July 13th
Posted on: August 21, 2009
July 13th, 2009, Monday night:
Our bus detoured around the Autobahn from Munich to Salzburg, so we went through cute little villages and saw beautiful countryside. Of course, I saw that between my jet-lagged naps. Everyone I meet seems wonderful! Most singers in the program are rising juniors, seniors, and grad students with a few outliers who are younger or older.
Our Gastmutter is the sweetest lady in the world and quite the talker!! My second German eaves-dropping moment was getting to hear her speak with the lady taxi driver in German. I was so excited when I understood a little bit! I unpacked Saturday night and organized my room exactly to my liking. My Gastmutter cooked a delicious meal for my roommate and I, and she had Mozartkugeln for dessert, which are balls of chocolate and marzipan.
On Sunday, we had our first Austrian-style breakfast: bread, ham, tomato, cheese, butter, Nutella, and jelly. Our Gastmutter showed us which buses to take to go to the Salzburg College where all our classes are. My experience with the Ubahn system in Vienna really helped prepare me for the Salzburg buses because before last fall, I’d never had to figure out public transportation before.
We ate our first typical Austrian dinner on Sunday night: potato salad, schnitzel with jelly, and rice. LOVE IT!
Frau showed us around the neighborhood and took us up the hills/mountains to see a most splendid view of the city. The sunset is incredible over the mountains near and far that are green and covered in tall, colorful weeds! People of all ages jog and ride bikes seriously here, and I’m so glad we’re far from the city J
48 hours after landing, I started my first German class on Monday morning, and I think we’re all perfectly placed together in the same level.
It’s a good thing that I practiced this summer, because we sang for all the voice teachers and coaches on Monday and did our opera scenes audition on Tuesday. I would have had no time to get in vocal shape; we dove right into things and first impressions are so important!
