Emily's Exploits

While in Florence, Michael took us to the Uffizi Gallery, the first art gallery ever! So here are four of my very favorites. Leonardo da Vinci: Unfinished Adoration of the Magi Sodoma: Christ amid his tormentors This one made me cry. Sorry for the poor quality- the original was beautiful. Lorenzetti: Madonna and Child enthroned between 8 angels Giottino: San Remigio Pieta I love the sad, expressive faces of the apostles gathering around Christ.

I owe Amy big time that I even saw any of these beautiful paintings! It was the Sunday that we got to Milan, and I was exhausted from our train trip, it was raining outside... and I wasn't too excited to go out into the city. But I really wanted to make the most of my day, so we headed to Brera, one of the most famous art galleries in Milan, and we got in for free! I've only posted a few of my favorites that I saw there, but I'll just let the paintings speak for themselves. Guercino: Abraham reprimands Hagar Batoni: Sacra Conversazione (Brera, Milano) Giampietrino: Madonna col Bambino (Brera, Milano) Hayez: Il bacio (Brera, Milano) Induno's Triste presentimento (Brera, Milano)

Study Abroad has been life changing. I have learned so much about the culture, about people, the food,the music, dancing, recreation, and day to day life of the Austrians. But there is one part of the Study Abroad which is completely unique and can never be duplicated in any other time or place.  I've been blessed with an amazing group of supportive friends and teachers. Of course we didn't start out as close knit as we are now, but the joy was in the journey of discovering their lovely  personalities and learning to create a working environment of love and learning. I'm going to copy what a few of my friends have already done in blogs past and write a bit about each character in the story of my Vienna Experience, just as a tribute to them and my gratitude for the things I've learned from them.  Dr. Vincent is the leader of our group. He is the Opera Director at BYU. I first met him when I was a senior in high school- I arranged to have a voice lesson with him one weeke...

Sorry- here's the link to all the pictures from the previous two posts :D HERE

SALZBURG After finishing our German final, all 10 of us students hopped on the train to Salzburg!! The place where the Sound of Music was filmed!! Our trip thru the countryside was fabulous. I am in LOVE with Austria. The grass was so vibrant and green with patches of daisies, there were rolling hills everywhere with little villages and churches, we saw a gorgeous sunset... I simply cannot put it all into words. I cried as I looked out the window when we got toSalzburg. That's how sappy I am.  We saw the  Hellbrunn palace owned by some sort of bishop, and he put in all of these fun water powered mechanical things, as well as water that squirts you unexpectedly from random places, like out this deer's antlers! It was built in the 1700s and was powered by water then, and still is today! It's fascinating.  The people in the town wore those cute hats and traditional coats, and there was a cute market, and the huge castle complex at the top of the hill that was built in 1077, a...

MAUTHAUSEN This camp began in 1938 as a concentration camp for German and Austrian "criminals". Prisoners of war were sent here, and Jews began to enter the camp in 1942. The average life expectancy of someone entering Mauthausen as a prisoner was 2 months. An estimated 50,000 people died here, and another 50,000 or so died at sub-camps surrounding Mauthausen.  There is a stone quarry down the hill from the barracks where the prisoners would hew away stone and carry it up the hill to build more buildings. Sometimes for fun the officers would push prisoners off the cliff of the hill once they got to the top. They called it "parachuting".  When a contingent of 500 Russian prisoners attempted an escape, those who were found were brought back to the camp in the cold of February, chained to a wall, and hosed down with cold water until they froze to death.  In the summer, overseers closed all the windows and doors to their sleeping quarters. Their rooms reached temperatu...

OK, but not really. I spent the afternoon going on my seventh and final walking tour around the southern part of Vienna's inner city, between the Naschmarkt and Belvedere Palace. And it was so wonderful! First of all, it was nice to just be alone and stop when I saw cool things that I wanted to see... and sometimes I find strange things that I think are cool, like this:  I find photoshop fun... It's not Elizabeth Arden, but it's a red door... and it is awesome. Found an art gallery on a street I passed. Don't you just love the old architecture and the beautiful sign up above? I can hardly even believe I saw this from across a really really busy street.  And probably best of all, I found or walked past 4 vintage clothing stores! It was a shame they didn't have anything like a necklace or earrings out, or else I would've bought it! The clothes were ADORABLE, albeit expensive. I doubt that I'll have time to go back, but if I don't, a trip to Urban Exchange...

