Val's Voyage

After spending almost three full weeks in Italy, I’m so excited to share the highlights from my time here! Week one is the southern coast, where my mom joined me in a small village called Meta, a few subway stops away from the more popular city of Sorrento.

In case you can’t tell, I’m a bit… ahem… behind on blog posts because Italy has just been CRAZY. But like, in the best way possible. So I thought I’d make it easier on myself and easier on you and create a sort of picture diary of my time in Sorrento! I think a lot of my audience reads my blog for the pictures, whether as sources of inspiration or just as a way to view a snapshot of my time out here. So without further ado, I present Sorrento!

Day 1: as you can see, I have a special guest for this blog – my momma! She was so sweet and came out to visit me (and the beaches) down in Italy, and it was so fun to have her with me. Finding each other was… hectic, as her phone stopped working overseas for awhile and so we were sort of in the dark when it came to connecting at the Naples train station. Literally, neither of us knew where the other would be. But a little faith and a lot of stress later, we found each other and carried on with a crazy drive down to the airbnb I had. We spent the evening exploring the airbnb and walking down the cliff to the beach, where we watched the sunset from a lovely restaurant. A peaceful end to a not-so-peaceful day.

Day 2 & 3 (the weekend): I’m realizing I barely took any pictures over this first weekend in Italy. To be quite truthful, it was uneventful, but I think we both needed that. We spent TONS of time at the beach, ate a lot of tomatoes and mozzarella, drank wine, I blogged, all that good stuff. It really felt like a weekend at the beach. It took us less that ten minutes to walk down to the beach – literally like a minute to walk to the cliff, and then another handful of minutes to walk down all the stairs on the side of the cliff to get there. Definitely a perk of this particular airbnb was it’s proximity to the beach, because my mom and I can both be major beach bums.

Day 4: The city itself! Sorrento!! Sorrento actually ended up being one of my absolute favorite cities in Italy, it’s a nice mix right between a big city versus a tiny town. Full of shops, bars, restaurants, and more, there’s tons to do in Sorrento. We found a lovely little park right on top of a cliff overlooking the water and ate some gelato there, got our Italian shopping fix taken care of, and of course visited the local cannibis store (it’s legal here y’all don’t worry). We also drank some limoncello spritzers; Sorrento is famous for its limoncello (a sweet but strong liquor), so of course we had to see what the hype was about (definitely a well-earned hype). After coming home for the day and decompressing a bit, we also finally got pizza. It was absolutely divine, in case you can’t tel by the way I’m lovingly looking at it. Once I’m home I truly wish I’ll be able to order pizza straight from Italy.

Day 5: Okay so once again I realize I don’t have any pictures for this day (maybe this picture diary idea was a bad one but we’re going with it). I do know for a fact that today was another beach/chill day; it was incredibly hot outside and we definitely needed the beach and swimming.

Day 6: Positano! A city along the Amalfi Coast, Positano is famous for its beach views and picturesque landscape (as you can see). Positano is insanely beautiful, but when I tell you the trip out there was rough – it was ROUGH. We took a subway from Meta to Sorrento, then in Sorrento we got on a bus that took us all the way out there. It was a little over an hours ride along these insanely tiny, winding mountain trails – which is beautiful, and definitely an experience, but when you’re in a crowded but with little to no AC… it was a yikes from me. It was one of those roads you always see on the Travel Channel that just look so fun and interesting, but lemme tell ya, after about a half hour I was ready to get the hell OUT of that bus. It was definitely worth in though, and on our return trip back we took a ferry around the coast to Sorrento, which was by far the superior choice. In Positano, we spent most of our time on the beach itself, taking pictures, chilling in the water, drinking some coconut rum slushees, etc. We definitely rejuvenated ourselves for the trip back home, and the Amalfi Coast is a view I will never forget.

Day 7: While we were in Sorrento, we booked a boat cruise with a company that took us out to Capri! Honestly, there wasn’t a ton on the island, but the majority of the day was spent on the boat anyways, which was absolutely fine by me. The last picture, the blurry one of me swimming in the water – I purposely didn’t edit that at all, because look how frickin’ BLUE this water was!! And we got to SWIM in it!! The boat tour took us all the way around the island of Capri, showing us all the grottos and landmarks of the island, as well as the stop for us to swim in it. It was a small group of us, only like 7 I think, and we all got along and it was just super awesome. One of the girls started taking pictures of us and sent them to us all later, which was incredibly sweet and cool to have. This boat trip was… surreal. It felt so tropical and separate from the business of all the other tourist spots we had gone to. Like I said, on the actual island there wasn’t much to do, but I made friends with a girl my age named Felicity, and we wandered around together until we happened to come across the captain and tour guide of the boat, who ended up buying us drinks on the island. Not a bad way to end the day.

