The last few weeks has flown by here in Salzburg studying my course, which is known around the Orff Institute as the 'Special Course'.
First we had to do some paperwork for being a university student in Austria. We were lucky enough to have the help of my twin sister Rosanna, who lives in Berlin - Germany and speaks German. This made everything a lot easier.
Kirrabelle & Rosanna
I am lucky enough to be studying with two other teachers from Australia - Michele and Virginia who are from Sydney. It is really nice to have some local friends to study with. We all live in the same student accomodation apartment block.
Official university students of the Mozarteum University: Michele, Kirrabelle & Virginia
We started the first week with a couple of meetings at the university with all the people doing the course, meeting each other and some of the teachers we will have. We then started classes which was fun but also a bit of a change to be a university student again after being a teacher for a long time.
The Orff Institute is a lovely building in the suburbs of Salzburg (about a 15 minute bus trip from the old city centre). There are mountains all around as well as some farms, so it is a lovely place to come every day.
Orff Institute building in the morning
Mountains on a cold morning with snow on top (which melted off later in the day)
Mountains and fields on a sunny day
We have a great group of students from all around the world: Spain, USA, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Greece and of course Australia!
We usually get a couple of hours break for lunch, which is enough time to go back to my student flat and make something to eat. This has been good as the second week of the course was very busy with an international presenter (Sofia Lopez-Ibor from USA) teaching us lots of extra classes, including on the weekend. However all the classes are brilliant and it's great doing them. We've also had some homework to do, and had to do our first teaching presentation to the group. I have been a busy student!
This is the view from my student flat (all these buildings are student accomodation).
It's on the second floor so I get a lot of sun.
On the weekend we got bikes, which makes getting around a lot easier and quicker. There are bike lanes all around Salzburg and you can ride along the river and on paths lined with trees between the fields. You also don't need to wear a helmet!
On the path behind the Orff Institute called Hellbrunner Allee
I also got some time to visit the lovely Mirabell Palace gardens in the centre of town, even though it was a bit rainy. You can see the Fortress Hohensalzburg in the background, this fortress castle can be seen from all around the city up on the hill.
I also had a hot chocolate and apple strudel at Cafe Bazar which is right next to the Salzach river that runs through the centre for Salzburg. Delicious!
Hot chocolate and apple strudel
We have been fairly busy this third week with classes as well. It has been really nice getting to know the other students better and learn about the different countries and cultures they come from. Luckily Orff Schulwerk is a worldwide "language" and we can all connect through this approach to music and dance teaching.
