I've just now been able to get a connection to the Internet- sorry!
Well, on Wednesday we went to explore NEW YORK CITYYY! It was awesome! We got on the ferry to Ellis Island, where I got to look up my great grandfather (even though we didn't find him) and a few other relatives of mine and my friends, Alex Marsh and Brady Gilliam. We got to see the Statue of Liberty- it's so much cooler in person! They were letting people up into the crown to look out, but we didn't get to go up there. What was also cool was that there were a bunch of military men and women there too, and we thanked them and even got pictures with them :) When we were leaving the Statue and also when we were on the boat to Ellis Island, we sang our a capella song, Blessed Is He. Do you know how cool it is to do a flash mob? Bucket list, checked off! People were even filming us singing- it was the coolest feeling! There were so many cool things about the Statue of Liberty that I want to go back! And don't get me started on NYC, Times Square- we could have spent the whole week there and I still wouldn't have gone to see all the things that I wanted to! It was as big and impressive as it is in movies- lots and lots of crazy people, but the moving signs, the subway (though it was cleaner than I thought it would be), and the overall excitement was just phenomenal. We got to go shop, eat, and visit places and stores all over Times Square. Running around (safely, of course) between these huge stores like Hersheys and even an entire store dedicated to M&Ms was so cool! Each and every one of us had a blast-I can't wait to go back! :)
Wednesday night, we went to see Mary Poppins and it was the awesomest performance I've ever seen! The songs were incredible, the acting practically perfect (pun intended), and the notes that the women hit were the highest I've ever heard- it was so amazing! On the way there, though, it started pouring on me, Brady, Alex, Amanda Biddle, Landry Hardwick, Lauren Beste, Valerie and a practically everyone else- we ran at least five streets in the pouring rain all the way to the theatre and we were absolutely soaking! However, the fact that there was a giant spinning lit up umbrella, the chimney sweep man walked up the wall and onto the ceiling, and Mary Poppins flew out into the audience definitely was worth the drenching :)
Not only was it depressing to leave New York, we realized that was the climax of our trip. Yesterday was fun in Richmond, VA, but of course it couldn't compare to NYC! The bus rides were definitely some of the fun, though- no one understands how it is to be couped up on a bus with a randomized bus list of people from anywhere between 3 hours to 8 until you come on tour :)
Then, today in Raleigh was the seniors last performance on tour- to all of you, good luck in college and in your future, may it be bright and full of happiness :) we love you all so much, and truely no experience can compare to the eXperience :) throughout the good times and the bad times, absolutely no sleep during tour, all the repetitiveness of singing the same song about 12 times in a row, new friendships developing and old ones being refreshed, this tour was one of the best. To be honest, I can't believe I'm coming home tomorrow. No offense, Mom and Dad, but I don't want to come home! I love what we do here, and I can't wait until next year to come back!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Hello from Newark! - (an update of the past few days!)
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This is the first chance I’ve had to get on the internet on my computer, so I shall try and put some pictures up on the flicker account when I get the chance!
But enough about that, more on the tour: It’s been a blur so far. I’m on the bus currently on the way to New York City. Not a bad bus drive, I think it’s around 2 and ½ hour bus drive total today. (Compared to the drive the first day, which was 7 and ½ hours [on the bus alone] this is an easy little drive. And most of us are fairly tired and catching up on some sleep before we go have an awesome time singing at Wartburg Retirement Center and – from what I understand – going into New York city for the evening.
The bus ride up to Baltimore was fairly uneventful, I was on Mark Glaser’s bus with Neil the bus driver – driving (for the 3rd year in a row!) We watched: The Bourne Identity, Grumpy old Men, and Mark’s favorite (which left many of us just really confused) – The Count of Monte Cristo. And finally, we reached Baltimore (for the relief of most of the bus, because we could only stand so much of the Count.) On the way there we also stopped at SouthPark Mall in Virginia. After reaching Baltimore we ate dinner at Christ Lutheran Church! Lasagna for dinner! ( And if you didn’t understand the irony of it, we ate at Southpark Mall, (where there is one in Charlotte) and we sang at Christ Lutheran Church (fairly obvious). And after we had finished setting up the show, about half of our group left for the Sheraton Hotel that night – which is where we were staying that night. (the first night, all of the guys “Manly Men” as I like to call them) stayed at the Hotel. I was with Mark Blanton, Chris Chase, and Jabe Christensin that night. After talking with Aimee Able, Katie Gutt Jordan “the Man” Edelson, and Carolyn Powell for a bit over an hour [I think, time flew by that evening] we went to our hotel rooms to sleep.
