What Have I Learned?

In the three months I have been in Austria, Italy, and the Czech Republic, I have learned a lot of things, and the great majority of them are not what my professor wanted me to learn. We were invited to keep a learning log, but I had a difficult time getting it started. I would sit down to write something, but nothing would come. I had learning log writer's block. I think only now it's beginning to lift. So here, even though they may not necessarily be scholastically based, are the things that I have learned in Vienna (... and Venice, Rome, and Prague...).

1.) Everyone smokes. I thought that most of the older generation would smoke, and I was right. I wasn't expecting all of the younger generation to smoke as well. It is not at all uncommon to see kids who look to be around eleven years old smoking. The anti-smoking craze that took place in the States has yet to take place here. Most cafes and restaurants still allow smoking. Cafe Griensteidl on Michaelerplatz was the first to become a fully non-smoking cafe. There was a huge backlash. People were outraged by such a move. I was curious what the incidence of lung cancer was, but couldn't find any recent data. I think it must be somewhat high.

2.) Bread and butter in the morning can be satisfying, but only for so long. The problem is that there seem to be only two types of bread here. There is white bread and there is dark bread. Almost every roll is white, and I think dark bread is secretly just white bread that is dark. I'm sure that none of it is even remotely good for you. On that note, I'm guessing that I have not fulfilled my nutritional requirements a single day the whole time I've been here. Not having a kitchen or unlimited funds really makes eating well rounded meals a challenge.

3.) When you look a European man in the eyes and smile, it IS flirtation, and not just a friendly greeting. Don't be surprised if a French man has his Swiss friend translate his desires to go for a walk with you the next morning, tells you he won't be able to sleep that night if you're not with him, and asks for your phone number in the States in case he's ever there.

4.) Baroque architecture is Baroque architecture is Baroque architecture. If I see any more, I may shoot myself. Ceramic stoves are lit from behind so as to keep the room from becoming covered in a layer of soot. The Mezzanine is the floor with the least ornate windows. It's not actually worthy of being called a floor. The pendants on the ceiling above chandeliers were originally there to keep the ceiling from being blackened by the candle smoke. As far as decoration, if a little was good, a lot was good. There shouldn't be empty space on the walls, so they should be covered with frescos or tapestries.

5.) The theory is that if something is important, it should look important. Thus, excess was a necessity. A king had to live in a palace large enough for hundreds of people. Buildings like the main railway station were made to look important by using classic architectural styles. Building a palatial set of museums dedicated to art and nature was a statement that these buildings were important.

6.) German television commercials late at night are downright pornographic, and they last forever. When you think it's safe to flip back to the channel, it's not.

7.) Burg Kreuzenstein has the coolest tour guide. He's an old guy who says things like, "I'm really not supposed to do this..." as he picks up a large double handed sword. This was also my favorite castle tour. It was short, but awesome. The kitchen had a ridiculously huge table weighing a ton (an actual ton). It was once a bridge, but the castle owner decided to use it as a table, so he moved it to his property and built the kitchen around it.

8.) You will hear both that people in medieval times were smaller and that they weren't. The beds were shorter because they slept in a seated position, apparently. The canopy above beds was to prevent bugs from coming onto the bed after falling through thatched roofs and down from the ceilings.

9.) Any castle will tell you that a full suit of armor was not actually worn into battle. It was far too heavy and limited movement. Instead they wore chain mail and helmets. You either carried a shield or you carried a sword, but carrying both would weigh you down too much.

10.) The most important guests are met at the bottom of the staircase or before. The least important guests are not met at all, but must wait to be called.

11.) IKEA has hot dogs for €0,50. They're really good too!

12.) Haselnuss Eis is divine. So are Hühner Kebabs, Kürbiscremesuppe, Kartoffeln Gulasch, Schnitzelsemmel Sandwiches, and anything Sister Holmes cooks.

13.) Otto Wagner rocks my architectural world. Pretty much anything in Prague does as well. Prague is one of the few places where cubism affected architecture in a big way. The cubist architecture I'm fairly neutral towards, but the art nouveau influences were wonderful. Oh, how I love it.

