Editor’s note: Chloe Huckins is studying in Austria this summer as part of a class at the UO School of Journalism and Communication. She worked as an intern this past academic year in Public Affairs Communications and is now writing about her experiences overseas.
When we signed up for the Journalistic Interview Program study abroad course in Vienna, Austria, few of us realized we would become deeply embroiled in the European soccer madness of World Cup season.
Although routinely mocked for our version of “football” (of which the Ducks are naturally proud) we rallied behind the American soccer team. Two boys in our group spent 15 euros (roughly $20) each on American flags, which they found buried in the back of a souvenir shop.
Our favorite chant became “I believe that we can win!” ― a mantra that had to be retired after the USA vs. Belgium game. However, the American flags were put to good use again when we celebrated the Fourth of July with a single sparkler several days later. We were even pleasantly surprised by the number of Austrians who bade us a grudging “happy Independence Day” on the metro system.
To balance our display of patriotism, we decided to attend the very last performance of the summer at Vienna’s famed opera house. We were able to get into the standing-room-only “nosebleed” section for 3 euros.
The production was the Russian opera The Sly Fox and featured a complicated relationship between a clever vixen and her captor-turned-hunter. Unable to see the English translation screens, we tried to follow the story through the lavish costumes and the body language of the performers.
The fox had been captured by a farmer and appeared to be seducing some chickens with exceptionally high octaves. When one chicken strayed too near, the fox bit down on its neck, scattering the flock and igniting the farmer’s rage. The fox went on to bite many more people and animals until it eventually escaped, met the love of its life and had many babies before dying by the hand of the vengeful farmer.
At one point my friend leaned over and whispered, “So, I’m getting zombie fox from this.” There was a definite disconnect between the actual storyline and our understanding of it.
We also encountered an entirely different musical scene in Vienna: the Donauinselfest, an enormous music festival along the banks of the Danube. One of the largest open-air festivals in Europe, the event featured 11 stages and more than 2,000 artists from every musical genre over three days.
We found ourselves among crowds of both young and old music lovers who traveled from around Europe to see favorite musicians perform. After hearing almost entirely American music on the radio throughout our stay, it was refreshing to experience the incredible scope of the European music scene.
Despite the many distractions, we have continued to work hard to produce good work at our various internships. Bryan Cargill collaborated with Biber Magazine to produce Sounds of Vienna, a short film highlighting the noises of the city. Jonathan Bach, who writes for Wiener Zeitung, contributed a review of a musical performance in the iconic Karlskirche (St. Charles Church) and a story about the summer-long film festival hosted by Vienna’s city hall.
Following two weeks of full Austrian immersion, our professor (and hardened journalist) Peter Laufer sensed we were becoming a little too comfortable and decided to stir things up. An account of our two-day venture into Hungary and Slovakia on assignment is to come.
―By Chloe Huckins, Public Affairs Communications Intern