Day 2 of the Trip was our real day in Baltimore! After an early morning wakeup call (early is 6:45 for me. – for all of the parents reading this who think that is not early, it’s summer, and I’m in high school. Anything before 10:00 is considered “early”, and anything before 8:00 is in the “I’m ignoring that alarm clock and considering it a false alarm” category. – But we got up and prepared for our first performance of the tour! So at 9:30 our first show started, and to sum it up. It was a really good show! [although I might be a bit biased] – and the most important part, the church had REALLY good donughts that were provided free to the church from a nearby bakery. J { Pastor Scott, get on that one! – or if anyone knows anyone who makes donughts. We wouldn’t complain. Hehe } and then we toured around Baltimore! We ate lunch at a small little local place – which the name of the place is totally escaping me at the moment. – Where I embraced my childhood by getting Dinosaur Chicken Fingers! (I’m 18, and I was absolutely overjoyed by the fact that I got dinosaur chicken fingers) After lunch, and a short trip by 90% of the Girls on the trip to the local H&M [don’t look at the debit / credit card receipt parents. We’d much rather that you don’t have heart attacks! ] we went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The Aquarium overall was really cool, being multi-storied with some BIG fish in them. We also got to see a dolphin show and a 4D show. The Dolphin show was, ok. Dolphins are cool animals, but the show that the aquarium put on was ok. Nothing astounding. Similar to the 4D show, that was really cool to see, but the 3D was hard to see it’s total use and 4D just made us all scared when the shark attacked us and gave us a bit of a shower! Then we continued to walk around the Baltimore Harbor for a few more hours and ate dinner before the guys and some of the girls going back to the church and hotel. I was at the church that night, where we played Sardines (reverse hide and go seek, from what I understand, I never did really figure it out) and then finally, after a fun evening. Sleep!
Finally (if anyone is still awake at this point) – Day 3!
An early morning wakeup and drive to Philadelphia! We drove for most of the morning and got there around 11:30. We then went to see the Liberty Bell. Now, I have one thing to say. My vision of the Liberty Bell was a big bell, and all the things you hear about it makes it seem like such a big thing. But, I was severely unimpressed by the Liberty Bell. I know that it has a lot of history in it, but it is just a bell. Nothing that truly special about it in my opinion (although it was cool to read about the history of the bell, and to know that Nelson Mandela and the Dali Lama have both seen the bell. But, that’s it. – After the Liberty Bell we walked to the Reading Terminal Market where we ate lunch. Now, if you’ve not heard of this market before, the closest comparison would be like a Farmers Market (although it’s open every day of the week, and it has restaurants in there as well and an assortment of little shops for all your needs. After that we walked to the Art Museum and pulled a Rocky by running up the steps one at a time. (Skipping of steps is NOT allowed!) and then we drove to Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale PA for our 2nd show. Which as another awesome show! Last night we stayed in Host homes, where I was with James Miralia. We had an awesome time meeting the host family, who was a super nice.
And now here we are, on the bus! I can see the Empire State Building from where I am right now on the bus. So I say goodbye for now! Hopefully I will be able to do another blog post later on the trip! – Finally, Internet! Pictures I will hopefully get up tomorrow morning now. (or this morning. The 23rd) it took me way to long to put this post up. It’s 12:30 (about) right now. And after the Broadway show [which was awesome, more on that later] its time to sleep! –
Until next time! – God Bless
Chris Ayers – Rising Senior
Providence Day School
Monday, June 20, 2011
Pennsylvania!
