March 12 2011: IT IS HAPPENING

After my 7 year wait of going on this Europe Band Trip, (yes, I wanted to go on this trip since gr. 5) I was bouncing off the walls knowing that the day was finally here. We all arrived to the sacred place between the Q and R terminal, screaming at one another in excitement. We were then assigned to the instruments we were resposible for, said our sad goodbyes to our families, and spent our time waiting for our flight learning German! The plane ride form Toronto to Munich was a gruelling, yet worth-while trip. I have to say that it was quite enjoyable supporting the people who never flew on a plane before by raising our hands in excitement! Being able to watch movies and eat (for the first time ever) plane food was the icing on the cake! 127 hours, Megamind, Chicken and Rice, Salad, bread, and chocolate cake- simply marvelous!

March 13 2011 Nordlingen Germany, day of excitement!

We're all pooped. The bus ride from the Munich airport to Nordlingen, Germany is where everyone caught up on their sleep-- I got the greatest picture of an entire bus full of passed out people. Our hotel was amazing as we had two floors! I never heard of something like that in Canada. It was even more spectacular when we got to watch Spongebob in German! Despite all of the escitement, we all had to get spiffied up to go on our walking tour and a reception with THE MAYOR. I certanly felt special. The walking tour was amazing as the houses were so gorgeous and historical. Soon after, we had the great opportunity of having drinks with the mayor who informed us that the founders of Nordlingen aided in the founding of Markham and Toronto, Ontario as well-- pretty interesting huh? We then ate dinner at a little restaurant in town which had horrible service yet delicious food. I guess they just weren't used to such a large group. We also had the great opportunity of celebrating my good friend, Perrin's birthday here! We ate salad, chicken and gravy, potatoes, and zucchini! Then, during free time, we explored the town at night which was quiet and scary, but beautiful. Walking on the wall at night was an amazing experience. I love my band family so much and I'm glad this was just the first day.

March 14 2011: More Nordlingen aka DON'T BE LATE

Our very first full day in Europe, YAY! Today we learned the very valuable lesson about punctuality. When Mr. Jatiouk says that we have to be on the bus by 8:30am, he means 8:30am, NOT 8:45. We learned this the hard way as he gave us all a very stern lecture about being late; even leaving behind around 10 people for their tardiness. Those punctual people however, had the excellent opportunity of touring the area around Nordlingen. We saw this beautiful church with a ceiling that made anyone want to cry with its beauty. We then saw Mayan ruins and the First Wallerstein (aka a really cool castle). We then travelled back to the hotel to get ready for lunch. A few others and I ate at this German fast food restaurant called 'Kockleffor' where I had this delicious tater-tot type thing.
Soon after, we had our very first (and best) concert! It felt like the entire town came out to see us and we even got to play with the Nordlingen Boys Band, a group of European boys with the same passion for music as we do-- cue the screaming girls! We were lucky enough to have social time with them where I can easily say I made many new friends, even though the language barrier was somewhat an issue. We then went to the town square to see the town caller and then to McDonalds with our new new friends to sit and chat (not to eat however because we all vowed to try new things). We then walked back to the hotel where we played the amazing card game called MAO. As we were all very tired, my room mates and I decided to go back to our hotel room only to discover that we were locked out. However, because of our gracious friends, we were able to have an enjoyable time sleeping over in another room! This was certainly a day I could never forget.

March 15 2011: Arrival to Stuttgard, Germany

After our amazing time in Nordlingen, it was a bitter-sweet goodbye as we departed for Stuttgard. On our journey, there was lots of traffic, we were hit by a truck, and we were even pulled over by the border police; could it get any worse? NO IT COULD NOT! We arrived to the Stuttgard Music School which was located in one of the most beautiful areas in the world. After rehearsing a few times with a conductor at the school, we got to explore the streets of Stuttgart where we saw these eccentric trees, cute shops, beautiful buildings, heard the most amazing street music, and ate spinach pie and peach yogurt gelato, YUM! We got back to the music school for our second concert where we heard the incredible Brass ensemble (conducted by the famous Mr. Gassi!) and played incredibly, even with a conductor we weren't very familiar with. We all made some very nice Stuttgard friends as well. The bus ride home to our hotel was probably the best moment of my life! The band decided to sing our entire concert while gazing out the window at the beautiful scenery-- simply priceless. My band family is amazing!

