August 17th, 2012

Wanna-be-Julie-Andrews

…with the sound of music! And dear and birds and the hum of excitement! Mi, a name I call myself while going Fa, a long long way to…ride a train. Ti, a drink with jam (or nutella) and bread and that will bring us back to go, go, go, go. Which is what I have been doing!

My parents arrived in Salzburg and got to see my room and meet some of my friends.  It felt sort of like they were visiting me at my place at WOU, except a little more jet lagged. I felt special being the one that knew how the bus worked, where to go, what kind of bottled drinks to buy and other things that helped me realize how much I had learned…. “I have confidence, and confidence I have!”

The next day, Gabi and I skipped dance classes for the day and went on the Sound of Music/Hallstat tour with my parents. I was so excited that she was able to come along and we got to spend the day together learning more about the Sound of Music movie and history of the people/story it was based on than we ever needed to know.
For example,

A replica in Hellbrunn of the gazebo used for the Hollywood film. It was built originally for the movie then became a huge tourist attraction and the locals got annoyed. So they moved it. It was still annoying so they tore it down. Then they realized they had killed something people from all over came to see. So they build another one and put it next to an already popular palace out of the way of the locals 🙂

I enjoyed my last night in Salzburg celebrating my friend Helena’s birthday (she was 19 gooooing on 20!) and packing up the last few things. I learned about how each country in the EU has one of each type of coin and you can tell by the picture on the back just like the states on the quarters at home! It was weird to wake up on Thursday and have a normal breakfast but then have to say goodbye, as sad as it was, I was tired and distracted so it didn’t really sink in right then that I wasn’t coming back.

Next on the agenda was something I had been oddly looking forward to. After having studied WWII and the Holocaust two or three times and being a psychology major, I was fascinated by the concentration camp at Dachau. Even more interesting is the knowledge that this was one of the camps my grandpa’s division came to liberate. Thought they were too late and the camp was already liberated, he has shared memories of his arrival. When we first arrived it seemed welcoming, there was good weather and a friendly woman renting the audio guides to us. As the day progressed, I felt my mood drain like the miserable chill brought on by Dementors near by. The clouds didn’t literally roll in but a midwinter depression settled around me heavier and heavier. The tour began on the SS side of camp and was informational; it wasn’t till we passed through the gate…

“Work sets you free”

…that I felt the kick in the gut and couldn’t smile for pictures.  We observed the wide open roll car area where many had dropped, and walked through the prison till after mere moments I longed for air and sun and had to leave, an option many never had.

Hall way in the prison

The tour didn’t lighten even outside again, for then we went into the bunkers to see the perfectly build beds (or else) and the perfectly horrid living conditions. It was lunch time now, and the thought of eating a granola bar I had cheerily packed seemed absolutely immoral.  Lost in thought I continued to the end where I read about all the precautions set up to prevent escape and how some deliberately violated the system to end their misery.  A few steps further I lost my breath. The crematorium, gas chamber and grave sites lay in front of me. I know this is an unexpected downer as lunch time reading material and I wouldn’t even be sharing, but it hit me so hard I wanted to record my feelings and it seemed relevant to include such a significant learning experience. I’ll spare you the grim pictures. Going inside a building that had seen and caused so much suffering, spooked me to say the least. I was haunted by the sight of the ovens and words on the plaque explaining how prisoners were tricked into the gas chambers.

The ovens and an instant stomach ache.

We were short on time and had to rush on to our next destination. As anxious as I was to get out of that place forever I had to spend a moment at:

“Grave of many thousands unknown”
One of several grave sites. There were also places labeled where ashes were buried.

“Never Again”

Shaking off the past few hours we moved on to our cute little Hostel in Fussen. We spent two nights here and toured the crazy King Ludwig’s places of residence.

King Ludwig’s summer castle. We toured the second and third floor I believe.

Another castle that Kind Ludwig was having built but was never completed because he died mysteriously and the family cancelled all orders.
This is the castle that Disney based the Disney castle on! You can recognize it from the front. This picture is taken from a suspension bridge over a waterfall!

