O Jet Lag...

Well it's about 7 am right now back in the states, however I've already been up for an hour or so. I was quite dismayed when I popped out of bed at 6, hungry for lunch, only to realize what time it really was. What made it better was I woke up so confused as to where I was, and I wondered why the hostel beds had all of a sudden become so comfortable.

So, I figur

ed since I've got some

time before the rest of the sensible world wakes up, I'd get in a

final blog.

Our last day has been pretty well covered I think. We saw three Gaudi

sites, and had some more free time to ourselves. The Gaudi tour convered La Pedrera, Park Guell, and La Sangrada Familia. My favorite part of the day was La Sangrada Familia. The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous! Construction started in 1882, and won't be complete for at least another 20 years! I hope someday to be able to go back and see it after completion; I can't imagine it being any greater than it is now. The intricacy of the design and decoration is amazing.

Of course La Pedrera and Park Guell were amazing as well. Park Guell was a great exhibit some of Gaudi's best and most famous tile work. We also determined that The Cheetah Girls 2 was filmed here. :) La Pedrera, or La Casa Mila, was a great tribute to Gaudi's mind and the surreal aspect of his art. Dali himself was photographed on the terrace of the house.

Finally, I'd just like to send a shout out to all of the wonderful people that made this trip what it was. All of our fabulous conductors and fearless chaperones, as well as our host families and tour guides, and of course, good old Joseph. It was a fabulous two weeks, and I'm extremely grateful for all the work you guys put in to make it so, It was a great way to end my senior year, and I'll remember it forever!

For the last time,

Thanks,

Dana

Sweet home, Chicago!

Plane just touched down at 6:00pm.  It will take a little while to get bags and go through customs, but we're almost home!

Up and at 'em

Students are up, almost all packed, and just about ready to head to the airport!

Thanks, Josep!

For the duration of the Spain part of the tour, we have had a wonderful and very knowledgeable guide with us named Josep.  Thanks to Jo for teaching us so much about your beautiful country and city!

Our Last Day in Spain!

Our last day in Spain was spent touring the rest of Mont Juic, the parts we were not able to see on our first day of sight-seeing due to the Harley Days Festival.  After Mont Juic, we headed to experience three works of Antoni Gaudi, a celebrated Catalonian architect.  (Barcelona is the only city with Gaudi's works, which makes this city quite a special place to visit.)

The first was Casa Mila, more commonly referred to as La Pedrera, which translated means "the quarry."  The building is named this because it looks very much like a stone quarry.  Initially built to be apartments, the building was hard to occupy with tenants because most people found it very difficult to live in due to its absence of right angles and oddly-shaped rooms.  The building is now owned by the Caixa Catalunya bank, but three apartments continue to be inhabited.  Inside, we were able to see what a bourgeois apartment building looked like when the building was used exclusively as apartment buildings.  We were also able to go up onto the beautiful terrace.

After La Pedrera, we headed to Park Guell, where we enjoyed a sack lunch and walked around the park marveling at Gaudi's work of creative genius.  Park Guell is where some of Gaudi's most famous tile work can be seen, including the giant iguana.

Our final stop was La Sagrada Familia, a church built, in part, by Antoni Gaudi.  Construction of the church was started in March 1882, and it is not finished yet!  If you ever have the privilege of visiting this work of art, you will understand why its completion is taking so long.  The building is the most extravagant building I have ever seen, and it isn't even completed.

I know my camera takes pictures, but it doesn't upload them right now.

Hello!

We visited the Gaudi designed apartment today, La Perdera, and La Sagrada Familia , the Gaudi Cathedral that still isn't finished. It was very very cool! 'm am sooo grateful to have been able to take this trip because I know I won't ever get a chance to visit such a beautiful country for a looong while. As I write this, Spain is winning 3 -1 against China and I'm very excited about that. I am soo looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and seeing my family. I miss them both dearly (Haha!). I am a little worried about my bass getting from barcelona to munich and munich to chicago, but I am sure all will go well. I apologize for the length of this. I would have more if my camera was working. We also finished seeing Montjuic today. Thank you Josep Maria very much for taking us around such beautiful place and showing us things I couldn't ever imagine seeing. The Sagrada Familia is definitely something I hope to see once it's finally finished! Parents, we are coming home tomorrow! I think it is a bittersweet moment because we all love it here, but we miss home soo much. I am, however, very excited for the German students to come and stay with us in August. Good luck to them in their travels as well.