Day 8: I’m pretty sure this is the only picture I took this day? Most of the day was spent traveling from Sorrento to Naples, because the following morning she had a plane leaving and I had a train leaving, so we wanted to spend the night there. After getting checked into our hotel, we went and had a final dinner together, talk about the trip we had together, etc.

Do we like the picture diary style? Do we hate it? What do you guys wanna see more of? I’ve had some questions about how I managed this summer at all, and I will definitely make a post about that at some point, but I love hearing feedback always!

As far as currently, I made it into Greece today! New journeys lie ahead… Onward and upward!

Love Always, Val

Finally, the long-awaited Switzerland blog! Sorry for the lapse… I’ve been ~living in the moment~ out here, and I’m currently eating a nectarine in a villa in Italy, so I really make no apologies. Anyways.

I don’t think I’ve ever found the peace in my soul as fully as I did while visiting Switzerland. After a train ride that included a hectic train connection in Zurich – it is a serious design flaw to make a multi-level train station – I finally arrived in Bern, which was to be my home base for the next week. Meeting me at the train station was Kate, a woman who I had never met, but who was friends with Brittney and was gracious enough to let me stay with them still even though Brittney was no longer traveling with me. Let me tell you, I have never in my life met a kinder soul. She opened her home up to me, and she and her two children were nothing but welcoming and hospitable my entire stay, to me, a complete stranger. By the end of the week, Switzerland felt like home.

The first full day I was in Switzerland, Kate and her children, Norah (12) and Auttum (10) (sorry Kate I’m sure I spelled his name wrong) took me out to really see the Alps, at a place called Grindelwald, which is a little town situated nice and cozy in the heart of the mountains. The four of us first went to a glacier canyon – literally, a canyon created by a glacier that once resided there – it has since melted and is continuing to melt, providing the water for the Aare River that flows through Bern.

I don’t even know how to describe this place. I think I’ll find a lot of that when trying to talk about Switzerland, which just proves how mediocre of a writer I am. There was something about the glacier canyon that made you feel like you were at the beginning of time, at the beginning of the Earth’s story. A literal glacier in the ice age was right there, where I was standing. It was also freezing cold in the canyon and I was a fool for not bringing a jacket of some sort.

But we DID go out and stand – and lie, and jump – on this giant spider web structure that spans the expanse of the canyon. I really wish I could have gotten some pictures out there, but my phone and tiny camera would have slipped through all those holes in an instant. I also could have lied out there and made shadows on the rushing currents below for infinity.

After the glacier canyon (in which we spend a good chunk of time), Kate took the kids home, and I stayed out in Grindelwald by myself. I was a little scared, because this meant figuring out the trains home by myself, but honestly I’m so glad I did, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences. I spent a couple hours hiking around (hiking around the Alps?? by myself??) and exploring the little town.

From taking a cable car up the mountains, to discovering a little meadow full of wild flowers, to stumbling across a river running through the mountains, my entire time up in the Alps was nothing short of magical and peaceful. I think I really needed that peace. It felt like a light liquid silver entered my veins through my heart and pumped through the rest of my body, healing anything that might need healing.

I’m cheesy as hell, you don’t need to tell me that. It’s just the best sort of description I can find for this place. If you ever get a chance to visit the Alps, don’t just go, RUN to get there.

Monday came along, and as Kate is an adult with an actual adult job (she teaches English at the local school), I had the day to myself to explore. A trip to Bern is not a trip to Bern without a visit to the Aare River, so off I went in my bathing suit. You know those pictures you see of unbelievable blue/turquoise water, and you think that it cannot possibly be real? Yeah, that’s how the Aare is. Remember I mentioned that the Aare is formed form the melting glacier, which is what gives it that amazing turquoise color.

The place I went to is actually the Marzili, a pool that sits next to the river, with a lush grassy area filled with sunbathers separating the two. All along the Aare are little steps and railings to get into the river, so I decided to try this turquoise water for myself. The minute I stepped in and felt an inch or two of the current against my feet, I clung to the railing. And made the decision I would only just stand there and continue to cling to the railing. This current was not something to be played with y’all. And then a lady came down next to me, probably in her fifties and obviously a local, and with a nod to me and without so much as touching the rail, she dove right in without a seconds moment. I stood there in shock for a second as I watched the current take her away, and I figured if this lady could jump in so smoothly, I surely could take another step in. So, one, two more steps in I went, and the icy water was hitting me right at the stomach. The cold pierced through me and made me forget about the ninety-degree heatwave we were having. The swift current was tugging at my midsection, but I still felt pretty good and like I could take another step in – still, of course, holding on to the rail. However, my grip on the rail had loosened as I gained confidence, forgetting that I am indeed a relatively small human with not much to work with against the current. And the fact that the next step was covered in some sort of slippery… slime? I suppose? And with that fateful step and slip, the current won it’s battle, and my footing was lost and my heart stopped beating for a minute. To be honest, the current only took me a few feet before I grabbed onto the concrete step and hauled myself, dripping, shivering, and ungracefully, out of the Aare.