I learned a bit more Bavarian history, visited with some swans in a beautiful lake and giggled at tourists from all over the world. We walked a lot, gawked a lot and clicked our cameras a lot. But not without relaxing by the river and dipping my toes…okay, wading into my upper calf and freezing my toes off.

We had fantastic weather but this water was pretty cold!

This was the neat path clinging to the side of the rock and hovering over the beauty below.

Now I sit on a train riding through the countryside of Switzerland eating gummy bears from Germany and missing my little sister. It’s weird to be “vacationing” without her. I don’t have my usual companion’s company in rolling my eyes at whatever ordeal is currently flagging us as tourists or someone to fight over the last piece of chocolate with. So Kaylee, if you are reading this, imaging me making a joke here or side comment there that usually just the two of us snicker about and picture it going right past our parents as I lose half the joy of the moment realizing I’m laughing alone. Big sisters out there, hug your little sister for me.

There is quite a difference in lifestyle and attitude when one’s main objective is to travel and sight see. Until now, I think I had been taking on the roll of trying to learn to live as a local and absorb the culture around me; shopping at the local mall, eating at the same restaurant for a second or third time and having an actual closet to unload in. Now, I wrestle my suitcase every night, seek a new wifi password and see as much as I possibly can in the few short hours I have in a town.  Sleep? Pfff I can sleep when I get home. Expect to get the dish that I think I’m ordering? No adventure in that, I’ll save that for The States. Breakfast on the Shilthorn like James Bond? Sign me up. The hills are alive with the sound of Her Majesty’s Secret Service! Headed into the glorious Swiss Alps for a few days, if only I had a tent!

“Schwans” on the lake at the bottom of the hill below Hohenschwangau castle (the summer home). Swans were a motif in these castles in statues, murals, door handles and many other places. My practical souvenir from this location was a little sparkling swan on a necklace!

Emily

It was decided. Tuesday (our last day off) Gabi and I would go to Vienna. This was fitting considering I had just visited Mozart’s birthplace and his next stop was Vienna too. We knew there were two other dancers there but they had left the previous day and we had no idea what their plans were or a way to contact them, so we made our own Itinerary. It was a wonderful train ride and bonding time through the Austrian countryside over coffee in the morning sun.

On the train

Another Water Closet Story:
At one point, we decided to test out the train’s water closet. Gabi disappeared for a moment and then returned, claiming the automatic door, was not so automatic. I investigated and got through just fine. However, once on the other side, I could not open the door to the bathroom. Feeling incompetent, I returned to share that I too was unsuccessful. We stealthily watched and learned as others managed to get through the doors with no problem. One man had an odd gesture near his head when he walked up. It was determined that one must discretely scratch their head and act casual as the secret admission trick. Once through the doors there were only minor struggles such as remaining balanced as the train shook, finding the toilet paper…and flush….and soap. All in all, we came out of the experience much more aware and feeling that next time the process will go smoothly so we will be less judged by onlookers.

Gabi and I enjoyed our day touring.

We visited the breathtaking St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
This is the crowded inside.

I was too close to get a good shot of the whole thing in one frame but this is an idea of the front.

The current display at the national library – about posters over the decades to encourage tourism in Austria. Gabi decided she wants to have a room in her future house that is a library and have one of the awesome shelf ladders. I agree its a good idea.

A tour of the Opera House! Fun fact: the emperor has his own tea room (pictured) that cost thousands to rent for one intermission.

Not the best picture from the Opera House tour but I loved this room.The marble floor in this foyer came from Salzburg! And the walls had the neatest decoration.

After this tour we set off in search of the famous violet gelato. We walked through the grounds around the Imperial Apartments just chatting and gaping when I saw a familiar face. WHAT are the chances?! I understand running into other dancers in little Salzburg…but Vienna?! We could not believe it. Even weirder, we found out that it was an accident that either of us had gone down this street, must be serendipity! To our further astonishment, all four of us had plans to go to the same cathedral, next on the agenda after a snack! Happily we continued until we found our delicious purple ice-cream and rested in the grass as we ate.

