Time can say nothing but I told you so

    Readers dear, I apologize very much for letting practically all of May slip by without updating you on my life. Suffice to say that much of May was, for personal reasons, a month I'd rather not dwell on, and to that effect, I'll save you from an exhaustive recounting of the almost-month (ouch) I haven't updated and give a brief picture summary (of the good parts) instead.

    There was some fun in May. Ready, get set, photos:

    Another trip to Vienna (this time for SIX days) to spend some last time with Andrea before she headed back to the States:

Deliciousest lunch ever

    My twenty-third birthday:

I saved my cards in the mail to open on my birthday so it'd be more fun. Then my very sweet host family took me out to lunch at a cute little Italian place where we consumed a terrifying amount of food (we're talking three courses + dessert  + wine. Oink!).

My host family at my birthday lunch

   A birthday trip to an FC Bayern match (awesomest birthday present ever from Leigh!):

Note #22 for a laugh

Victors! (Obviously)

Bayern bear!

   Radlnacht:

Super cool night when the city center is closed to cars and people can bike a 12-km loop through the city (including through the tunnels!) Watch this cool YouTube video of this very night! Maybe you'll even see me!:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0kuTcw-LU8. I also, for the first time, rode my bike all the way into the city center (about 13 km). It was actually a really nice ride! Munich is an incredibly bike-friendly city.

Coolest bike ever 

Bikers, bikers everywhere! 

Riding past the Bavaria statue 

 Some lovely English Gardens weather:

Germans are the best at everything. Including relaxing. 

Liquid lunchers at the Chinesischer Turm beer garden

And some generally beautiful German days:

Frauenkirche and Rathaus from Marienhof

Opera house 

Theatinerkirche

And with that jaunt taken care of, we can skip ahead to June.  My family is yet again on vacation (something else you missed in my hurried sprint through May), so I have a whopping ten days with the house to myself. I'm currently on Day 4. I've done a whole lot of productive things like do a puzzle, watch a lot of TV, and make a lot of fruit smoothies. It's just as well things are quiet though, as my choir is recording a CD this weekend, so I'm conserving my energy for that (as well as the almost daily rehearsals leading up to it. Ugh).

    Speaking of my choir, I will never again complain about sopranos. Seriously. Give me sopranos any day. This alto in my choir is, hands down, the bitchiest (yes, I went there) choral singer (she's in the running for bitchiest person, really) I have ever worked with. She stormed out of last week's rehearsal in a rage when she didn't get to sing an antiphon, saying she'd never be back, so we'll see what this week brings. I'd happily never see her again, though that would be bad news for our Alto II section, so I guess the altruist in me should be rooting for her to get over it. I guess. 

   Saturday night was a random trip to the opera! Going with a friend much wiser to the ways of the world than I, we headed to the opera house 45 minutes before curtain without even having tickets, and by the time the house opened, we had purchased two tickets from kindly older ladies out on the front steps who had extras. Standing room, yes, but the friendly standing room type where there's a lovely little velvet bench behind you, and you can even see the whole stage! The production was Rossini's La Cenerentola (the Italian Cinderella story), and Cenerentola was sung by none other than the incredible Joyce DiDonato, which I had no idea was going to be happening until getting there. The performance was completely wonderful, and we topped off the night by a trip to La Baracca, a cool little Italian place where all the ordering is done via iPad. Oh, the twenty-first century. 

   Today I headed down to the small town of Schliersee to visit Leigh, who's stranded down there the entirety of the Schulferien (school vacation). (Again with these Catholic holidays! Bavarian schools give two weeks off for Pentecost!) Leigh, Paulo (the opera friend), and I spent the day moseying around the little town and lake, having a delicious Bavarian lunch, and some ice cream for dessert. 

Schliersee

   And now here I am, updating my blog, listening to KUSC, and drinking a banana-blueberry smoothie.

   A brief foray into some personal matters. Feel free to skip, for those more interested in pictures. 

   Not to delve too deeply, but for those who are aware of circumstances, I will say that the last two-and-a-half weeks have been...well, really tough.  For the first time, 6,000 miles away from home, I'm here alone. And it's scary. And really, really lonely.  I lost the support system that got me through my bad days, and now...I'm not sure what I have anymore. I'm not sure what I'm going home to, what I have to look forward to, and on the other side of the coin, I'm not sure what I have left here. Choices were made that, not only can I not stand up for, I can't even remember the reasons behind them, or what good they were supposed to bring about. Despite everything, I always believed that certain things would work out, and I never really thought about the possibility that they wouldn't. And yet here I am, with all the certainties I had about the future ripped away. 

   But on the bright side, the worst thing I thought could happen happened, and...I'm still here. The world didn't end. Mostly thanks to Andrea and Leigh, two of the most amazing friends ever, who basically kept from going entirely insane for a week or so there.

    Next Wednesday, my parents land in Germany! Then three weeks of fun shall commence, and I cannot wait. Almost literally. I anxiously make another x on my countdown calendar every night. Plans include weekends in Prague and Nuremberg, as well as, of course, a touristy time in Munich! Now just get me through the next week! 

  I'll try to be better about blog posting. I just needed some time off. Thanks for reading, all. And I'll leave you with this poem, since it's been on my mind a lot lately. And everyone can use some more villanelles in their lives.

Time can say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you, I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time can say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you, I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time can say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you, I would let you know.

Suppose the lions all get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away?
Time can say nothing but I told you so.
If I could tell you, I would let you know.
--W.H.Auden