See you all very soon!
As my last blog from Europe,
So long Barcelona and goodnight!
Marisa Bellie

Final Day!

Unfortunately, today is our final day in Europe and there has been ice cream eating almost everyday since arriving to Spain. More importantly, there are two flights tomorrow, and most people want to get back on the time schedule back home. I'm especially freaking out because Sunday morning I have to get up relatively early to drive to to Champaign and attend their Saxophone camp for the week.
Also, I'm sorry that I didn't get many pictures up (especially since arriving in Spain) and that so much has happened this week that I don't think I can blog about much of it.
One thing that was awesome about this week was the day we went to the Flamenco show, because they celebrate the Solstice here in Barcelona, and made awesome bread with sugar and fruit on it just for the occasion. But anyways, we ran accross the street after the show was over, and there was immediately fireworks due to the holiday -- and they continued to go off the rest of the night. That's something I find very odd about Barcelona... I don't know if it's a city thing, if that's just the way things work around here, but it will be midnight and I'll still hear tons of people talking in the alleys and even children crying and such. What's especially annoying about the streets in Barcelona however, are the vendors. They put these weird metal discs in their mouths, and make different sounds -- a bird tweeting, a cat screeching, and squeeky toy, etc. It's just weird walking the streets and having to deal with that. On the plus side, I haven't gotten anything stolen! YAY!
Today, we went to this abosolutely incredible cathedral. Words can't describe it. I think the majority of my photos actually came from that one building this trip. It's work from the arcitect, Gaudí, and the construction of the cathedral began in 1880. But it won't be finished until I'm about 40. It blows my mind! The craftmanship is unlike anything I've ever seen. We also traveled to another beautiful area today, but it's name escapes me. I got to bargain though!
The other day, I felt really bad after we got to go to the market. There were tons of booths to buy food at (this was really more like a grocery store if anything) and I had to buy coconut. It wasn't as good as I expected, so I shared with my friends, and then when I went to throw it out, I saw a man rooting through the trash. He didn't like anything like a homeless man to me though, he was wearing some decent looking clothes, and he looked far from starving. But I still threw it out nonetheless, and then after I walked back to where my friends were, I saw I picked up the box and proceeded to eat it. I felt really bad. I also feel bad about all the things I've bought on this trip, although I don't think it was quite as bad as some amounts I've seen kids raking in this trip.
Well, I have to go finish packing now, but it's been a pleasure blogging on this trip! Everyone is DEFINITELY ready to come home!

See everyone soon,
Callie Sorce

Long Time No Post! Lots to Cover!

Hello there! My apologies for my lack of communication. We have been SO busy with SO MANY exciting things here in Barcelona, I've been negligent in my blogging responsibilities. I've noticed that the students and Ms. Mullen have been doing a great job, so I've been sitting back and enjoying things a bit. But now, I'll try to catch up!

First, more recordings of the Jazz Band and Orchestra are now online at the same address from before:

http://www.box.net/shared/jzxuujpndu

I'm trying to share several of my pics of the amazing things we've seen this week, but it isn't working for me right now for some reason. That does allow me, however, to get to the most important part of what I want to share with you all back home...

Families - Your students have done some AMAZING things this week. They have performed well, traveled well, sight-seen well, and have been an absolute joy to work with. They have learned a lot on this trip, whether they realize it or not. They have demonstrated a lot of maturity in terms of how to handle stressful situations, performance jitters, and the experience of being in a foreign place in new circumstances. To say that our chaperone team is proud of them is an understatement.

I won't pretend to say they were smiling at every moment of the tour. There were certainly some tired eyes and weary feet as we did A LOT of walking on our tours this week. But even when they were at their most tired moments, they responded positively when asked to move closer to the guide, to walk a little faster, and to do all the little things that help make a tour go better.

So... thank you for sharing your students with us these past two weeks. I think you'll see they've grown up a bit in this short amount of time and I think you'll really enjoy getting to know more about their new perspective on the world.

I'll try to post my pics later. For now, I'm off to write a few more emails and to start packing before dinner.

See you in Chicago!

