Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Remember and share the experience in images


All of the photos from the tour bloggers are posted in a Google Photo Album:

https://goo.gl/photos/NYeTQZ9abjbEZpXd8

If anyone would like to upload additional pictures from their computer or phone into the Google Photo Album to share with everyone, click the following link:

http://www.dgsbandboosters.com/upload-videos--photos.html


Thanks to Mr. Brandt for making this possible!

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Lost Luggage Found!

Word from O'Hare Airport is that our missing luggage and instruments have arrived. They are doing inventory and prepping items to be delivered to you homes soon. Please do not come to the airport to try to claim items as they are most likely already packed for delivery.

A few final thoughts........
















Like each of you who traveled with us during the tour, this morning I'm working to comprehend my experience while at the same time struggling to acclimate and integrate back into what is typical for my life.  The tension I'm working to manage is framed around hitting a re-start button on life while simultaneously reflecting on the significance of the last eleven days on my life.  The elation from sleeping in my own bed and being warmly greeted by our pets is co-mingled with the mild reality shock that comes with reducing the mountain on laundry and a trip to the grocery store for essentials.  
Part of my reflective process includes working to measure the success of the tour, and, reaffirming personally and professionally why we invest into group travel experiences for students.  With your indulgence, I'll share two brief thoughts related to each of these strands of thought.

I believe to the core of my being that group travel provides a singularly unique vehicle for individual student growth.  The experiences gained and the countless autonomous decisions made by each student during this recent tour simply can't be garnered in any other way of which I'm aware.  The growth for each student that has happened through expanding the boundaries of the classroom into homes in a small community in Germany is too complex to be measured in a quantifiable manner.  I also know from personal experience that the growth that has happened will take place over the next season of life as each student strives to ascribe personal meaning to this experience.  So, we do this travel thing because group travel sparks growth in students like nothing else I have experienced in education.  Parents - take notice of the differences in your student in the coming days and celebrate the change that has occurred and will continue to occur.  

I'm also compelled to share two measures of success from the tour.  Yesterday, I received multiple comments from airport workers in several cities about the maturity and professionalism of our students.  The first comment was from a chronologically advanced worker during a security check point in Frankfort.  The exchange went something like this:  WORKER:  Are you one of the teachers?  ME:  (partly wary) Yes.  WORKER:  They aren't like other student groups.  This is one of the best behaved groups I have seen come through this airport.  ME:  (whew) Thanks - we are really proud of the students in this group.   The last exchange came at the end of a very long day, when the only worker at the baggage claim downstairs at Aer Lingus thanked me for our students being so nice.  This was after going through a reclamation process because several bags were delayed in transit from Europe.  At the ending of a over 30 hour travel day, our students were nice when dealing with delayed luggage arrival.  Those comments (along with several others not shared here) are a significant measure of success of the tour.

The second measure of success came from unsolicited comments from people I've never met about the jazz band performance during our final evening.  Folks didn't tell me the band sounded good.  Folks didn't tell me the band felt good.  Folks told me the band looked like they were having a great time.  When this is perceptible to patrons, it means that communication beyond organized sound occurred during our performance.  Through their actions, the students shared with and communicated to the audience their joy for performing jazz music.  Again, those comments to me are a significant measure of the success of the tour.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't share a significant public shout out to Mr. Teague for his role in creating and implementing this experience for our students.  Mr. Teague does many things well, but, he is unsurpassed a group tour leader and as a communicator of those experiences back home to families.  Mr. Teague manages details with elegance and demonstrates grace under extreme pressure, especially to individual students along the way.  On behalf of the students, staff and families on both sides of the pond who benefitted and will continue to benefit from this experience, I thank you for all that you did to make this experience possible.  Danke.  

