Would Have Been

Today would have been the day of my recital.
That's right, would have been.

Unfortunately, due to health reasons, I am unable to present my recital here in Salzburg.
A three-week battle with bronchitis, sinusitis, and laryngitis makes singing or speaking for more than twenty minutes impossible.

This does not mean that I will not be presenting the recital.
This is happening, people, it's happening. Just not here, and not very soon.

I have permission from the professors here to present my recital in the fall at Gordon College.
Though my voice is out of commission at the moment, I've had plenty of opportunity to read (the libraries here are divine) and I've done quite a lot of writing. So I've gotten most of the research done, and that was the main part of the goal.

I was very fortunate to have two fantastic lessons with my voice teacher, Yvonne, and even more fortunate now that I'm on the mend that Yvonne has quite a wonderful background in vocal therapy. I'm very grateful that I don't have to try to recover alone. Unless you're a singer, you might not understand that restoring your voice after illness is extremely complicated. Not only have you lost a lot of physical strength (support, lung capacity, resonating space), but you also develop habits to compensate, and they are difficult to break. It's almost athletic in a way. And extremely frustrating. But also requiring patience. And you can tell by my abrupt and incomplete sentences how I feel about this situation.
Not pleased. Not patient. But getting there :-)

Did I mention Yvonne is wonderful? I don't know what I would do without her.
There's a real danger of creating more vocal issues after illness, and I am so glad that she's here to help, because I certainly wouldn't have known where to begin.

This is ok. I've really come to terms with it. I'm not even that disappointed.
It will happen in the fall.

The best part?
You fine people can even come if you'd like!

All for now
-Julia

Health Update

Good news first, or bad news?

I like outlines...

Bad news:

I saw a doctor yesterday, and he confirmed that I have both sinusitis and bronchitis. No me gusta.

Good news:

He gave me antibiotics for the infection and something else for the fever and inflammation.

It's projected to be gone in one week.

More bad news:

Sometimes it takes more than one week... and even longer for the voice to return.

I might not be able to sing the recital.

Kind of good news:

I'm really good at listening these days... and reading... and generally anything that doesn't involve making noise. (Can't talk or sing.)

Ambiguous news I don't know how to label:

I experienced a socialized medical system first hand. There were pros and cons. I'm going to naively assume that this makes me an expert on the subject and will be happy to discuss it with anyone who's curious. I'll give you my unbiased opinion. The system is severely flawed.

Best news:

While I may not actually be an expert on socialized healthcare.... I am most definitely an expert tea-drinker, and the Austrians know what's up! So here's their deal: They don't drink tea most of the time (I complained about this quite a lot when I first arrived), BUT when they are sick, they drink it ALL THE TIME. Soooooo.... they have this treasury of tea inside their pharmacies. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not.

Picture this: An entire room the size of a small bedroom lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves completely filled with herbal, caffeine-free, medicinal tea, created for the express purpose of healing any ailment you can dream up. Obviously, I wasted no time in partaking of this nectar from the gods, and have been dramatically improved since... yesterday...

Furthermore, this lovely city where I currently abide is in the middle of the Alps which, in addition to being breathtakingly beautiful are the home to (trivia question) what wonderful line of cough drops?

(Shout it with me!)

RRRRRRRRRRRRRICOLAAAAAAAA!!!

So. They basically have in stock, at any given drugstore, EVERY Ricola product ever produced. It's a singer's dream. So yeah... I have a lot of those too.

My professor brought me a larger water cooker and a giant thermos. She is obviously a beautiful human being and my favorite person on the planet as of this moment. So fear not, I am being well cared for.

In closing, I can see the Alps from my room, and also ... a castle... So the scenery that I'm have to gaze at all day is actually pretty spectacular. I'm able to stay productive with things that don't involve speaking or singing or movement, so... reading and tea. It isn't all bad :-) 

Thanks to everyone who has kept me in prayer! I'll be fine!

Keep those prayers coming!

Love, 

Julia

No Arias Today

Hello everybody!

The sunshine has finally returned to Salzburg this week, after almost all rain last week. Julia, unfortunately didn't do very well with the dampness, and caught what she thought was just a cold. It's unfortunately developed into something quite a bit more serious, and as of this moment I've almost completely lost my voice.

Some may remember a certain singer who traveled to Greenville, SC her junior year in high school for a singing competition, only to awaken on the morning of the competition unable to utter a single sound. This story is eerily similar... Let's not make it a sequel, shall we?