This morning, we traveled a few hours over to Philly from Baltimore. I love this city! It's huge, and there are some awesome sights! We first went to go see the Liberty Bell, and that is so cool. The long line was actually short, and we got there pretty fast. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. It was awesome! On the way here, we watched National Treasure and even though I'm pretty sure everyone's seen it, you still learn historical facts about it every time.Speaking of historical, we went to see George Washington's "house", which was really just the floor plan and some fireplaces, but there were TVs all around that were telling you facts about his house and such. After seeing that and the Liberty Bell, we all went to the LOVE statue by the giant fountain. Jansen Coulter, Spencer Reese, Jennifer La Bianca, and Elisabeth Panto were taking a picture standing in the water when Dana Story went to get in and she slipped and fell and got soaking wet! She was fine, and I'm sure she felt cooler than the rest of us when we walked over the the steps that Rocky Balboa ran up in the movies. We all raced each other to the top and did the victory pose. It was so funny! After that, we went to the Terminal Market to eat, and I got a Philly cheesesteak for the first time with Elisabeth, Jennifer, Brady Gilliam, and Kate Alexander. They were so good, and the market was huge and crowded and awesome! After eating, we had a flash mob of Blessed Is He with the people that were around a few of the adults. It was so fun! I've always wanted to do that, especially because the five of us were sitting down when they gathered and started and we suddenly started singing and stood up and walked over, and the people sitting around us were looking at each other like, "What is going on!" It was a lot of fun, and I really hope to come back to this city.
Tonight's performance was AWESOME! We had some of the best solos and acting jobs that we've had all tour, and the trio of Caroline Oswalt, Caitlin Metz, and Blake Targonski did an amazing job! Before we went inside to perform, Mark told us about one woman he met at last night's show. He said that she wanted to tell him what her husband said: that we brought joy and told the story awesomely. She said that you have to understand something about her husband: he doesn't go to church, and he doesn't use words or phrases like "joy"and "tell the story". He was very moved by our performance, and the first thing I thought of when I heard this was the blog. I love telling all parents and siblings what is going on, but I especially love telling them what an impact their children has on the tours that we take. To hear such a thing just is purely amazing, and I am so proud to be part of this experience. I know that you all are as proud as I am, and that you are truely blessed to have such wonderful children. I thank God for every one of the people I am with :)
Nicole Luce
Tonight's performance was AWESOME! We had some of the best solos and acting jobs that we've had all tour, and the trio of Caroline Oswalt, Caitlin Metz, and Blake Targonski did an amazing job! Before we went inside to perform, Mark told us about one woman he met at last night's show. He said that she wanted to tell him what her husband said: that we brought joy and told the story awesomely. She said that you have to understand something about her husband: he doesn't go to church, and he doesn't use words or phrases like "joy"and "tell the story". He was very moved by our performance, and the first thing I thought of when I heard this was the blog. I love telling all parents and siblings what is going on, but I especially love telling them what an impact their children has on the tours that we take. To hear such a thing just is purely amazing, and I am so proud to be part of this experience. I know that you all are as proud as I am, and that you are truely blessed to have such wonderful children. I thank God for every one of the people I am with :)
Nicole Luce
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Finally!
Finally the eXperience Tour '11 is here! NEW YORK BABY! well....soon. Today we are in Baltimore! Yesterday when we left, everyone was so excited to finally be going. I have never been to New York, so this trip is doubly exciting for me! :) We've been working so hard and I personally think the show is great this year. This morning, guess where we performed-Christ Lutheran!...in Baltimore! For the first show, it went really well. Besides one small sound issue when the microphones squeaked, nothing really went wrong! It was kind of weird, to be honest. But a great start!
Last night, we had to split our giant group of 90 people into two- 45 of us stayed in the church, and a lucky 45 stayed in the hotel. The church was spooky- I was sitting with Hallie Booe, Jennifer La Bianca, Kate Alexander, and Elisabeth Panto downstairs right outside the sanctuary, which was dark and all gloomy. All of a sudden two dark figures started walking towards us without talking and Jennifer screamed- it was hilarious! I love scary things, but Jennifer was so scared she was making me unreasonably scared. When we were all finally in our giant room and most of us were asleep, there was suddenly a creaking noise of a door opening and closing and it sounded like a ghost moaning. Also, this morning Jennifer and Marisa Rank woke up at about 6:15 to someone outside the church screaming, and Jennifer went to the window and saw someone standing there. This church was really scary at night! But the performance went well. We paused after our second to last song and did communion with our fellow Christ Lutheran members, which was nice. The church really reminded me of home! Today, we switched the rooming and those in the church last night are in the hotel and vice versa. (This hotel is really nice! I'm sitting on one of the free wifi computers wearing sweats with my hair up and wet-we couldnt take showers last night at the church!- and i feel totally underdressed. It's a little awkward, to be honest!)
