Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Yoo-hoo!

Hello world! a.k.a. Katelyn's blog buddies!

Before I launch into what will be my first blog post ever, allow me to introduce myself as the Strange person that invaded Katelyn's life approximately two years ago. Yes, I, AnnaGrace Strange not only invaded Katelyn's life, but I have also invaded her condo on this glorious week of my spring break. And subsequently, I am now invading her blog. :) SIDE NOTE: Before I continue, please allow me to say that I have never written a blog post in my life. I have written boo-koodles of other things, but never a blog. So, bear with me while I venture into this new area of creative expenditure! I am assuming that the majority of the people reading this blog know who I am. If not, hello. I am AnnaGrace. I am biologically Strange and intrinsically unexpected. (For further explanation about me feel free to contact Katelyn as she can most assuredly attest to the Strangeness that is me.)  :) I am a graduate student at the University of North Texas pursuing a master's in historical musicology - a field that entails more space than this blog post can give, but that innately requires a love for thinking, theorizing, philosophizing, feeling, analyzing, researching, writing, and adoring - all of which are circumpolar around music. If you aren't thoroughly freaked out yet, congratulations. You've made it this far - it's only a few more paragraphs to the finish. :)

Seeing as I plan on posting here everyday this week,  I figure that, primarily, I would post about and discuss the most vital parts of who I am. (Music, running, more music, more running, and my infatuation with my new blender). :)  Apart from my relationship with the Lord, I suppose it could be said, that AnnaGrace + music = intricately intertwined. (In fact, I am pretty sure that music is ingrained into the fabric of my DNA). If I were to write a post about myself and music, I would be here until who knows when?! So, I do believe that since I am currently "homesick" for Vienna, Austria, I will start with a post about music. (Also, it should be noted that "homesickness" for Vienna is a phenomenon that I experience daily, but that is all the more acute at the moment thanks to a brief mention of it during lunch). 

Even though I have been granted a brief respite from life as a graduate student in historical musicology at the University of North Texas, I am always and ever finding myself immersed in music. In spite of the fact that this immersion includes extra work and assignments that professors assigned over spring break (yikes!), I must must must say that I am gloriously in love with music. In fact, even as I type this, my heart is melting thanks to Mahler. *sigh* I do most assuredly believe that I am incandescently in love with a man named Gustav and a man named Johannes--both of whom, much to my dismay, are dead and both of whom, in my opinion, wrote some of the most sublime music that will ever resound in the universe! (I am currently chuckling to myself, because I know that Katelyn will read this, and in some form tell me that I am, "a goober" and/or "a nerd" - a title which I wholeheartedly embrace).

Since I am currently finding the very essence of my being subject to the sublime intonations of rich and poignant emotion, (thank you third movement of Symphony No. 6 by Mahler) I have decided that I am beyond ready to go back to Vienna. And, since these blog posts will feature vital aspects of me, myself, and I, please indulge my inclusion of pictures from my trip to Vienna. Since I am more or less addicted to Brahms and Mahler, the pictures I am including pertain to my experience of them while I was there. :) For various reasons that Katelyn can clarify and to which she can no doubt attest, Brahms and Mahler resonate profoundly with me - their music permeating all aspects of my intellect and emotion

Grave of Johannes Brahms - a fellow Brahms adorer and myself brought flowers to the cemetery where we visited not only Brahms's grave, but also Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, and a few others. :)


At the end of a dock next to the lake and hut where Gustav Mahler composed 


And since I am now aching for Vienna, I should probably stop making myself even more "homesick" by perusing the 1,000+ pictures that I took. As a penultimate picture, below is a photo Schönbrunn palace - my next door neighbor, as it were. :)

I went here almost everyday to study - and I never even began to come to the end of the extensive grounds.
And finally, a group of my fellow study-abroaders in Salzburg at the gazebo where scenes from the Sound of Music were filmed. Since those particular scenes are romantic in nature, it was decided that this picture would only include us romantically sappy girls. :)
Sadly, the gazebo was locked, so we couldn't go in and leap around the benches as occurs in "Sixteen Going on Seventeen".

Hmmm...I just realized that this isn't exactly the most fun blog post ever. But, oh well. Such is me at the moment. I hope that I have not frightened you all away from Katelyn's blog. I will attempt to make my next blog post more entertaining/chipper. :)

Aufwiedersehen!
AnnaGrace a.k.a. Katelyn's resident moocher :)














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