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

First Day

We're back at the hotel for a little bit so after I got cleaned up I thought I'd let everybody know what's going on.

We had our Rebuild today. I was on the gutting crew. We got to clear out a house for this really sweet old lady, Mrs. Ida. She was so nice and so grateful that we helped. It was hard work, the house was so dusty and it was so hot but I'm really glad I got to do it. It was definately a once in a lifetime experience and I'm really excited. Pictures will come later because I still have to get ready for tonight. We became official members of St. John's Church in the 7th Ward!

We're going to the Bayou Barn tonight and having dinner and listening to a Zydeco band. It's going to be really fun.

Each group got to help people and that's what's really cool about this whole thing. The day was tough but I definately would not trade this experience for anything. I'm sure everybody else feels the same.

More pictures will be put up tonight, I promise. Hopefully once the trip's over I'll be able take everybody's pictures and put them on a website so everybody can share everybody else's pictures.

Finally!

We're finally here! I still can't believe it. I don't even know where to start so I guess I'll start from Monday afternoon.

Bag check was chaos. There were so many people and we had so much to do. We all just ran around moving bags and checking people in, it was crazy.

Here are some pictures:

The bus ride took FOR-EV-ER (for-ev-er, for-ev-er, for those of you who catch the Sandlot reference.) We watched some good movies I suppose, but you can never appreciate short car rides until a twenty eight hour bus ride. My legs are still cramped. We stopped at some McDonalds along the way but I wasn't able to get on and post because they charge you to use the internet which is totally lame.

These are the buses:

Our first major stop was the DeSoto Caverns. At first I thought it was going to be lame but it turned out to be pretty cool. It was just nice to get out and stretch our legs and seeing the Caverns was really cool.

Then we stopped for lunch at the City Limits Restaurant. I thought the food was pretty good. We tried some different foods, fried okra and squash, I even tried chicken liver! Definately not for me though.

We had some more hours on the bus, more movies, more leg cramps. Finally, we got to the hotel. We ordered some Po' Boy's for dinner which were really good. We got to enjoy the pool and just chill out, which was nice.

I have a feeling that a lot of this trip is going to be like the DeSoto Caverns. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it's going to be great no matter what happens. I can assure you, we're all having fun. The ride was tough but we're going to make the best of everything.

There are still a ton of pictures that we all took, it just takes forever and a year to upload them onto the computer so don't worry if you don't see some pictures up here. Mr. A will have copies of other pictures and everything.

You'll forgive me if this post is short, but I'm exhausted. I slept on the bus but it wasn't a very restful sleep. There will be more tomorrow, I promise.

Almost on the bus

Alright folks, this is the last blog from beautiful Buffalo NY. As I type, kids are loading the buses, picking their seats, and getting comfortable.

Channel Two was here filming our chaos as we checked in bags, passed out food, and loaded the buses. Be sure to check us out tonight at eleven! I'm sure you'll be able to see the story online tomorrow and when I get that link I'll definately post it for those of you whose bedtime is before eleven. (I know mine is.)

Parents, don't worry about your kids, we're going to have a great time and I'm sure they'll tell you all about it when they get home. We're going to have a busy week so try and understand if they aren't able to talk to you every minute of the day.

I still can't believe we're almost ready to leave. This is nuts! I really can't wait.

Expect pictures tomorrow night, that'll be the soonest I can upload them I think.

Remember, we'll be in New Orleans around 9pm Wednesday night. That's 10 pm Buffalo time. Don't forget that we'll be an hour behind you guys!

Well that's all for now. I have to get on the bus. Hopefully I'll be able to post along the way and let you know how the bus ride is going!

Oh Wow

I am beyond excitement right now I can't even explain it. This time tomorrow, we're going to be on the bus. Everybody I've talked to today shares my feelings. None of us are going to be able to sit still in class tomorrow.

This is so intense. Everyone has been running around going crazy, Mr. Aguglia's got so much to do, Josh and I were packing all the percussion equipment and there's music to copy, and I'm not even packed yet. But I am so faithful to this blog that I'm updating rather than make sure I have everything. So if I forget anything, I'm sure you guys will all hear about it.

Spread the word about this blog. Make sure your parents know about it so they don't think we got lost on the way down there. Tell Grandma and Grandpa so they can enjoy the trip right with you. (Just be sure they know how to turn the computer on.) Even tell your teachers about it. Sure they all know we're going on this trip but I don't think very many of them know exactly what we're doing so you can show them we aren't missing their class for no good reason.

We're a part of something that's so different from everything that's happened up until now. It's really cool. That's what makes this trip so great. It isn't the fact that we're missing a few days of classes or we're going to be in the warm weather, it's the fact that we're going to build a house, we're donating over $20,000 to Lusher, we've done all this planning for almost a year.

Wow I'm still bouncing. I thought writing this would help take off some of the excitement but I keep thinking about it and I can't wait. AHHHHH! That's how excited I am.

Fun stuff. Can't wait.

Oh, and just some last minute packing stuff. Here's some stuff that I think I'd forget so I'm reminding you all as well.

Make sure you have:

• Trip Shirt
• Band Blues
• Phone/Camera/iPod Chargers
• Snacks for the trip
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Presents for your favorite blogger (that's me by the way!)
• Spending money
• Snacks for the trip
• Your instrument

Try not to forget anything!

