I bring a whole new meaning to the term "wrecking ball"

I didn't think it was actually going to happen but I finally got to go to a real Viennese ball! It was everything I imagined and more. I definitely felt like a princess, minus the grace and poise (and the prince charming) of course... but a princess nonetheless!

It was the Rotkreuzball (Red Cross Ball) and was very similar to prom, only, the ball had real class. I went with a bunch of music students and did the typical dance things: went out to dinner first, took lots of pictures, and danced all night long. 

Most of the people there were older Viennese citizens so everyone was in ball gowns and tuxedoes. The ball was in the Rathaus which is a beautiful government building that looks like a castle.




The theme had something to do with Japan so the tables had beautiful white flowers and hand made paper cranes everywhere. We unfortunately didn't realize that there was nowhere to sit if you didn't reserve a table so as cheap college students, we had to stand all night and but luckily there was plenty of dancing to do!



When we walked in, it was like being in Hollywood. They stop you and take your picture on the red carpet but also hand you gifts! I took home a pair of gold earrings, some decorations, and the best gift of all, pastries.

The ball opened with the presentation of the debutantes, all in white poofy dresses, tiaras, gloves, etc. and they waltzed beautifully. There was a full, live orchestra which was so awesome and after the beautiful young people danced, the dance floor opened up to anyone who wanted to dance. After watching the debutantes waltz I was pretty intimidated so I sat the first dance out. Waltzing looked way faster than I remembered and I couldn't remember any of the steps.

But someone asked me to dance by the second song so I said 'what the heck,' jumped right in, and well, it was entertaining for both me and the bystanders. I was first a little shocked just to be in Vienna waltzing to a live orchestra in basically a castle. Second, nervous that I would trip all over the place and embarrass my poor partner, and third, getting spun around like a drying machine! It was like bumper cars out there. Those old people have a lot of spunk! Since everybody is spinning around you don't really have control of what's happening, especially if you're the lady. So everyone is bumping into each other. I did okay and luckily my first partner spoke english very well and was nice enough to show me the steps. I definitely looked like a newb, watching my feet the whole time, but I think I did respectably. At least for my standards.



After a bit of dancing there were some solo performances which included two very beautiful and very dramatic singers. The guy was a typical beautiful Austrian who had a great voice. We thought he might be someone famous so we took a fan girl picture with him.

Francisco (from Chile) and Andrea (Chicago)

After the concert things got a little crazy. Just kidding, more like a lot crazy! The line dancing started at midnight and this was when the party really started. Anyone that was left went out onto the dance floor and made huge lines. The orchestra played some really fun polka-ish music and everyone did the steps to some super complicated line dancing choreography. We wanted to join but it looked so difficult. I wasn't going to do any line dancing but then our whole group decided to just go for and we made such huge fools of ourselves but it was such a blast. The orchestra would play for a minute or two, stop, and then play again but it got faster each time. You march forward, backwards, bow, criss-cross, spin around, and do all sorts of things that we never quite got the hang of. The people watching were cracking up at our group trying to figure out what the heck was going on but 2 min. into the line dancing we gave up on trying to be poised and graceful and just had fun. The best part of the line dancing was when in between each set couples would gallop all the way down the row and back to their spot. I galloped once with a friend and caused a trainwreck haha. Everyone probably thought we had too much champagne but oh well!

After that I forgot about how much my feet hurt and danced for the next two hours. There was a 'disco' room that had fun lights and american music (people were still waltzing in there which was weird but we showed them how it's really done) and a waltzing only room.

I danced with one more Austrian, Johannes, who was super nice and tried to teach me some different dances but I unfortunately started getting worse! I accidentally made him trip big time and I could not keep up with the tempo. My friend got it all on video and I'd post it here but you'll probably see it on youtube as the next most viral video. Ay carumba.


All in all, it was one of the most memorable experiences I think I'll have this semester and I'm so glad I was able to go! Although I looked like bambi trying to walk on ice out there I was definitely inspired and really want to start learning how to ballroom dance. Look out dancing with the starts, here I come!

Hallstatt- another day another mountain

I know I said that Wachau was the most gorgeous place I've ever been but I think Hallstatt takes the cake. I learned about this ancient town in my Art and Architecture class but forgot about it until my roommate Pauline showed me pictures of it online. And then I realized I absolutely had to go. 