More pictures from my adveuntries with Michael, Julie, Mom and Grandma can be found here .  False reports today led me to believe that it would be sunny and warm. Thanks a lot.  But now I can just look outside at the grey sky, drink my Almdudler - and everything will be just fine.  Favorite Things about Today's Adventure on Walking Tour 6 with Rebekah:  Pascualati Haus:  This is the site where Beethoven composed many great works, including his only opera, Fidelio . It had a lovely view toward Votivkirche and Universitaet Wien (I don't really know if those structures were up at the time Beethoven lived there). There was a small museum with a pianoforte (it had 5 pedals on it!!), some manuscript facsimilies of Beethoven's music, recordings of several of his works, some busts... but you can see for yourself by going here: PICTURES! Votivkirche: This Neo-Gothic edifice was beautiful and tranquil. It is surrounded by Freud Park (yep, named after the one and only Sigmund Freud. V...

I was in love with Klosterneuberg at the beginning of this week, and now I think Prague may just have stolen the title. It was that amazing. So, we missed our first train to Prague due to inconsistencies in some of the S-bahns in Vienna (GEE WIZ!)- but four of our group left for Prague at 1:58 and the other six of us left at 3:58. In the meantime, we explored the art in the Upper Belvedere Palace, which was probably my favorite art collection that I've seen since coming to Vienna (and that's saying something, since I have seen TONS!). They had the old, and the new... let me see... "Tod und Ma:dchen" (Death and Maiden) by Egon Schiele (1915) (I'm singing a song called "Der Tod und das Ma:dchen by Schubert right now so I thought it was very fitting) "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt (1907) Hilde und Franzi Matsch, Children of the Artist, by Franz Matsch (1901) "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" by Gustav Klimt (1907) "Landschaft bei Meisenbach...

Bowing and Being Graceful Me and Laura Ladies on the Steps Red Carpet Action One Entrance to the Hofburg Posing... Candid Shot- Ty and Me

On Friday we have no class. So naturally, I wake up around noon-ish to get a good start on the day. This particular morning (February 27th) I was planning on doing a walking tour of Vienna, seeing some sights... you know, the usual. But it was Carli's birthday so we went to our favorite Shottenring Cafe for lunch! I met up with them around 1:30. Laura, Carli, Joseph and I were there talking about spy and mafia conspiracy theories, how great it would be if somebody could just choose our food for us (which the Schottenring cafe graciously did- they brought us fish and soup without us ordering it!) birthdays, friends, and family when Joseph asks:  "Do you guys want to go to Bratislava ?" We all look at each other with mischievous grins and say YES! It's an hour train ride to Bratislava from Vienna (Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia) and we called Elisabeth - she said it was a 12 euro train ticket, so we were TOTALLY on board.  I was wearing a skirt, boots, gloves, no...

Click on the Photos for a bigger picture! AMAZING! I'm talking to Jared, another one of the musicians I danced with. Bernhardt: One of my dancing partners. He plays the violin and studies math. Me, looking up at Mattias, utterly in awe of his musical genius. Britain, Laura and I were all quite taken by the charm of these Austrians! ;) My Friend Elisabeth caught this candidly as we were dancing- just so you can see a full shot of my dress- and the shoes that I bought! I also love the chandelier in the background. From Left to Right: Naomi, Rebekah, Me, Carli Isn't it gorgeous???

THE BALL: A SAGA IN FOUR PARTS PROLOGUE: ONCE UPON A TIME On the evening of Tuesday February 24th 2009, Emily May Bateman attended her first ball.  That's right. A ball.  But not just any ball. This was the Elmayer-Kranzchen Ball in the Imperial Hofburg Palace. Elmayer is the name of the most prestigious dancing school in all of Austria. Dancers from this company performed a number of pieces for us during the evening. But I'm getting WAY ahead of myself. Let me take you back a ways, and this will all start to make sense (name that movie).  PART I: FAIRY GODMOTHERS The month of February is "Ball Season" in Vienna. There are balls in every major city building: the Rathaus, Hofburg, Staatsoper, Belvedere, you name it. We were lucky enough to be here during this festive time of Austrian tradition.  When the question was raised of going to a ball, I decided I didn't want to go. I had no formal dress and I felt like it would be a waste of my time. So for the week while...

I realized just now that I write A LOT of blog entries. But it's just because I have stuff happen to me that is amazing!  Yesterday I went shopping with Naomi (neither of us ended up buying anything)- and we were on the hunt for a good deal, or a good HAT! And we found the most charming hat shop with hats of all shapes and sizes. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy admiring the fur ones, and looking for one that resembles Britain's cap- but suffice it to say that we will be going again just to look at it. The shop is called Oberwald and it's on Kartnerstrasse- and many hats are hand made! Definitely a shop to visit if you come to Vienna. (Mom, Grandma and Julie, WINK WINK!) Then we went to the Staatsoper with Becky to see Giselle  (click for a quick video), a ballet (apparently it is the ballet of all ballets- Giselle is a highly sought after role that takes a lot of skill)! I have never seen a ballet other than the Nutcracker, so it was great to see some...