Good morning from beautiful, overcast, rainy Chicago!!!
Since our departure on Wednesday afternoon, the VRHS Music Department has been thrown a lot of curve balls. We know we have an exceptional group of students and chaperones when we can handle the many changes that have been thrown our way with professionalism and calm.
Travel time, sight attractions, dinner arrangments, rehearsal times...all of these things have been tweaked (quite a bit) and have made for a very interesting trip!
We arrived into the Chicago-metro area around 9:45 and could see the familiar Chicago skyline off in the distance. As we drove closer, you could hear the kids becoming more an dmore excited. "Look at that! Whoa, what's that? Did you see that graffiti? Look, another Sonic!" We finally arrived into the Chicago area at 10:15 and were amazed by the diversity in people, shops and most strikingly, the architecture! New mixed with old, glass mixed with stone, traditional mixed with modern, Chicago has it all.
Like with any big metro area, traffic was hectic but our bus drivers handled it like champs. Turning corners that didn't seem possible, parking in spaces we didn't think could fit a coach bus, these guys are awesome.
We made our way to Millenium Park where the Concert Choir would be performing the Star Spangled Banner. We parked right in front two water pieces that spilled water and displayed various pictures on their LED screens. Cameras and iPhones were immediately whipped out and group shots, poses and funny pictures were taken before we could even unload all of the kids.
Our next stop was at the imfamous Chicago "Bean" which is an enormous metallic piece of artwork that has been modeled into the shape of a bean (picture can be found on the previous post). After pictures and fun with the bean, we made our way to the War Memorial in Millenium Park. A jet fountain was the main focus of the memorial with the perimeter surrounded by a beige stone structure with beautiul columns. the choir gathered around the fountain and sang our national anthem. The few spectators that were there applauded our performance and the kids were happy they could continue a Valley Music Department tradition in Chicago!
We made our ways back to the buses for our next stop: Navy Pier. With some courageous and skilled driving, our bus drivers got us safely to the famed Chicago attraction. We realized why Chicago is called the Windy City when we got to the peer as many of us were almost blown over by the strength of the wind. We gave the kids their instructions to eat lunch, enjoy the sites, and be back on the buses at 2:00PM.
The water is beautifully blue and if you didn't know it was a lake, you'd mistaken the body of water for that of a tropical island. "This water looks like we're in Bermuda," said one of the freshmen while at the end of the pier. The views were breathtaking and weather was perfect! Many of us headed into the enclosed area for food and happily, we didn't see any kids in the line for McDonalds. Some of the chaperones made our way to Bubba Gump and enjoyed a variety of salads, chicken and seafood dishes. It was 2:00 and time for us to depart for the hotel. All kids were back (we actually had a couple of late stragglers...not kids, but some of the adults!!! They were 2 minutes late...tsktsk).
We drove an hour to Oak Brook and you can imagine what it must be like with 130+ people who are exhausted, hungry (yes, even after lunch!) and needed a well-deserved shower. Miss Hilton took the bull by the horns and organized room check-in, luggage unloading and why not throw in a change of schedule! The kids got into their rooms, had some time to relax and then they hit the ground running (literally) in the gym while others enjoyed the pool, and the remaining students did homework or play games in the lobby. Everyone was in great spirits and having a good time.
Because of a scheduing change, WorldStrides provided last night's dinner and got a chance to relax and enjoy each other's company as the day winded down. After dinner, students had the opportunity to swim/workout/hang out. There were some pretty heated card games being played and I even headed a game of ERS (Egyptian Rat Screw) in the lobby. The chaperones had a meeting about the next day's itinerary (which had to be changed anyways!) and the kids headed up to their rooms to be "In for the Night." Room checks went with out a hitch and the students immediately quieted down after a long, tiring journey from Deep River, CT.
Breakfast was at 7:30 this morning and in keeping with the trend, another schedule change (out of our control!). But with a level head, Miss Hilton came up with a plan to fix all these problems. We had breakfast, tweaked the schedule and now, the students are relaxing/studying before rehearsals start with Concert Band and then Concert Choir (the select choral groups reherased outside for a little while).
After rehearsals, we're off to a mall area for lunch and then to the Magnificant Mile, Hancock Observatory and some good Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Gino's East. Tomorrow is going to be a long, music-filled day so I probably won't get a chance to post until Sunday...maybe even after we leave for CT.
Sorry for the long post but everything/everyone is doing well and we're excited to perform for Chicago! HAPPY FRIDAY!
