I am the only one to live in Graz, and as Graz runs on its own train line, i am always alone when we travel to the various things that Rotary organises for us around the place. Once again the trip to Salzburg was alone (sob), but it was ok, because about an hour and a half in i was joined at Leoben by some of the other exchange students which was nice, as any company was welcome. It was also fortuitous as these were some of the South Americans, and i had not got to know them that well, so it was a good opportunity to get to talk to them and get to know them. That was good seeing as i was going to be living with these people for the next 3 weeks!
But the train ride was fine. As we had to be there at 11, i had to leave home at about 5:30! A new experience! And that made for a really long day because as soon as we got there we were flung into rehearsals for the Distrikts Conference the next day. Just to outline that, it is the meeting of the various representatives from the district that makes up half of Austria, the other half has their own. And at the conference the exchange students were asked to give presentation. This meant that i brought along my violin and learnt some singing music, it was going to be the first chance to get to perform in Austria.
We were thrown headlong into rehearsals, and it wasnt until 8 that night that we were given free time, but everything was ready for the next day.
We all went out that night and got to see a little of Salzburg, which turned out to be the nicest place ive seen so far in Austria. And yes, before you ask, it is where the Sound of Music was filmed and they run tours and all that stuff. Our youth hostel played it downstairs on the tellie every night at 8!
But the next morning we were given a walking tour around the town, the more i saw of it the more i liked it, a really clean, picturesque, beautiful city. Everything is so manicured and kept, i really liked it. We saw the marionette theatre which was really interesting, and even saw the gazebo where they sung, 'i am 16, going on 17'. Haha, some of the girls got really really excited!
But after that was finished we went to the Conference. It was 4 hours of sitting before we got up to do our thing. Some of the items they presented however, were very interesting, but i think 4 hours in the chair was a killer! We all sung to start off with, a traditional Austrian folksong, then the various groups and soloists did their thing. I played a Haydn Concerto, not very well, as i was really nervous, but it went ok, and then at the end i sung with another girl, Louise, from Australia. We sung a duet from Die Fledermaus, called Br�derlein und Schwesterlein. We had edited it a little (as it was originally written for choir, orchestra and 8 soloists!) but it worked a charm and the performance we did was top notch, a real crowd pleaser. I think the best thing was that we could get up and sing, at least for me, that is what i had been wanting to do ever since i got there!
But the Conference for us was merely a formality, we were all there for the Eurotour, and tomorrow, it begins!
Paz