Wow, its really done. We travelled together around Europe for 27 days. There was so much to experience both on our own and as a whole class. We saw a total of 18 performances, had 8 group dinners, and a lot of hours on planes and trains together... some would say too many hours. But every minute was a new experience. There was so much I did and saw, and I didn't even get to everything I wanted to do in every city. It is crazy how long, yet how short a month is in a foreign country. There were times I wanted to be back home and able to see my family and sleep in my own bed. When it comes down to it, I realized how blessed I am to be able to travel away for this amount of time and see so much and then I don't miss home as much.
I talked to people on this trip that I never would have talked to on campus any other day. I made new friends and got to make memories with old friends. I learned a lot about myself over this time and I am so happy I got that opportunity. Being that I have been a music student since the fifth grade, music is a very important part of my life. I didn't realize how much music I wasn't experiencing before. I had never seen an opera, had only seen one ballet, but I had seen many classical concerts. Being able to experience two ballets and three operas this month was very eye opening for me. I found that I enjoy opera, and I love ballet. The first opera that we saw Andrea Chenier, was a bit much for me to be honest. The big hair and big dresses with so many people on stage was a little crazy. After I got over the craziness and settled in, I was able to listen to their voices a bit more in depth and oh my were they AMAZING. My favorite opera by far was Le Nozze di Figaro. It was simple and they worked so well around the orchestra being on stage instead of in a pit.
We went to 5 different cities and I have finally decided on a favorite, it was really close between Vienna and Salzburg. But I do have to say the favorite is Salzburg. The mountains were all around us and it felt like home in a way. It was so nice to be able to walk out of the hostel and look over and see a mountain, it was just like walking out my front door and being able to see Mt. Rainier. People were so nice in Salzburg also. People actually smiled at you as you walked by one another, the other cities were not like this. There was so much more I wanted to do in Salzburg but our schedule was pretty tight over the time we were there so I will have to come back.
We were told that we were going on this trip to see the best of the best and I think we did just that. The only performance I was disappointed with was the very last one; Otello. It wasn't the performers but the audience that I was disappointed with and it pulled away from the performance a lot. People were coughing the whole time, dropping change, and someone's phone even went off. I couldn't focus on the opera as well as I would've liked to but that's okay because I still was able to be there. Other than that, Dr. Powell was right, we were going to see the best of the best and that's exactly what we did. It really is bittersweet to be back home and writing this final blog about this "once in a lifetime" trip. It still doesn't feel like it is really over, part of that I can thank for the jet lag that is still hanging around... ugh. But I will definitely be back to Europe at some point in my life, hopefully sooner rather than later. This trip was amazing and I am so grateful to have experienced it with the class I did.
Until next time!
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