The four of us with our famous violet gelato that we finally found….along with finding each other!

Next stop, together now;

Outside of St. Charle’s Church in the evening. The two figures are Helena and Syvana (the dancers we ran into)

The bummer was that we had just barely missed closing and could not take the rickety lift to the top to enjoy the view. So it became dinner time instead. Being the difficult, picky eater I am, I caused a lull in our flow as we debated where to dine. An Asian food restaurant in Nasch Market was the winner….a 3 to 1 vote. My patient friends assisted me in ordering something I would like and graciously shared their meals too (and by that I mean pressured me into tasting suspicious entrees).

It was time to go. We had classes starting early the next morning and it was already getting late. Our anxious faces rushed the waitress but we paid and speed walked to the catch the “U” (subway) to the train station. At the platform we realized our train left in10 minutes… the U didn’t come for another 6. This time our vote was consensus. We wouldn’t make it and now had another hour to spare in Vienna and would be arriving back in Salzburg around 2am. Oh well. These are the things you just have to accept with a shrug and a smile because there really isn’t anything else to do about it!
What an exciting, day. Travel books are right, you have to be flexible and just go with the flow. By the way, we learned that the phrases “Playing it by ear” and “Flying by the seat of our pants” are not ones that translate very well.

A random and unrelated comment, I really appreciate student-prices. It’s a good deal! I got into a live Mozart concert in a cathedral for only 10 Euros! So many places offer a discount and it always cheers me up!

Ghost update:
Haven’t heard the footsteps recently (I think I’ve been too tired to wake up). However when we returned to our room after Vienna, expected a new roommate to have arrived, no one was here. This was good news because then we could turn the light on and not have our first impressions be waking up the new sleeping dancer 5 hours before she had to be up for class. But wait….the bed was made….and no other sign of new life….mysterious.
The next morning our roommate introduced herself and informed us she had slept in another room…..so who made the bed?

The new program has begun. Out with the….new and in with the new-er. Helena, Gabi and I spend most of our time guiltily not making friends and instead sitting in the exact same spots talking about the ones who had left. We selfishly figured it would be easier to not get attached to yet more faces we’d have to say goodbye to. I suppose that is the wrong attitude. This portion of the program is a good transition because it is significantly less strenuous and is smaller, so it’s a nice opportunity to get more one on one help from teachers before I have to take an unknown amount of time off of dancing.

Everyone all dressed up for the crazy last morning ballet class.

I only have 4 more days in Salzburg. 3 days of dancing and being with friends and a day of tour when my parents arrive! I cannot believe that the time has come and they will soon be on their way here! Chapter 2 is about to commence. Woah.

-Emily

Its funny how time moves, it couldn’t possibly be moving in a consistent straight line. After our final performance of the program a group of us walked into the city to have a goodbye celebration. While sitting out by the water in the cool, fresh evening air, my travels here seemed like yesterday, not 4 weeks ago. I felt like I’d known these people for so much longer than a month. When there were only 4 of us left, we reminisced about the first evening and recalled first impressions/memories of each other as if it were 5 years ago. Amazing how an hour and forty five minute ballet class can feel like an eternity and that lunch time will never arrive and then suddenly everyone is on a train/plane home and I’m left not hoping that the fondu combination at barre will be short, but that the time before I am reunited with my new connections will be less than forever.

The last night after the show, saying goodbye to our Italian roommate! Other goodbye photos are on Facebook. Using sign language we managed to communicate that someday we’ll visit each other!