Anyway, today we got to roam Baltimore! It's a really cool area, with all the stores and things to look at. We split up into groups and just walked around until about 2, when we got to go see the Aquarium. It is the coolest place!! Not only does it have about 5478290 million fish that I'm guaranteeing you have never seen before, it had a dolphin show! They are the most adorable and smart creatures I've ever seen. They were doing tricks to show us, and splashing around and jumping. Unfortuantely, there wasn't as much jumping as you would hope, (because isn't that the part that you really want to see?) and the show only lasted about 20 minutes long. I'm hoping that's because 1) it's summer! and 2) there were two brand new mommy dolphins! We had to be extra quiet not to disturb their bonding.
Besides the dolphins and exotic fish, there was a rain forest area to look at with tons of birds, frogs, snakes, and tarantulas (ew!) With our tickets, we also got to see a short 4-D movie about penguins, elephants, and other awesome animals. I sat next to Brady Gilliam and Elisabeth Panto, and during one part where the shark went to eat an animal in slow motion, the thing poked you in the back right when it's jaws suddenly snapped closed- Elisabeth and I screamed! Brady laughed really hard at us- I think he knew it was coming. Later, he kept scaring us by poking us in the scary moments.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat any seafood here! We tried to go to a seafood place, but a sandwich was 15 dollars! Me and Brady, Jennifer, and Jabe went to a pizza place that served way more than pizza. It over looked the harbor-which, by the way, is a tad bit dirty if you didn't know- but was still beautiful.Today was a great day all in all, and tomorrow we move forward to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! We are all enjoying ourselves and can't wait for the next events.
Right now, I think I'm going to head back upstairs and outside to the balcony with a few others. Did I mention this hotel is nice?
Nicole Luce
Last night, we had to split our giant group of 90 people into two- 45 of us stayed in the church, and a lucky 45 stayed in the hotel. The church was spooky- I was sitting with Hallie Booe, Jennifer La Bianca, Kate Alexander, and Elisabeth Panto downstairs right outside the sanctuary, which was dark and all gloomy. All of a sudden two dark figures started walking towards us without talking and Jennifer screamed- it was hilarious! I love scary things, but Jennifer was so scared she was making me unreasonably scared. When we were all finally in our giant room and most of us were asleep, there was suddenly a creaking noise of a door opening and closing and it sounded like a ghost moaning. Also, this morning Jennifer and Marisa Rank woke up at about 6:15 to someone outside the church screaming, and Jennifer went to the window and saw someone standing there. This church was really scary at night! But the performance went well. We paused after our second to last song and did communion with our fellow Christ Lutheran members, which was nice. The church really reminded me of home! Today, we switched the rooming and those in the church last night are in the hotel and vice versa. (This hotel is really nice! I'm sitting on one of the free wifi computers wearing sweats with my hair up and wet-we couldnt take showers last night at the church!- and i feel totally underdressed. It's a little awkward, to be honest!)
Anyway, today we got to roam Baltimore! It's a really cool area, with all the stores and things to look at. We split up into groups and just walked around until about 2, when we got to go see the Aquarium. It is the coolest place!! Not only does it have about 5478290 million fish that I'm guaranteeing you have never seen before, it had a dolphin show! They are the most adorable and smart creatures I've ever seen. They were doing tricks to show us, and splashing around and jumping. Unfortuantely, there wasn't as much jumping as you would hope, (because isn't that the part that you really want to see?) and the show only lasted about 20 minutes long. I'm hoping that's because 1) it's summer! and 2) there were two brand new mommy dolphins! We had to be extra quiet not to disturb their bonding.
Besides the dolphins and exotic fish, there was a rain forest area to look at with tons of birds, frogs, snakes, and tarantulas (ew!) With our tickets, we also got to see a short 4-D movie about penguins, elephants, and other awesome animals. I sat next to Brady Gilliam and Elisabeth Panto, and during one part where the shark went to eat an animal in slow motion, the thing poked you in the back right when it's jaws suddenly snapped closed- Elisabeth and I screamed! Brady laughed really hard at us- I think he knew it was coming. Later, he kept scaring us by poking us in the scary moments.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat any seafood here! We tried to go to a seafood place, but a sandwich was 15 dollars! Me and Brady, Jennifer, and Jabe went to a pizza place that served way more than pizza. It over looked the harbor-which, by the way, is a tad bit dirty if you didn't know- but was still beautiful.Today was a great day all in all, and tomorrow we move forward to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! We are all enjoying ourselves and can't wait for the next events.
Right now, I think I'm going to head back upstairs and outside to the balcony with a few others. Did I mention this hotel is nice?
Nicole Luce
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