HalloWIEN

I can't believe it's already November. October flew by quickly. This week, we had midterms at IES, which meant a lot less time in class (and I hardly had to study). Also, I had Thursday and Friday completely free, so it was nice to have a long weekend where I didn't really have any homework. The weekend was especially fun because Kristen Irgens, a good friend who recently graduated from DePauw and is now living in Strasbourg for a year, came to Vienna for 3 nights. It was great to show somebody around. I discovered that talking about the city and realizing how much I know about it is very comforting, and makes me appreciate living here even more.

Halloween is very much an American holiday, and while there were a few costume stores open in Vienna, the lack of decorations (and candy) around the city made it fairly clear to me that it is not widely celebrated here. However, I still had a great time. I bought a tiger mask, which is something I will be able to wear at DePauw too, because our mascot is a tiger. I wore some preppy clothes and the mask, and it sufficed. We had people over to the apartment before going to a party at the local brewery. Costumes included: a geisha, Britney Spears, Lucille Bluth from "Arrested Development," a cowboy, and my personal favorite - Beyonce and her two backup dancers from the "Single Ladies" music video. They even learned the dance. Oh, and they were all males. It was impressive.

Here are my week's highlights:

Tuesday, October 27th: I went to Europe's largest underground lake, which is right outside Vienna. It used to be a gypsum mine, then it flooded, and that's how the lake was created. I went on a boat tour.

Wednesday, October 28th: I finally went to the "Haus der Musik," an interactive music museum right around the corner from IES. It contained a lot of information on how our ears and brains work in regards to hearing music as well as entire rooms devoted to famous composers of Vienna.

Thursday, October 29th: Kirgens and her friend Maggie arrived by train in the evening, and we went to Cafe Leopold in the Museumsquartier and caught up on life.

Friday, October 30th: We went to Schoenbrunn and admired the gardens. Everything is really pretty with the leaves changing colors. Then we went on a tour of the palace, something I had yet to do. The rooms were very impressive. I can't imagine living in such luxury.

In the evening we saw "Lady Macbeth von Mzensk," an opera by Shostakovich. It was incredible, especially the orchestral excerpts. It had a weird story line (a lot of sex and murder), but the music was great.

Saturday, October 31st: Halloween! We went to the Belvedere Palace and ate lunch at a nearby brewery. Then I went home, took a nap, put on my tiger mask and waited for people to come over.

Sunday, November 1st: Today I went to the Albertina, the museum here that contains a lot of Impressionist art, then took Kirgens and Maggie back to the train station. Now I'm contemplating starting on some homework...

I love you all.