Espana, adios!

This may not be the most coherent post I´ve ever written, having gone to bed late last night after our farewell dinner and waking up early this morning because we load the buses for the airport in an hour. But I´d like to attempt something summnative of Spain before we depart the actual land, so please bear with me.

Our time in Spain, like time at school, has both flown by and seemed like forever. Even yesterday seems like a very long time ago; I woke up at 6 to go running in the Jardin del Turia in Valencia, got on a bus, had a conversation (or attempted conversation) with a Spanish shepherd at a restaurant, had lunch in Madrid, re-packed, and drove out to El Escorial for set-up, rehearsal, concert, tear-down and dinner. With packed days like these, every day for two weeks, the time has seemed long.
But at the same time I can't believe that these two weeks are already over. In some ways I feel like we're just beginning, but now we all have to go our separate was. Last night's concert was an emotional one, as the seniors are saying good-bye to St. Olaf, orchestra, and their friends all at once. Most of us who aren't seniors are just saying good-bye for the summer, but we still have to say our final good-byes to senior friends. The St. Olaf Orchestra will exist next year and it will be the usual excellent ensemble, but it will never be *this* particular St. Olaf Orchestra again.

At the end of this trip, my primary emotion is gratitude. This has been a wonderful opportunity to play, in the very fullest sense of the world. I got to explore cities, deepen friendships with fellow orchies and play concerts where the music was different each time. Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story" has been the piece that grows on me each night. Barber's Medea has been a rock of passionate orchestral sound. And while I thought that "La Virgen de la Macarena" was a cheesy piece in rehearsal, I have thoroughly enjoyed every performance on tour, both because our soloist Martin Hodel sells it so well, and the audiences love to hear us play it. The travel has also been like a time to play--to be a kid and hang out with friends and explore new places. To experience the richness of this time--it's a gift.

There are so many stories about Spain that just won't fit into the little chunks of internet time that we carve out. None of us has written anything about our wonderful Spainish guide Josu who regaled us with stories, advice and his personal version of Spanish history. I could write a whole entry about communication--all the times I failed and the few times that I succeeded, despite all the barriers. There's the odd travel stories, like when the two railings of our venue nearly electrocuted two of the percussionists, and a bird pooped on the glockenspiel at our one outdoor concert. Early morning walks, having no-talent night in the hotel *disco,* singing grace before dinners, and of course the beautiful, beautiful country of Spain...there's so much to tell.

On that note, I'd better wrap up and go grab breakfast. For all readers, thanks for coming along for the ride. As the Spanish say, Adios, or in a liberal translation, Godspeed.

Beach Day!

I've just returned from our "beach day" in Valencia. This has been one of the most-anticipated days on tour--it was an entirely free day to do as we wanted. I had several criteria for the perfect day: sun, soft sand, a shallow beach, not-freezing water, sun, not too much wind, the presence of an ice cream stand. I was hoping for maybe about half of those things to come through.
Amazingly, they were all there. The orchestra spent the entire afternoon lounging on towels and chairs, getting very sandy, reading, relaxing and generally having a good time. Personally, my favorite part of the day was swimming in the Mediterranean. The water was just the right temperature for swimming and towards the end of the afternoon, the waves were just right for jumping and body-surfing.

It hasn't all been fun in the sun. As Jen mentioned, we gave a concert in Torrent last night. It was a nice hall, so the orchestra sounded great for the few people who were there. This concert followed a day of free time in Valencia--a walking tour and then time spent exploring. Valenica has been an interesting city for me. It has a very clear divide between old and new--our hotel is in a modern part of the city, with the "old town" about a 20 minute walk away. There also seems to be a lot of city pride, especially with the new "City of Arts." I get the impression that Valencia used to be more of a sketchy port city and is trying to grow out of that image. It seems to be a city in transition.

Tomorrow we head off to Madrid for our final concert. Tour is almost over. It's hard to believe...

No Talent Night!

Ok... so, on tour, whether it be domestic or international, we always have a special show put on by orchies called "no talent night".  This is an on-going orchestra tradition, and groups and individuals come up with a variety of stupid acts to share with the group.  In honor of viola day (yes, yesterday was viola day!), the section ate dinner together and came up with our own words to the St. Olaf fight song.  As many of you know, it is the only school song that is in 3/4 time, AND a waltz!  

