Gypsy Punks!!!

Last week (Thursday 27th), a glorious thing occurred. I went to a concert of awe and wonder, a concert that made me dance the whole time and go nearly horse from singing along. I went to

A Gogol Bordello concert (excitement!! Exlimation points everywhere!!)Unfortunately (though not surprisingly) not many of the pictures turned out all that great. Mostly due to me not being able to use flash (due to the intense stage lighting). Other factors include, that the band was super lively and most members were jumping around all the time. Also, when taking a photo sans flash I have to hold the camera steady which means that I cannot be dancing, which was hard to do. So, in all their blurry glory, I present some photos from the concert.

The first song. Hello band!

The second song, already, a shirt has been lost

Yup, already Gogol decided to become a shirtless-ultra rocking guitar player. Not that I can blame him, just being on the floor among all the people was enough to make me feel slightly unpleasent (heat-wise) so I'd imagine for him with all those lights it was even worse.

Strings representin'

I really hope, at some point in his life someone said "but son, how will you be a famous rock star if you don't learn the accordian?"
Yes, the music he was making fully justified this stance/facial expression

What I also really liked about the concert (other than the awesome array of instruments (thought I already knew that from the music)) was the vast array in age and dance style. Sure, it was kinda strange seeing people my parents age at the concert, but no odder to see people swing dancing to some of the music. Dance styles varied from a mosh pit (which I avoided as I value my feet and other body parts) to almost bollywood style, to ska style dancing, to couples dancing (that slow swaying thing). It was really fun to see and do for then I didn't have to feel like a nut when I danced (i.e flailed madly).

For the enoure they dragged the opening band on stage (a mariachi band). At the end they were throwing pick and drumstickt to the audience (in the case of drumsticks more gently handing them, very considerate) but I wasn't close enough to get anything. The single item that did go near me was a towl one of them had used. Now, it may just be me, but I've heard several stories of maining and fighting over just trying to get a water bottle from a band member, or other such small things. However, when this towel came flinging by, everyone just stared at it as it lay on the floor till one guy just grabbed. I don't know if this makes Austrians less fan-crazy, or more smart in not really going crazy over a sweaty towel.

So the whole thing lasted about 2 hours (9:30-11:30) and by the time my friend and I left I was ultra sweaty, covered in beer from when someone flung their cup (seriously, so many people were doing that, why?), kinda horse, and sore from jumping and dancing so much. Despite having an excursion the next day which meant I had to awaken at 7.00, it was very much worth it.

Also, I saw this the next day. Roomba meets mower!! Moomba?

BOKU Ball

Part prom, part actual fancy ball, the universities in Vienna start their ball season in the end of January, just in time for finals. Of course, the start of ball season isn't just for universities, I've heard it said that there are hundreds of different kinds of balls, each with their own name, dress code, theme, and price. Luckily the tickets for our ball were pretty cheap and Caro was kind enough to grab a few (they started selling them when I was still in Finland), which was a good plan since those suckers sold like hotcakes or any other kind of delicious food.
On the night of the ball (waaaaay back on January 22nd) Jess, Clau and I wandered over to Caro's place to get dressed, or in my case literally dolled up since I sat there patiently while Jess and Clau did my make-up.

And so the pictures begin (Jess, Clau, and Caro)

Unfortunately, neither Jess nor Clau were able to get tickets, but that didn't stop Jess from making an ultra swanky photo shoot with me, so she borrowed a dress from Caro and we hammed it up.

I feel my facial expression is justified as Jess looks almost TOO pensive

We waited around at Caro's until some more people showed up and then we were off!! Luckily the tram deposited us quite close to the palace because, though Vienna is nowhere near as strong as Wisconsin winters, it was freezing! Though I'm sure it would have been even worse had Caro not lent me some tights and closed toe shoes for the journey there.

