I know! Can you believe it? Why am I in school again? But what a program to be in - I want to elevate my writing and be publishing fiction and creative non-fiction - and this program has me in Europe for 2 weeks each of three summers - Vienna first (July 1-15, 2023) then Dublin and in 2025, Barcelona!
I was able to fly over on Condor direct from Anchorage to Frankfurt, (9 hrs), then a short flight Frankfurt to Vienna on Austrian Airlines, about 90 minutes. We stayed at the Hotel Johann Strauss, which was lovely, and classes were a short 2 blocks away.We had four or five local speakers/exhibits, and we did work ahead of time in film, poetry, non-fiction and fiction of Vienna/Austria. I was already interested in Vienna at the turn of the century and leading up to WWII, and I had been waiting since 1994 to go and see the work of Egon Schiele after seeing an exhibit in Washington D.C. totally by accident -- The National Gallery.
Loved early morning walks after a good European breakfast, while it was still cool, and seeing parents walking their children to school-or accompanying them on their bikes or scooters. Then a decaf cappuccino in a cafe on the way back to the hotel, and I was ready for the day!
Classes 10-12 and 2-5, including a couple of excursions and a boat trip on Saturday down the Danube to Bratislava, Slovakia! I also went to the Leopold Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Albertina and the Belvedere Museum on my own and to a Mozart concert. I loved Vienna and was even able to have dinner with old friends, Tomas and Stefanie! They took me to a lovely little Austrian restaurant all in German and got me acquainted with the local food! Wish I'd taken pictures! Sorry!
I did take pictures around town though, and I think that I took one of breakfast too!
It was a fantastic two weeks, and I'm going to love this writing program - low-residency MFA in Creative Writing at Cedar Crest College - online except for summer residency!
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