Besides a scraped butt and bruised ego, I’m perfectly fine.

But the other two times I dared to get in I clung to the rail for dear life and just sort of dipped my body in.

That evening, after Kate’s classes got out for the day, we met up in the Old Town and she took me around to where some of her favorite shops were, and when we climbed up to the top of the local cathedral, she pointed out her favorite areas in town. Here are a few Bern-tourist pictures I took for you to enjoy.

The next day, Tuesday, was one of the most special that I spent in Bern. Like I mentioned, Kate teaches English to the local school, and she asked me if I would be interested in coming in to her class, which of COURSE I was. Then as we were talking, it turned out that the book they were analyzing at the time just so happened to be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. For those of you who don’t know, about two years ago I was in a theatre production created entirely around that book, and I absolutely love it and am quite familiar with it. It was so cool to go into the classroom, and her kids, who were my age, were very welcoming and kind. When they were doing an exercise of analyzing chunks of the book with partners and having their conversations in English, she had me go around the classroom and talk with them about it and ask them questions. Super neat. And then, at the end of the class, she actually had me show the students a chunk of the production I was in (it’s on Youtube, if anyone wants to see some awesome weird theatre, click here). It was vulnerable to show my art but also amazing that the production I was in in Fort Wayne, Indiana, got to be shown in a classroom in Switzerland.

Kate and I finished off the day together by going to the Bern contemporary art museum, where they were having a special display titled Ekstase (Ecstasy) that we both wanted to see, and it was so cool. It was based off of ecstasy derived from a number of different ways humans derive pleasure. There was one series of eight videos where I guy just tried a shit ton of different drugs and recorded his reactions to each one to try to unlock a heightened mental state, and there was another video I fell in love with that basically felt like a comforting psychedelic trip. For more info on the exhibit (I highly recommend reading about it), click here.

The following day I decided to brave a trip by myself to Geneva. Little did I know that I would not be alone. On the train on the way there, I met the most lovely Indian family who asked me to come hang out and explore Geneva with them, so of course I did. We went to the fountain in Geneva that is the world’s tallest fountain and took a ton of pictures together, and then we went wandering around the shopping area (Geneva is known for it’s shopping). They really were the most lovely family, and when I visit India, I have a place to stay!!

After I did much window-shopping with them, I decided to part ways, as I had worn my bathing suit in preparation for the beach in Geneva, and they wanted to continue on to see the UN office and a couple other notable landmarks. It was truly the most iconic adventure around Geneva with them, and I’m so happy I got to meet them.

I have no terribly crazy stories to report about Geneva, surprisingly, but I did enjoy my time in that lovely and wealthy city. I got ice cream by the beach, got lost in the Old Town and stumbled upon a sweet library, and finally stopped by a little precious rocks store on my way back to the train station.

And alas, that brings me to my final day in Switzerland. Mostly filled with folding my laundry and re-packing my suitcase, because it was lookin’ rough after three weeks abroad. Once evening came, I met again with the Aare River. This time it was with Kate, and though she didn’t really know of my run-in with the river earlier in the week, she knew I was a strong swimmer and wanted to take me actually swimming in it before I left. So I met my fears face to face.

It was pretty amazing guys.

I didn’t take my phone or camera so I don’t have any pictures, but imagine that perfect turquoise river surrounded by green trees and floating down the center of it just as golden hour hits. Divine. She took this air-bag that she has with us and we put our stuff in that so we could just float down the river and get out at any point (she also took me to an area where the current was not nearly as strong as where I went earlier in the week – though I would like to point out that I still braved many trees and rocks in the water). Between the two of us we had so much stuff that we didn’t want to overfill the air bag so it didn’t float, so we left a few of our belongings in a bush at the area that we got in at. Including our shoes. Not our wisest moment, as we then had to walk back to that area to retrieve them. We have decided that the bottom of my feet will be able to tell a map of everywhere I’ve been over here, and I’ll be able to know exactly which scrapes and bumps are from Switzerland.

We finished the evening with dinner along the bank of the river and a drink at this cafe tucked away in the woods and a longer-than-expected-but-with-beautiful-views hike to a nearest bus stop (we both like trying new routes); the two of us easily talk for hours on end about every range of subjects available to us, and it was the perfect way to end my time in Switzerland. The following morning I left bright and early no later than 6:30am to catch my train to Italy, and my heart was sad to leave. I cannot wait to visit Kate and the Alps and Bern again in the future.

Thus concludes the Switzerland chapter of my story! Switzerland was a peaceful home, but now here I sit in Italy ready to eat lots of pasta and drink lots of wine (and you should see my tan lines already), because, as I say, onward and upward!

Love Always, Val

It’s short and serious today guys. But hey, at least the heat rash is gone!!

