Wien
Here a very late report from the trip to Vienna...
The conference
Well, most of the time I spent at the ICTM conference, as I was supposed to, of course, with funding for my participation there and all. As for the official program, the conference wasn't really that interesting for me, or maybe I just chose the wrong sessions to listen to. There were some interesting papers though, and I got good questions and comments for mine, which is always nice (and quite rare actually).
One of the things I looked forward to was hearing Gerhard Kubik, a fairly well known researcher of African music who has written a few articles I find myself constantly referring to. He is a very fluent and interesting speaker as such, but in his two presentations (one of which was the only real plenary speech at the conference) he seemed to have problems getting to the point - if he ever had one. So that was also a slight disappointment.
But of course the most important thing at these events is the social stuff, which was good as it usually is at ICTM events, although I was too tired to stay out late in the evenings. In any case, I met several people I know from my year in Berlin - most of them I had not seen since 1998 - and some other acquaintances from previous conferences, and of course got to know a few new people as well.
As conferences usually do, this one also gave me a bit of a boost with my dissertation, in my head at least, due to all the other stuff going on I haven't had much time to actually do something about it. And it feels almost sad that I probably won't be doing much until next year, maybe, although on the other hand I'm looking forward to getting some time off of my research and especially all the University stuff.
The city
The city of Vienna was prettier (and less expensive) than what I remembered from about ten years ago. Back then we were in the city some time in March or April I think and it was horribly cold. And all the old white buildings made everything seem even colder. But in the summer the city is a lot friendlier, with many big parks (with lots of benches to sit on!) and lots of pedestrian streets. Things seemed great for cyclists as well - can't help but wonder why in Helsinki all streets need to be primarily for cars...
Luckily the weather was very sunny and warm on Sunday, the day without official program, most of the time it was horribly windy and quite cool. So anyway I spent the Sunday walking around in the city, got my feet very swollen and my face burnt in the sunshine. Maybe luckily in Austria all shops are closed on Sundays, so I could not go shopping... With all the tourists in Vienna one would imagine that there would be something open, but no. Even on weekdays supermarkets close before seven. Strange.
Oh, and this thing with all the famous composers was a bit funny at times. On the biggest pedestrian street they actually have stars with the signatures of composers and musicians who have once lived in Vienna, like the Hollywood walk of fame or whatever it is called. That was a bit too much for me, the statues I can still take...
All in all it was nice to get some time away from the usual stuff here in Helsinki and fortunately the conference wasn't any later, I think only a week or two later the trip would have already been too exhausting for me. Lately walking to and from the bus stop to go to the University has been enough exercise for me.
The conference
Well, most of the time I spent at the ICTM conference, as I was supposed to, of course, with funding for my participation there and all. As for the official program, the conference wasn't really that interesting for me, or maybe I just chose the wrong sessions to listen to. There were some interesting papers though, and I got good questions and comments for mine, which is always nice (and quite rare actually).
One of the things I looked forward to was hearing Gerhard Kubik, a fairly well known researcher of African music who has written a few articles I find myself constantly referring to. He is a very fluent and interesting speaker as such, but in his two presentations (one of which was the only real plenary speech at the conference) he seemed to have problems getting to the point - if he ever had one. So that was also a slight disappointment.
But of course the most important thing at these events is the social stuff, which was good as it usually is at ICTM events, although I was too tired to stay out late in the evenings. In any case, I met several people I know from my year in Berlin - most of them I had not seen since 1998 - and some other acquaintances from previous conferences, and of course got to know a few new people as well.
As conferences usually do, this one also gave me a bit of a boost with my dissertation, in my head at least, due to all the other stuff going on I haven't had much time to actually do something about it. And it feels almost sad that I probably won't be doing much until next year, maybe, although on the other hand I'm looking forward to getting some time off of my research and especially all the University stuff.
The city
The city of Vienna was prettier (and less expensive) than what I remembered from about ten years ago. Back then we were in the city some time in March or April I think and it was horribly cold. And all the old white buildings made everything seem even colder. But in the summer the city is a lot friendlier, with many big parks (with lots of benches to sit on!) and lots of pedestrian streets. Things seemed great for cyclists as well - can't help but wonder why in Helsinki all streets need to be primarily for cars...
Luckily the weather was very sunny and warm on Sunday, the day without official program, most of the time it was horribly windy and quite cool. So anyway I spent the Sunday walking around in the city, got my feet very swollen and my face burnt in the sunshine. Maybe luckily in Austria all shops are closed on Sundays, so I could not go shopping... With all the tourists in Vienna one would imagine that there would be something open, but no. Even on weekdays supermarkets close before seven. Strange.
Oh, and this thing with all the famous composers was a bit funny at times. On the biggest pedestrian street they actually have stars with the signatures of composers and musicians who have once lived in Vienna, like the Hollywood walk of fame or whatever it is called. That was a bit too much for me, the statues I can still take...All in all it was nice to get some time away from the usual stuff here in Helsinki and fortunately the conference wasn't any later, I think only a week or two later the trip would have already been too exhausting for me. Lately walking to and from the bus stop to go to the University has been enough exercise for me.
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