Libraries, Galleries, Kondi, Caramel Apple Cider, and the Congress of Vienna

Sorry for the long break. Usually spending time in the library isn't blog worthy, but I have a cute picture, so I figured I would post it.

One of the study boxes in the Central Library, where I am spending far too much time :)

I'm spending lots of time in the library right now working on my master project.  The topic is something along the lines of horn music written in Vienna in the early 19th century (which is not a nerdy topic at all).  That's where the Congress of Vienna comes in.  I just put that in the title to confuse people (although that big book on my desk is about the Congress of Vienna).  My masters project date was just released.  Unless anything changes, it will be on the 15th of May in the early afternoon. 

Last night I played a few solo natural horn pieces for a gallery opening of a friend.  It was really fun.  Who knew that solo natural horn was appropriate for art galleries?  It was a lot of fun, some of the pictures were really pretty, and there were really good olives to eat. 

School is really busy right now (another reason nothing has been written).  I have quite a few tests and presentations, and have been very stressed.  That's where Kondi comes in.  Kondi is conditioning training, which is a hilarious class that involves lots of people in a giant gym running around in circles and doing other exercise moves to bad music.  Very fun.  And good stress relief.

Florian is home.  We're playing a concert this afternoon in the church by my house.  And when mom gets here in less than a week (!!!) we're going up to the mountains for a few days of relaxation, practice, pretty mountains, and good food.  

Last weekend Brianna and I had a sleepover, watched Pitch Perfect, and tried to figure out how Starbucks makes their caramel apple cider.  As it turns out, not by melting caramels into apple cider (but that variant isn't too bad, we are pleased to report).  I plan on perfecting this recipe over the next few weeks.  And no, the Starbucks here does not have it.  

Anyway, that's all.  Until next time! 

Alp Adventures

Just thought I would post a few pictures from my recent adventures with Florian hiking near Sedrun. 

Bridge over the river Strem

Other side of the bridge

Enjoying the sun and our lunch

Cool rocks over the river Drun

Toma See (Lake) This is the beginning of the Rhein

The Valley as seen above Oberalp

The Rhätische Bahn coming into the station at Oberalp

The view from the Hexenplatte

The sign at the top (2249 meters (7379 feet) above see level)

Waterfall on the Strem

Italy Audition

I went to Bolzano, Italy for an audition last weekend, and took quite a few pictures despite very little good weather.  To get to Bolzano, I first had to go to Innsbruck (about four hours away), and then change trains (for another two hour ride).  So my pictures start and end in Austria.

Innsbruck City

Street Performers

Cool Fountain

Bolzano Center

Bolzano on a Sunday morning.  Not a person in sight.

A secret passage.  Bolzano had a lot of cool tiny streets

The Cathedral

One of the many castles in the area

Innsbruck one day later.  Note the sun!

I have no idea why there was a parade.  There just was.

A nice church in Innsbruck

Kathryn's First Ever Bike Trip

Since Florian is home, and it's finally acting like spring (or maybe summer, hard to tell), we decided to go for an afternoon bike trip together.  I recently acquired a bike, and I'm enjoying being able to ride around (although I am really quite bad at going up hills).  So yesterday we set off from my house, and started riding towards Germany (yes, we did cross the boarder eventually, but we weren't in Germany for long).  Near Bülach (where I live) we found the river Glatt, which we followed to the Rhein.  We crossed the river into Germany, and then rode on (and crossed the boarder again) until we found a nice spot for lunch.  Then we rode through Hüntwangen, Wil (ZH), and finally Rafz.  From Rafz we biked through Flaach (which spelled with one "a" would mean "flat" in German, which it was not!!), Dättlikon, and ended in Pfungen.  Then we caught a train back to Bülach.  Here are some pictures of our grand adventure. 

The view from the bench where we ate lunch.  Not sure if what we could see was Switzerland or Germany, maybe both.  We were on the Swiss side at the time.

Enjoying the sun

My awesome bike!!! (and Florian's awesome bike too)

Florian on our lunch bench, complete with picnic knife

Hmmmmm...  where are we?

The grass is super green, but the trees haven't quite caught up yet.  Spring sprang on us suddenly.

Chocolate Mousse (Florian's Home!!!)

Florian is home, and to celebrate we made chocolate mousse! 

Us looking cute...

 Our real selves... 

 The chocolate

The stirring never ends...

The finished mousse

Life updates and blog takeover

Just a few quick updates.  Sorry I never write.  I feel like I never do anything interesting anymore, or take cool pictures.  Oh well.  I forgot to take a single picture when I was in Wales last month, which is sad, but it was much prettier in October.

Second semester just started, and I'm very busy with all of my classes.  My major is now officially music pedagogy, so I'm looking for students and learning a lot about teaching.  I'm really happy with the change, and think it will be a really great three semesters.  I'm focusing more and more on old music, which has been really fun, as well as nerdy and rewarding.  I love reading the old texts and working with the intonation concepts and old instruments, and I love the freedom.  Baroque music was, in a way, the jazz of the time, and thus when played properly, you have a lot of freedom.

Two weeks ago we had a concert that was streamed live onto the internet.  For my school this was a first, and they made a pretty big fuss about it.  That said, it was a good concert, the stream went well, and you can still watch it here if you would like. 

Florian will be back in Switzerland starting in three weeks.  We both have work and auditions while he's here, and I have school, so we probably won't get to spend a week in the mountains, but I'm still really looking forward to seeing him.  Maybe we'll even take a picture of the two of us.  But no promises!  So far our track record is dismal.

And, on to the blog takeover.  I'm taking some online courses this year through a lovely website that offers free massive open online courses (MOOCs).  Basically, that means a teacher posts video lectures, quizzes are computer graded, and that the real homework is peer graded.  I'll be using my blog to post some of my homework assignments, which means if you have no interest in music production, you should not read those posts (I'll label them, promise).  That said, if you want to learn something nerdy, feel free to keep reading.

That's all for now!