sitting in an apartment

I am sitting in an apartment, subleased in my name, and drinking tea out of a real mug in Shöneberg Berlin. Three weeks ago this was the lofty, unfathomable goal. Three weeks ago I left comfortable and beautiful New Mexico for a new adventure, which I would begin alone with three auditions in three different countries in less than three weeks. The logistics involved 9 flights and 8 different beds. Needless to say, I was a little bit intimidated.

I left on Saturday November 10th from Albuquerque, spent a few hours in Denver (where I took full advantage of access to a real TCBY) 

and arrived in Queens that night. Anthony donated his entire apartment for the length of my stay as he so awesomely does every time I come to the city. I was only in New York for two days, but I managed to see old friends, meet other singers on my roster at a party, have a meeting with my agent about the upcoming trip, and audition for the Opera Piccola of San Antonio (it went well!). It was a whirlwind, but I am very glad I made the stop before venturing across the ocean.

I left for London (via Reykjavik) on the evening of November 12th. The leg to Iceland went by incredibly quickly and after a few hours at the airport and half an hour waiting to de-ice, 

Iceland!

we made the even faster jump to London. From London I flew to Paris and after a night in a hideous hotel, I flew to Graz via Berlin. The amount of flights and jumping around was a result of not knowing where I would get auditions ahead of time and no real direct (and inexpensive) flights to Graz. This crazy itinerary was actually the most logical and cost effective (that I could figure out…).

I reserved a private room in a hostel within walking distance of the main train station in Graz. It ended up being one of the best places I’ve stayed so far. The room was large and clean with a private bathroom, tv and access to the controls to adjust the radiator! I was never cold! I set up camp and ventured to the nearest supermarket for the next week’s provisions. The only real issue was that I had no access to a refrigerator or microwave. I managed to get by on cured meats, canned things and raw fruits and veggies without breaking the bank. 

I made instant coffee with the incredibly hot sink water and always had chocolate on hand. I had four whole days to adjust to the time change and get settled before my audition for the Graz Opera Young Artist Program on November 19th. I spent them exploring the old town, spending some quality time with the duolingo owl and trying to pick out words I recognized on German television. Graz is gorgeous. 

It seemed especially dressed up in preparation for the holidays: the Christmas markets were going up and chestnuts (real chestnuts!) were roasting on every corner.

The pianist for the audition agreed to meet with me the day before the audition to go through my repertoire and was kind, incredibly helpful and one of the best pianists I’ve worked with. She gave me a chance to practice in a room with a real piano before coaching me on repertoire and coaching me on how to best introduce myself to the audition panel in German.

The audition happened in rounds. First you sang in a giant rehearsal space for the three men on the panel and if they liked you, you got to move onto the final round in the real theater. I made it through both rounds and got to sing on stage in the most beautiful theater I’ve ever seen. Everything was covered in velvet and gold and I felt like I had gone back to a forgotten era. After waiting for the panel to discuss the remaining four singers (2 sopranos, 1 tenor and me), we were each asked to speak to the director individually. When my turn came I regurgitated my very rehearsed German: “Thank you very much,” “I really enjoyed singing for you,” “I am still learning German!” He seemed amused and then spoke to me in English. He asked what my travel plans were, told me that the panel really enjoyed my audition and called me a ‘real artist’! He said that they were not allowed to divulge any results yet, but that I would be hearing from them very soon. Yes! Hurrah! It definitely was an exciting way to start my Europe auditions.

The next day I headed back to Paris via Berlin and was lucky enough to be able to stay with Hallie and her roommates. It was fantastic to be with a friend and in an apartment with a kitchen.

She even had a home cooked meal waiting for me when I arrived! The week before my audition in Paris was lovely. I was able to meet up with Justin for coffee and Zach and Vincent hosted an incredible dinner for me in their gorgeously remodeled apartment.

I also spent a lot of time doing absolutely nothing. I rationalized my inactivity by convincing myself that by resting I was preventing the annoying cold that everyone around me seemed to have. Once again, I was able to rehearse with the pianist before my audition (for an Alto II opening in the RadioFrance choir). 

She was very helpful and I’m so glad I got to explore the RadioFrance building before the actual audition. It is a giant maze and is being renovated. I spend a half hour just trying to find a way out of the building!

The audition itself was admittedly not great. I was dead last and had to wait 2 hours to sing. I walked in to the audition and was immediately greeted by a panel of 12. 12! Before I could sing my piece, they asked me to vocalize and started on a low eflat. I could barely make it and was relieved when we started to climb back up into normal territory. I thought once we got to the top we would be done, but the pianist started leading us right back down the scale. She went all the way down to a low d, and it was obvious that it was out of my range. I sang the aria well enough and thanked them on my way out. I checked the website when I got home, and very unsurprisingly hadn’t made it to the next round. C’est la vie.

My last night in Paris involved some quality time with Hallie: we had curried chicken and ice cream and wine and tried to fit in all of the catching up we had left to do. The next day I hopped on the night train to Berlin. I was lucky and got a whole row of seats to myself. We made it to Berlin right on time and I wandered to the McDonalds for much needed coffee and a pile of eggs for breakfast. 

Then I walked about 20 minutes to the hostel I had booked (I only got lost once!).

Since they wouldn’t let me check in until 2pm, I headed to the 1st of 3 appointments I had made to see apartments. I figured out how to buy tickets on the subway and was off. It didn’t take but four seconds to decide that the first apartment was the right one. It is in a great neighborhood, is very large for a studio, has gorgeous wood floors, has the lofted bed that I had secretly been wanting and a pretty good-sized kitchen. 

It’s even decorated the way I imagined my Berlin apartment would be and there is an Argentinean steakhouse around the corner. I signed the contract on the spot! I went back to the hostel to spend my final night in a foreign bed in a shared room with 5 other ladies. I ate my first cone of frites for dinner, 

slept for ten hours despite the incredibly resonant snoring that one of the ladies was able to produce and woke up excited for my big move! I got to the apartment and it took me all of 15 minutes to unpack.

Coming up: how to wait for Kenny; how to live in Berlin; how to find work in Berlin; how to learn German; how to be an opera singer.