The second week I was here Frank was invited to a ball for one of the schools he teaches at. It is comparable to a prom, but teachers and parents are also invited. So, Frank and I got all gussied up and got a ride from his mentor teacher, Gerda, and her husband, Hugo. Getting into the actual ballroom was no small feat, however. There was nothing resembling a line; it was moreso a giant mass of pushy people testing each other’s patience and balance. It reminded me of the time I waited all night for the doors to open up to the Mall of America to get NSYNC autographs which ended in me still getting smashed against the wall once the doors finally opened and hundreds of hyper teenage girls fought to be the first ones inside. Kinda like that.
Anyways, Frank and I finally got inside the ballroom, and were sipping on some champagne and glad to be able to move again. The night opened up with about a hundred students performing a choreographed first waltz for the audience. The ballroom had multiple areas: the main ballroom used for performances throughout the night, another room where different student bands performed-complete with a bar (yes, students can order drinks at their own prom!), and a dark, smoky, warehouse-like discotheque with booming music and intoxicated adolescents, to which I then turned to Frank and muttered, “I guess they don’t do the chaperone thing here in Austria?”
We spent most of the night listening to the live bands, and talking and taking pictures with Frank’s students, who spoke surprisingly fluent English. At one point in the night, two of his students who are probably around 15 came over with a big beer for me and in a thick accent say, “If you come to Austria, you must get drunk!!” So what could I say but, “Prost!”