Only the Greatest Artist in the World...No Big Deal or Anything

Today, as we have for the entire week, Frau, Emma, Alana, and I got up a little earlier and went for a run. This is one of my favorite parts of the day, because it provides an opportunity to explore the city a little on our own, and cover new ground. For the past couple of days we've been running along the boardwalk and the beach, however today we were thrown off course because of last nights festivities. One of the traditions of the celebrations is for everyone to crash on the beach for the night, so when we went for our run we discovered that the entire beach was closed off and guarded by the national guard and police, as they tried to clean up the mess and restore order. We met lots of interesting people today.

This morning the group started off our day with a bus ride to the Dali museum. I think I'm not alone in saying that the bus ride was welcomed with open arms after our day of walking yesterday. I thought the museum was absolutely AMAZING!! I'm a huge Dali fan, so I may be a little biased, but everyone else seemed to like it alot too. His work is so out of the ordinary, and no matter how long I look at a piece, I can't even begin to contemplate what he was thinking. The way that his mind works is absolutely astounding, and it's the different interpretations that can be inferred that make his work so timeless and well known. The museum had 22 exhibits, and you start from the top and work your way to the bottom. The museum comprised of a majority of his sketches, and a wide variety of sculptures. I'm not a huge fan of sculpture, but it was nice to have some variety thrown in, because Picasso was mainly paintings. The museum was very interactive, and gave you a good look in to the madness and brilliance that is Dali.

We left the museum at 1:30 and loaded the buses again, bound for Casta Brava beach for lunch. We enjoyed our sandwiches from Micky's. Cheese on bread, or tuna for the vegetarian folks. It's been absolutely gorgeous here, and any chance to sit in the sun or on the beach has been universally welcomed.

We got back to the hostel tonight and had about an hour or so to chill and relax. I spent a majority of the time on our balcony, enjoying the scenery and the people watching. The culture here is so interesting, and the city is constantly teeming with life. I feel like I could spend another year here and still have not seen even the beginnings of what the city has to offer.

We walked to Micky's for dinner and emerged once again stuffed to the brim. The four course meals that are so common here are probably one of the biggest things that we've had to adjust to. All in all though, the foods been good, and dinners as a group have never failed to be very entertaining.

It seems that the days have been creeping along without my knowledge once again. It seems like just yesterday I was saying good bye to my host family, and now I face saying goodbye to another wonderful experience. Tomorrow we look forward to a Gaudi tour, which should be especially interesting considering how close his style is to Dali's as far as the surrealistic aspect goes.

Thanks for keeping up the interest in our expedition! I think at this point the idea is bittersweet. Everyone is ready to see their families and their own beds and showers, but I don't think that ending the trip is near the top of anyone's list.

Happy reading!

Picasso, World-Renowned Markets, Barcelona Aquarium, Flamenco, and Fireworks to Celebrate Sant Joan!

We had a very busy day of walking today!  We started the day with a walking tour to be introduced to some sections of Barcelona we hadn't previously visited on our way to the Museo Picasso de Barcelona.  It was really interesting to see the collection of Picasso pieces in Barcelona.  They have pieces from all of his periods, most interestingly from his youth and early in his career.  While you can see works from his Rose, Blue, and Cubist periods in nearly every major gallery in the world, including the Chicago Art Institute, today was the first time I saw his work from his youth and early career.  I also saw some of his ceramic work, which I was unaware of before visiting the museum.

After visiting the museum, we walked to two markets.  Barcelona is home to some of the world's best markets, where shoppers can buy all kinds of specialty foods.  It is really fun to walk through them to see all of the items available.  I was especially struck by the affordability of a number of specialty food items that would cost an arm and a leg in the United States. I picked up some olive oil that is supposed to be some of the best olive oil in Spain. 

After the markets, we headed to a restaurant where we picked up a picnic lunch to enjoy near the waterfront. 

In the afternoon, we met at the hostel where we regrouped, and then walked to the Aquarium, where I saw the largest sharks and sting rays I have ever seen in captivity.

After having dinner on our own, we again regrouped and relaxed a little at the hostel before going to a traditional Spanish Flamenco show.  The show was absolutely amazing.  This was my first flamenco dance experience, and I didn't previously realize that it was a dance that involved so much foot work and rhythmic foot stomping, similar to Irish dancing or tap dancing.  The dance style is incredibly assertive, especially in the feet, while in the upper body, the dancers move with more fluidity.  It was truly a unique and special experience for me in Barcelona, and many of the students left saying that it was "incredible."