So, today is Friday, June 21st, and we are currently on the train from Salzburg to Vienna. The original plan for today’s post was supposed to be about the last couple of days that we spent in Salzburg (which was amazing btw), but instead we have a change of plans.

Brittney, my travel companion for the summer, is not going to be able to continue on our European journey, and she made the decision to return to the United States. This means that early this morning I was faced with an equally difficult decision: fly back to the US and then back to Greece for my apprenticeship, or remain in Europe on my own. In case you can’t tell by my go-get-’em attitude and the very title of this blog, I have chosen the latter.

EUROPE AIN’T READY FOR VAL!!!

It’s been a tough day for me y’all. I won’t lie, the thought of traveling through Europe alone is terrifying, especially navigating all the trains I’ll be taking by myself. The amazing news is that the week that I’m in Switzerland, I’m still able to stay with Brittney’s friend Kate, my mom is coming out for a week in Italy, and my sweet friend Rachel is staying with me my final week in Rome. So I’ll only really be solo for part of the trip, but I’ll still be doing all the traveling solo. I had my first mental breakdown this morning, and I’m sure I’ll cry again at some point, but honestly, right now I feel more fucking determined than I ever have in my life.

I’m strong and smart and I’m going to learn so much this summer; about Europe, about traveling, and about myself. I have my shit together and my ducks in a row, and I will be just fine.

Still, I am going to need something from you, my sweet friends, sweet family, and sweet strangers. Please send me your love and support, your good vibes and your prayers and your happy thoughts and your satanic rituals all my way. I welcome them all with open arms, I couldn’t do this without knowing that I have a tribe supporting me. Special thanks to my parents who are backing my decision and reminding me how tough I am.

Since I didn’t get to do my Salzburg post today, I’ll see if I can squeeze one in tomorrow on my train ride to Switzerland. Onward and upward!

Love Always, Val

Graz, the city where I learned to take things as they come.

But hey, at least I found smoothies.

Graz is the city where a ballet we went to turned out to be a children’s dance recital, a contemporary art museum had no exhibits on display, a lackluster armory, and a heat rash broke out on my butt (yikes man). Insert quote about the journey being the adventure or something.

‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ was certainly the title for our day and a half spent in Graz. Arriving in the city Monday at about 11:00, we were unable to check into our hostel until 15:00, but for some reason decided as a group not to check in until 18:00??? This turned into a weirdly chopped up evening in which we were forced to stay out with aching feet and a need to change our clothes for much longer than we anticipated.

As a group we went to a place called Murinsel, a little island cafe in the middle of the Mur River in Graz. It’s actually really cool, and we ordered drinks and hung out on the river with a beautiful view for an hour or so. Also the bathrooms here are completely made of mirrors and round and curvy? This makes for a very trippy bathroom trip, especially when you decided to get a wine spritzer at noon.

After this cute little place came the highlight of Graz: Schlossberg. It’s this sort of mini mountain that’s in the middle of the city, and offers the most amazing city views, beautiful gardens, and walking trails. I would legitimately go back to Graz just for the Schlossberg views.

See what I MEAN???

After this adventure, myself, Corrie, and Kenzie took off on our own to try to explore some more. We did find this place on the Schlossberg that was a super huge slide on the inside of the mountain! It was crazy fun, and I did take a video of myself going down it, but again wordpress won’t let me upload videos. /: As a placeholder, here are some pictures of pretty places we discovered along the way…

Graz is beautiful enough that you really could just walk around for hours admiring architecture and going into stores, but at this point our feet were aching and we just had to get settled, so we went ahead and made the 25 minute trek back to the hostel, and waited in the lobby a full hour before we were able to check in.

After getting ourselves a little bit more put together came the BEST part of Graz: ITS BRITTNEY BITCH! If you remember, she’s been staying in a hotel in Graz, so this evening we were able to go get dinner with her and her parents, and then we returned to the Murinsel to see it lit up at night. I don’t have many pictures from this evening because we were all just enjoying ourselves, but enjoy this sweaty and blurry and overall not amazing picture of her and I at the Murinsel.

Next morning, bright an early, we set out to the Kunsthaus Museum in Graz. Brittney was able to join our group for these morning adventures which was amazing, but this is where the unfortunate events start trickling in. Upon arrival to the Kunsthaus, we found that it actually didn’t have any exhibits at the time. Like, nothing. Why did our travel agency book us this museum? Great question, I don’t have an answer. But the nice lady at the front desk told us that our tickets were vouchers that would actually get us into a couple other museums, which we didn’t know, so we left in search of this area of town.

I honestly really loved the museum(s) we found, though by this point we only had a couple of hours to go through them, and I’m sad I didn’t get to spend more time enjoying the exhibits. I am someone who could easily spend hours on end just in one museum, so maybe that’s just me. One half of the museum was a natural history museum, and the other half was a mixture of contemporary art and historic art. It was for sure a surprise highlight of the day. I won’t bore you with tons of pictures from the museums because I feel like they never completely grasp the beauty of the work you are seeing (and if my blog gets boring I will be very disappointed in myself), so here are a few highlights instead.