Let me go back a bit…
The last week of the program was a lot of rehearsal, costume fittings, make up classes and show preparation. It was fun to see our studio transform into a huge stage. I learned other countries’ backstage phrases and good and bad luck habits. Toi toi toi! The dressing room was tiny and stuffy, but it was a fun place to spend the evenings once I adjusted to having afternoons off and work in the evening instead of vice versa like the rest of the time. We may have not gotten dinner until 10pm but we had Pilates and sunshine in the afternoons!
On Saturday we packed up and bussed into Munich to perform at a location opposite of the school – tiny stage and huge dressing/warm-up room! On our short break several of us walked to get food and I was reminded how seriously they take bike paths here. I haven’t gotten used to them being sort of a part of the sidewalk. I almost collided with a biker.
Water Closet Story:
I also had an interesting experience with a bathroom at the rest stop on the way. It was a big place to buy food and souvenirs and it cost 70 cents to use the bathroom. But I had no choice. After grumbling and stressing that I didn’t know how to use the machine, I paid and stood in a huge line. A cute little kid saw bubbles in the sink and excitedly told his mom about them in German. Then he kept me entertained by trying to press on the motion sensor facet to turn on the water. Finally back on the bus, telling my friends about this event, I found out that the “bathroom souvenir” I got was actually a ticket for 50 cents off of something. Sheesh, If only I had known that before buying a coke! It was an exhausting trip but a nice way to have a big day together at the end of the program. As always, the best part was my friends.

Have I raved about the people enough yet? I really really miss them. It hasn’t even been 24 hours…. 🙁 It’s very weird and very sad to be staying here without them. Change and transition is hard. The more times it happens I expect to be more prepared or for it to get easier but I think it may always take me a few days of struggle before I adjust.

There is flavored bubbly water here that is called “Emotion”. So of course we had a running joke about drinking emotions. This is a picture of Gabi and I drinking our emotions after everyone had left. Don’t worry, that’s water. Also, we didn’t see the sign in the background till later….total accident that it’s perfectly centered in this picture!

Instances for patience pants this week:
1)  Accepting that in some cultures, snapping one’s fingers at another is merely a way to get someone’s attention. Not considered as rude as we’d find it in the U.S.

2)  Remembering to speak slowly and be willing to repeat and rephrase. (A situation I hadn’t anticipated since I expected to be the one that was confused – but this program is mostly in my “mother tongue” and many students  have very good English so I get comfortable speaking normally) Soon enough I will be the minority struggling to follow conversation and learning new phrases and won’t be able to express my deep appreciation for the native speakers that are patient with my broken French. “Quoi?! Répétez s’il vous plaît!”

Squeaky Sneakers:
I regret to announce the lack of development to report in regards to the footsteps story I left hanging for you last time. We (when I say “we”, I am generally referring to Gabi and I) have taken one step in further investigation. After watching about 3 more Harry Potter movies, we began to speculate that there was a cauldron of poly juice potion simmering in the locked stall and perhaps it took a drop of our own blood for the door to open (you know, like in book 7 in the cave, to weaken the intruder) I insisted today that we find out for sure what is in there. So we did.

Gabi, investigating the middle stall, as classy as can be!

Unfortunately, it was just what appeared to be a regular toilet. We didn’t try standing in it and flushing to get into the Ministry of Magic though.

The noises have not gone away. Sometimes they wake Gabi and I to the point we both know the other is awake and hearing the sounds but neither of us say a word. Maybe the next step is calling out the intruder next time we hear them.

In addition, since our other roommate went back to Italy today and a new one will be arriving on Wednesday, we considered holding a séance on her first night. You know, an induction of sorts….to break the ice…… just kidding….

Since everyone was gone, we decided it was safe for Kelsey to come in the girls bathroom and originally the plan was so he could lift us up to see over the edge. He took it upon himself to just climb up instead and all I could see were his legs dangling over the edge at least 3 feet off the ground.

The last day of class we had a silly dress up ballet class. Gabi and I dressed up as two of the boys and acted like them throughout the entire class. It was great fun. Many people had funny costumes and it was an entirely unproductive hour! We had most of the day off to get ready for the final show and for people to pack. In the evening, after the performance we had one last night all together and went into the city until way-too-early-in-the-morning-o’clock…. Needless to say, I’m still not caught up on sleep…

This is Etay. The real him is in the center wearing his rehearsal clothes. I’m on the left wearing what he wore to every single ballet class (including his warm up shoes not shown) and Dianna is on the right wearing his performance outfit. I was complimented on how well I acted like him, which was also quite fun.