We originally planned to go on a saturday but poor little me was just too 'sick' to go to class on friday when the weather just happened to be absolutely perfect so my roommate and I hopped on a train and went to the alps! (I do NOT condone skipping class but I think this was a pretty good excuse) It was definitely worth it as you can see, we had a incredible day. 

 Hallstatt a teensy tiny town built right into the side of a mountain located in western Austria. You have to take a ferry to get there which is just too dang perfect. 

The sun often slipped behind the peaks of the mountains because they were crazy high which created great effects for picture taking but dropped the temperature to 'I can't feel my fingers or my toes.' 

This more than ancient town was actually founded in believe it or not 500 BC!! When the celtic people and german tribes discovered the plethora of salt under the mountains they started mining and today Hallstatt holds the record for oldest salt mine in the world.

After walking through the town which only took about an hour we started the hike. Of course the easy trail was closed due to rockfall so our only option was the stairs. Ouchy, ouchy, ouchy. By the time we got up to the top my muscles already hurt and the way back down was a little scary with shaky legs. 

When we finally did make it up to the top there was no one else up there which was awesome so we didn't have to deal with tourists and got to fully soak in the sights. Plus we could then yodel as loud and long as we liked. That was pretty satisfying.

Pauline out on the observation deck that stuck out waaay out over the water. I love the feeling of flying and don't mind heights but I was clutching on to the sides for dear life this time. 

Another mountain you can only see from up on top of the trail. 

We packed some dinner for a picnic in the alps and listened to "Pines of Rome" and other soundtracks while eating. Climbing up there and seeing those alps was probably one of the most epic things I'll ever do. I always picture this type of scenery when I listen to my favorite soundtracks so actually getting to be there was a tremendous experience. 

Another wonderful weekend. Wachau!

The weekend after Prague was also jam-packed with fantastic things!

Friday night my apartment had a baking party and I made this wonderful creation:

Mom you would be so proud I did it without any help and no one died!!
It's not austrian but it's still incredible. Apple caramel pull-apart bread. YUM.

On Saturday, I went to probably one of the most epic concerts I'll ever get to see. My favorite conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, who is world-famous and probably the best conductor of this generation, conducted the Vienna Philharmonic playing Beethoven 9 for the Musikverein's (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's concert venue) 100th birthday. It was a BIG celebration. The tickets were tres expensive and I felt really spoiled as I sat in one of the private boxes in a ball gown. It would have been great to sit there very properly and act like some type of young and important royal person but we were running late and came flying into the concert hall just before it started. Not so graceful. However, it seems like every awesome event/adventure I have starts with a quick sprint so I suppose it was necessary.

There were camera crews and photographers all over and I'm hoping they'll sell DVD's of it that I can buy someday because it was incredible. I was sooo excited when Gustavo walked out onto the stage and from the moment he lifted his hands to start the concert, passion and energy just flowed out of him. It was also the first time I got to hear the Vienna Phil play live. Holy cow. The most fantastic sound I've ever heard. Like butter. It was hard to take in where I was and what an event I was a part of and I took away a lot of inspiration to go home and practice. I also watched more interviews with Gustavo and decided to add meeting him (ideally playing under him) to my bucket list. He's not just a genius of a conductor, but a really wonderful and inspirational person as well. 

 

Sunday might have even been more fun than Salzburg. My whole apartment signed up to go on the day trip with IES to Wachau and we had a blast. In the morning we drove to a monastery, Melk, built by the Hapsburgs as an attempt to get a bishop to come to Vienna. It was a beautiful building with the most bedazzled baroque church probably in all of Europe. I think the pictures speak for themselves:

So many cherubs!

Imagine playing phantom of the opera on that bad boy!

My favorite part is definitely the crown floating above. 

We got a short tour inside that had lots of neat things like chalices, vestments, relics, etc. The coolest part of the monastery was definitely the library though. Imagine the beauty and the beast library times 10. It took 13 rooms with double rowed shelves to hold all of the books. Can you say nerd heaven!? Some of the books also date back to around the 500s. 

Wine country 

After the monastery we learned some drinking songs and drove to this cozy restaurant where I had pork and a big fat dumpling for lunch out in wine country and then got to hiking. 

That little castle waaay up on top of the mountain was our destination but that was no problem for this expert mountain hiker!

Just kidding, I was definitely the last one up but in my defense that was due to my obsession with nature photography. I got some great shots though.