Sleeping at Home

Thursday was a very special day because it was our last day in Europe. Of course, that didn't stop any of us from sleeping the majority of the way to Heidelberg. Once we got there, we all walked over to the tram station to board a tram up the mountain to Heidelberg Castle. We then had 45 seconds to disembark (which was an adventure in and of itself) before leisurely strolling down the outer defense walls with a clear view of the town below, the next town over, and the distant mountain range. The castle is clearly from the Medieval Ages (big walls at 25 feet thick, tall defense walls, a moat that is now very empty, etc.) and it has been left as a ruin. I love that. Being a ruin makes the castle more impressive because you have to imagine what it looked like fully restored. It also shows the age of the castle, reminding us that history is even older than we often give it credit for. We toured the grounds, impressed by the architecture and the interesting stories our guide told us, like how the drawbridges have now all been replaced by solid bridges because of tourism, how the last queen began to turn Heidelberg Castle into a typical Baroque palace before the 30 Years War destroyed the Castle the first time, and how King Louis the 14th tried to restore the castle, decided it as cursed or something, and stuck dynamite in several towers to official blow them up. On our tour of the grounds, we explored the official royal balcony, where there is a dent in a rock. According to legend, one night the king returned late from a hunting trip, and the queen had a certain male visitor over that she didn't want the king to meet. So, as the king was returning, this mysterious visitor quickly donned all of his heavy armor, leaped from the window onto the balcony, left a single heel print in a rock on the balcony, and escaped, never to be seen or heard from again. Therefore, if your foot fits in the footprint, you are also a very good lover. Personally, I think it's hogwash. If somebody had leaped out of a window like that, he would have let more than heel print and he would total have been caught. I think that in the 1800s, when they were first restoring the castle (before all the romantics told them to stop restoring and to only maintain the ruins) that somebody dropped some heavy piece of machinery or chipped the rock and then created a more romantic, interesting story of how it got there. But that didn't stop any of us from seeing in the footprint fit, and we discovered that several people in the group would make great lovers. It was like Cinderella, but different.










We also got to see the largest wine barrel in the world. It was at least two stories tall and about 22,000 galleons. The barrel took up the entire room all by itself. It needed to be the big because the peasants had to give part of their output to the king, and this was wine country. They just poured their taxes into the big barrel in the cellar, and the king drank that nasty concoction whenever he was thirsty. Now, I'm not a big wine drinker myself (mostly because I'm underage and partly because fermented drinks just don't sound tasty) but I can appreciate the king's devotion to his favorite drink.


After we toured the castle, we walked down a very steep path to return to town. I had to go slowly because the cobblestones kept catching on my shoes, and I wanted to avoid a tumble. But everyone made it down safely, and we toured the town. We saw the Protestant Church, the statue of Hercules, the university, the university jail (they actually have one. They mostly use it for punishing students who get drunk and do stupid things in public), the Catholic Church, the river, the town gates, and a variety of small shops and restaurants. The town has been mostly restored, so the houses are all structurally sound, and it looks exactly like a restored Middle Ages town ought to look.




We then had time to wander in small groups. We mostly used this time to shop and eat lunch. We got back on the bus for a 2 hour drive back, during which most of us fell asleep. We then went home to change for our concert and went to the music school to prepare for our last concert. The venue was beautiful. There's a square in the middle of town that is used for farmers' markets, outdoor dining, and concerts in the summertime. It is surrounded on three sides by buildings, and the main footpath lines the fourth side, which created beautiful acoustics. Chairs are provided, but there weren't enough chairs for all, so a lot of people were standing or sitting on the wall in the back of the square. It was humbling to see that many people had shown up for our concert and it was a reminder of the power of music and of exchange: both only work if people are willing to listen. The Bietigheim Band went first, and they played a beautiful variety of music that showed off the talent of their musicians. After they performed, we had the chance to play. We didn't get to play our entire set, but the audience appeared to enjoy the pieces we did play. One of the boys in my host family told me afterwards that he had really, really enjoyed the Stars Wars medley, which made all the practice and frustration and tears spent on that piece all worth it. We played our final song (Stars and Stripes Forever March) with the Bietigheim Band, and I couldn't imagine a better way to end the classical portion of the concert than with a public showing of musically unity. Then the jazz band took the stage. They played a variety of jazz types to give everyone a taste of the different flavors of American Jazz. The soloists were somehow even better tonight than they were at the last concert, which excited the entire crowd. However, we couldn't stay long to celebrate; we had to get home to pack up and get whatever sleep we could.


Friday was our travel day, which meant getting up at 5 in the morning (which I generally disagree with on principle. It's just too early). We all slept on the way to the airport, which was good because the line to get tickets was a little long (because there are 80 people in our band and it was now 7 in morning. The ticket people weren't awake either) and then we had to go through security. Once we were all through security and we were all safely on the plane, many of us went back to sleep, only to awake again to a Navy style touchdown in Dublin. We were all awake after that. We then went through security again and were given some time at the airport to shop and eat a snack. My friends went to Burger King to get a real American cheeseburger. I was content to steal (with consent) a good majority of their fries. We then regrouped, found our passports and customs forms and went through customs in Ireland. Once we were on American soil, we went through security (for those of you keeping track at home, this is the third time) before boarding the airplane to come home. They gave us lunch and a snack, and most of us slept when we weren't enjoying airline food (which was definitely hot. I appreciated that). We were excited to touch down at O'Hare, and rushed (as fast as you can rush) off the airplane to claim our luggage and our families and go home to sleep.

