American culture and so, most people feel that this is normal and good. However, I quite like the lifestyle here. It's not like people are totally unproductive or lazy. They just know how to "live." I understand that the concept of "living" is obviously quite subjective, but yeah.
• The feeling I have now seems to be shared by mostly everyone here (this strange mix of depression-happiness) and I don't think that you can really understand it unless you've lived for a semi-prolonged period abroad. Like, you've partially integrated yourself into this culture. You have a niche now in this foreign land and everything is normal, but no, you have to leave it all and go back "home." What is home though? This place is home to me now. It's not like leaving school for summer or something. It's different. I don't know what I will be when I return... if I return? (No, I will return to Vienna. How could I not?) Also, it will be strange not seeing the people I've been with for the past months.. Yeah, obviously thanks to the internet, it is easier to keep in touch, but it's still kind of different. It takes a lot of discipline to keep in contact with people who are so far away. I don't even know what it will be like when I go home. I haven't talked to some people for a while now. It will also be weird/different. Hmm. Okay, it's too early to think about these things.

Anyway, today I went on a walk/gelato-run with a friend. It was really great to stroll through the streets/Stephansplatz/Graben at night. The buildings are all lit up and you actually notice some things better that way. For example, they've always told us that the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Naturhistorisches Museum were in identical buildings. Yes, they do look like mirror images of each other for the most part, but actually, one of them has a small gold statue on top, and the main figures at the tops of the buildings are in different poses. Interesting. I also tried out some panorama shots and I am angry at myself for not trying them earlier. Unfortunately, I have yet to invest in a tripod so it was a bit of a failure, but eh... I'll try more later. Here is one okay-ish attempt, but the people in the front kind of ruined it.

Graben (please view large)

Oh, and a picture of food... because that's always important ;P. And while we're on the subject of food... I went to a buffet today and ate way too much. It was delicious though.

Dinner at Siebenstern Brau