Tonight, as we try to get to bed so that we are refreshed for our excursion tomorrow outside of Barcelona (to the cities of Figueres and Girona), Barcelona is alive with energy and excitement, celebrating San Juan.  Sant Joan in Spain is the midsummer solstice celebration marking the start of the summer season and the day with the longest period of daylight in the year. In Spain and Barcelona the Sant Joan celebrations are on the evening of the 23rd June. The day after is the 24th June and this is Saint John's day and a public holiday in Catalonia and Spain. The Sant Joan fiestas take place from sundown to sunrise on the night before Saint John's day, and are also called "verbenas," which means open-air fiestas or celebrations.The Sant Joan festival is also called "La Nit de Sant Joan" - the night of Saint John. 

El Vendrell (THE CITY OF FIRE?)

I made that up. It's really because we're all sun burned. Some more than others, but we all pretty much have it. I think mine may be the worst even though I used SPF 50 and put it on three times. El Vendrell Beach was beautiful! I'm proud to say I have officially swam in the Mediterranean Sea! It was wayy more salty than I had expected it to be, but it was very fun none the less. Today, we had a walking tour of Barcelona that ended with a trip to the Picasso Museum. We then visited some of the markets in the area. After that, we had free to time eat the lunch from Miky's that was given to us and now we're getting ready to go to the Aquarium. Then we get to choose our dinner tonight (which is new) and then it's off to the Flamenco dance! Horray for Sant Juan! (I guess it's a holiday here, which means I doubt anyone's getting sleep tonight).

I want to sleep in my own bed and be with my family, but I want to stay here! It's soo beautiful!

Adíos!
Marisa Bellie

(Insert Title Here...I Cant Think Of One)

As of right now, Im so incredibly tired that I dont know if I can gather my thoughts for this post... and I cant remember where the apostrophe key is. But Im sorry its been a while, its just that there is a constant flow of kids checking facebook and such.
Yesterday, we spent a beautiful day at the beach and some swam in the blue Mediterranen. In the evening we performed in a gorgeous cathedral, where Ms. Mullen said we had two concerts: our performance, and our echo. It was awesome to perform in a place that big, and hear our sound continue for about six more seconds after we stopped playing.
Just to let everyone know, Dia de la Musica was a nonexistent event -- sort of. No one knew what we were talking about when we brought up the festival around here, so fo a while all of us thought the event was made up, however, the event is in a different city in Spain each year, and last year it was in Barcelona.
If I have time to add on to this post I will, but right now w"ere leaving for our awesome day.

Congratulations to the District 99 Chamber Winds and the District 99 Orchestra! Outstanding Concert!

Today we took a day trip to El Vendrell, Spain, the birthplace of cellist Pau Casals, a truly celebrated musician for the townspeople of El Vendrell.  It is really neat to be in a city whose hero is a cellist. Pau Casals was much more than a cellist, though.  He was also a conductor, and, importantly, an advocate for human rights and peace.  He wrote the hymn of the United Nations.

When we arrived in El Vendrell, students had the choice of going to the beach or spending their own money to go to the Pau Casals museum, and then going to the (magnificent) beach later.  Having this choice, I was really impressed by the dozen students who chose to go to the museum and experience something that could have only been experienced in El Vendrell.  I think this is a great example of the students' level of sophistication and maturity, and a sign that we have some life-long learners with us!

After the beach, we headed to Esglesia Parroquial de Sant Salvador, a Catholic church where Pau Casals' father was once church organist.  The church was ornate to say the least.  You simply do not see detail in construction like this ever in the United States.  The alter of this church was modeled after the alter in the Vatican...that might give you a more accurate idea of what this church looked like on the inside.  The students had a very brief rehearsal to get used to the new acoustics.  The reverb in this church was incredible.  It literally made our orchestra consisting of 44 members sound as if we had 100 instrumentalists, if not more.  The tone was lush and enveloping.  Because of the reverb, however, our students in the Chamber Winds and Orchestra needed to adjust their playing in order for the balance and articulation to sound appropriate.  It also required us to concentrate intensely on listening and watching in order to stay together.  The students met the challenge, and performed amazingly well.  Both the current church organist and the organizer of our concerts in Spain said that the ensembles exceeded their expectations and sounded more like the college orchestras they have heard perform in the church.  They couldn't believe that we were from a public high school.  There was some truly organic music made tonight.  Students, you should be very proud of yourselves!

