Y10 EOTC Austria: Mozart, Mozart, and Mozart

By Bethany Lam and Claudia Ng

Before going to Austria, I thought I’d see Mozart souvenirs everywhere. I expected (and was not disappointed to find) life-sized cutouts of Mozart, endless shops of Mozart chocolate, and even Mozart-themed golf balls. After all, what country wouldn’t be proud of the fact that the most famous composer came from there? But after traveling to Salzburg and Vienna, experiencing a different culture, and seeing many iconic buildings, it was easy to tell that Austria had many things to be proud of.

The first day of the trip began in the morning when we landed in Munich, Germany. We arrived at a local restaurant for an appetizing brunch after the long flight, then stayed in the city at Marienplatz for a few hours of sightseeing. Our tour guide talked us through historical information about key locations as we went—turns out, churches are a big part of their heritage! By the end of the Marienplatz tour, we had taken lots of photos and bought food from a bakery. Despite the chilling rain, Munich left a great first impression on all of us. It was just the beginning of this musical trip. The coach drove approximately three hours until we reached our hotel in Salzburg, where the trip organizer prepared a warm welcoming ceremony, giving each of us a treat and a drink. After an hour of free time, we headed to the Sheraton Hotel for a fine-dining welcome dinner. In the end, everyone returned to the hotel with full stomachs, ready for the fun days ahead.

The next day was our first time meeting the Austrians from the Sports Mittelschule. We were all excited and nervous. After the welcoming ceremony, the principal walked us to a room where an old, stern man instructed us to do some vocal exercises. He moved me to stand with a few of the Austrian students. Wanting to make friends, I introduced myself and offered them my choir book because they had printed the wrong music. Eventually, they invited us to hang out with their friends. They were friendly, genuine, and easygoing, so we were dismayed when we had to leave. Our next destination was the Mirabell Palace. We walked there, taking in the cold weather and the beautiful architecture. Mirabell Palace was stunning, and we took many pictures. The last activity was watching a piano duet at the Schlosskirche Mirabell. The melody rang easily through every corner and nook of the detailed cathedral, and we clapped enthusiastically for the performance.

On the performance day, we arrived at the Sports Mittelschule at 9:15 sharp and started rehearsals in the venue immediately. Surprisingly, most of the friends we met the day before were part of the dance team and were dressed in bright, colorful dresses called Tracht. They looked like they were going to a party, in contrast to our black concert clothes. They performed an Austrian folk dance, and a school orchestra also participated in the concert. Lunch at Sports Mittelschule was great—spaghetti bolognese never disappoints. Something I liked about this program was that they allowed us plenty of free time after lunch, allowing us to connect with our new Austrian friends as well as explore the school by ourselves. A brief dress rehearsal was done, followed by the actual performance not long after.

After months of weekly practices, it was very satisfying to finally perform. Everything went great, and every one of us sang our hearts out. Mr. Tsang and Ms. Conti were super proud of us, and we knew that this experience might only happen once in a lifetime. A special guest came and not only sang and yodeled but also taught us the Austrian version of the Happy Birthday song. We learned it and sang it for Ms. Gordon's birthday. However, it was a slightly disappointing setting; after dedicated practice, we performed in a gym rather than an official hall.

It was still a great experience overall. We said our farewells to our new friends and departed with our peers to a nearby seafood buffet for dinner. When we reached our hotel, everyone was exhausted and went to sleep as soon as possible, looking forward to more activities.

The last place we visited in Salzburg was Haus der Natur, a museum with many floors of interesting things to see. A lot of the exhibits are about human evolution, dinosaurs, and even space-related models. However, everyone’s energy levels had dropped; a few of our classmates got sick. And not just coughing and sneezing—they were super, "COVID-19 level" sick. Everyone spent their morning there, and eventually, we headed for lunch. Vienna is the largest city and capital of Austria, and we headed there for our last few days. It took us four and a half hours to drive from Salzburg to Vienna, long enough for us to watch the sun gradually set, turning day into night. That night, we had a really late dinner and still had to check in to our new hotel, but it was all worth it. By this point, a lot of people were seriously unwell, coughing and drained of energy.

It was the second-to-last day of the trip. Unfortunately, due to about six people catching Influenza A, our trip to visit the University of Natural Resources and Life Science (BOKU) was canceled. This initially led to complaints from students who weren't sick but were forced to stay in the hotel until 11:00 AM. In the end, the teachers figured that the best way to cope was to have two teachers continue the trip while the other two stayed with the people who were ill. In the afternoon, we headed to the famous Musikverein Wien, which has large concert halls. There was a 45-minute tour, and we planned to return that night to watch an orchestral concert. Next, we visited a place called Haus der Musik, a museum where each floor is designated to one musical artist. We got to explore, and it was a very good experience. As mentioned, we arrived back at the Golden Hall that evening and watched the performance. Every performer was professional and talented, though there wasn’t a programme rundown, so we had no idea what they were playing. And yes—everyone was sleepy.

Today was the last day, and we were all a little bit glum. Luckily, we got to go to a chocolate factory and learn how chocolate is made. It was exciting, especially since we got so many samples. There were even artifacts from ancient civilizations that drank chocolate, as well as a Willy Wonka painting! But that wasn’t the highlight of the day—the Christmas Market that followed stole the spotlight. There were dozens of decorated stalls under the Schönbrunn Palace, while cinnamon and chocolate scents wrapped around us. You could find anything there: snow globes, ornaments, crochet animals, acorn accessories, candles, and even pins with characters like Aragorn! And don’t even get me started on the food stalls. I had the best crepes ever, and if you ordered a ‘small’ bag of potato chips, they’d give you an overflowing bag twice the size of your head. It was beautiful, and there was even a humongous Christmas tree! We shopped for a while longer, then had to leave for lunch. It was Chinese food. I was so disappointed because it was our last meal... AND IT WAS CHINESE? WE’RE LITERALLY FROM HONG KONG!

Then, it was already time to go. But the adventure wasn’t over; when we arrived at the airport in Hong Kong, five students' and Ms. Chuah’s luggage was still in Istanbul! Apparently, it didn’t get on the plane after the transit.

All in all, the Austria trip was hands down the best thing that has happened to me. It showed us more than architecture and landscapes—it showed us history, culture, tradition, and how people shaped Europe with their art, music, and spirit. The trip helped us connect with people from halfway across the world. Even if we had to go to school twice a week to practice our singing, it was worth it. Performing in Austria helped us realize how rare and special this sort of programme is—it's not every day you get to do this!