On the way up

Taking a break and basking in the sun like a lizard on this sweet rock

 

Made it to the top! Gorgeous view and in the middle there is the Danube

A piece of the castle ruins. This castle doesn't exist anymore but there are still some remains from the original structure. 

"Jenna, you're on top of the world, strike a pose!"

?

Our group had a lot of fun on top of the ruins and begged the staff not to leave but alas we had wine tasting to attend. Poor us! As this was my first official wine tasting, I'd say other than Italy, there couldn't have been a better place to do it.

You could say I enjoyed it

Here I'm trying Stürm which is baby wine. It's nice and sweet because it isn't fully fermented yet. But be careful, more than two glasses and it won't be so sweet anymore. Once you drink it this stuff continues to ferment in your body. ew. If you like sweet, I'd definitely recommend stürm. 

My favorite kind of white we had. They served cold cuts for dinner which was pretty weird and maybe not the best option when you're doing a lot of wine tasting. Maybe that's why the austrians have so much fun at meals...

The Wachau trip ended with a sleepy bus ride and then a second dinner with all of my roommates as soon as we got home. The cold cut austrian dinner didn't quite cut it so we made everything we had in the fridge. Perfect day, phenomenal weekend. 

We eat like dogs

Soo this is my landlady's band. Enough said. 

for the best part skip to 1:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AzslmsA5E0

And this is my friend's blog for our study abroad program. I was deemed worthy enough to be featured in it and discovered my true calling: food critic.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORUC1Q_Wts

Voyage to my motherland: The Czech Republic!

One of my goals during study abroad was to travel to the Czech Republic and visit Lidice, the town where my great-great-great- grandfather Veverka and his family lived. All of my friends had already gone to Prague and the Republic a while ago so I decided to just go it alone. It was a bit nerve-wracking for me but the trip turned out to be awesome!





I first arrived in Prague, the capital. I wandered around for about half an hour in circles trying to find the right bus to take me to Lidice. Prague is unfortunately not a very helpful city: they don't believe in street signs and their language is completely wack. I couldn't even make a good guess as to what things were by reading them but, I figured it out and managed to get on the right bus eventually! When I arrived at the bus stop in the middle of farm fields, I have to admit, I was a bit nervous I made one of my classic moves where I get things completely backwards and mixed up but luckily the museum was a short walk down the road and they even had signs for it :)





The original town of Lidice doesn't exist anymore because when a Nazi official (Hitler himself had put in charge of the town) was assassinated, Hitler retaliated by wiping out the city. Not even a tree was left. All of the men in the town were shot and the women and children were sent off to gas chambers. It's a horrible story but luckily my great-great-grandfather came over with the family well before any of that happened. In place of the old town, there is now a beautiful memorial site and museum. Although it was foggy and drizzling it was still a gorgeous place and very peaceful. 

Rose gardens dedicated to the women and children 

Shield sculpture representing
Czechoslovakia as part of a WWII memorial

Memorial for the 83 children that died. Nine of them survived because they were deemed worthy enough for 'germanization'= adoption by german families.

  

Statue of a mother and child. Most children were sent to school and taken to the chambers from there, not knowing they would never return home.  The ones that weren't in school just yet were taken from  home.





The museum is unfortunately pretty small because there was basically nothing left of the town. Inside was mostly recollections, names, pictures, and old letters. There was fortunately a tiny gift shop and the first thing I saw was: Ptolemy Veverka. Apparently he is the author of two books detailing the history of Lidice. Unfortunately the book was written in Czech but I got a picture and have some research to do! It was pretty exciting to see because only about 200 people lived in Lidice and a Veverka writing a history book on the town where my ancestors are from just might be related to me!

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go back to Lidice not just for me but my family, and I'm glad a Veverka was able to return. It was amazing to walk in the same place where my ancestors lived over a hundred years ago and Lidice was an experience I'll never forget.

When I got back to the city, I decided to just go with the flow and walk towards something that looked cool. (Mainly because I was too cheap to buy a nice traveler's map..that's when you know you're on a college budget) The castle looked pretty sweet all the way from where I was standing so I headed for it. I felt like I was on the amazing race or some great adventure heading towards something in the distance with no map, ability to communicate with the locals, etc. etc. It was great until I ran into a ton of construction prohibiting me from getting anywhere but that's when I met Jeff, Sarah, and Sean. They were trying to get across the highway too and we ended up going to the same place so we started talking and I discovered they are teachers that live in Vienna! Jeff is Australian and Sarah and Sean had their new daughter with them. They were incredibly kind to me and 'adopted' me for the night! First up, the castle's church: 

Awesomely intimidating
Gotta love Gothic churches, especially at night! And I can now roughly date churches when I see them and know all about their style. This is late gothic probably mid 15th century for anyone who wants to know!