Touristiness:
Visited the birthplace of Mozart on the first day off after the last performance and the start of new classes. It was a pretty cool museum but my friends and I were sleep deprived and starving. Plus it was hot and crowded so we were struggling to take full advantage of our time there and read every plaque. I did learn a few things though and now I can say I’ve been there, which I think is pretty cool! 🙂

Mozart’s birthplace from the outside!

I have two more days of freedom to plan; Tuesday and Saturday. So many possibilities! I’ll get back to you on the final decision and how it went next time!

Ta ta for now!
Emily

P.S. That was written several days before I finally uploaded it so Tuesday has already happened and I’ll write about that soon!

I’ve worn these particular pants quite a bit since I’ve been here. But after this week and noticing multiple times I decided it was time to mention it. I have several pairs for several occasions (which is good because laundry is one washer for 2 floors and hang dry only) that I’ll explain.

I had to roll up my pants because it was so insanely hot that day by the lake!

The first is just rehearsal venting. My fellow dancers (or other thespians/musicians/etc.) or my friends that try to make plans with me understand that rehearsals are a long, unpredictable, and can often be painful and boring times. I’m used to that. This week’s schedule was a lot of rehearsal and not a lot of class because the shows are quickly approaching. I’ve been doing my best to take advantage of the down time but sometimes it just takes a lot of positive attitude and wearing of patience pants to get through.

More interestingly, another occasion for patience pants is queues. I prefer to refer to lines as this because it seems less annoying to wait in a queue for the loo or in this case for lunch than it does to wait in line and I’m trying to incorporate others’ fun vocabulary into my own. Anyway, I’ve noticed what is perhaps a difference in cultural expectations when it comes to these situations. Without pointing fingers, there seems to a nationality pattern to which of the other students “respect” the line of people waiting for lunch and follow in an “orderly” manner around the serving table, and which “take cuts” and don’t wait their turn or “randomly” walk up to the table/goes around “backward” and other behaviors of the like. I want to clarify that the words in quotes are because I’m guessing that the adjectives I’m using to describe their behavior is subjective to my expectations when it comes to how a queue works. It has taken a lot of self control when I’m tired and hungry to not get upset with people not acting the way I think they should. I just have to remind myself that no one is trying to ruffle my feathers on purpose and they probably think it’s silly to stand and wait for slow pokes when they are hungry and could just go around.

Thirdly, I’ve realized that some sign language/miming don’t translate. Unfortunately, I can only think of one example for you right now. When I understand what my Italian roommate is trying to communicate to me and I want to show her I agree, I’ve found I point first to myself and then hold up two fingers. Silly, “two” and “too” are not synonyms in Italian. She probably thinks I don’t understand and just smiles politely to avoid my further humiliation and her confusion.

Moment of the week:
Kelsey: “Gwen, your English has really improved!”
Gwen: “What’s ‘improved’?”
Precious 🙂

Now, this is the part where my friends, family and curious strangers should skip ahead to where it says RESUME if short on time (that is to say, the next few paragraphs are just nonsense, do not follow the blog assignment and is mostly a convenient way to tell a story to my friends).

*Catchy title that my dear Marissa (WOU roommate) would help me think of if we were together*
It all began on my very first day. I walked into the previously described, interesting bathroom here and tried to open the middle stall door.

Two open stalls and the locked one…

It was locked. I found this weird since I thought I was alone but just used a different one. Time passed and my roommates arrived and on the first morning we found out that both Gabi and I had heard the same weird banging noises in the middle of the night. They sounded like they were coming from the closet. This continued and it became a running joke that someone lived in our closet, or that there were body parts in there or ya know, whatever. Gabi also mentioned that she had heard footsteps several nights and had always assumed it was me coming in wearing squeaky sneakers. My sneakers do not squeak and I usually go to bed at the same time. I mostly ignored this since I hadn’t heard any squeaking.