Because of the Great Museum Mix-Up and the fact that we were on a Very Tight Schedule, we only had about a 25 minute break to get some food before we had to go to the armory. I don’t have much to say about the armory except that it was rather dusty and is the place where I realized I had broken out into a heat rash. I thought the horse armor was cool, so enjoy the only picture I took in this place.

Our travel agency recommended us to have a solid 2 or 3 hours to go through this place, but since it was basically just four floors of metal, most of us got through in under a half hour. After a much-needed headache-curing cold-beverage-providing coffee stop, a large group of us decided to adventure off and see if we could find the Stairs of Separation and Reconciliation. It took us a hot minute (a literal hot minute) to find them because they’re sort of tucked away in a corner building, but they were actually really cool and worth it.

After a couple hours during which we explored the staircase and chilled in a nearby park, we had a tour of the Graz Opera House. It’s an insanely beautiful building, and as we’re all theatre majors, it was cool to see the professional workings of a theatre and realize that a lot of the things they do or ways they are set up is pretty similar to our college theatre. We also got to take pictures on the stage, so that’s pretty awesome.

A very quick break later led us to probably the funniest misadventure of our time here: we went to a ballet gala at the Graz Opera House. That makes you think of professional dancers and ladies in long dresses, right? Now, remember when you were three years old and took a dance class, and you and your class had to hold hands to walk on stage together, and there was that one kid in the corner spinning in a circle and another one waving to her mom? A closer description to what we saw. It was funny, actually, and the teenage ballet dancers were actually quite talented, but the majority of us left at intermission in search of food.

Overall our trip to Graz was not in any way terrible and we had a number of hidden treasure finds, but there was definitely a number of little things, along with the combination of heat and long jeans that I wore (hence the heat rash) that were discouraging and made us all feel a little blah.

Believe it or not, if there’s one thing I could change about our time in Graz, it’s actually that we would spend a little more time there. Graz is a college city and very hipster and up-and-coming, and most of the tourist offerings include lots of cute food places and amazing shopping opportunities, which we only very briefly got to take advantage of. I think that what little time we spent there was either super jam-packed of little things or free time at a time when we all just wanted a chance to lay down for a second, or go grab a croissant, or something (am I even making sense?). I really would have liked to get to know the city better, because I feel like I left there still a stranger.

But anyways, onward and upward! Next stop: Salzburg.

Love Always, Val

This week has been amazing, brutal, inspiring, scary, and stressful. Everything wrapped up into one.

Since checking in on Monday, we have been at Der Retzhof, a sort of castle/bed and breakfast, where groups of people, artists, and more come out to get away from the world and be a little reclusive so they can study. It is located in Liebnitz, a village outside of Graz, and is insanely gorgeous. I can’t believe I get to wake up here every day.

But here’s where my story gets tough. Long story short, shortly after arriving, we found that a blister on Brittney’s heel had become infected and turned into a need for hospitalization and an IV. Though she is discharged from the hospital, she is currently in a hotel in Graz with her parents, where she will remain until she is strong enough to rejoin us. She is improving in health, but it’s been so stressful. It’s disheartening to me knowing how much she would love this workshop, and to be honest, I’m sad without my partner in crime. But she is tough as hell and I know she’ll be back with us as soon as she can – she never fails to amaze me. You can read her blog here – keep up on her adventures as well!

But life goes on, and we still had a workshop to attend! And let me tell you, attend I have. I’ve mentioned this before in previous posts, but I’ll just briefly refresh – the workshop is with the Ostrenko Brothers through the company IUGTE, focusing on physical theatre with the Ostrenko Method, and particularly working with Meyerhold’s biomechanics (mechanics of the body. Just think about that.) I’m not allowed to take pictures in the actual training sessions so I don’t have a lot to show you, but I do have a lot to tell.

Every morning, we wake and meet outside in the gardens at 7am, where we do physical warm ups based in chi gang, a style of martial arts (sort of a cousin to tai chi).

These warmups last an hour, and then we have breakfast from 8-9 and an hour break from 9-10. Side note: The castle feeds us three square meals a day, and they’re all amazing and delicious.

From 10am-12 we have a morning training session, then another break from 12pm-14pm. (yes I’m fancy with the European times now. Have fun figuring out what time I actually mean.)

Then is our big session: 14-18, four hours straight doing work (we get a couple of 5 minute breaks, don’t worry mom.) Then another break from 18-19:30 for dinner, and our final session of the day runs from 19:30-21.

I know it’s a long day and a lot of work, but I’m learning so much and I have so many IDEAS just bouncing around my head, I’ve been trying to write as many of them down as I can remember during breaks or at the end of the day.

