Gettin' all Artsy Fartsy on ya

This is a picture from my dorm looking out onto the Platz. Where the horse statue is (to the right) = the Albertine the most famous Art Museums in Vienna. And then to the left in the very far iff back ground with the green dome roof = the Staats Oper. And... just down the center street there about a block is where I take two classes at the Austrian American Institute.

Tuesday I think I had one of the most beautiful days of my life. I woke up had a hearty breakfast with one of my floor mates, ran off to class at ten a.m., enjoyed some intellectual conversation and then returned to my room in order to start a paper about the Shatzkammer that we had visited the day before. (Theh Schatzkammer is the house of the previous Monarch's the Habsburgs. One section of the mansion has been made into a museum where tourists like me can see over a thousand years of european history, through jewels, king robes, portraits and religious relics. The word Schatzkammer means treasure chamber in english) So after getting a hefty start on that, I ate a nice dinner and though I had been invited to go see a ballet with Stasia and some of her other friends I decided I didn't feel like waiting in line for two hours only to stand another three at the Ballet. I decided to go to vespers and mass instead at the Augustinerkirche across the street from me. To my surprise Stasia was at the bottom of my building steps to tell me that there was no line and that none of her friends had time for the ballet tonight. I explained how big of a wuss I was and she decided to accompany me to church. Vespers and the weekday mass are held in a tiny chapel of the church and are performed by the Augustiner monks there. We were the only two non monks there. I thought vespers would be listening to the organ but instead it was a back and forth prayer (sung) from one side of the chapel to the other. We were encouraged to pray with (mitbeten) as one of the monks gave us a prayer booklet accordingly. It was tough to follow not only because it was in german but also because we had to flip back and forth and find the right prayer- also the monks' voices are much deeper than my falsetto. We stayed for mass and then decided afterwards that we'd still try to get into the 7:30 show at the Staats Oper. We showed up around 7:15pm and were still able to get tickets in the standing area which I thought would be terrible but were actually quite nice, comfortable and a good view. The first ballet was traditional, the next two were modern dance pieces, and then the last was a spanish ballet. It was definitely something different and my first show in the famous Staats Oper. I enjoyed it and Stasia tried to explain what was happening and why while we ate carrots and a granola bar during the intermission. It was just a very blessed day.
Tonight we saw "Claus Peymann kauft sich eine Hose und geht mit mir essen" which translates "Peymann buys himself a pair of pants and goes with me to eat". It's a three series mini drama by one of my favorite writers Thomas Berndhard who is renown for his Beschimpfung Oesterreichs swearing at Austria. The swearing is better described as his Hass/Lieb (hate/love) that he had with his homeland- that he was born and raised in. Nevertheless tonight was extra special because 'Claus Peymann' former Director of the famous Viennese Burg Theater and now Intendant of the famous Berliner Ensemble, was to be starring in this mini drama written about him, Hermann Beil (Peymann's faithful Dramaturg ) and Thomas Bernhard. The piece is a comedy that focuses on the absurdity of and behind "The Theater." It was so odd to to have these two old men Beil and Peymann starring in a play about themselves. They are not actors and everyone could tell they weren't trained as actors as they held there scripts in their hands and looked for cues from the fidgeting crazy lady narrator! ahaha It was quite the experience, but hilarious and special too!
Spring comes as soon as I'm done with my 10:30 class tomorrow. I finally decided to stay in Vienna and check out the scene around her. Plans could include a day trip to Bratislava, visiting a chocolate factory, checking out a couple of the local monasteries (that have been around for centuries) , a picnic in the Wiener Wald (forest), and St. Stephansdom (cathedral) for Easter sunday! Oh and then the second week is already a scheduled trip to Prague, with guided tours, Mozart's Don Giovani, and a day off hopefully for a trip to Pilzen home of the most famous pilz beer in the world (Pilsner Urquell). It's gonna be a crazy couple of weeks.