The First Weekend of Travel

My weekend of adventures began bright and early friday morning. My host family is friends with another German couple who both play in Bonn's Beethovenhalle orchestra. The husband plays violin and and the wife, Susanna, or Suzie plays viola. When my host mom found out that I played violin as well, she called Suzie and they figured out a way to possibly get me into a rehearsal or if not the rehearsal than a more inexpensive ticket for the concert. Witnessing a rehearsal, however, is many times more unique than a concert because you can watch all of the players work out the kinks in the pieces together. The conductor has to learn to match the guest artist and he brings the rest of the orchestra in time with her. In the end, I was allowed to attend the last rehearsal before the real concert and the two families collaborated to form a plan so that Suzie and her husband could walk me into the concert hall to listen in. So I finally made it to the right bus station (im getting the hang of public transportation now and to the Beethovenhalle and then to the secret side entrance that is known only to the orchestra members. I talked to a few of the orchestra members outside while I waited and they helped me know when the couple approached since I had never met them before. Suzie is actually a Susanna and is the only other person I've met with my same name. She and her husband were very friendly and took me to the back halls of the theatre. I watched Hilary Hahn??? play her piece with the orchestra while I sat between Suzie, and one of her colleagues, another member of the orchestra. Hearing their commentary of the rehearsal made it so much more amazing. It is something that I will remember forever. This weekend we had our first real free weekend with travel and I chose to go with half of our group to Munich. I was excited but also worried about catching all of the train transfers since I had never ridden a train for a long journey before. It is such a foreign concept to those of is who come from smaller Texas towns in which you do all of your own transporting. Unfortunately, our second train broke down somewhere on its way back to the station so our ride was first delayed 110 minutes and then completely cancelled. In about an hour we went from having a train connection, to a delay, to no ride at all. We went to the counter to find another train to Munich that would leave in about an hour. as soon as we got back to the platforms, we realized that they were sending an unscheduled train to Munich. This surprise train left us running through the station to find an empty car. To picture this correctly, imagine those dreams you have in which you run and run but don't get anywhere fast enough while your destination gets further and further away. I've never seen such a long train. Finally, we arrived after dark in a giant unfamiliar city. There were so many firsts on that one day: a confusing train ride, then walking through a dark massive city, and at the end checking into a rowdy hostel. The best part about Munich was the huge garden. I could have spent several days there and been content. I regretted not bringing my swim suit because everyone at the park was having so much fun swimming in the fast flowing creek. At the beginning of the creeks there was even an area for surfers to practice while a large audience stood on the shores. We are all back together again in Vienna and I am glad that the train journey here was not as exciting as last time.