Here are our words, to the tune of UM YA YA YA: 

We are the violas, the soul of the string sound

the violin's wish they had C strings like ours

the best looking section, we play to perfection

no one can see us but we are the stars! 

Alto clef, alto clef, alto clef, alto clef

alto clef, alto clef, UM YA YA YA!! 

Valencia

Hi everyone, 

The past couple of days in Valencia have been jam-packed with all sorts of fun activities, and tonight we had our 5th concert of the tour.  Yesterday, we arrived at our hotel after a day-long drive from Ubeda.  To my surprise, our hotel here in Valencia is right across the street from a huge park that runs through the center of the city.  This park used to be a disgusting, polluted river, but now has been transformed into an amazing park filled with fountains, soccer fields, and run/bike trails.  The runner in me was more than thrilled to finally have a safe and beautiful place to run!  Yay!  So, I have had the opportunity to get in a run each day that we have been here, and I plan on getting a couple more in before leaving on Sunday.  

Last night's dinner was rather interesting...  First, a cockroach was found scurrying around the floor, and then another was found after falling on top of a student's head!  Then, at one of the tables, a group was slicing up a piece of fruit, and all of a sudden the rest of us heard several loud screams, and paniced leaps away from the table!  There were bugs running EVERYWHERE from this piece of fruit.  Needless to say, most of our apetites were ruined due to the bug-infested hotel restaurant.  

This morning was filled with a walking city tour, which included visiting the Valencia market, one of the largest markets in the world, and certainly one of the cleanest I have ever seen.  For lunch, I bought a box of fresh raspberries, a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a loaf of bread.  Following the city tour, our Spanish tour guide lead a smaller group of us to a record store and then showed us all the best music and deals.  I bought a cd of Flamenco music- truly signature sounds of Spain.  

Tonight, we had a concert at the Auditori de Torrent.  Although the turnout was quite disappointing, we poured our heart and sole into the program, and from the emotion shown by students, it was evident that we are reaching the end of our tour.  The St. Olaf tour group, filled with parents, alumni, and a Spanish professor were in the audience, so it was certainly nice to see some familiar faces.  

Tomorrow is our much anticipated "beach day"!!!  Many of us have been looking forward to this all tour, so we are extremely excited.  I am hope to lounge, relax, and drink a large pitcher of sangria!!  This beach is one of Valencia's more southern beaches, and I hope it will be warm, sunny, and that it will improve my tan! 

Right now I am enjoying the hotel's wireless, but not at a cheap price.  So, I need to fit in all my internet time into my one hour!  All for now!  

More to come--

As usual, internet time is at a premium, so I´ll try to keep this short and sweet.

Today the orchestra heads to Valencia, after playing at the International Festival of Music and Dance at Ubeda last night. Ubeda is a small town in the province of Jaen--small enough that *all* of the stores close at 2 for siesta. We´ve been used to at least a few tourist shops remaining open, so finding lunch yesterday when rehearsal ended at 3 was a challenge. Luckily there were a few tapas places open and much of the orchestra took advantage of this uniquely Spanish institution where you order a drink and they bring you a tapas, or appetizer, on the house.
The concert itself was a great experience. We had been moved inside a church, which was a bit of a squeeze, but also a stunning location. I´ve never stored my stuff in a dressing room that looked like it was built during the Renaissance. There was a good crowd and since there were seats on both sides of the orchestra, I felt like I was really connected to the audience. The biggest hit of the night was once again "La Virgen de la Macarena," a short Spanish piece that features our tour soloist Martin Hodel.

A few words about our past locations--we came to Ubeda after spending an afternoon in Granada. *That* was an amazing city. After a walk from the top of the "Muslim Quarter" to the Cathedral, through squares and colorful alleyways, we were turned loose for lunch and shopping. Then came the real highlight--a guided tour of the famous Alhambra.
Even if I had more than four minutes of internet time left, it would not be enough to put the Alhambra into words. The fortress itself is quite impressive, with some nice views of the city, but it is the gardens that make the hill of the Alhambra spectacular. We came at the perfect time of year because almost everything is in bloom, including dozens upon dozens of roses. All I can say is that I felt like a character in a fairy tale, or maybe the Arabian Nights. I´m very grateful to have been there.

