Alright, I bow to your insistance...

I am sitting here in bed at 5:25 in the evening munching on an orange and last Thursday seems so far removed that I cannot believe it was me dancing those halls. Perhaps it's the mucus running down my throat or how painful it is to swallow but I am not feeling shiny today. Probably doesn't help that Vienna is a soggy, raining mess. Blegh.

Anyway, the happy times:

Last Thursday was simply one of those days when I conquered the world. I woke up, still a little sick from earlier in the week but mostly better despite a persistently clogged ear. The sun was shining so beautifully on my way to German class that as soon as I finished, I decided to hop a train to the Donau Insle or Danube Island. The island was man-made from one of the many harbor dredging and now spans the width of Vienna with swimming barges, beaches, bike paths, skate parks, walking paths, running paths, and ice skating in the winter! It was nice to step away and breath in some quiet after being in the city for so long. I miss the water and the clouds stayed just clear enough that I could see the hills--a nice reminder that there are mountains out there.

Unfortunately the sun wasn't shining for long so after about an hour I hopped the U-bahn home and proceeded to struggle through my German homework. Of course, then the getting ready had to happen--I did a fine job on Adrienne's (roommate) hair. She looked really pretty in her white, strapless gown. I felt pretty fine myself in my green, curve hugging, well-boned little gown. I was looking forward to riding that U-bahn in my ballgown. I think I feel most like myself when I am doing some inappropriately mundane or dirty in dress clothing--it's so indicative of my personality. However, Adrienne's dress being both white, and floor length was not going to survive the trip so we hopped a cheap cab and we were on our way to a ball!!!

The Hofburg was beautiful. We were unfortunately in the newer part--the part that has been much more updated for events such as these but the main ballroom was spectacular. On the walls were dramatically lit Austrian and EU flags with flowers and flower bouquets along all the tables placed for people to rest or eat. Everything, and everyone looked beautiful. But of course, as will all things in Vienna, you have not seen a room until you remember to look up. The ceiling--oh my word, the ceiling. The ceiling had beautiful cornices and on either end, in the center, and along the edges were full scale paintings of philosophers and kings under Grecian columns. The chandeliers were pure crystal and sparkled bright gold giving everything a warm, evening feel to it. From this point there are a thousand and one stories I could tell but I will simply summarize a bit and tell a few of my favorite.

To say that I danced would be an understatement: I danced a LOT and with numerous young men. It took me a while to get the hang of it--my friend Madeleine finally explained it this way: "You have to stare them down and not be picky. Young, old, cute, awkward. Just stare them down until they cannot look away and then they have to ask you." Turns out, Austrian men are just as awkward as a American men when it comes to having the guts to ask girls to dance. Who would have guessed? Here's the best part though: Austrian boys actually CAN dance...or at least fake it well enough to be worth it. Needless to say, after I got the hang of things (aka pulled out Becca #1--the bold as brass version) it was a magical night.

My favorite moments:

I was having a hard time since no one was asking me to dance so I wondered a little bit with my friend Alicia. When we ended up in the "traditional dance room" I was enjoying watching what sounded like polka. Everyone was going in a circle men one direction, women the other direction and then when the music hit a certain point, everyone would grab the partner nearest them and dance. When a male ended up without someone to dance with--I just dove in. It was pretty fun. On the next round everyone ended up slightly off so people weren't paired correctly on my side of the circle. The woman behind me and I decided to try our luck--we were pretty bad but we had a lot of fun! (Note the picture in the previous post.) I stayed for the rest of the dance with a number of awkward encounters and then headed back to explore the other rooms.

That was one of the nice things about the ball--there was the large traditional room which played a lot of old-timey music mixed with classic waltzes by the orchestra (which was phenomenal by the way) and everyone was dancing standard ballroom dances. There was also a room playing jazz, the second largest hall had more old time hits but the dancing was less formal, downstairs was a Latin room with a really amazing band, and then there was the folk room.

After that adventure, I got a little more bold--I had a few dances with some IES friends of mine, and had a few nice older gentlemen dance with me. That was pretty fun. One of my favorite characters of the night was a guy named Don. He and his friend were trying to play a group of four of us--man he was a cocky character. I of course, had a blast messing with him. We were fighting and insulting each other the whole evening including while we danced three times in a row and two more times later. It was hilarious. He certainly wasn't a keeper but he's someone worth going out for a fun night with! Of course, that is if we ever stop making fun of each other enough to actually go do something.

After leaving Don and his friend, I decided to try my luck in the Latin room. There I ended up meeting a nice middle aged man name Michael (mI-çaI-el) who was a fabulous dancer. We danced something like six or seven dances in a row. Later, when I finally begged for a rest, we had a nice conversation over some mineral water and he explained that he wants to open up a dance school/club where people can dance a variety of different dances rather than going to one place for Latin and another place for formal and another place for swing. Sounded like a pretty great idea to me. He was really nice man but after a while I started craving the company of people my own age--I am a little sorry that I allowed the age thing to unnerve me but it was a night of magic and I wanted to keep exploring. I did get his number--I might call him (on a strictly non-romantic basis!) to go dancing sometime. I think it would be fun.

The rest of the evening was less eventful but still wrapped in the magic only a palace can provide. I hung out with a number of different people and danced with a few more of my friends. At 4 am Denise, Linkhai and I ended up sitting a resting our feet in the main ballroom while listening to the last hour of waltzes. Here I danced with a few nice Austrian men one of whom swung me around the ballroom for a solid five minutes. Man was I dizzy. The best part of it all, and as I have said a few times, the only thing that can possibly even hint at the magic of it all: I danced the Viennese waltz in Vienna at 4 in the morning to a live orchestra in the imperial palace. Is there anything more magical than that?

The one practical lesson in all this? I will never wear heels to a dance ever again. I was on my feet dancing for seven solid hours and my feet never even started to hurt. Besides, when you are 5'9" and looking fabulous, no one notices that you are wearing black flats. And, if the guy is tall (and let's admit it, I like my men tall) then he can't see the scuff marks from his altitude anyway! The other fun lesson: you have as much fun as you make. A lot of the shyer IES girls didn't have a very good time. Those of us that were bold--we had a blast. I refuse to waste time playing wallflower ever again!

When we finally ended the evening at 5:30am, Noelle had made a nice Austrian friend and we invited him back to Noelle and Denise's for breakfast. After another hour of chatting I walked myself and my ballgown home for a few hours of sleep before German. Best night ever. And we are all going to another one on the 15th. Carnival, here we come!

Happy Magic Making!