I've seen a pharmacist here, and been given some medication, and I have plenty of tea. I'm trying to take it easy (anyone who knows me well knows how difficult it is for me to slow down). I'm being well-taken care of, but this isn't as easy to shake as I thought.

Please pray, if you think of it, that this will pass quickly, and I'll be able to continue my voice lessons. We have two lessons a week, plus two to three coachings. In addition, because singing is such an athletic process (one can get "out of shape" from not practicing, just like one can get "out of shape" from not working out for a while), I'm concerned about my upcoming recital. Prayers, please!

Thank you! Love to you all!

A Sequel to My Last Post: Reasons That Are Not Why I Am Here

In my last post, I described a rather long list of reasons why I am here.
On the same bus trip where I wrote the last list, I also wrote a second list to complement (or rather complete, or elaborate).

I was really inspired while surrounded by the elegance of Vienna to become a better person, student, friend, musician, philosopher even. All these new aspirations threw into sharp relief the shortcomings currently in the way of my idealized version of myself I put as a goal for the end of the summer (read my last post for details). New places, new people, new things, new sounds, were very exciting to me, and I found it was easy to also slip into new behaviors (some less desirable than others). I also found it very easy to pick up attitudes and perspectives from people close to me, and again, many of these were things I do not wish to take away.

If you'd care to read it, my "laundry list" of things to correct is below.

I am not here to...
- be idle.
- be unambitious
- be uninspired
- be distracted
- be flirtatious
- be disagreeable
- be irresponsible
- be rashly vicarious
- be judgmental
- be impressive at any cost
- be dishonest
- be jealous or envious
- be romantic (ok... maybe just a little is permissible?)
- correct others
- waste time
- be unhealthy
- "get something out of it" (Contrary- I am here to make something out of it!)
- be unaware or ill-informed
- be timid
- let my family or friends down by making poor choices
- over-indulge
- choose ignorance
- be attractive (a plus, on the few lucky days it happens, but it deserves far less emphasis at the moment)
- under-achieve
- be anti-social or stuck up
- exhaust myself
- make a fool of myself
- be silly
- daydream (not going to lie... this happens a lot... not all bad, but I think less is a good goal)
- alienate
- attract attention (this one is hard... anyone who knows me well knows how I love attention)
- be taken advantage of
- succumb to negative peer pressure or allow in poor influences
- dwell on things I cannot change that are really not relevant to this setting (how's that for vague?)
- be popular
- compensate

I debated posting this. In the end, I decided that accountability is one of the greatest tools you can use to help you reach your goals. So here they are, my dear readers, my goals for the summer. Hold me accountable?

All for now
- Julia

Reflections on My First Week

What a week it's been!

I lot of you dear, dear people are writing me asking for pictures and descriptions, and wanting to hear what I've been doing, and I promise I'll get to all that! First though, I need to get my head sorted out.

My first week in a foreign country has been nearly overwhelming (I can handle it though, don't worry :-) ).
I've asked a lot of questions, been asked a lot of questions, been given a lot of answers, been told to find a lot of answers, realized that sometimes my questions don't have answers... Seen a lot of things, tasted a lot of things, heard so much, felt so much... I can't believe it's only been a week.

I've gotten into the habit of taking little notes on my ipod touch anywhere I go. I'll make a note of a question, or a thought, or something I see, or something I want to see later. At the end of the day, I read over my notes and try to reflect a little. Most of the big questions I have are questions I've asked myself. There are far to many to put on here, but I'll share one of them with you.

Today we left Vienna and set out for Salzburg on a three-hour bus ride (this trip was broken up by a field trip of sorts, so it wasn't all at once, but I'll tell you more about that later). This gave me plenty of time to think, so I wrote myself a list of sorts about things I'd learned in Vienna specifically about myself.

Vienna was so much fun. I experienced a lot of things, and I learned a lot of things. I got to know the other students in my group and I asked each of them why they were here. For some, my question took them aback, and the conversation was a bit awkward, but others answered me quite easily. No one turned my question on me, so I thought I'd tell you all here.

Why am I here?