My time´s up so that´s all for now!

Before departing for Spain,  I had intended to write a short entry describing a little more about myself, my involvement in the St. Olaf Orchestra, and my excitement for our upcoming Spain tour.  But, with all the chaos of finals, packing, moving, Celebration weekend, etc., it just didn't get done.  However, prior to describing our last two days here, I will mention that I also had the opportunity to go on two international tours with the orchestra during my time at St. Olaf.  There is no better way of traveling than to do so with your friends, while also sharing our gift of music with audiences around the world.  It always amazes me how sharing our gift of music brings individuals of different cultures together, and in our common understanding and love of music, we can share and be united despite our differences. 

Following our tour through Spain, two of my Orchie friends and I will then continue on to see more Spain, including Ibiza, Barcelona, and Pamplona, as well as Belgium and The Netherlands.  So, these two weeks of traveling with the orchestra are just half of this summer's European traveling adventure.  

Thus, we are now in Spain.  Hooray!  It is always such a surreal experience to just jump on a plane, and then in a few hours, be completely immersed in what feels like a completely different planet.  For me, the time change, jet lag, and overall physical exhaustion quickly subsided, and almost immediately upon our arrival at our hotel in Madrid, I was out and about anxiously discovering an unfamiliar place, now our home for the next few days.  

My Iberia flight, which about 12 other deviating Orchies were also on, arrived on Monday morning, shortly before 8am.  We were the first group to arrive in Madrid, so we had a generous amount of time to kill before departing for our hotel.  The other few groups arrived at various times throughout the morning, and by about noon, all students had successfully arrived and loaded two buses.  We then were off to our hotel near the heart of Madrid, where we were to have a short city orientation meeting with our Spanish tour guide, prior to being let loose for an afternoon of free time.  After going over maps, and doing a little impromptu planning, 4 friends and I were off to site-see, exchange money, and find a grocery store (where we found loaf after loaf of fresh, warm French bread and lots of cheap wine!).  

Highlights included strolling through the botanical gardens and Plaza Mayor, which is the city's most impressive public place, and also stopping for ice cream at Haagen Daz, where we watched two men out the window get mobbed by police and arrested!  We also located the Puerta Del Sol, which means "gateway of the sun", where streets radiate in all directions at the heart of the city.  The oversized architecture and cleanliness of the tree and flower-lined streets is as much impressive as it is beautiful, and in first glance, I have instantly fallen in love with Madrid.  Also, Madrid, as well as other cities in Spain, has Starbucks!  I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I have been there several times in the past couple of days, despite their outrageous prices!  But, like most other countries, getting coffee "to-go" is a foreign concept to most people.  However, this is one American habit of mine that is just too difficult to let go, minus my desire to experience full cultural immersion.  In addition, while walking down the sidewalk, I had the unfortunate experience of having a bird poop on my head.  Thankfully, there was a kind American family nearby, and the mother had disinfectant wipes!  Phew...

Ok, I wrote this a few days ago, was going to cut-and-paste, but this program wouldn't let me.  SO, I'm re-typing it, and now I need to go to breakfast in order to load the bus soon!  

Adios! 

For each internet cafe I have passed without entering over the past few days, I have felt a slight twinge of guilt for not updating this blog as I agreed to do. There have been many bloggable moments, some reasonable internet access rates, and as in today´s case, long stretches of free, unscheduled hours roaming the streets and beaches of the Costa del Sol.

The best reason I can come up with to explain this failure to blog is that of conflicting roles. Am more tourist or student? Am I on vacation or tour? Do I sit down in that internet cafe, or enjoy a cup of ice cream with my Olaf roommate, who has been studying in Sevilla all semester? Do I stop at the foot of the hotel lobby stairs,or continue up to my room to get some sleep before catching the early morning ferry to Tangier?

While a long string of hypothetical questions does not exactly make for thrilling reading, they do illustrate the primary stressor of the typical touring orchie: taking full advantage of our foreign travel experience while staying safe, staying sane, and staying on schedule. And with no missed boats and only one errant blogger, it appears we are on our way towards striking a balance.

I realize that my precious minutes of internet are about to run out, and certain quirks of the Spanish computer make revising this post inconvenient. So for now, we all send our sun-tired greetings from southern Spain, and look forward to our second half of concerts in the next week.