Last night

Hello, all!
Thanks so much for following me through my journey at LAI. It has been a GREAT learning experience, and I have had so much fun.

In about 5 hours I need to be awake and will then be on my way to the Graz airport. My first flight leaves at 7:50 am, and I land in KCI sometime after 6 pm (I left my flight info in my room haha).

The final concert went great, and I spent today in the city and am now frantically packing. I've said my goodbyes to all the friends I've made here, and am very excited to come home.

Aufwiedersehn, Österreich!
:)
Lauren

Konzert

Guten morgen alles!

Last night was our first concert, at a really nice venue. It was by no means a huge concert hall, it was quite small, but a nice space. We arrived there at about 4:00 (It's an hour away from Graz) and had 3 1/2 hours to relax. We all did a sound-check, and then Tracy vocalized us. There was a little cafe in the front of the building, so I was able to grab a Toast (grilled cheese with ham). I splurged and had a Kaffee-eis for dessert, because I figured the coffee (even though I really don't like coffee...) would give me a good boost of energy, which it did.

About 25 people were in the audience, which is apparently a lot in reference to past years at LAI. They were a very relaxed and peaceful crowd, mostly all friends of Tracy and Wolfgang. I sang "Die Einsame" in the first set, which went better than it has yet. The challenge for both of my songs is trying not to run out of air. "Selige Nacht" was my song in the second set, and it could have gone better, but I made it through the song without fainting. So that's good! Haha. Everyone sang wonderfully.The owner of the building advertised the concert as starting at 8:00 pm instead of 7:30 pm, so we didn't finish until after 10. Afterwards the owner provided sandwiches and wine, and then we had to head back to the Schloss in some very foggy weather. The scenery was gorgeous, though. We didn't get back to the Schloss until midnight, and I had trouble winding down, and once again woke up with the sun very very early. I've been taking mid-morning naps to try to get myself through the days, as my sleep schedule is pretty off right now.

After lunch I'm going into Graz with Val, and we're going to try to get some souvenirs. I've had so much trouble getting things for people, because we go into town in the evenings or on Sundays. The shops all close by 7 pm, and nothing is open on Sundays. So hopefully I can get some stuff. Tomorrow we have all day to do whatever we want, and then a group goodbye dinner is at 6 pm. I know a group of girls is going to Vienna, which would be awesome, but the train ride is about 2 1/2 hours, and we have to be back by 6 pm. I think I'll go into Graz again, and just enjoy the city one last time.

The concert tonight is here at the Schloss in our piano room. I'm not sure how many people will show up, but I'm guessing around 20-25 again. I think we're all anxious for the concert to be over. It's been a long and great process, but 3 1/2 weeks from home is really tough. I'm going to be happy to go home and spend the rest of the summer working and with Dan. I'm missing everyone very much!

Wish me luck tonight!

 I just loved this building. This was in Graz on our way to Mariatrost and I forgot to upload it. The buildings here are so colorful and lively!

 I have no idea where the door goes haha, but it's here at the Schloss and I just thought it was very quaint. I love how old this building is, there are so many beautiful features.

Ready to sing! This is before the concert last night. You can't tell extremely well in this picture, but my dress is a deep purple. I was so excited that it didn't get wrinkled in my suitcase! Which just made me think of how much stuff I have to pack up again...*sigh*.

Talk soon,

Lauren

Crunch Time

Hey everyone!

So the past couple of days have been basically all about the concerts. We did a complete run-through of our songs yesterday...which timed out to like a 3 hour concert (!!!!). So Tracy and Wolfgang are deciding today what to cut. It will be interesting to see which songs they decide to throw out. Either way, it will be a long concert haha. Before each song, Wolfgang reads the poem to the audience. It's a great way to get "in the zone" for the song. Tracy also recorded us yesterday with a video camera, and then we painfully watched ourselves. So all in all, class was like 5 hours long yesterday and we were all exhausted.

Val and I had signed out for dinner, as did 3 other people, so we knew we couldn't eat here at the Schloss. But I was definitely regretting that we would have to actually walk someplace. We decided to try the Gasthaus that is about a 30 minute hike up the mountain. However, when we got there it was closed. Sooo we either could walk 20 more minutes to some Italian restaurant on the other side of the mountain, and then hike an hour back to the Schloss in the dark (if we could even find the restaurant...), or we could hike back to the Schloss, and then continue down the mountain into town. So we chose the latter, and wound up at a little bar. Our waiter was familiar with a couple of the people I was with, and we were all starving after our hour excursion up and down the mountain. So I ordered a cheeseburger (I know, I know...but I was craving one so badly!) and some fries. We all were ordering sides with our meals, and our waiter just kept laughing at us. It didn't help that our German is pretty awful haha. So we finally get our food, and there had to have been about 12 plates of food on the table...we had no idea how we ended up with so much food! One girl even ordered the complete wrong thing as to what she thought she ordered haha. And to top it all off, our waiter brought out bread! So we feasted, and the food was actually very good. I left with Val before everyone else around 9:45 pm, because I had a skype date with Dan. Which I was still late to, because we had to hike back UP the mountain to the Schloss. Needless to say, I am sore today haha.