14.) Honking is not as common here as it is in the states, but when it takes place, it's a really extended sound. There is no simple beep, but rather a laying on of the horn. Also, if you're walking in the bicycle area, be prepared to hear the bells, and no, those cyclists will not stop for you.

15.) Hanging paintings of your ancestors is just as common as chandeliers in every room, which is common.

16.) Long distance dating sucks, but only because you want to be with the person. If you didn't want to be with them, you wouldn't be in a long distance relationship. During every good moment, you'll wish they were there. During every bad moment, you'll wish they were there. Despite an eight hour time difference, you'll want to tell them all about your day, what you did, what you learned, what you felt about what you did and learned, and then you'll want to hear all about their day. You'll not get enough sleep, you'll constantly be tired, and you'll consider it worth it because you can't stand the time away.

17.) I need structure in my life. If I don't have much structure, I at least need stability. If I have neither, I become the type of person that shirks responsibility and bums around Europe eating in cafes when they should be doing homework.

18.) I am not who I thought I was. I thought I was the type of person who would gladly hitchhike across the nation, live it up, gain new experiences, backpack across Europe, see new things, meet new people, so on, so forth. It turns out, I am only some of those things. I'm all for meeting new people, but I am not the type to run off with a group of people I don't know to experience something crazy. I like to have a place that is mine. I hate Hostels. I hate wearing a backpack. I feel unsafe unless I'm in a group of people that I know. After all my life lusting after experiences just like these, when I actually was in the midst of them, I came to the conclusion that the life I have been leading all along is the one I really want.

19.) A Mosaic can look just like a painting.

20.) I hate frescos.

21.) Real marble is cold to the touch. Stucco marble is warm. You can usually tell just by the look of it based on the color and the pattern which one it is, but sometimes it's really well done. Stucco marble started because it was cheaper, but eventually was considered stylish even though it was actually more expensive.

22.) When you have toured enough churches and castles, they all blend together. If it is gothic, the arches are pointed. If it's romanesque, the arches are round. If it's baroque, it's disgustingly ornate. Most Stifts have elaborate libraries and a marble hall. Monks wrote books, made wine, farmed and gardened, prayed, and were fairly self-sufficient.

23.) Communism sucks. I have had opportunities here to talk to people who grew up in communism, and it's awful. To not be able to speak your mind, even to family members or to friends, would be awful. One woman, who was young during the communist era, said that her family kept talking about going to the beach. They bought her a little pail and a shovel and told her they were taking a trip. Then one day they said that they weren't going anymore, and she was very upset. She found out later that they had been planning to escape, but another family member reported them and they were interrogated. They were told that they could take their trip to the beach, but the youngest girl would have to stay behind with other family. So they called it off and stayed. The same girl told us that at the end of communism, it was a lot of little changes that caught her off guard. These are things that we take for granted every day, such as having more than one brand of mayonnaise to choose from in the store. One day during art class my professor sort of casually threw out that he "hate[s] the damn commies." I thought it was completely valid, as he wasn't arbitrarily stating that he hated communism based just on ideals, but he had actually been affected by it directly in his life.

24.) When a joke is told with a straight face during lecture, and stated as a fact, I will not know it's a joke. I will thus be terribly confused for a minute until another classmate laughs or says something.

25.) In Austria, a meal consists of about a million more dishes than in the States. There is a different plate or bowl for everything, and a plate for the bowls.

I'm not a good history student. I have gotten a general overview of Austrian history, which is in and of itself terribly confusing if you haven't had European history. The history of Austria is so intricately tied to so many other histories that it's almost impossible to understand without a deeper background. I have learned a ton since I arrived, and I'll continue learning all the time I'm here. When I get back to the States, what I have learned will affect what I continue to learn. There are a lot of things I wish I could do over this semester, but there's no hope on that front. So for now, I'll just chalk one up for experience and continue working for the finals. In the end, though, it is the time I spent playing Ligretto with the locals, or the time spent walking through the Naschmarkt, or a million other non-scholastic experiences that I will remember. And that is what I learned in Vienna.

