Holly Botella: Counting the hours

We'll be boarding the buses to take us to the airport in less than 12 hours!  It's going to be extremely hard to sleep at all tonight.  I'm about to pack my suitcase while dancing around my apartment to whatever happens to be playing on 99.7 at the moment!  I'm so pumped for the trip!!!  We had our three pre-trip rehearsals this week and I think they went very well.  I'm absolutely amazed at the difference in sound of the orchestra between now and my freshman year, which was three years ago.  When I tell people where I go to school I realize that more and more people are beginning to notice the enormous growth of the music school at KSU.  I think this trip will not only help us to mature as young adults and musicians, but it will also be a great opportunity to get our name out there and be recognized internationally!  I'm anxious to meet the kids in the other orchestras in China.  We'll have a chance to interact with them on our trip.  I'll be interested to see how differently they perform/practice.  It's hard to say exactly what to expect until I actually get there.  I really have no idea, except that I know I'll have a great time and it will be a life-changing experience. 

Holly Botella: Learning Chinese

The trip is getting close!  We had our last Chinese lesson in Orchestra on Monday.  I think I've learned enough of the basics to keep myself socially afloat in China, however, I wish I would have learned how to say "Have you seen a group of Americans?" and "Which way did they go?" but I'll be sure to leave a trail of breadcrumbs back to the bus from wherever I go, just in case.  


Overall, I think the most useful knowledge I gained in the Chinese lessons was how to bargain shop.  Our teacher taught us how to say, "That's too expensive.  Can we lower the price?" We also learned numbers, days of the week, time, and how to say the names of our instruments, which I thought was pretty cool. The Chinese language is very difficult to speak.  They pay close attention to the tone of your voice, so the same word can have two different meanings just based on how you say them.  Today is the last time we meet before the trip.  We will be told what to pack for our trip, and they'll walk us through the itinerary for the week.  I'm excited for our three performances and equally eager to begin siteseeing around China!  30 DAYS!!!!! 

Holly Botella: Extremely Excited!

When I found out I was going to China, I was extremely excited!  My friends and I celebrated by going to a Chinese buffet for lunch that day (although, I'm pretty sure they don't give you a fortune cookie after every meal in China, which is a little depressing).  I've only been out of the country once and I was only nine at the time, so unfortunately I was a little too young to remember the experience.  


Now that the hardest part of preparing for the trip is over—making payments (thanks, Dad!), renewing my passport, weighing my flute and piccolo on the hanging scale located in the fruits and veggie section at Publix because they don't weigh enough to register on a bathroom scale so I could record their weight for Customs, etc.—the countdown begins!  


I'm even more pumped for the trip after our concert this week!  We performed three of the four pieces we'll be playing in China.  I was imagining what it would be like to perform for an audience of two thousand people as I was playing in the concert.  What a rush!  We'll have a series of rehearsals leading up to our much-awaited departure on December 31st.  I feel strongly that after tonight's performance we'll be very well prepared to represent the KSU School of Music in China.  43 DAYS LEFT!!!