Audition tour 2011: Deutschland

I didn't have consistent internet access during my trip to Germany this year, so I kept a Word journal. Lots of train time means I wrote more than I thought I did, so we'll go in installments.

Part 1: Adventures in Deutschland

Zen packing strategy

Aided by the encouragement (read: harassment) of my husband, I managed to pack for 14 days in one very small pink carry-on suitcase - Cupcake rides again – and one computer backpack. Were I only coming to Germany for a regular old visit, I could have done without the suitcase altogether. After all those years of choir tours where you have to carry your own suitcase, I’ve gotten pretty good at paring it down to the absolute basics: two pair of jeans (1 on my body, 1 in the suitcase), three sweaters (1 on my body, 2 in the suitcase), five or six baselayers of varying warmth (smartwool for stupid arctic cold, long-sleeved t-shirts for average cold), a few pair of wool socks, one pair of dress shoes for concert and auditions, one mashable gown, one mashable audition dress, one set of dual-voltage hot rollers, two plug adaptors, the basics when it comes to toiletries (BUT this time I brought my own shampoo and two kinds of moisturizer – something about the water strips my skin and hair), and the necessary music.

About traveling in the winter

You will never wear all of the clothes you pack. Deal with this idea now. You will wear the exact same sweater for four days in a row because it’s the warmest one you have. You will not wear the pretty scoop-neck cashmere because the temperature will drop below freezing and you will want to be wearing the warmest stuff you have. You will not wear dress clothes, not even to the opera. You will wear your dress over all of those layers and take off the layers when you get to the audition, but not before. I just borrowed this fantastic fleece from my friend Theresa – it has one giant zip up into a stand-up funnel neck, and another zip that makes just the top of the collar lay down. It also has thumbholes down the sleeve, which sends me into raptures. It fits close, so I can wear it under my winter coat, and the high neck removes the necessity of wearing four scarves to keep warm. These are the kinds of pieces you will wear. Those crazy bitches in the jCrew catalogue, frolicking in tights and skirts and loosely-draped scarves? That photo shoot was done in May, with fake snow.

Two and a half in-flight movies:

1. Easy A – totally worth watching on the plane. Growing up in the Bible Belt, it’s easy to sympathize with a girl who is otherwise transparent but still manages to incur the wrath of the Jesus squad.

2. Life as we know it – also worth watching on the plane. But really not worth much else. Katherine Heigl, I have come to realize, plays the same woman in every movie. Driven, smart, witty but otherwise a little too ballsy for most men. Until she is undone by the otherwise goofy and/or clueless but incredibly handsome (notable exception: that guy from Knocked Up) antagonist.

3. Wall Street: Money never sleeps – only saw about half of it, but it makes me really not so crazy about Shia LeBoeuf. I find it difficult to take men in skinny jeans seriously. Michael Douglas is timeless, but what else is new there.

Multiple snacks on the plane, some better than others. I was especially pleased when the flight attendant asked if I would like Baileys or Cognac after supper. Lufthansa is the bomb.

If Wall Street never sleeps, then I can’t either

Staying awake on that first day after an overnight flight is the WORST. I tried to nap on the plane to the best of my ability, but the many interruptions for snacks kept disturbing my nap quest. When I got out of the Munich airport, it was snowing, just enough to make me feel like I was in some kind of Christmas movie. More than anything, I wanted a shower and food. Real German breakfast food. One S-bahn and two U-bahns later, I found myself happily situated in a hotel. With my boyfriend.

Say what?

When my friend Zach and I agreed to this gig, we said we would prefer to stay in a hotel, rather than a hostel, and that we would happily stay on our own in the States, or possibly even room together, if necessary. Well, the director took us up on our offer. Both of them. So there we were – two friends who fortunately really like each other, sharing this little German hotel room. And poor Zach, not knowing that there’s quite a difference between ‘Meine Freundin’ and ‘Eine Freundin von mir,’ said his ‘Freundin’ was joining him. So there I was – jet-lagged, starving, wishing for a shower and the girlfriend of an attractive gay man. Totally normal.

After eating my weight in breakfast, I took the most blissful shower ever and my friend Theresa came to pick us up for a little rehearsal. What’s that you say? Rehearsing after an overnight flight and virtually no sleep? Of course it’s a good idea! My voice was only partly awake – luckily, the soprano part for the Bach Bminor mass is low – but we made it through. My friend Corey came to pick us up after that and we did a little sight-seeing. Went to the top of the Neues Rathaus and shivered as we took in the view, an early supper at the Hofbrauhaus, and then Corey and I went to the theatre for an evening of German operetta. I was still awake at this point, which was a minor miracle. I did start to doze off in the middle of the 2^nd act and Corey was afraid I would keel over in my seat, but we made it and then I slept the sleep of a thousand sleeps. For nearly 10 hours.