Der Prinz von Homburg

This is a piece that was performed at the Theater an der Wien. Our class was invited to see a dress rehearsal of it last week, and last night we saw the actual performance.

This is doubtless the most trippy opera I have seen. The music is a-tonal, so for most of the performance it sounds a bit like you're listening to a long and carefully crafted car wreck. The stage direction was odd and meant to throw you off. The costuming slowly modernized through the performance. They began in powdered wigs and elaborate dresses and coats and ended in clothing that would probably have been common in the 60s (when the opera was written). In my personal opinion, the blue argyle sweater was the real star of the show. The set was one room with a trap door above, a trap door below, and neon lights all around the edge. The lighting was harsh and there was a lot of work with shadows and contrast.

This will be lengthy, but here is a synopsis of this adaptation, if it matters. I'll put a few asterisks before and after, so you can skip it if you'd like. Keep in mind that the acts are arbitrary. This piece was somewhere around 100 minutes long, which operatically is rather short. There is no change of scenery beyond the opening of a door here or there, and the costume changes are little indication of an actual change in scene. The cast consists of about 20 people.

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Act 1.i The garden of a castle in Fehrbellin
The Prince von Homburg sits and holds a wreath which he plays with dreamily. The Elector's courtiers come to find him and think he may be ill. The Elector takes the wreath and wraps a gold medallion around it. The Prince then grabs at Princess Natalie and begins to sing of his feelings for her. She pulls away, leaving her glove in his hand. Heinrich (my favorite character!) then wakes the prince, who apparently has been sleeping in the garden. He still holds Natalie's glove. Was it a dream? Was it reality?

Act 1.ii A hall in the castle
Marshal Dörfling is detailing plans to his commanders for the upcoming battle. The Prince is ordered not to attack with his cavalry until he receives further instructions. The Prince is, however, too distracted by the glove in his hand and the presence of Natalie to pay any attention to the orders being given. Natalie all the while is searching for her lost glove. He drops the glove and Natalie sees that the Prince has had it. Is reality colliding with dream? Is this still a dream?

Act 1.iii The battlefield of Fehrbellin, the next day
While waiting for the battle to begin, the Prince tries to receive clarification from Heinrich on the battle plan. He is still too distracted by his love for Natalie to pay attention. As the battle begins, the Prince orders his cavalry to attack the retreating Swedes despite his orders or all the reasoning his men try to give him against such a move. The men rush out, the sounds of battle ar heard, and the soldiers return one or two at a time, some falling to their deaths. Natalie and her mother along with the courtiers enter the stage and ask for news of the battle. They are told of the victory, but hear rumors that the Elector (Natalie's father) is among the dead. The Electress loses her senses in her grief and Natalie attempts to comfort her. The Prince declares his love for Natalie and offers that she take comfort in him. The Elector then appears, unharmed, and demands that the man responsible for the premature attack be sentenced to death. The Prince yields his sword (a.k.a. throws it across the stage in what appears to be frustration/rage) and is arrested.

Act 2. iv Prison
Heinrich stays by the Prince. It is at this point that the slow modernization of the costuming begins. Heinrich goes to the sink with the light above it (the only object on the stage) and washes the heavy white makeup from his face. The Prince is found guilty and the Elector is about to sign the death warrant.

Act 2. v The Prison Yard/ Act 2. vi The Electress' room
The Prince sees his grave. He sings of his feelings for death.

The stage darkens and the neon lights around the edge come on, increasing in intensity. As the lights on stage come back up Natalie stands in the back corner and another woman stands at the back wall, both dressed in black. The woman approaches the Prince, who sees her and exclaims "Meine Mutter!" or "My mother!" He tells her of how he just wishes to wrap his arms around her knees as he did as a child. She denies him comfort and treats him coldly. He exclaims that it is only after seeing his grave that he realizes how much he wants to continue living. He wraps his arms around her knees knocking her to the ground. Meanwhile Natalie has gone to the sink and wetted a sponge, with which she begins to erase the instructions for the battle which have been written on the wall in chalk. The Prince approaches her, but she is only present physically at this point and seems incapable of real response.