The workshop is taught by the brothers, Sergei and Gennady, and the program coordinator Veronica serves as translator and photographer. That’s right, translator. Both of the brothers are Russian, so obviously that is their first language. Sergei knows quite a bit of English, and so most of the times he will talk to us in English, but when he says he “wants to be extra specific” he will speak in Russian and have Veronica translate. Sergei is the older of the brothers and has permanent smile lines around his eyes, is always telling us to “regulate the load” on our bodies, and rather than saying we are doing something wrong, he shows us “possible mistakes” (which we then recognize as things we have been doing). Sergei is the one who teaches more of the ‘acting’ principles, theatre games, and he leads the physical contact work, which tends to get more personal. Gennady (he actually goes by what sounds like ‘Jacky’) is the one who leads the crazy physical stuff. I can’t wait till I get some pictures back and can show you guys just how insane some of the stuff is. Jacky seems like the opposite from his brother. He tends to be very stoic and straightforward, and when we do something wrong he says “no. watch me.” Also, he’s like 63 years old and can bend his body around and jump around for hours. Insane.

Besides the garden space where we do our morning work sessions, this is the training room where we have our afternoon and evening sessions (I went early one day and snuck a picture on my phone). First off, I love that it doesn’t have mirrors. I feel much less judged. Second, please note that this castle does not have air conditioning, and there are 15 of us in this space doing physical work. I honestly think my body is adjusting to the heat and when winter back home in Indiana hits I’m just going to go into shock. In all seriousness though I can’t believe I get to train in such a beautiful location.

In case anyone is curious (probably just my mom), this is my bedroom. Definitely a much homier space than the hostel, I gotta say. I was Facetiming my parents the other night and I mentioned that the castle was starting to feely home-y, and my mom made the joke about feeling AT HOME in a CASTLE. I guess the castle life just suits me y’all. Here I should remind you that we don’t have air conditioning and the windows don’t have any screens in them, so really I’m like Snow White, but instead of sweet little birds coming and waking me up, it’s sweet little mosquitos who want to eat my blood.

I thought this was funny and so I had to share – these signs are posted literally all over the place. We looked it up and apparently they say “laugh once more,” which is sweet and cute until there’s a tiny one in your bathroom that stares you down as you try to pee at 6am. I think I might take a picture of it and make it my phone background.

I snapped this picture on my phone one day I think before our mid-morning session. I look very glamorous, I know. This workshop is not for those who want to be glamorous. However, if you want to be amazed by what your body is capable of, this one’s for you. I doubt my body a lot – we all do. I look in the mirror and I don’t think it’s good enough or perfect enough or anything enough. But in this entire week, my body has not let me down, and I have learned to appreciate it in a way I never have before. It’s about what my body is capable of, feeling healthy, and more than that, feeling stronger physically than I have in a very long time, if ever. I’m a straight up badass, and even though this workshop is kicking my ass and there are times when I want to collapse, it has given me so much more than just a greater knowledge of physical theatre. My body is strong, and so is yours.

But enough of that sappy stuff, more about theatre (I warned you in my very first blog post that I could ramble on about theatre for ever). The Ostrenko Method is known not only for being physical with one’s own body, they also use physical methods between actors. There is a lot of trust and commitment involved, and I can feel how nearing the end of our week, there is a sort of united feeling among the actors in the group, and we are a lot more connected with each other. As I mentioned previously, they also use Meyerhold’s biomechanics as training for a lot of their work. Along with his biomechanics, Meyerhold created what he called ‘biomechanic etudes,’ which are a way to train the actor’s body in preparation for a role/roles. Many of these so-called sketches have been lost, but there is one remaining, titled “Throwing a Stone,” which we learned in full (if you Google it, there are a few variations, and we did the one with a lot of running). You’d be surprised at how much brain work is involved in a lot of these exercises. To me, overall, the Ostrenko Method really brings together the body and mind of the actor to unite with a cohesive ensemble in order to create theatre works based in physical drama. At least, that’s what I got.

If you want to learn more about the Ostrenko Brothers, whether you’re interested in them yourself or you’re my mom who wants to see more details about what we’ve been doing, click here.

Once again, thank you for making it all the way to the end with me and my theatre rambles. Sadly, the workshop ends tomorrow and believe it or not I think I’ll really miss our 7am warm-ups as the sun rises; however we get to spend the next couple of days in Graz, so I will make sure to stay well-documented!

Love Always, Val

Good evening everyone, welcome to Weekend Update, I’m Val Bowman and it’s currently 21:45pm in Austria.

