Wind Ensemble in China

I graduated college on May 17, 2008 and not 24 hours later I was on a 13 hour plane ride to China with the SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble. An amazing group of talented students, who by the end of the trip I was a little sick of, but at the same time couldn't have chose anyone else who I would've rather shared this experience with. There will be no way that in this blog I will be able to recap the entire trip because there will be moments that you simply not understand unless you were there (mosquito squatting with Dana... ;) ). So here are a few highlights --->

The unbelievably long plane ride wasn't as bad as I expected because a group of buffalo students decided not to sleep the night before our plane left so I ended sleeping almost the entire time. The only time I woke-up was when we were served our meals. Ewwww gross to think about them now is nauseating. We were able to watch movies, listen to music, etc. So besides utilizing the doggy bag the plane was fine (I won't get into detail but thanks for your help again Andrew).

When we arrived in Beijing we almost weren't permitted to go into China because we never had a an "official invitation" but Dr. Holcomb used her connections and we were home free. As we walked out of the airport and felt the humid air and unfamiliar smell of what little William described and wasn't so wrong as being a "big fart," we were approaching our chinese style coach bus when we all stopped moving and talking because we were overwhelmed by a very loud sound of car horns consecutively without silence. We later found out our plane had landed just in time to be outside at 2:28pm, exactly one week after the Wenchuan Earthquake and this was their moment of silence. Three minutes of horns in remembrance of those who lost their lives in such a tragic way. Following the horns was a government issue of three days of silence... so you can only imagine our schedule of performing changed a bit. We ended up sightseeing for 3 days and performing for the next 5 days straight. Our final concert included us wearing gold ribbons on our right arms and we dedicated a song to the earthquake victims. What a horrible natural disaster but I am honored that we were able to pay our respects in China with the Chinese people by our side.

The 3 days of sightseeing were amazing and our tour guide, Emma was so fun and knowledgeable. She planned our days so we were able to see Tianamen Square, take a rickshaw bike ride through traditional Beijing China, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, an Enamel Factory, and Climb the Great Wall! As we traveled and were to visit these various places I felt like we were a walking museum because everyone starred at us. I have never been a foreigner before and it felt weird. On numerous occasions I was asked to be in pictures with the chinese people because they wanted a picture with a blonde hair, blue eyed girl I guess... it was a little strange for me.

Enjoy this for now, I didn't realize the brainstorming would take me so long... More to follow at a later date!!!