March 16 2011 The 'based gods' in Stuttgart, Germany

This morning I woke up to eat the best breakfast ever! I ate an amazing smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich (of course stashing a handful of nutella packets in my pocket in the process)-- I love breakfast buffets! All dressed in our black concert clothes, we travelled to the all-girl's school on the other side of Stuttgart. I'm sure after seeing us girls scream and giggle when we had our experience with the Nordlingen boys band, an all-girl's school would be a nice change of pace for our boys. We had an amazing concert (as usual) which was followed by a few boys being mobbed by some very beautiful German girls! They were all very nice and wanted to take so many pictures of us Canadians!

Soon after, we went back to our hotel to change quickly because we were going to the famous, MERCEDES BENZ MUSEUM! We were given a very interesting lesson on the history of the car where I hit my head on a horse! Nonetheless, the museum was an amazing experience.
We then had our free time in downtown Stuttgart which was absolutely beautiful. It was so much fun shopping despite the rain!

We then travelled back to our hotel where we had the best night ever telling ghost stories and talking about our dreams in one small room. This was surely going to be a new ritual!

March 17 2011: Journey to Switzerland

Well, it's been 5 days since we said our goodbyes to family at the airport and I can tell that everyone is not missing Toronto! Sorry, but we are all having too much fun! There has certainly not been one moment of boredom and I am sure it will stay that way.

Today, we left from Stuttgart, Germany and made our way to Lucerne, Switzerland. On our way there, we had a very enjoyable GROUNDERS game on a playground that overlooked the Swiss scenery. Upon our arrival in Switzerland, we were all pretty upset that there was so much rain! But did that stop us? NO! We still went on our walking tour around the city where we went to the Bucherer (where we got free souvenir spoons which was my souvenir for my mother!), which is also known as the SWATCH and Swiss knives store. I'm pretty sure that many people blew their Swiss Francs in that one store buying souvenirs. We then had free time around the city to explore and do more souvenir shopping! YAY! We obviously bought delicious chocolate and took pictures in front of the beautiful buildings. After getting back to the hotel, we had a few minutes to get ready to set out for dinner. Dinner was at the Rutli Restaurant, just walking distance from the hotel. And I must say, it was absolutely wonderful there! It was in a cute little room that looked like the dining room at Hogwarts! Dinner consisted of pea soup, chicken, and this amazing strawberry dessert. It was delicious and we all had fun telling our usual riddles at the dinner table.

Soon after, a few others and I decided to explore the town. We had the best time talking really loudly, being silly, and getting approached by a drunk Swiss man who had the best laugh. We then had the incredible experience of fitting over 75% of the band in one room as we told our very scary stories in the dark with the windows wide open. Of course, we concluded the night with a fun game of truth or dare and a sleepover. The bonding was certainly one of my favourite parts of the trip! Switzerland is an amazing place.

March 18 2011 Lucerne and Zurich Switzerland

I woke up again today to have my usual delicious breakfast of a croissant, egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich! I knew I had to get all of the energy I could because we were going on a beautiful walking tour of Lucerne, while it was still sunny. On our city tour, we were fortunate enough to see the beautiful buildings, the surrounding Alps, and the exquisite bridge over the water. Unfortunately, it was raining but you know a place is gorgeous when it could be pouring cats and dogs and it could still be beautiful. The tour was even more exciting when we figured out we could drink straight from the pretty fountains! After the tour, we separated at lunch where a few of us were very adamant in getting tattoos-- something I could only do in Europe! Unfortunately, there was a 3-4 month waiting time so we decided to buy the SWATCH instead :) We spent the rest of our time shopping, and of course, eating gelato! Soon after, we went back to our hotel where we had to change for our next concert in Zurich, Switzerland.

The music hall was incredible as it had great sound, great seating, and even the stands were pretty high-tech as well. We then went for dinner where we had delicious pasta and salad while we had the best time gossiping about who would end up together after the trip. We travelled back to the theatre, more pumped then ever. Unfortunately, the audience for this concert was certainly less than satisfactory as only 8 people showed up. Mr. Jatiouk looked very upset, but we decided to go through with the concert anyways. We could never pass up playing a concert! This night, I can honestly say that we played the best we ever had despite the circumstances. Like a coach who takes their team out after a loss, Mr. Jatiouk and Mr. Gassi did just that. They took us out for gelato after and told us how proud they were that we played regardless of who our audience was. It was one of my favourite memories of this incredible trip.