To Float on the Wayward Wind

It has finally come! My last blog post about studying abroad in Vienna. It only took me a year and two months or so to finally finish them after I had returned (life got busy!)... Still, I'm glad that I've taken the time to do this so that I can finally bring closure to the experience through the lens of blogging. It's not that I don't feel I processed the experience irrespective of blogging, but I wouldn't feel "complete" or "finished" given that I did blog while there and haven't finished that aspect of my experience. Also, while I have no idea what the longevity of Blogger as a service will be or what may happen to disrupt my account in the future, I can use this blog as a record of my memories of what was important at the time. As far as executing this post, I first want to touch on the IES Vienna center in Palais Corbelli at Johannesgasse 7 in Vienna's first district. I then want to touch on some of the random sights that often made...

I was very fortunate to have Catherine around to push me to get to the last destinations that I really  just had  to see before I left Vienna. Here is a list of those places that don't fall into the categories of the previous posts. Some writing, lots of photos. Belvedere: I had actually visited the Belvedere with an IES group earlier in the term when it was sunny and pleasant. The weather wasn't so nice and it was kind of dreary seeing the exterior this time. That said, however, one of the big  attractions was getting to see the inside of the Belvedere and the art exhibit inside, which focuses on Austrian painters from the Fin de Siècle and Art Nouveau periods. The biggest attractions at the Belvedere were Monet's Garden Path at Giverny  and Gustav Klimt's seminal works Judith mit dem Haupt Holofernes  and Der Kuss . The last, of course, was amazing to see as one of the renowned paintings of Symbolism, of art history, and of Klimt's body of work. I...

I want to take the time to record some of my final destinations in Vienna that were related to performances of various kinds. I won't review the actual performances themselves, for the most part, because they are all available on my blog The Passion of Opera , rather, I want to detail my experiences actually going to those locations. A lot of this will just be pictures. Wiener Staatsoper: First, of course, I returned to the Wiener Staatsoper several times toward the end of my time in Vienna. I went to two operas with Catherine,  La boheme  and  Nabucco .  La boheme  was a great production with famous singers designed by Zeffirelli. There was no better opera for a young couple to see together.  Nabucco  was flat out confusing, but like every opera I saw, a learning experience. It took some work to get pictures of me and even the usher I had befriended was shooing us out by the end, so sadly we didn't get the pictures we wanted in the actual Ste...