- I am here to glorify God.
- I am here to experience.
- I am here to absorb.
- I am here to study.
- I am here to research (intensely!)
- I am here to learn (they are two different things!).
- I am here to hear.
- I am here to listen (again, there is a difference!).
- I am here to see.
- I am here to watch.
- I am here to look.
- I am here to observe.
- I am here to examine.
- I am here to understand.
- I am here to admire.
- I am here to enjoy.
- I am here to be sincere.
- I am here to be reverent and respectful.
- I am here to be gracious.
- I am here to share.
- I am here to be helpful.
- I am here to be encouraging.
- I am here to sing.
- I am here to practice.
- I am here to grow.
- I am here to mature.
- I am here to work hard.
- I am here to be inspired (not hard, inspiration is seriously dripping off everything here).
- I am here to taste (I will not lie, this has been one of my favorites).
- I am here to touch.
- I am here to make my family proud.
- I am here to make my friends proud.
- I am here to report.
- I am here to internalize.
- I am here to externalize.
- I am here to connect.
- I am here to find similarities.
- I am here to explore and improve my communication.
- I am here to strengthen my language skills.
- I am here to participate.
- I am here to reflect.
- I am here to push myself.
- I am here to motivate others.
- I am here to be a leader.
- I am here to get into character and revel in the drama of this charming place.
- I am here to find things to learn that I can't learn at home.
- I am here to be sympathetic.
- I am here to be myself.
- I am here to seize opportunities.
- I am here to be brave.
- I am here to be healthy.
- I am here to make relationships with new colleagues.
- I am here to prove myself to my new professors.
- I am here to do things correctly.
- I am here to be accepting and inclusive.
- I am here to explore.

Now, lest you think I'm a superhuman who has accomplished all this in seven days time, please believe that this is very much a work in progress. I didn't know what to expect coming into this, and I certainly didn't expect to have this long of a list to work on after only a week.

 I also underestimated the effect of the group dynamic. It really is a great bunch with which to be experiencing all this. I really couldn't have hand-picked better companions. There are ten of us students and a bunch of wonderful professors, some of whom we have already seen, and some who we will meet later.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I start my second week! Dr. Thuswaldner says that this week will be "back to real life," as if "real life" is actually going to hit me here. I think he just means we're going to start the really hard work. I'm game.

Love to you all at home!
- Julia

Gratitude

I hardly know what to say. I suspect that nothing I write to you could fully express the scope of my gratitude, but I shall attempt! The generosity of all the wonderful people who donated to help me get to Salzburg was more than I ever could have imagined possible. I am completely overwhelmed by the kindness that's just been showered by me, and I can't think of many times in my life when I've felt more loved or more grateful.

From the wonderful audiences at both of my benefit recitals, to the fantastic energy of the people who diligently helped me collect cans and bottles, to the random strangers I met who were so excited for me, to my beautifully supportive family and dear friends who all came together to make this possible- Thank you, this is really happening!

I just said goodbye to my family. We're a family of four, and this is the first time any of us has been away for this amount of time. I'm so nervous I'm afraid I've made myself nauseous, but I don't even mind. The adventure starts now, kids :-P I'm sitting in the airport as I type this, waiting for my flight to board (two hours early, as instructed... plenty of time to kill). I can hardly believe I'm so close. Is this real life? You bet it is.

[When I get myself adjusted, I'll insert a picture of me in the airport right here, wearing a scarf and big glasses, because obviously international opera stars wear scarves and big glasses... but there's so much to do!]

My first flight will be approximately seven hours long, and I will arrive in Munich, Germany at approximately 9:45am (their time, that's 3:45am your time!). I'll have a stop-over for a bit before taking the short flight to Vienna. (I'm hoping to find wi-fi before then so you can read this!) I don't have wireless internet at the moment, and I'm not sure when the next time will be that I have it, so I'm saving my entries to my computer to post when I get a chance.

In the meantime, I've got a book of useful German phrases I should probably glance at :-)

That's all for now! If you're still reading, I love you :-)

(P.S. Ended up posting this at the hotel in Vienna. We've arrived safely! In other news, airport wi-fi needs some work... Stay tuned for a post about the hotel, it's practically out of a story book!)

Fund-raising

Every little bit helps!

Fabulous European adventures, alas, do not come inexpensively. I have been saving for this program for nearly a year now, since I first heard of it last summer. I applied for, and was awarded a few small scholarships to put towards the tuition, and more recently gave two benefit concerts. Still, there is a significant amount to raise, and I would be honored if you'd consider helping me out.

All you have to do is save your empty, redeemable bottles and cans (when you've finished enjoying the contents), shoot me an email, and I would be glad to come pick them up. Once I have received them, I will bring them to my community redemption center, where I'll be able to exchange them for a few cents a piece. 

Final date for pick up is Tuesday, July 3rd. 

That doesn't sound too difficult, does it? ;-)