Like the balls for all the other universities, ours was held in the Hofburg which I was excited for, since dancing in an actual palace sounded like a pretty nifty idea to me. Once I got there I found out that the main ballroom was mostly devoted to the waltz, with a full orchestra playing much of the night (a small jazz band would relieve them every few hours and play foxtrots and boogie woogies instead). Additionally, there are smaller ballrooms and other dance venues throughout this maze. A swing band was playing in one room, another jazz band played in an adjoining room, and across from the coatroom downstairs there was even a modernized room made to look like a club playing techno and hip hop. Though, in the "techno room" I couldn't tell if all the smoke was from a smoke machine or just all the cigarettes (I may have mentioned this before, but people smoke EVERYWHERE).
Getting there, I immediately lost Caro and Bjorn since I stopped to talk to Brad (a kid who is in many of my classes) but I figured I'd see them again so I went with Brad and his group to watch the opening ceremony. This is held in the room with the full orchestra and involves debutante students performing various waltzs and different guests of honor being introduced. Oh yeah, an odd note about the ball, there were people of all ages there, not just students but professors as well.
Due to the crowds I wasn't actually able to see most of the dancing, but I enlisted the help of a tall Austrian who took some pictures for me.

This was in the middle of a tango-like dance

After the introductory dancing was over "Free Dance" was announced which meant we could all hit the dance floor. At this point I decided to try and find Caro, which turned out to be a less than wise decision as not only is Hofburg very large an maze-like, it was also jam packed with loads of people. Luckily, I possessed the glory that is a cell phone so after lots of yelling into the phone (due to the noise) we were able to meet up again.
The rest of the night involved mostly dancing (I know surprise surprise) and trying to find places to relax our sore feet. This second part proved oddly difficult as almost all of the tables were full and the security was strangely against kids just sitting around in the hallways.

Diana's Friend, Diana, and me sitting under a stairwell before the security guy told us we couldn't

I eventually lost Caro and the bunch again, but have no fear! I did not wander the area alone but instead stayed with another group of schoolmates. We mostly stayed in the jazz/blues/swing music room after deciding the waltz room was too full for us to try and dance non-waltz style and the techno room was too smokey and light-flashing. However, our choice was totally justified because not only was the music nice, but man could some of those kids in there dance! I mean full out swing dancing.

They played ragtime!!!

23-skiddo!

Now, the dress code for the ball was what you'd expect, pretty much no jeans (a.k.a fancy dress) but I was surprised at the number of people who went traditional. It seemed to me almost that if a girl wasn't wearing a dirndl it was a sure sign she wasn't Austrian. Some of the boys wore leiderhosen, but not nearly the same as the number of girls that wore dirndls. While I was glad that I wasn't the only one in a different dress choice, I was jealous like no other that I didn't have a rocking dirndl to wear.

Some examples of rockingly, awesome dirndls

Mark found some leiderhosen and by gosh he was gonna wear them!

Around 2:30-3:00 the night took an odd and rather stupid turn. I was sitting near the coat rack with Diana's friend and Diana when Thomas came over to join us, two cups of beer in hand. Unfortunatly when he sat down he spilled one of them on the floor, prompting a security guard to come over and talk to him. Turns out, spilling one cup of beer on a stone floor is enough to get you kicked out of the ball so Thomas had to grab his coat and go, a prospect that annoyed both Thomas and the rest of us. However, by that time most of us were ready to go somewhere a little less crowded and were definitaly ready to get something to eat. So we left and wandered over to a pizza/kebab stand (they're everywhere here) to consume some tasty greasy goodness. Turns out, we were compleating an Austrian tradition none of us knew about. But, it's common and pretty much expected that at the end of the ball all the kids disperse to desend upon kebab stands like hordes of hungry locus. I find nothing wrong with this idea, although it was hard not remembering the awesome breakfast my parents made for me and my friends the morning after prom (mmmm French toast).

Satisfied but sleepy (Diana's Friend, Diana, Thomas, and Ilija

After that we all parted ways and went to sleep the sleep of those who danced a whole lot. The next morning I remembered why I hate both high heels (ok, well any shoe with a heel) and dancing in high heels. Man were my feet aching!

Look! Me in make-up! Shock and amazement! Also, spinach and feta pizza,mmmmm

The next few weeks look to provide some excitement. Starting a new semester, including actually taking a German course and a martial arts class (don't know which one yet). Tuesday I leave to Freiburg to visit an old friend from La Crosse (Kristen). Most importantly, the second week in March my brother is coming to visit me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited!!!!! Exclamation points everywhere!!!!!!