Wow

So for the trip we've gotten a ton of awesome press.  All these different papers and news channels did stories on us and so I wanted to share the links (actually Mr. A. wanted me to share the links) with all of you.

Channel Four Story

Marchingsport.com

The Times-Picayune  (The Local New Orleans Paper)

Channel Two (Before we left)

Channel Two (The Day We Left)

Be sure to check it out.  Like so many teachers and adults have been telling me, there's a ton of bad press with local high schools these days, we're an example of something good.  It's things like this that make me so proud to be a member of the Band.

New Stuff

I know we're not on the trip anymore but there are just a few things I wanted to share.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Channel 4 is doing a followup story on our trip. They're coming to concert band to ask kids about the trip and everything. Make sure you wear your trip shirts and check that out.

A final total on everything we raised.
We raised $21,000 in cash and instruments for Lusher. They said they're going to use the things we donated to start a concert band program in the middle school. How cool is that? A big hey to all the people down in New Orleans who are reading this blog by the way.
We got $3,000 worth of saftey equipment from Dival which was really nice of them.
People also gave $2,500 to help students get to New Orleans. That was a big help for a lot of people who might not have gotten to go without their support.

Mr. Aguglia is sponsoring a documentary contest for all of us. He wants to see what we thought of the trip and whatnot. I thought that was pretty cool.

So many people have been asking about the trip, congratulating us for the work we did. I think that's cool. I love sharing the stories with my friends who aren't in band, though I think they're starting to get sick of them. Teachers tell me they're reading the blog and I love that they're interested. We got a link on the school website so maybe more people will be able to read this and see what a great trip we had.

For those of you who are new to the blog and are having trouble understanding it:
The oldest posts are at the bottom. To read the first post, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on older posts. Then scroll to the bottom and read the post there and from bottom to top.

Pictures

Well, I've finally figured it out. I managed to separate each adventure into its own album. Just click on the pictures to go to each album.



The Bayou Barn







The DeSoto Caverns






Lusher

The Rebuild

Michaul's

Creole Queen Dinner Cruise

Audubon Zoo

Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World

Other Random Pictures That Didn't Really Have a Home


Sorry it took so long. My computer is ridiculously old and slow.

Enjoy!

We made it!

Well, I just woke up. That bus ride was exhausting. It's really sad that we're home. I actually woke up at 8 am (which would have been 7 am in New Orleans, our wake up call) just out of pure habit. It was nice to be back in my own room and not having to share a bed with Shukri, haha, but I do miss the hassle of dealing with my roommates in the morning and trying to battle those elevators in the hotel.

Friday was our last day in the Big Easy. We got to go to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, the place where they make over 75% (don't quote me on that) of the Mardi Gras floats. We saw the huge props, and got to try on costumes (I have pictures of Mr. Aguglia, just wait for them), and we even got to make our very own masks. The building itself was very unassuming, when I saw it from across the Mississippi river, I was a little skeptical that this could be such a cool place. But we walked inside and the whole place screamed Mardi Gras. There was every prop you could imagine, all your favorite movie characters and themes. It was really cool.

From there we went to the Aquarium. We saw an Imax movie about Katrina and how it affected the Bayous. It was interesting. Then we got to explore the Aquarium. I don't know about everybody else, but I thoroughly enjoy Aquariums. We didn't stay too long, but I got to see Jellyfish so I was content.

After the Aquarium, we got to explore the French Quarter with our chaperones. We got to shop and eat and really look at this place. We were lucky enough to be there during the French Quarter Festival so we really got to experience the food and music of the French Quarter. We all did a little bit of shopping in the French Market, a giant flea market that stretches like five blocks. It was so cool.

Dinner was at Michaul's. It was our last taste of authentic New Orleans. We ate great food and danced and celebrated our last few hours. It seems everywhere we ate dinner, there was music. It was so fun to dance with our friends and even see the teachers get in on the action.

The bus ride was so long. We left Michaul's at 7pm and got back home at around 9:30 pm the next day. But We got to spend time with our friends and watch movies and talk all about everything that just happened to us. We still can't believe we had such a great experience. If I didn't have the pictures and the battle wounds to keep my memories intact, I'd think this was all a dream.

Thanks to the parents for letting us go and supporting our fundraising and everything. Thanks to our chaperones for being there for us, whether we needed them to hold our money or wrap our wounds they were great. Thanks to Mr. Aguglia and Mrs. Bauser, for planning our trip and everything. Thanks to our other teachers and administrators for understanding the importance of this trip and helping us get there while still keeping up on our schoolwork. But mostly I'd like to thank my fellow bandmates. We all got so much closer on this trip, I feel like I'm best friends with people who I've never spoken to before because of this trip and it's really cool that we got so close. This trip would not have been the same without the people that were on it, they really made the experience whole.