Bright and early Saturday morning the streets of Vienna saw an eager group of college kids refreshed by their first sleep and breakfast in their hostel. Trucking their way along towards the Hofsburg Palace, they eventually are, indeed, able to find their way inside for their tours of the Royal Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum, and the Imperial Apartments

Though not many pictures were able to be taken due to the vast amounts of people and lack of being allowed to take pictures at all, above you can see a few highlights. One of the most majestic and grand pieces in the silver collection that literally held thousands of spoons that emperors ate off of, this centerpiece is just one example of how ‘extra’ these people were. Next is a dress with an impossibly tiny waist (unrealistic body expectations am I right?) that belonged to Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sisi, in the museum in which visitors can learn of the tragic story of the eclectic empress. Finally is a picture of yours truly posing outside the building that holds it all, because photos were not allowed in the Imperial Apartments. I did get to see where royal people went to the bathroom and had dinner, so that was cool.

Next the students hiked over to the St. Stephens Cathedral, where they were SUPPOSED to get a tour of the catacombs. Unfortunately, the catacombs were not open because of a wedding happening in the St. Stephens, but at least dead souls were still on display. More on the St. Stephens later.

Following this attempt, a group of young ladies took off to see what trouble they could get in. They found themselves at a restaurant, but with it being on the fancy side of town with expensive food, most of them just got a drink and took cute pictures. We will not disclose what’s in the cup. Now in a very happy mood, they decided to explore the next door botanical gardens/butterfly house. It was all a very beautiful way to spend an afternoon, and I’m sure the classy Europeans on the fancy side of town were staring at this group of girls laughing as hard as they could.

We take a brief pause in our very serious recap of events to explain this strange picture that was snapped. Apparently a local man was having a bachelor party in which he and his groomsmen went around town to see how many girls would either kiss him on the cheek or slap him in the face. It seems Val Bowman chose slap. Moving on.

I’ve always said that if I have some bread, tomato, and cheese, I can make and enjoy a wonderful meal, and that’s exactly what happened at the nearby local market. A watermelon was also purchased, and finding a knife to cut said melon was quite the adventure, as was eating it.

The velvet scrunchie in my hair was enough to reach the level of the velvet dresses on ladies sitting in the front row at the Vienna Opera House, right? No? Regardless, we sat and saw Don Pasquale, a surprisingly funny and witty opera. For many it was their first opera, and we wanted to commemorate the moment with a picture on the opera house stairs, though we were quickly scolded by ushers that the house was closing and we must take our picture quickly and move along. Totally worth it. (Look at how pretty my friends are!!)

Ah, finally, the last hurrah of the day. The lovely ladies found themselves at a restaurant just across the street from the opera house, where they were served pizza and wine by a… particularly attractive… waiter. Unfortunately he spoke very little English, but they sure did laugh with him a lot.

The group was back at it again bright and early this morning, Sunday, where they happened to be having breakfast in their hostel at the same time as a middle-school-aged Russian soccer team. It was a lot so early in the morning. They still were able to leave early and hop on the Underground system (just like subways in the US) to head towards the Schönbrunn Palace, the summer home of the royal family who’s regular palace was toured the previous day.

A photo series titled “Pretending to be Cool on the Steps of the Palace.” Please click images for a closer view.

Once again, pictures were not allowed inside the castle/palace/fancy house, so some cute pictures were taken outside. A lovely day for lovely girls and a lovely castle. A delightful tour highlighted by seeing the ROOM WHERE MOZART GAVE HIS FIRST PIANO CONCERT AT AGE SIX. Brittney and Val had to hold themselves back from absolutely screaming inside this subdued environment. There was also a room as small as a bathroom but as tall as a ballroom completely decorated in black with gold trip and it was quite the aesthetic, and I still have many questions as to what was the purpose of this little room.

Ahh, the royal gardens. I may be a phony news reporter, but I am at a loss for words. Miles and miles of perfectly manicured greens, gardens, orchards, hedges and hedge mazes. A gal could get lost in all this.

The afternoon was spent discovering a lovely little café/restaurant before roaming around a suburban neighborhood. The habit of long meals filled with conversation and relaxation in Europe seems to be catching on. Probably a good thing, as it means less technology at the table and more enjoyment of company.

And then, alas, a tell that these very American girls might actually not be from Europe: getting lost on the tram system. (don’t worry mom, we were perfectly fine, but we did end up riding the tram system for a solid hour and a half.) Honestly, a delightful way to see the city, and at this point legs were beginning to feel like jello, so a little sitting around never did anyone any harm.

FINALLY. CATACOMBS.

Once again, pictures were not allowed, though we seemed to have gotten hold of this one somehow… hmmm… If anyone can tell me what this Latin says it would be much appreciated.

Haunting and eerie yet fascinating and exciting, I think everyone was a little scared by how intrigued I was to be seeing these bones. Information that the bones were stacked up neatly by slaves during the Bubonic Plague, baby sized coffins, and vessels full of intestines; damp brick hallways, decrepit gargoyles, and musty dirt floors. I really do think I should ask someone why I find this all so interesting.