I forget the exact order of events but as time went on and our joke progressed, it was decided that someone had moved into the mysterious middle stall and is living there which is why it’s always locked. Also, it is important to note that the idea of an alien in our closet was not completely rejected. In fact, the most likely explanation for all of this is that the middle bathroom stall and our wardrobes are actually vanishing cabinets (for those of you that are lost, that is a Harry Potter reference), this makes sense because we’ve yet to discover a more logical reason behind the noises and locked stall door. Besides, vanishing cabinets are logical.

Alright, 3 or 4 nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard a weird noise. The longer I listened the clearer the sound became and in a shiver, Gabi’s complaints came flooding back to me. The sneakers. Loud and clear there were footsteps in our room. I rolled over and no one was there. In a slight panic I rolled back over and tried desperately to fall asleep again, eventually the sound faded. I recounted the episode at breakfast and realized just how much it had spooked me. This wasn’t my typical it’s-dark-and-there-is-probably-a-boogie-man feeling it was a bit more of the nervous-someone-followed-me-home-at-night feeling supported by smart and sensible Gabi’s animated reaction to my finally having heard the squeaks. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, it was concluded that whoever lived in that middle stall was using the vanishing wardrobes and wandering around our room at inappropriate hours in inappropriate footwear. Two nights later I experienced the same thing and when I reported my hearings I was clarifying that the footsteps were nearer to Gabi’s bed than my own and having never discussed it before, Gabi agreed.

This has nothing to do with the story (she got her own sheets and was stuffing away the provided ones) but it shows the wardrobes and I find it interesting that some people believe the little white circle thing you see is an orb…a sign of a ghost…ooooo!

You all think I’m crazy. And paranoid. And just in case, I’d like to say this is mostly a joke causing good entertainment and making it much more interesting to be trapped inside this old, catholic, boy’s boarding school with no exposure to the outside world for many hours at a time.

One angle of the view outside the window on the boys floor. The building on the mid-right is a studio about 4 floors down.

RESUME

“Don’t blink”
The day had finally come! Our lakes and town bus tour of Austria! I’d looked forward to this since I first signed up for the program. Almost 40 people signed up for the all day excursion and we loaded a double decker bus and drove off at about 9am on 5 hours of sleep. This is the “don’t blink” part….being so tired my eye lids were heavy but the view was absolutely too spectacular to risk even blinking. I figured that the desire to glue my eye balls to the window would let up eventually and I could nap. Nope. The torturously beautiful mountains and lake was our backdrop all day long. I decided to bring the view home with me since it was pointed out that it would be hard to get one of the cute, live, ducks through customs. Scenery is obviously easier to fit in a suitcase. Anyway, the sun was shining! Our first day off when it wasn’t pouring! I even had a lovely red sun burn to prove it.
I think it will be easier to walk you through our day by pictures and captions.

This was my first glimpse of the scenery once off the bus. You can kind of see the lake and mountains and other dancers! We had about an hour here. It was incredibly hot and I bought an iced coffee and played on the swings and sat by the lake with the ducks!

Destination 2 and 3

Cont.

After a bit of a drive on the bus where our back ground started out as American pop music and slowly digressed to bad 90’s American pop music, we arrived at the second stop. I dangled my feet in the water while some friends swam and some took pictures! But the pictures simply don’t do the view justice!

Our third destination was lunch and city. We wandered a lot though the beautiful streets and buildings looking for food. We didn’t have the time for and didn’t want to pay for some of the tourist traps. Finally, hot and tired we got some food. This picture was more for the sake of “wow, look at the architecture and natural view behind lunch” but conveniently shows Gwen and Kelsey from the conversation above!

Destination 4. We didn’t actually get to stop here…

This picture was taken from the bus window as the rain that kept us from our 4th tour stop began to let up. It was so stormy so suddenly that we saw people in bikinis rushing around and boats filling with water and our bus began to leak. Those pictures didn’t really turn out. The lighting was amazing!

As compensation, we all got free cake and hot chocolate! It was fancy. Also at the cafe there was a cat and a happy atmosphere with content people having conversation with friends! It was a good way to end the trip!

This basically concludes Saturday’s adventure. It’s late and I need to rest up to get through week 4 including 4 performances! For more pictures, see Facebook within the week.

Until next time,

Emily