I love life.

I really have the best friends here. College would be nothing without them, and they're making the end of my 1st year so worthwhile. I'm definitely going to cry when I have to leave Charlottesville in exactly one week.

This weekend was the WIND ENSEMBLE TOUR, which really can't be called a tour. It consisted of us driving up to Northern Virginia on Friday, playing a concert at a high school, sleeping, waking up, driving to Maryland, doing a clinic with some elementary schoolers, and driving home. But none-the-less.

We all drove down in huge 15 person vans, and my van was entirely consisted of 1st years and Mr. Koch (the assistant director) as driver. We entitled it the "Kochmobile". Instead of going on about the trip in detail, I'll just list some specifics.

-Our directors are ridiculous testosterone driven men. Koch and Idzior thought it'd be a good idea to race to our destination. I hope you're not expecting to get here and find responsible and boring old men. Haha. But yeah. Racing through the highways of nova in 15 people vans. Terrifying, yet exhilarating. 

-The band treats us SO well. We got to our hotel only to discover LIVE SWANS swimming in MARBLE TUBS in the lobby. WHAT THE HECK. The rooms were suite style, so we had 2 plasma screens. You could even listen to the TV in the bathroom with a remote control. They also believe in eating 4 meals a day. I was pretty much in a constant food coma. Not to mention everything is free.

-Being in a college band and playing at a high school and elementary school. You could just tell they thought we were awesome. But oh my goodness, the elementary school was amazing. We were in a pretty poor section of Maryland, so you could tell some of the kids probably came from rough households, but they were so passionate about their instruments, even at 9. It was so nice to see and be able to play their music with them.

-I love snuggling. Like, a ridiculous amount. There was so much hugging on the trip.

-The fact I discovered someone I hadn't really talked to previously who adores Elton John and Billy Joel and the environment. New best friends? Probably. Haha.

-Sleeping 3 people to a king sized bed.

-Staying up late with the entire horn section in our room, talking about silly things, and making fun of Sally who fell asleep.

In short, tour was great and exhausting and I'll miss Wind Ensemble. Can't wait for next year. After we got home I immediately went to dinner with the marching band horn section, then straight to a KKPsi party. Which I have many stories to tell about. Maybe later. :)