The catacombs represent the end of our planned day; the rest was filled with naps, laundry in sinks, another trip to the market for more bread and tomatoes as the ladies filled themselves up so they had equal amounts of happiness and carbs in their bodies. Signing off at what is now 22:55pm Austrian time, I’m Val Bowman with your Weekend Update.

My apologies for the corny and loooonnnnggg newscaster report (I hope someone gets the SNL reference)((also my lovely habit of going in and out of 2nd and 3rd person)). I am currently very slaphappy and equally sleep deprived, so I will be calling it a night shortly. Tomorrow we leave the city for the country, and our week-long theatre workshop. I’ve loved so much being able to blog frequently, but I cannot promise the same in the upcoming week; I’ll do my very best. My heart is happy y’all.

Love Always, Val

…maybe that’s a little extreme

But still, after about 20 hours of travel, we made it to Vienna! I can still feel the plane on my body.

But honestly, I don’t even care. Totally, completely worth it. Here are some pics from this first day, which I know is what y’all are really most excited for:

Before I get into the bulk of pictures, lemme tell ya, I’ve never experienced culture shock quite like this before. Not in a bad way – this city is gorgeous and super, super clean, people are biking or using public transport to get absolutely everywhere, and everything is ridiculously picturesque – but never have I ever had to survive in a place that didn’t speak English. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad about it, it’s just a strange sensation to attempt to order something or communicate with someone when you speak as little German as I do. I thought I was being all prepared and on top of it by using Duolingo (which did help, don’t get me wrong), but spending a couple weeks on a language apps is much different than living in the language. Even attempting to navigate the public transportation was a challenge. We ended up figuring it out and by the end of the day I think we had a solid grasp on it. It’s actually pretty similar to NYC’s subways system, so it wasn’t terribly hard, but I was proud of us anyways. Jet lag hasn’t been too crazy yet, but we’ll see how well I can get up in the morning.

Here’s a picture of just outside our hostel, a&o! It’s not too shabby of a place, though I will miss the air conditioning – but I won’t complain about the free breakfasts.

I also ate the most amazing hummus of my life.

And then we went and explored more of the city center, which is where there are more random cool things to come across and discover. Luckily I have some rad friends with me and the group of us is pretty much up for anything. (Not pictured: a beach party on the canal we stumbled across???) I doubt I’ll be able to do a full recap every day like this, but I was just TOO excited. Vienna is beautiful, guys. I can see where Johann Strauss got his inspiration for his Vienna Waltz. I am so lucky.

Love Always, Val

It’s currently 5am the day before we depart and I cannot sleep.

I figured I’d be a bit productive, so I have Friends playing and a giant bottle of Gatorade. (I actually just wrote and entire post and was about to publish it but accidentally deleted it, so here we go again.)

I’m feeling a million different emotions right now. Annoyed that I just deleted my blog post, excited, stressed, impatient… Maybe I’m being dramatic, but two and a half months in Europe is definitely the biggest and craziest thing I’ve ever done.

We leave tomorrow, and start with three weeks in Austria. One of those weeks will be a theatre workshop with the Ostrenko Brothers, and the other two will be spent touring Vienna, Salzburg, and Graz. Then, Brittney and I separate from the group from Purdue Fort Wayne to hang out in Europe for a little while. We start with a week in Switzerland, just outside of Bern, then head down to the Amalfi Coast in Italy for a week, and finally spend two weeks just outside of Rome. After all this, we have our apprenticeship with off-Broadway company One Year Lease in Greece; we start with a few days in Athens and then go to a little mountain village called Papingos.

I think of all the feeling things, I feel the most surreal.

I cannot believe I am so lucky.

Love Always, Val

Hello!

I’m sure many of you here are family/friends wanting to keep up on my summer 2019 journey, but I figured I’d start this blog off with a little bit about myself. Just, ya know, in case there’s anyone here who doesn’t know me. Which would shock me. I’m no fantastic writer so don’t expect to be terribly entertained here, more just a quick documentation that I’m alive and doing things.

Who?

I’m Val, and I’m a senior theatre major at Purdue University Fort Wayne. I could get all sappy and gross about theatre, but I won’t (yet). I’m a Gemini, I just finished watching Game of Thrones, and I’m great at being a terrible photographer.

Why?

This summer, 2019, I was accepted into a couple different theatre programs. The first is with the Ostrenko Brothers in Austria and the second is with One Year Lease (OYL) in Greece, so as you can imagine, I’ve got quite the adventure coming up. Me and my best gal Brittney are embarking on this journey, and I know I have tons of fam who want to keep up on our shenanigans. So instead of texting/calling/sending pictures constantly while I’m gone, I’m keeping a blog!

I suppose that’s really all I have to tell you about myself for now. Upcoming posts will include details about the programs themselves, as well as where all we will be going in Europe. Maybe, if I actually stick to what I say.

Love Always, Val