JustynAdventure: #MtSacJourneysToGermany

Alright, Here we go! (I'm going to recap everything in this one blog post! I missed a lot of days waiting for wifi in Europe, so I'm not going to wait now. More pictures to come!)

It's been an insanely exhausting, stress-filled, draining, exciting, amazingly sweet and impactful, two weeks in Europe. There are so many words that come to mind when I think of what I expereinced over there that I'm finding it hard to pick just one perfect word. I don't think there is one. So much has happened in such a short amount of time that it's left me mentally and emotionally overwhelmed. I loved every minute of this journey and it's kind of frustrating right now because I'm going to try my best to share it with you all, but I know my words won't do it justice. It's a "You had to be there" kind of thing, but I'll try my best. 

We visited the two beautiful countries of Poland and Germany. We started in Warsaw where we connected with the music school over there, the one where Chopin received his schooling. Singco performed in a local jazz club, it was hot and we couldn't really hear ourselves, but did it, and we delivered. Chamber got to perform in a beautiful cathedral in old town and the sound carried and filled the halls and people were coming in off the street to hear them. It was only the start of out trip and already we didn't want to leave. I think what it made it such a highlight was the people. They were so nice and inviting. They loved our music and were so appriciative of what we had to offer, and they were just good people. (Shout out to Dariusz, Justyna aka PAM, and Wojciech, you guys were so helpful and made our trip so enjoyable!) 

We then journeyed to Poiniatowa and Lublin where we met some more cool people who invited us into their homes and prepared meals for us. We learned a traditional Polish dance and got to share a concert with a local choir that has been set up there for over 20 years. It's still going strong with members that are older who love singing, and children from the area who are excited to perform and can sing and play multiple instruments and dance. They're amazing, and love doing it. 

Our last stop in Poland was the beautiful city of Krakow. The city itself is breathtaking with all the castles and the towering cathedrals. There are restaurants set up all over the giant square where you could sit outside and enjoy the day and the city. There's live music and street performers. It's all so lively and charming. While in Krakow, we took a visit to Auschwits where we toured through the camp and what a heavy experience that was. It's hard to imagine what happened over 50 years ago, but actually standing there knowing what it was, knowing what had taken place there, and knowing that you're walking the same ground as so many people who lost their lives, it's heavy. You can't help but cry and realize how precious life is. It's something I won't forget. In the same day, we visited a local salt mine and travelled down over 400ft into the mine. We toured through it and saw all the exhibits and they even have a cathedral that was carved and it's a sight to see. I admit when I turned the corner to see it, It was amazing! It's a huge underground cathedral! They still have regular church meetings there. It's super cool. Chamber got to perform one of their songs and the acoustics we awesome! =D 

On our last day in Poland, we met our new tour guide, Trixie, and she and I hit it off right away. I got to spend a lot of time with Trixie, and I've got to say that she's funny, assertive, will not waste your time, she's caring, charismatic, and charming, she's organized, and this tiny Austrian woman who lives in Turkey will kick your but if you're not on it. She's the coolest person, and she stayed with us from then on until the end of our competition.  She travelled with us to Leipzig where we got to see the sights and visit the church where J.S. Bach was the song leader. We got to sing there, and Mr. Rogers got to stand there and conduct his choir. Like What!? So many cool things! My friend, and student conductor of Chamber Singers also got to conduct his German piece in front of the Bach statue. I was excited for him.

Finally, we made it to Magdeburg. It took a long time, and we were already tired from basically going everywhere, but we were ready to compete. We earned 4 gold medals and a first place trophy. Out of 97 choirs who competed, we scored high in all the categories we entered placing 4th in folk music, 2nd in Pop, Jazz, Gospel, Spiritual, and Mixed Chamber choir, and 1st overall in the Madrigal category. Thinking back to the beginning of the year where it all started and knowing where we came from with tuning problems, rushing, people not learning their music, commitment problems, and just in general not being a unit together, we pulled it all in for these performances and got the scores we did, and it feels amazing.

I can't begin to explain how much this experience has affected me. I got to meet so many new people on this trip, people who are amazing to learn from and are so welcoming and eager to share themselves. I got to see so many parts of the world in so little a time, and I got to hear beautiful music from choirs that came from places like South Africa and Great Britain and Taiwan. I got to grow closer friendships with many of the people who I travelled with. People who I probably would have never guessed I could have a cool friendship with, let alone have a full conversation with until this trip. I'm just so happy to have been a part of something that required a full team effort from both Singcopation and Chambers Singers combined led by the most amazing team leader in Bruce Rogers. I'm so grateful for this tour and I can't thank God enough for giving me the opportunity to have this as something that I will never forget.