The moment we landed, I could tell we were in America, even without the pilot announcing it. The land was flatter, the people all spoke English, and the air even smelled different. While I will definitely miss Europe, I have also come to appreciate the value of home, of having a place that you know so intimately that you immediately relax, even if you weren't stressed or tense before. Home is a place you can sleep. But you can't always be at home, because then you will never grow and the world will always be big and scary and foreign. I have changed in these last two weeks because the world is no longer as big, as scary, or as foreign as it was when I started. I am eternally grateful for having the opportunity to see, experience, and sleep in Europe because home is now a little bit bigger.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Wheels Down: Sweet Home Chicago

The District 99 Honors Band has just landed safely at O'Hare.

Thank you to all of the amazing students of the band for an incredible journey, and for sharing your musicianship with our friends in Europe.

To our recent graduates, thank you for extending your studies for three extra weeks so that you could participate and contribute to the tour.
To those returning next year, we look forward to making music with you again soon!

Safely in Dublin / Pick-up Reminders

The Band has landed in Dublin and is preparing to enter the US Preclearance.

As a reminder, our flight is scheduled to land at 6:15 PM at O'Hare Terminal 5. Presuming the flight is on time, students should be available for pick-up a very short time later because we do not need to go through customs. Please track our flight online, leave time for parking, and be in Terminal 5 promptly to meet your student. 

See you soon!

Boarding for Dublin

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Danke!

Its difficult to express ... even in my native language of English ... how much I appreciate the faculty of the Bietigheim-Bissingen Musikschule. They have become such important professional colleagues to District 99, and in the process become indescribable personal friends.

For the hundreds of volunteer hours that went into planning the 2016 exchange so that our students would have a once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience, I offer my most genuine and heartfelt "Danke!"

D99 Homors Jazz Band in Bietigheim-Bissingen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wDrtJ1pFt0

All Good Things Must Come To an End

Sadly this will be my last blog post for this trip. And i wanted to start by giving a huge thank you to all the the families that opened their homes for us and mad us feel welcome. I know for me at least my host family made my trip much more relaxing and enjoyable. So thank you to them for that.

On another note we went into a town called Heidelberg today. It was kind of a long drive (I think, its hard to tell when you are taking a nap), but the drive was totally worth it. The whole town was built on a hill so its design looked really cool. The coolest thing there was the castle. You had to take a tram up the mountain to get to it, but the tram ride was cool too.













The castle is made of pink sandstone and is really old. It's a little bit older than the non-existent castles in Downers Grove, and it is a little bit older than Downers North. Actually it was a lot older than that. The castle was built in 1214, that's 802 years ago!!! It was very interesting to see how different parts of the castle were built using different styles of design as they were added. Some were built in a medieval style and some of it looked much more Renaissance. Some cool things we saw there were a huge barrel(like 200000 liters huge), a poisonous tree, an ancient pharmacy, and a killer view.

After our nice day of shopping and eating in Heidelberg we headed home on the long drive back(I think I fell asleep again). We then got ready for our final concert with our peers at the music school. I want to hand it to them, because they really impressed me with how well they did. I should explain that my expectations were not overly high because my host sister told me they were not very good and her mom confirmed it. Usually if your parent is willing to tell you to your face that you band stinks, then you must be pretty bad. However that was not the case, the Bietigheim music school did a lovely job. I really enjoyed their set and it was a pleasure to share the stage with them.

This it the part where I get all philosophical and reflective on the trip so if that's not for you, move on tot eh next post. Here we go. This trip started as a vacation in Paris, but once we crossed the border into Germany we were on a totally different trip. We were then beginning an experience that will most likely have and impact on all of our lives for a very long time. I didn't fully realized how uncultured i was in terms of a world wide scale. To me, my metaphorical room of cultural knowledge seemed quite large, but as soon as I took my foot of the bus on that first day a new door was opened for me. I quickly learned that the new expansion on my room was full of new knowledge that I knew nothing about. And for the rest of the week I had to take time to process all the new info so that my new room made sense. Now, I'm not saying I know everything there is to know about it, but what I'm getting to is that this new found reality that I know very little about the world I live in makes me hungry to learn more. I'm overly exited to find a new opportunities to open a new doors to my room and expand my knowledge of world culture even more. I will never be able to thank the trip and the people who helped me learn so many new things and ultimately make my world a little bit smaller.

here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip as a whole






Thanks Europe, I had a great time. For the last time, Noah T.