Congratulations on Two Successful Concerts D99 Jazz Ensemble!!!

Today we spent the majority of the day outside of Barcelona in two cities, Lleida and Alpicat.  The Jazz Ensemble performed two concerts.  Our first concert in Lleida was in a BRAND NEW performing space called Sala del Ball.  We literally opened the new theatre!!!  Both the Mayor and the Minister of Culture were present at our concert, which was attended by many of the town's families and especially children, who enjoyed dancing to the music.  After the concert, we were given two books about the history of the area, in Catalan, of course!  Also, because the town is known for its production and distribution of fruit, we were given three big cases of apples, nectarines and pears to enjoy throughout the remainder of the day. 

After our first concert, we headed to a group dinner, where we enjoyed a four-course dinner and then headed toward Alpicat, where the Jazz Ensemble performed their next concert.

In Alpicat, the Jazz Ensemble performed in a beautiful and impressive theatre, especially for a smaller town.  On a night when Spain was competing in a World Cup Soccer match (they won!), we half expected there to be no audience, but ALAS!  We are in Europe!  There was a great audience of locals, and the students in the Jazz Ensemble performed their best concert.  The music really came together well.  The students seemed relaxed on stage and really enjoyed the performance.  They were listening very well to each other.  The concert was simply spectacular.

We returned back to the hostel around 1:00 a.m., and the students are now getting ready for bed in order to get plenty of rest for tomorrow's excursion to the city of El Vendrell, the birthplace of famed cellist Pablo Casals, where the D99 Chamber Winds and the D99 Orchestra will perform their final concert of the tour.

The Barcelona Nightlife...and Life in General

Finally, my first blog post!

Barcelona strikes me as a city best enjoyed by college students or grads. This being said, we are still having a ton of fun! The parties are very amusing from our balconies, and even just strolling by a bar airing a soccer game, the energy is tangible and the excitement contagious. Dinner in the same restaurant as a group of Brazil fans last night was...loud, to say the least. And during the day, shops are set up all along sidewalks and other walkways, making for great and easy souvenir shopping. This city reverberates with a heartbeat all it's own.

First Day of Sight-Seeing in Barcelona

Today was our first full day spent in Barcelona, and this city is absolutely amazing!  The weather is gorgeous, but not as warm as I had thought.  Today was nice and sunny, and hovered around 70 degrees.  The sun is a welcome change, though, as the weather in Germany was gloomy and cold.

We started the day with a group bus and walking tour through various important points throughout the city, with the first stop being Montjuic.  We saw a beautiful panoramic view of the city, and our guide was able to point to the various locations we will be exploring later in the tour from this birds-eye view of Barcelona.

Also located on Montjuic are a couple of botanical gardens, which look amazing, the Joan Miro museum, and some of the swimming pools built for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.  This is certainly a great location to take a stroll!  There happens to be a gathering for Harley Davidson enthusiasts called Harley Days in Barcelona, and over 10,000 Harley's took to the streets today.  We saw bikes at most of the locations we explored today.

Afterwards, we went into the more main part of the city, where we were introduced to various important points within the city.  One of these points was the Olympic Village, the area that housed all of the 1992 Olympians, now a bustling part of town, right on the water.  Prominently displayed in this area is a fish sculpture by Frank Gehry, the man who designed "the bean" in Chicago.  There is also a beautiful marina near the Olympic Village.

We went to a lot of the architecturally significant places, old and new.  Barcelona and Chicago have in common great architecture, and since our guide specializes in architecture, he is able to make a lot of references to Chicago architecture, which I appreciate.

On one of our stops in front of an old Gothic church, we were able to enjoy some live music and see a traditional Catalan dance called the Sardana. This was truly a unique and enjoyable cultural experience!

After our tour, students were able to do some exploring with their friends and eat lunch.  I ate the most amazing paella I have ever had in my life!

 After our free-time, we met back at the hostel to freshen up and get ready for dinner.  We then headed as a group down the main strip called La Rambla, which has many artisans selling jewelry, art, crafts, caricatures, souvenirs, etc.  

Everything we have experienced thus far on the tour has been absolutely incredible.  The students have been amazing so far, which has made the tour very enjoyable for the chaperones, as well.  What a great group of students to travel with!