Thanks for reading the blog while we were gone, I got so many compliments from parents at pick up last night but I was just relaying what an awesome time we all had. Don't rely on me for the true experience, I just told you how I saw it. Ask your kids, ask their friends, ask the teachers. Each and every one of us brought something special back from this trip that nobody else got, our memories.

I'm going to try and find a website that will let us post every picture I have in photo albums based on what we did so that will be easier for all of us. I'll work on that tonight so keep checking. I'll send Mr. Aguglia those links too so everybody gets them.

This trip was great and I'm still in awe. What a way to end my senior year.

Our Last Night!

I can't believe it's our last night in New Orleans. We just got here and now we have to leave. This trip has been a blast and I'm sure tomorrow will be just as great as the rest of the trip.





We had to get up early again (wakeup call was at 615!) and today we went to Lusher. It was really hot and humid today, nothing like it is at home (I'm hearing rumors of snow on Monday? Not cool.) So anyways, we got there and had to empty the bus super quickly. While we were unloading, a group of kids were outside playing for us. It was really cool that that's the kind of stuff they do here, just set up a random band and have kids dancing outside before school starts. We got a tour of the school from some of the students, here's my tour group (the girls who aren't in the hideous purple shirts were our tour guides):

We also got to eat a real New Orleans Breakfast, Biscuits and King Cake. I thought it was really good. Different, but good.

Then the Jazz Bands got to play. Jason played with their band and a few kids played with ours. It sounded so good and they all were great musicians. Then the orchestra played with a clinician and the strings from Lusher. That was cool, it was so nice to hear so many strings.

After the orchestra, the concert band played with kids from Lusher. The group was huge and we all got along so well and made such great music.

It was a great expierence for us all. We all forged lifelong connections and made lasting memories. The Lusher kids were so grateful for everything we did. It was a lot of fun too, helping out and playing with them and all that jazz. I'll definately never forget it and I'm sure nobody else will either.

After Lusher, we went to the Audobon Zoo. We got to walk around and just enjoy the Zoo so it was nice.

We had a city tour after that, we walked around the French Quarter and learned all about the history. That was interesting, very long and very tiring, but I got to see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house so that's all that matters.

We had an outside concert after our tour. People really seemed to enjoy that. Even Shukri's cousins came out to watch. It was windy but we got to play on the banks of the Mississippi, how cool is that? We had the dinner cruise afterwards, the Jazz Band got to play on the boat. Also really super cool. We danced and ate and had a lot of fun. There are plenty of pictures, I promise, but I'm having trouble uploading them so I'll get those up ASAP.

I've got a lot of packing and stuff to do so I must leave you. I don't know when I'll be able to post again, this might be the last one until we're home but I promise I'll get those pictures up when I get home.

The Bayou Barn

So after we got all undisgustified at the hotel, we were treated to a tour of the city. We learned all about New Orleans. We went to a cemetery and saw above ground graves, we saw the Levees, we saw a lot of cool things. We also heard a lot of great stories about the Big Easy, make sure to ask your kids about them when they get home.

Here's one of the graves:

After the tour we went to the Bayou Barn. When we first saw it, we were all a little skeptical because it wasn't exactly the Ritz but we got inside and everybody had a great time. They had a real crawfish boil. I've had crawfish before but I bet a lot of kids have never had them before. A few kids were grossed out by them, Kayla especially, but for the most part, we enjoyed them. We got to listen to some really good music and danced a lot. Even some of the teachers got in on the action. Pictures of that will come tomorrow, I promise. It's really late, an hour past bed check (shhhh don't tell the chaperones) so I really should be getting to bed. Its going to be a busy day tomorrow, we're going to Lusher and then walking around the French Quarter and then going on the riverboat. Very exciting things.

I really enjoyed today. I wasn't sure what the rebuild was going to bring but even after my little "incident" I had a great time and we all felt so accomplished that we helped somebody. I'm glad we got to see the city. We learned so much and got to see this great city. Roland, our tour guide, was really knowledgeable and told us such great stories about New Orleans. We really didn't know what the Bayou Barn was going to bring either and yet we all had a great time with great food and great friends. This trip just keeps suprising us and it's getting more awesome as the week progresses. We're probably going to be sore and tired tomorrow but it's been worth it.

Make sure you check out the wgrz story on us:

http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=56981

Photos from the Rebuild