Day 036: New roommates arrive
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
36 — New roommates arrive
07-September-1971
(Tue.)
TRANSCRIPT
Kept busy again. Paperwork, practice, and spent the
morning riding on the “strassebahn” [think San
Francisco street car] so that my weekly card would be
good.
Saw Anjali, but only for a little while. She’ll see
me before she leaves tomorrow.
I have 2 new roommates again. But both speak English.
One is Pavl (Russian [name])—an American from
California who will be studying piano at the
Hochschüle für Musik. Seems like a pretty good kid,
but right away is American-ish (outgoing, sometimes
wise-guy-ish). Typical college type. The other is
Jeff from England, who is also a really nice guy. The
more we get to know each other, the friendlier we
are.
REFLECTIONS
No Anjali today. She was spending the day with her
mother and getting ready for their trip home
tomorrow.
Two new roommates have come my way. Pavl [Pavel] and
Jeff, both speaking English. I’m not certain if I
spelled Pavel’s name correctly—I’ll spell it with an
“e” from now on. If I notice anything in the journal,
I’ll change it. (From now on, I’m going to ask
everyone to spell their name for me.)
Both roommates are nice guys and I remember that we
got along just fine. In fact, one of them becomes my
long-term roommate for the rest of the year.
Pavel is going to study piano at the academy. That is
not an easy thing. A “performance major” in any major
university, college, or established music school
(think Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Indiana
University, Oberlin, and many others) is
way-beyond-anything competitive and, in my opinion,
almost impossible. Pavel must already be quite an
accomplished performer.
Don’t take my “American” comments too seriously.
Pavel was a typical college kid, and so was I. Maybe
I was a little less outgoing. We got along really
well and became good roommates.
I don’t remember much about what Jeff was going to
study. I hope that I write more about him later in
the journal. I think I will have pictures of both of
them that I will put up shortly.
By the way, the streetcar system in Vienna is
extremely good. They go all over the city. Many
streets have streetcar routes, making traveling
around Vienna and its outskirts quite easy. We had a
student card that allowed you to travel at a reduced
rate.
John
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