KLAM
Since our departure on Wednesday afternoon, the VRHS Music Department has been thrown a lot of curve balls. We know we have an exceptional group of students and chaperones when we can handle the many changes that have been thrown our way with professionalism and calm.
Travel time, sight attractions, dinner arrangments, rehearsal times...all of these things have been tweaked (quite a bit) and have made for a very interesting trip!
We arrived into the Chicago-metro area around 9:45 and could see the familiar Chicago skyline off in the distance. As we drove closer, you could hear the kids becoming more an dmore excited. "Look at that! Whoa, what's that? Did you see that graffiti? Look, another Sonic!" We finally arrived into the Chicago area at 10:15 and were amazed by the diversity in people, shops and most strikingly, the architecture! New mixed with old, glass mixed with stone, traditional mixed with modern, Chicago has it all.
Like with any big metro area, traffic was hectic but our bus drivers handled it like champs. Turning corners that didn't seem possible, parking in spaces we didn't think could fit a coach bus, these guys are awesome.
We made our way to Millenium Park where the Concert Choir would be performing the Star Spangled Banner. We parked right in front two water pieces that spilled water and displayed various pictures on their LED screens. Cameras and iPhones were immediately whipped out and group shots, poses and funny pictures were taken before we could even unload all of the kids.
Our next stop was at the imfamous Chicago "Bean" which is an enormous metallic piece of artwork that has been modeled into the shape of a bean (picture can be found on the previous post). After pictures and fun with the bean, we made our way to the War Memorial in Millenium Park. A jet fountain was the main focus of the memorial with the perimeter surrounded by a beige stone structure with beautiul columns. the choir gathered around the fountain and sang our national anthem. The few spectators that were there applauded our performance and the kids were happy they could continue a Valley Music Department tradition in Chicago!
We made our ways back to the buses for our next stop: Navy Pier. With some courageous and skilled driving, our bus drivers got us safely to the famed Chicago attraction. We realized why Chicago is called the Windy City when we got to the peer as many of us were almost blown over by the strength of the wind. We gave the kids their instructions to eat lunch, enjoy the sites, and be back on the buses at 2:00PM.
The water is beautifully blue and if you didn't know it was a lake, you'd mistaken the body of water for that of a tropical island. "This water looks like we're in Bermuda," said one of the freshmen while at the end of the pier. The views were breathtaking and weather was perfect! Many of us headed into the enclosed area for food and happily, we didn't see any kids in the line for McDonalds. Some of the chaperones made our way to Bubba Gump and enjoyed a variety of salads, chicken and seafood dishes. It was 2:00 and time for us to depart for the hotel. All kids were back (we actually had a couple of late stragglers...not kids, but some of the adults!!! They were 2 minutes late...tsktsk).
We drove an hour to Oak Brook and you can imagine what it must be like with 130+ people who are exhausted, hungry (yes, even after lunch!) and needed a well-deserved shower. Miss Hilton took the bull by the horns and organized room check-in, luggage unloading and why not throw in a change of schedule! The kids got into their rooms, had some time to relax and then they hit the ground running (literally) in the gym while others enjoyed the pool, and the remaining students did homework or play games in the lobby. Everyone was in great spirits and having a good time.
Because of a scheduing change, WorldStrides provided last night's dinner and got a chance to relax and enjoy each other's company as the day winded down. After dinner, students had the opportunity to swim/workout/hang out. There were some pretty heated card games being played and I even headed a game of ERS (Egyptian Rat Screw) in the lobby. The chaperones had a meeting about the next day's itinerary (which had to be changed anyways!) and the kids headed up to their rooms to be "In for the Night." Room checks went with out a hitch and the students immediately quieted down after a long, tiring journey from Deep River, CT.
Breakfast was at 7:30 this morning and in keeping with the trend, another schedule change (out of our control!). But with a level head, Miss Hilton came up with a plan to fix all these problems. We had breakfast, tweaked the schedule and now, the students are relaxing/studying before rehearsals start with Concert Band and then Concert Choir (the select choral groups reherased outside for a little while).
After rehearsals, we're off to a mall area for lunch and then to the Magnificant Mile, Hancock Observatory and some good Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Gino's East. Tomorrow is going to be a long, music-filled day so I probably won't get a chance to post until Sunday...maybe even after we leave for CT.
Sorry for the long post but everything/everyone is doing well and we're excited to perform for Chicago! HAPPY FRIDAY!
KLAM