Five hours until takeoff

After two years in the works, today is finally here. I'll be leaving for the airport in a couple of hours, and my flight to Chicago-O'Hare leaves in just under five hours. I'm counting on finding a currency exchange when I get there. My flight plan is St. Louis-Chicago-O'Hare-Frankfurt-Vienna. I leave this afternoon and I'll arrive in Vienna tomorrow afternoon. I'm really hoping I get a window seat somewhere along the way and that it'll be clear and bright enough for me to see what I'm flying over. Hey, I haven't flown since I was three. I know you're thinking, 'Lucy, you're just on a plane, it's not that exciting, chill out.' This is big to me. Let me get giddy about it.

I had a fantastic last weekend in the States. My boyfriend Neil came home from Truman Saturday evening. We got a pancake snack at Uncle Bill's and then went to Sam's farewell party. Yesterday we got lunch at Thai Pizza Co. (I'm eating the leftovers right now. Yum.) ran around for a bit, and hung out at Dad's while I did my laundry and packed. He won a game of Battleship, but I won at Candy Land. Last night we met up with some other friends for Beau's 21st birthday, which was actually in February, but better to celebrate late than never. We smoked hookah, sipped fruity drinks, ate cake, and Margaret took a shot of whiskey like a champ. I'll have some pictures up of our destroyed cake in a little bit.

EDIT: Pictures!

Beau and deelishus caeks and frooty drink


We plowed through Thomas the Train

Well, I need to go finish packing. Double-checking that I have everything important. The next you'll be hearing of me will be from Vienna. I miss you all already!

Love, Lucy

Wednesday = Hump Day

If you can just get over the hump in the middle of the week that is Wednesday, you know you're almost homefree.

The concert on Monday was fantastic. Highlights:
- I'm a bit embarrassed that I just found out we have a Saxophone Ensemble. Debussy and Handel played by a SATB saxophone chorus is a wonder to be heard. Definitely a thumbs-up.
- Percussion Ensemble was fantastic, especially their settings of "Sitno Paidusko Horo", a traditional Bulgarian folk song (played on a xylophone, two marimbas, and an assortment of bells and rattles), and an original composition that sounded like it came straight from the jungles of Africa (two drum sets, bongos, and some foreign drums). Awesome.
- A delightful song cycle by the chorus called "Zoo Illogical", a set of five children's poems (Mongoose, Anteater, Llama, Giraffe, and Hippo) set to modern, but simple melodies. Made me smile.

I've taken care of a lot of business in the last couple of days. Between getting my health insurance, money, and phone situations sorted out, I'm feeling a lot more at ease about the trip. I'm also about two-thirds moved out of my dorm room with couple storage boxes and my clothes left to move back home. Once I do some laundry and sort out exactly what I want to bring, I'll start packing my suitcases.

I had my last Lyric Diction class today, at least in St. Louis. This term we tackled Italian and a bit of French diction. I'll be taking German diction in Vienna. Can't say I'll be bummed about missing the French vowel sound quizzes! Since I'm taking half of my Theory IV class here in St. Louis and the other half in Vienna with the help of the Internet and faxing, I had a meeting with the professor about what material we're going to cover oversees and how assignments and exams will be dealt with.

Tomorrow I'm performing in the Thursday student recital. I'm singing "The Crucifixion" from Hermit Songs by Samuel Barber and the Vilja-lied from Franz Lehar's Die Lustigue Witwe (The Merry Widow). My performance is going to count as my jury, or my vocal final exam. I think I'm going to be fine, provided I don't mess up a tonguetwister of a phrase in German!

I guess that wraps everything up I have to report, and now I'm off to write a final paper for Philosphy. I hope you all had a great Hump Day.

Love, Lucy

This time next week...

I will be at the airport, jetting off to Vienna in a couple of hours. Incredible.

I received my Eurorail pass in the mail this weekend. Looking through the booklet of train schedules, it finally hit me that I'm actually going to Europe for two months. Seeing how far Vienna is by train from various cities - Prague and Budapest, Salzburg and Venice - made it real for me. There's still so much for me to do, though. No rest for the wicked, they say.

A frequent question I'm asked is if I've ever been abroad before. My answer: I've been to Sault Sainte Marie, Canada for two days and I've been to the UN Building in New York City, which is technically international ground. Both of those were on choir tours. (Young Catholic Musicians, holla!) Other things you might want to know:
- The longest I've been away from home: two weeks at Bits and Bridles Girl Scout camp.
- The farthest: Orlando, Florida at almost 1,000 miles from St. Louis.
- The last time I was on a plane, it was 1992 and I was three years old. (Disneyworld or bust!)
- I've never been on a cross-country train.
This is definitely going to be a trip of firsts and -ests for me, and I can't wait!!

On top of all my preparing for the trip, I also have midterms to take care of this week. Right now, I'm taking Music Theory IV, Lyric Diction, voice lessons, voice Master Class and God: Pros and Cons (a very interesting discussion-based class for my philosophy minor). I also have student recital attendance and Chorale. We just finished recording some of our repertoire (some Brahms, Poulenc, Debussy, etc.) in the Chorale earlier today and I was able to hand in my music when that wrapped up. It feels nice to be able to scratch something off my list of things to do. Now all that's left is a paper, a quiz, a make-up class, a voice jury, and a midterm exam. Oh, and I also need to pack up my entire dorm room and move it back home. Bring it on.

I'm going to the Webster U Concert Choir's concert tonight. I have a handful of friends in it, so I want to get out and support them, and I also need the attendance point.

Love, Lucy