So close!

There's so little time left until we actually get to go!

We made it to over $20,000 in donations for Lusher which is super cool, even though we already had a giant check printed with $17,000. That's ok though.

We had some help from some really cool kids. The K-Klub from Roosevelt sold dog biscuits and raised $205 to help out. They came to school on Friday to present us with the money and hear the Symphonic Winds play some music. They're awesome and we really appreciate them helping us out. A couple of them even played with us! Here are some pictures:

And also, some companies donated some safety equpiment to our band for the rebuild. That was super cool of them to do. We got gloves, goggles, hard hats (which are bright orange), masks, and painters hats. I got a bright orange shirt to match my hard hat. It's pretty cool. Cassie and I stayed after to start to organize them so we decided to model the fashionable attire.

Here's Cassie:

And here's me:

Trip Shirts

Here's just a quick post. The trip shirts came in yesterday and they look awesome. Nice job Ian for designing them.

The fact that the shirts came in make the trip that much more real. I still can't believe we're almost there.


As a quick side note, we also got sweatpants in. I'm super excited about those because they're ridiculously comfortable. I'll probably live in them during the bus rides.

Don't forget everybody, it's trip shirt day on friday. We'll all look so stylish in our bright purple. (Little hint, the purple would look a lot better with the gray pants, not the blue.)

Only a Week!

I can't believe that this time next week, we're going to be on a bus heading down to the Big Easy. Like everybody's been saying in the comments, it's unreal. We've been planning this thing for months and now it's finally here.

We're all talking about bus buddies and snacks for the ride. We really can't wait.

Since I'm not the only one who's going and it seems like people are actually reading this thing (though I can't imagine why), why don't you all comment about what you're most and least excited about for the trip. I'll start:

I'm really excited to go away for a few days with some of the best people ever. Seriously, the band geeks are, for the most part, awesome! I know we're going to have a lot of fun the whole time and none of us will ever forget it. And bonus: It's going to be like 80 degrees while we're there. That'll be a nice change from the below zero temperatures we've had here at home recently. Okay, maybe not below zero, but everybody I've talked to is super jealous that we'll be wearing shorts and t-shirts while they have to wear full arctic gear just to walk from their car to school.

I'm really not looking forward to being stuck on the bus for 25 hours. It's going to be a looooong time. And unbonus: I'm on Mr. A's bus. He's nuts if he thinks we're watching all the Rocky movies the whole trip. As somebody wisely said, silence is golden but duct tape is silver. I do remember my freshman year some very large, strong seniors (mainly Bill Todd, Andrew Shaffer, Andy Andrezjak, and Mike Kratochvil for those of you who remember them) attempting to take Mr. A down and failing miserably. Though Mr. A did end up with a bruised or broken rib if I remember correctly. That was interesting.

So now I turn this over to you. Share with the rest of us what you're eagerly anticipating or utterly loathing.

And also, I plan on going food shopping at some point this weekend. Leave me some ideas of what to bring for the bus!

Less then two weeks!!

Only eleven more days until the big trip down to New Orleans. The band room is really buzzing with excitement. We've got a giant countdown on the board, and we're being reminded what to pack all of the time.

I've been talking to my roommates, about what we're going to bring. Dressing up for our party at the Bayou Barn, what we're wearing our purple trip shirts with, should we bring bathing suits?

It seems unreal that the trip is actually almost here. I remember discussing it at Band Council last year, how were were going to look for a sister school, maybe do some rebuilding, and now it's finally happening. We have our sister school, the Lusher Charter School for the Arts. We're going to have breakfast, play side by side with the band and orchestra, and enjoy some lunch. We'll also be presenting them with the over $17,000 in cash and instruments we raised through our instrument drive. I must say I didn't think we'd break the $10,000 mark but I'm really impressed. Nice job guys!

We are doing a rebuild... well the older kids are. If you're under 16 you get to garden and clean up trash. Have fun with that. Those of us who are old enough are going to get to actually help build a house! I hope they let me use power tools. For some reason people at home don't trust me with power tools, can't imagine why.

Probably what I'm looking forward to and dreading the most is that 25 hour bus ride. I think it's going to be fun because I'll be sitting with all my friends and we'll make it a good time, but 25 hours? On a bus with Mr. Aguglia? Really not most people's idea of fun. Hopefully we'll all get to sleep without having to hear Mr. A tell stories over the bus loudspeaker. We're stopping at the DeSoto Caverns along the way. Not too sure what that's going to be like but at least it won't be 25 straight hours on a bus.

It's fun to hear everybody talking about the trip. The freshmen are all excited because for a lot of them, it'll be their first trip without their parents. I'm one of the doubly unfortunate ones whose mother insists on chaperoning and has a younger sister going on the trip. They won't be too bad, I hope. As a senior, it's going to be my last band trip but it's also the last trip for the juniors because band and chorus alternates trip years. I have no doubt that no matter what happens on this trip, I'll never forget it.

I'll have a computer while we're on the trip so I'll be blogging the whole time. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures while we're there so those of you who are stuck back home can experience the trip right along with us.

Can't wait!