Over spring break, 87 band members and nine chaperones traveled across the Atlantic to Italy. While in Italy, they not only performed selected songs, but also experienced all that Italy had to offer.
On March 21, members of the band departed from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport (MSP) to Charlotte Douglas International airport (CLT) in North Carolina then to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in Pennsylvania. After arriving at PHL the members waited for their connection to Rome.
The students and chaperones toured many historic sites and cities along the way.
Throughout the trip, the group went to Rome, Montepulciano, Florence, Venice, and Orvieto. These cities are among the world’s most well-known historic sites.While in Italy, the members got to see the world’s most famous artwork.
“We saw a lot of art,” said Michelle Neal, social studies and debate teacher at OHS.
The group was able to witness the famous works of artist and sculptor Michelangelo, who is still considered to be one of the greatest artists of all time.
In Florence, they saw the famous sculpture, The David. “We couldn’t take pictures,” said junior Margeaux Dittrich, “which kind of was a bummer.” The David depicts the biblical King David, defeater of Goliath. The sculpture is located in the Accademia di Belle Arit Firenze.
The group also saw Michelangelo’s ceiling painting in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. “It was breathtaking,” said Neal. The ceiling painting is known as a Fresco because of the technique used. A Fresco is a water color painting done on wet plaster. The mural depicts scenes from the Bible, as well as martyrs and saints of the Catholic Church.
According to the members’ travel guide, “Dream, Discover, Discover,” travel itinerary, Italy has a population of 57.6 million people and its capital is Rome. The first language is Italian with numerous dialects. German is spoken there, also French and Slovene. Their prime minister is Mario Monti, and their major industries include tourism, engineering, textiles, chemicals, food processing and motor vehicle production.
The time difference between Minnesota and Italy is six hours. “It really wasn’t that hard getting used to the time,” said freshman Hailey Pugh. “It was harder on the way back then going there,” said freshman Emily Geelan.
The band was not there just to hang out in Italy or take a nice vacation. They were there to perform in front of the Italian people. The band performed at the Church of Santa Margherita in Florence, the Church of St. Andrew in Orvieto, and the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome.
“It was really cool playing in the churches,” said junior Katie Kohler, “[They had] great acoustics.”
When the band was not playing or rehearsing, they were out seeing the sites first hand, guided by Italian tour guides. The members would wake up, eat, and then go on a tour by foot throughout the city they were in. After lunch the students and chaperones were turned loose and to explore, shop and relax.
“We did lots of shopping” said Pugh. “They were a lot cheaper than in the states, which was nice.” In Italy they use the Euro as their currency which is stronger than the American dollar.” According to yahoo finance €1 is equal to $1.31. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out the math,” said junior Eric Bakken, “If we had any trouble, Jake [Geiger] would calculate it on his calculator watch.”
Overall the trip was “fantastic,” according to Neal. “The band played great and it was really fun to see what Italy had to offer,” said Neal. “The trip was super fun and I would recommend it to future band members who are considering going,” said Pugh.
Pete Makarov is the Chief of Sports for The Spartan Speaks