28-30 Final Days and Goodbyes.

August 28 Friday

For all the extremely early days we have had so far in this trip today was by far the earliest. Earlier in the month upon our visit to Klosterneuberg, Cesar and I had learned of an opportunity to visit the monastery today the 28th for a chance to watch the clothing of a new novice and the feast of St Augustine. So for our trip out to the abbey today we woke up sometime around 6 before setting off around 7 in order to have time to talk with our contact the canon Anton prior to the mass. As the youngest member of the order Anton would hold the responsibilities of the junior for the day preforming the blessings with incense and also leading the call and response so we would not have an opportunity to talk to him later on. The canons also head directly from their mass to their private feast so again we would not have been able to see him until the late evening. I will say for what I feel was a severe lack of preparation the interview went off without a hitch. Be it my impeccable journalistic sense or much more like Anton's incredibly ability to tell a meaningful story in his answers we may never know for certain.

The interview really felt like it went truly spectacular, I mean beyond the value of the sheer content we were getting from Anton I feel like I had the opportunity to learn much more in depth about what it means to be a augustinian canon and what kind of things go into the daily life. In particular what stuck with me was the order's idea of communal property inherited from St Augustine, this idea thats what mine is yours and what is yours is mine but not in this sense of taking whenever one wants but rather in this sense of a duty to communal well being to take what you need and provide what is needed to benefit common welfare.

The mass itself was also fairly spectacular in every sense of the word, with all the magestic pomp and circumstance one would expect of one of the most important feast days of a monastery, in this case the feast day of this monastery's canon's namesake St. Augustien of Hippo. The mass, also being purpose written by Mozart for this specific feast celebration at Klosterneuberg was truly spectacular to listen to. The band and the choir and the massive organs in the church created an elegant symphony that offer little wonder as to why so many for two thousand years would be so drawn to the ritual of the catholic church. With our phones dead and the mass and public portion of the feast day drawing to an end, Cesar and I got lost on the bus ride home and had the pleasure of meandering for a few hours in northern Vienna's 17th district.

August 29 Saturday

Today was a quite day. It was a day that started as normal, I made my way across the street for brunch at Cafe O'Pal, I had my chai latte, and I made my way to billa for my final groceries of the month. Making my way back home I did one last load of laundry before packing tomorrow and prepared lunch for myself before making a trip out to cafe dommayer. Prof Stuart had recommended the cafe a few times over the month but I just hadn't had an oppurtunity to make my way back out over there yet so I seized upon today. I'll say I've grown quite fond of spritzers this month, so sitting at the cafe I had one or maybe three before taking a very long, very leisurely walk through the grounds of the nearby Schloss Schonnbrunn, another place I grew quite fond of in my time here.

Making my way back to the apartments in the early evening I hit another favorite stop of mine, Cafe Journal, to have another (what has become quite rapidly) favorite of mine, the Paloma. Following this quick cocktail I went up to the rooms and made a pasta dinner with marinara for myself and a couple others before taking a while to have an evening nap. With time on our trip running short a few of our number made plans to head off to a night club tonight, I am attempting in this moment to rapidly finish my journalling for today and the laundry I started earlier to head out with them. I didn't do any clubbing this month as I don't really do any clubbing ever but this seems like a great oppurtunity for sort of one last hoorah.

August 30

For many of us today is the last full day in Vienna, it should be a solemn and sad and gloomy day but it really doesn't feel it. If you had to guess what we were up to tomorrow you would think most of us would be in bed or going to a wine garden or catching up on some reading, not flying for an average of 20 hours. But looking around at my peers today it's really impossible to tell. It's about 5:00 now, Cesar and I and a couple others are getting ready to head to a pub close to the restraurant, but I really think Cesar and I are the only ones actually packed. That's what I did with my day today, beyond the usual.

The day began as I have become so accustomed, with a quick chai at O'pal, but after I didn't get any groceries, and arriving at home I didn't have any laundry to do, just packing, just oh so much packing and cramming and squeezing and deciding and just a little bit of sacrificing. To be honest with you right now, as I get ready to go to dinner and see everyone together one last time, I am scared, I'm scared to go home, I'm scared to lose friends, and I'm really scared I might never see Vienna again. But for now I'm gonna shake that feeling, one last night of smiles will be more than enough for now.