The castle sits on top of a big hill and has a great view of the city

We started making our way down to Old Town to get some dinner and found a great restaurant with live jazz and traditional food. This, ladies and gentleman, is the pork knuckle. Very czech, very big, very good. It's basically just a plate full of pork stacked on pork with some sauce and a great big spear and carving knife stuck right through it :) I really wonder where the skinny Veverka genes came from if this is what we used to eat?! 

Getting to know Sara, Jeff, and Sean over dinner was so much fun. They were suuper smart and told me about all of the places they've been in the world (which was everywhere from Taiwan to Egypt, etc). Sean has at least few degrees and I learned quite a bit of history I'll never remember...

Charles Bridge: This is one of the most famous things to see in Prague. It's a very old bridge and I think at noon every day a trumpeter comes out of the tower and plays. I didn't get to see the trumpeter the next day but I left a note saying:
Need a trumpeter?! Call me:
I'm anxiously waiting..
 As we were walking across the bridge, they set off some fireworks just for fun which was perfect!





 Old Town was really fun and a happenin place on a saturday night. Judging from the number of absinth bars around, I'm sure it's a lively place in general (absinth originated in Prague I think) on weekends. In the square, there's the famous astronomical clock that tells you everything but the time and other cool government buildings and churches. (I got the coca cola in the shot just for you Dad. Over here, there's no pepsi and coke is definitely a treat)






By the time we got to the square it was getting late so sadly, I said goodbye to my new friends and I headed for my hostel. I found a huge pedestrian shopping area with a really huge government building which was cool and made it back to my hostel around midnight. The hostel looked pretty shifty from the street (there's a tiny sign for it on top of a bar) but inside, it looked like this:

It was nature themed and a really cool place. I slept in a sort of tree house wooden loft in a room with two other girls from Japan. They were studying in London and very excited to meet me: their first American friend. They were super sweet and it was fun getting to know them. I would have loved to explore the city with them!

Day 2: THE BIGGEST CASTLE IN ALL OF EUROPE!! 

(Cue the herald trumpets and princess lessons from Julie Andrews)

After a very weird breakfast at the hostel (3 hot dogs and dessert bread), I headed for the castle again. Apparently I was feeling a little wild/adventurous because I took the bus illegally. It was an accident though! I didn't know how the ticket system works and didn't have a ticket. But let's be real, had I been caught and arrested, I would have an awesome story to tell so no worries! 

The castle really was enormous and I wish I could have spent more time there. As a lover of medieval history, the castle exhibits were perfect and I saw a ton of cool stuff!

On the way to the castle I found what I think is the oldest pub in Prague. Inside, it was lit only by candles and looked really authentic. The music/staff/food/etc were all medieval and although I didn't eat there I would highly recommend it! It looked so cool.

View of the city from the castle!

Castle guard. They did have a few stationed around the castle and I luckily arrived at 11:45 and got to see the changing of the guard at noon! A brass band played and the guard did a lot of hoisting their guns up, saluting, and just standing there looking very serious. It reminded me of the good old days of standing at attention for ages in marching band.

Frescoes of royalty crests from 1629. This is just one tiny section of one wall in a room that was filled with these frescoes. Most of them were much earlier from somewhere between 500 and 1000 AD. 

Peter Jackson totally stole this and used it as the Horn of Gondor in LOTR 

(not actually but doesn't it look like it?!)

Town Records from the 300s!!! There were unfortunately a lot of fires in the castle so most of the town records have been destroyed but one record keeper decided to take his books home for a few nights and these are the ones that were saved!! They were so decorated and detailed and it was totally amazing. 

My favorite part was probably the Golden Alley where blacksmiths and workers used to live at the castle. It's a strip of little tiny houses and now includes a medieval torture exhibit, knight shields/cross bows/ suits of armor/ etc. 

Ouchy

Views from the castle's gardens

Charles Bridge at sunset

After the castle, I walked back down to the city and passed some beautiful wineries and was really tempted to stop but I had a bus to catch back to Vienna! I was sad to leave and wish I could have spent another day or two there but I'm so glad I was able to go for the weekend, it was such a memorable experience!