So today we have our final dress rehearsal. A concert tomorrow evening at a venue I'm still not clear about where it's located, and Wednesday night a concert at the Schloss in our piano room. We have a free morning today, which is much welcome, considering that a charter bus full of people arrived at 4:30 am and started unloading their luggage right outside of my window. So after my alarm went off and I called Dan for our daily chat, I definitely went back to sleep for another hour. So far today I have been doing laundry, and need to warm up before lunch so I can be ready for the long dress rehearsal (which is again being recorded).

This is the view outside of our poetry classroom. So lovely.

Happy fourth everyone!

Lauren

Eine Woche!

Guten morgen!

So we have really gotten down to crunch-time here. I have 2 of my 3 songs memorized, and am for sure singing 2 of my 3 songs on the TWO final concerts. Apparently we have a concert on Tuesday in a different location, a bigger venue, and a concert on Wednesday here at the Schloss. My third song that is questionable, Selige Nacht, sits so high in my voice that my breathing is becoming difficult. So we may scratch that one, but it is a beautiful composition.

I have a voice lesson soon, and am excited to show Tracy the work I have accomplished in the past 2 days, and then I have poetry coaching after lunch, performance class, and German. I have been struggling with my German "ah" vowel, and closed "e" vowel, so we will see how my coaching with Wolfgang goes.

I've really enjoyed the experience of studying the text before learning the music. I think it is very beneficial to the singer and pianist, and helps make the text easier to express.

Yesterday I went back into Graz for dinner with a few people. We had authentic Austrian food that was so yummy. I had some cream soup and then a baked potato with lots of veggies, turkey, and sour cream. We were very full after that meal. We also had a limited amount of time to shop, because we got into town around 5:30 and shops were closing around 6:00 and 7:00. I did return to the Gummibärchen store, and also found the cutest little chocolate shop! So everything I've bought so far is edible haha.

We just had a group meeting this morning about the attitudes here at the program. There have been several dramatic incidents, and lots of "singer's egos" floating around. I was glad to see that Tracy actually typed up a "contract" that we each had to sign, basically summing up that this needs to be a positive environment. It was silly that she had to even do that, but I think it is for the best.

I miss everyone so much! I'll keep updating! One week left!

Lauren

Die Sonne

Hallo!

Just a brief update before my poetry lesson...

Yesterday I had a nice big break in the middle of the day, and spent it practicing, relaxing, reading, and writing postcards. However, I found out that a stamp is almost 3 US dollars, so my 4 postcards I'm going to send will be the only ones I send haha. We had a performance class yesterday evening that went loooong, and I wasn't back in my room until about 10 pm. We all had to dress in our gowns so that we could take a picture for the promotional poster for the final concert and for the program.

I'm struggling with learning my third song, which is a lot higher than I am used to singing, and I'm having difficulties sustaining those top notes. Also, yesterday morning there was a HUGE awkward disagreement between a couple of the students and the instructors during our group poetry class. There seem to be some people here who are unwilling to open their minds and learn...and I'm thankfully not one of them. Tracy actually thanked me today in my lesson for really trying to learn and take everything they tell me and apply it. Needless to say, living with 9 singers is NOT easy haha. I really miss home, but I have only 9 days left and am going to absorb as much as I can!

I need to get ready for my lesson, but will update again tomorrow! I think I'm singing again in performance class today. Hope everyone is holding Kansas down! :)

Some pictures around the Schloss:

 The Schloss at night. We have lessons in those 2 towers, actually.

I'm guessing this building is where the landscapers stay? But this is the organic garden on the Schloss. The food we eat daily is organic and is grown here. There is also a fruit tree plantation I need to take pictures of. It's beautiful.

Lauren

Gib mir die Hände!

Hi!
Yesterday we went into Graz again, this time for more sight-seeing than for shopping.

Valerie and I's first destination was Mariatrost. Mariatrost is an old church that sits on top of a mountain. To get there we had to take the bus into Graz, then switch to another Autobahn (streetcar), and take that as far as it went. About 30 minutes travel-time altogether. When we got out of the bahn, we had to walk up this mountain (approx. 100 steps or so) to get to the church. Not only was the view breathtaking, but the church itself was lovely.

 This is a view of the church from our journey at the bottom-ish of the small mountain.

 Valerie and I were about to celebrate like total tourists when we finally reached the top of the stairs, but then we realized church was just getting out...so we had to contain our enthusiasm haha. It's interesting how the "Sunday best" for many Austrians is the traditional Lederhosen and Drindls. Also strange, was how inside of the church on either side of the altar, there were 2 small coffins with what looked like a baby skeleton inside each of them?! We weren't sure...it was more on the creepy side so I definitely didn't take pictures because I didn't want to seem disrespectful. 