Act 2. vii The Elector's Room/ Act 2. viii Prison
Natalie promises to speak with her father and get the Prince's sentence rescinded. She later returns with a letter that promises a pardon if he will state that the sentence pronounced upon him was unjust (i.e. that his commander, who is also Natalie's father, was incorrect). He refuses, despite pleading from Natalie and Heinrich that he sign the letter.

Act 3. ix The Elector's Room
The Elector is informed that Natalie and her "dragoons" intend to free the Prince. Other officers request that he be pardoned, and the Elector agrees to preserve his own honor. The Prince, however, refuses to be pardoned and insists that the sentence passed was fair and must be carried out. He is sent back to prison to await his death.

Act 3. x The Castle Garden
A funeral march begins for the Prince. Are we there at his execution? The Elector offers him the wreath from earlier in the play, still with the medallion wrapped around it. Natalie attempts to place it on his head, at which point the Prince dies. They exclaim that the joy of the moment has killed him and the crowd sings "Lebe Prinz von Homburg." He lives again. At this point I kind of lost track of what was happening and couldn't entirely translate things. He is once again left alone and suddenly falls to the ground as the stage goes dark and a trap door above him opens, being the only source of light. Is this his grave? Is he still asleep? There is no explanation given. The stage darkens. The end.

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The entire point of the opera is to disturb your sense of reality. Through the entire thing you are left wondering if this is at all reality. The music is confused, the actions are unclear, the costuming is unstable, and symbolically it all takes place in one small location even though the plot demands a much larger scale.

All in all, I would call this a new and interesting experience in modern Opera. It was not my favorite, and the music grated on my nerves. Seeing it twice helped a bit, as the second time I knew what I was going in for. I was less put off by the music and more able to focus on everything else. The fact that in two performances I went from "hated every second of it" to "am not very fond of it" is actually pretty impressive.

I have reached that point...

I have reached the point of actually being so bored with opera that I can hardly stand going anymore.

Opera is absolutely beautiful, and when it's done well, there is nothing finer. The vocal quality of the well trained opera singer is a quality unmatched. It is absolutely astounding what notes they can hit, and what volume they can obtain while hitting them. Bring in the orchestra and the sound can be absolutely heavenly. Now throw in elaborately beautiful sets and ornate costumes, and you have a fine production. Opera is a high form of art that combines the visual with the vocal for a storytelling venue that was once considered profane, as it was strictly secular. It was meant as a complete art form. Instruments, vocals, sets, costuming, acting, and writing were all combined into one masterpiece.

Apparently it really caught on, which I think is great. I am, however, slightly cursed with the inability to like things based simply on one aspect. The perfect example would be La Boheme. This opera is ridiculously famous and beloved, and I hated it. The music was absolutely wonderful, but it wasn't enough to redeem the production. I literally sat there at the end thinking, "OH MY GOODNESS, DIE ALREADY!!! Seriously, please, just die! Stop singing! If you're not dead in the next thirty seconds, I'm just leaving." Thus, I leave many operas disappointed, disenchanted, and feeling the dichotomy of being more cultured every day for having seen them, but less cultured for having counted the seconds until they were over.

Some productions are simply amazing. My favorites have been Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and Eugen Onegin. These had it all. Great costuming, wonderful sets, amazing performers, and a thick and rich plotline that wasn't so complex so as to make the audience feel it was trudging through beautiful mud.

I am not sure why I thought that opera might be any different than every other art form. Name any art form and I'll name something in it that I dislike and everyone else seems to love. Movies? I disliked the new Star Trek movie, Ever After, The Notebook, and oh so many others. Literature? I am not particularly fond of Harry Potter. Art? I hate Picasso.

Any artistic style is just that way. I think every person has a movie they dislike, or a picture or painting they think is awful despite whatever fame it has attained. Or, in my case, an artist or an entire artistic style. Despite the fact that these works might be contextually important, or perhaps even be milestones in their category, that does not make them inherently good or enjoyable. No matter where I travel, what I learn, and what new perspectives I gain, chances are that I will never like Picasso and I will still be bored by La Boheme.