I feel cultured.

Last week I went to the symphony on Tuesday. They were playing Handel’s Water Music- it was so beautiful, and we had a crazy conductor. HE had the mad-scientist looking fly away hair, little glasses, crooked teeth, lots of wrinkles, and he jumped up and down during the dynamics of the music. We only paid four Euros for standing room, but because the front row didn’t sell, we sat in nice 50 Euro seats.
On Friday night we went to a ballet at the state Opera House (the one across the street from our school). We saw Onegin, a ballet by Tchaikovsky. It was SO good, SO intense, and so dynamic. And we paid 2 Euros to get in! I truly think it is the best deal in the world. Sure, you have to stand, but the show is so good you don’t even notice that you’re standing most of the time, and the seats that are worth buying are 75-200 Euros.
I had originally planned to go to the Opera on Saturday as well, but when we were out walking on Saturday afternoon, we passed an American movie theater and the second “Pirates” movie was playing in fifteen minutes. We had a small “I miss some things about America especially English” moment, so we stopped and saw it, then went out for cheeseburgers and milkshakes afterward. I really love it here, but there are a few things I miss.
Yesterday I also went to a ballet, standing room. I saw Coppelia, another amazing work. I just love how things like that are all over the place here and highly accessible, especially with the standing room tickets. You can barely walk down the street without seeing an advertisement for some sort of cultured event, or walking by some piece of architecture that has been there for 500 years or more. Before the ballet I went to a memorial park that I just happened to find to read my book. There was a huge fountain and beautiful flowers, but it wasn’t like it was even anything that special (though I thought it was). It was just typical. Too cool.