This is me after reaching the top. As you can see, the view behind me is amazing. We walked all around too, but this part of the view is by far the best.

The inside of the church was marvelous:

 This is the painted ceiling of Mariatrost. Very beautiful.

A photo of the altar-ish area. Members of the congregation were moving music instruments around, so I had to take just a few pictures and they were in the way of the altar.

After Mariatrost, we took the Bahn back into the core of Graz, and ate lunch at a little Turkish restaurant serving kebaps. A kebap is lamb mixed with vegetables (tomatoes, onion, lettuce) and a spicy chile sauce inside of pita bread. It was very good...my first "street food" experience. And there are lots of Turks that reside in Austria. Tracy was telling us how there is still a lot of racism here against Turks.

After lunch, Valerie and I headed to the Schloss Berg, where we climbed 256 steps to the top of Graz.

 Valerie and I not even halfway up, and already the view is wonderful and everything seemed so far away!

 Finally at the top of the Berg, or so we thought...we kept finding more inclines and places to get another great view.

 This is my favorite picture Valerie took of me. Enjoying the great view of the city. We even spotted our secluded Schloss far off in the distance.

It was really cool how there were pretty gardens along the Berg (mountain) as we walked up. The landscaping here is already amazing, but the flowers are so colorful!

 A few terraces in one of the many gardens on the Berg.

 I just think this picture is so charming. A window of a house close to the Berg on our way down.

There were also sculptures and lots of pieces of artwork at the top of the Schloss Berg...this was some strange sculpture I probably shouldn't have decide to lounge on haha. What was funny is when I sat up there were some German-speaking people staring at me and then asking Valerie about the art (because we knew...hahaha). Every description of the pieces of art were in German! Umm...hello?! Haha.

The Schlossberg was my favorite adventure of the day. After that we went to see the Operhaus (Opera), which was closed :(. But we took pictures in front of it anyway.

Then a group of us met up again and had dinner at a little Austrian pub. Here I looked like a dumb American when I tried to ask for our bill, and really they just bill you with a computer and everything right there at your table one-by-one haha. I ordered Bratwurst with some Saurkraut/ham concoction, and split Apfelstrudel (yum!) for dessert.

Es war sehr gut! And for the record, that pile of stuff on the right is horseradish. NOT cheese. Haha.

I'm about to go sing in performance class...Die Einsame. Hope everyone is well!

Bis später!

Lauren

Hallo! Pictures!

This is a palace that takes up like an entire block...such a pretty building.

 This is called the Painted Building...if you look closely you can see the painted figurines..all done by hand of course.

 This is yet another palace...there are just little gates you see while walking along the street, and if you go inside of them it appears to be just a courtyard. Then you realize it is something much more royal than that.

 This is what Wolfgang called the "postcard view" of Graz. My picture is of course not very good and doesn't do the view justice, but the clock tower sets upon Schlossberg. This is where one could take the tram, ride the lift, or walk up the stairs to get a great view of the city. I want to do this on Sunday...since we didn't have the chance yesterday.

 These are the 256 steps to the top of the Schlossberg. Looks worse than it really is, is what Wolfgang told us. However, he is quite a sprite old man...so I'm not so sure if we should believe him haha!

 It seemed that there were musicians on every street corner...here you see the oboe and a guitar..and that guy was dancing really strange and had a weird moustache. He was also shaking a "shaker egg." Classic.

 This fence runs alongside a bridge over the river in Graz, and there are locks attached all the way down it. At first I thought they were bike locks, but when I looked closer they actually look like "marriage locks." Or something? Couples write their names on it in the classic LB <3 DK way, and then attach the lock to the fence. Kind of cool. There were hundreds along this fence...very fun tradition.

This piece of interesting architecture was built buy an American architect in 2004, when Graz was awarded some kind of modern art achievement. It was supposed to be destroyed after 2004, but the people of Graz loved it so much that the city bought it. It acts as a connecting bridge over the river, and there is also a little cafe inside. We tried to go explore it yesterday, but there was some VIP event happening and we were too scared to make our way down into the actual cafe. Wolfgang told us that the most fascinating part about the building is the bathroom. HAHA! So we need to go back and find out for ourselves. He seriously said the bathroom was amazing.

Not too much new here since last night, other than I DEFINITELY woke up and felt like I had walked miles yesterday. Today we are all dragging a little bit. We had lessons this morning, and I enjoyed my coaching with Myron, the diction instructor. He really is like another voice teacher here, and a great motivator. I think they are serving veal for lunch, I opted for the vegetarian meal of some sorts because the whole baby-cow thing freaks me out. Tonight the staff is gone, as this is a holiday weekend for Austrians, so we are eating coldcuts and such. It has been quiet around the Schloss since no one is here because of the holiday and we have been the only group here for a few days.

Right now I am looking out the window at the little chapel across the street and there is a wedding. One wonders how expensive that may be, but also so beautiful!

Lauren