Today was really special because I got to see the best Vienna has to offer: the Phil and the Fan Zone....

After classes were over, we came back to the apartment and donned our bright red Austria jerseys and went over to the Musikverein. The program gave us free tickets to standing room at the Vienna Philharmonic and we really had quite a treat! When we got there in our jerseys, one of the trumpet players warming up on the stage did a horn call and put his thumb under his fist at us! (That means the equivalent of crossing your fingers here) A lot of the people, instead of being snobby, smiled at us and said Austria, or something.. haha i didn't understand them, but i could hear the word Osterreich.

First they started with the Carnival Overture by Dvorjak. We saw them rehearse this last Wednesday, so it was great to see how they had improved and changed since we heard them. They all played with so much energy and the violins were just incredible to listen to, again. They were like one big violin sound or small violin sound...their range of dynamics was really impressive. Then we saw the other piece from rehearsal: Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel (or something) and that was good too, but not as exciting as the Dvorjak. After the break we got to see the Phil play Dvorjak's 9th symphony (His "new world symphony" that everyone knows the tune of). Standing in the auditorium didnt bother me at all...i was just completely into the music. Rarely can I focus on anything like i focused for those 45 sublime minutes. Its funny to think that this might be the best group I ever see, and certainly one of the most outstanding performances. What spoke to me even more than their loud and fast sections were the slow parts. The oboe solo was heavenly and each note had a perfect duration. I could have stood through all of it again :)

Instead, however, we ran off to the fanzone, with painted red and white stripes on our faces. It was packed, and we couldn't get in, but we could still see the screens. We stood and watched and cheered and it was pretty fun to have strangers come up to us because we were wearing jerseys and just clap or cheer or something and then we'd respond with the same. Due to one penalty kick, we lost the game :( but we learned a pretty cool song:

Wir Singen Rot (We're singing red)
Wir Singen Weiss (We're singing white)
Wir Singen Rot Weiss Osterreich x3 (we're singing red white Osterreich)

to the tune of "When the Saints go Marching in"

so that was the extent of the soccer action for austrian fans, but it was fun and now I'm rooting for the Netherlands :)