This is my attempt to remember...
Thursday, April 11: My version of this adventure began precisely at 1:48pm. Sixth period had finally ended, which meant that my very last Spring Trip as an SLHS Orchestra member officially began. I rushed to the Orchestra room out of excitement, knowing that there was still so much to be done. Steven, Caitlyn and I immediately started helping out Mrs. Ciaston and our director with paper work for the Chaperones. We helped compile the folders that they were required to carry with them at all times. We also had complication with having the wrong wires for the keyboard, but it was eventually partially resolved. Steven and Cody helped pack the monstrous equipment so it could be travel-ready. Steven carried the keyboard and Cody the amp, and they raced down the hallway (both cases had wheels) I sat on top of the amp case to even out the competition haha. Afterwards, pretty much everything that needed to be done was done, so we waited in the Freshman commons to wait for the other students to be released from their 7th period. Everyone arrived and us Seniors got the first taste of "seniority" on this trip - first ones to load the busses, yay!
We were officially rolling at about 3:30pm. Jessica was my companion on our road travels. We breezed through Up, Tangled and the latest Sherlock Holmes movie on our way to the Hotel in Dallas. Our dinner stop was a rugged and patriotic BBQ place located in Huntsville. I had a baked potato. I mean, who doesn't love a trip to Carb City every now and then?!
Afterwards, we hit some traffic. We probably sat in it for a good half hour. Okay, it was probably only like 15 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. I honestly don't remember the rest of the trip to the hotel... I'm going to assume that it was because I was asleep or emotionally attached to Robert Downey Jr's face on that 6 inch screen...
Nevertheless, the next thing I remember were the dazzling Downtown Dallas lights. I'm a sucker for the city, so obviously I was all googly-eyed. I think I took some video footage, but I'll compile that all into one video another time. Our home for the next few days was the Embassy Suites near the airport. I had stayed in an Embassy Suites before for a volleyball tournament... in Dallas. The interior looked very familiar, but I'm pretty sure it was because of the uniform design and architecture of the hotel franchise. Anywhom, my roomies were Zoe, Flo, and Caitlyn. I think I remember watching Doctor Who with Zoe while waiting for our chaperone to give us the run-down of the next day and to tape our door. Our chaperone was a lovely little asian lady, Mrs. Liu. We never really had to interact with her as much as I suspected we would throughout the trip. But she was very sweet every time we talked to her and she always had a smile and a positive demeanor. Again, I don't remember the rest so I will again assume that we conked out after she taped our door.
Friday, April 12: I believe I was the first to wake up. The wake-up call was at 7am, and breakfast at 8am. Breakfast at the Embassy Suites was pleasant. I remembered that last year in Orlando I would fan-girl over all of the delicious food available. This always lead to me feeling all bloated and gross for the next 3 hours to come, so this year I would cut down a bit. I lightly feasted on a biscuit with gravy, oatmeal with a banana, and a muffin. Our breakfast table started out with my 3 other roomies and I. We chose a seat by a gorgeous gazebo and waterfall that was in the center of the hotel
Our table later grew to this group of kids:
Our first official Spring Trip event was at a 2 story arcade and buffet place called Amazing Jake's. It is essentially a huge Chuck E Cheese's but for the older crowd. They supplied us with cards that would give us unlimited access to all of the games and rides with the exception of any machine that gave out tickets. I was bummed out about this, because anyone who knows me knows that I'm painfully addicted to the Coin Dozer App on my ipod. The first thing I did there was ride the bumper cars. I soon figured out how to go backwards, and well, you can guess how I spent the rest of that ride... After the bumper cars, I tested out my driving skills on the indoor mini race track (I wasn't last, that's all that matters) then headed downstairs to the buffet to grab a bite to eat with Bobi and Juliana. We squeezed into a booth with Flo, Laura, and Corey, ate, and chit-chatted the rest of our time there. Honestly, those are the times I treasure the most. Granted, getting our competitive side out on each other is fun, but there's just something about making random conversation out of nothing that I love.
Next, we headed out to the 6th Floor Museum, where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot and killed president of the time, John F. Kennedy.
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| Boarding the elevator up to the 6th floor |
We took the audio tour; the museum provided us with headphones and a little touch screen GPS of sorts that would guide you through the panels. On these panels were pictures accompanied by text descriptions. The museum itself was very informative, as one should be. What caught my attention the most were the three or four documentary-esque videos that were scattered along the 6th floor. However, the biggest eye-opener was the point in the tour where you had the chance to look outside the window of the 6th floor and see from Oswald's view how the President was murdered infront of thousands of people. I've always had an infatuation with history, and to see videos of such a historic moment of time and a few seconds later, see the place where it happened will never cease to give me the goosebumps. In fact, during one of the videos where they showed Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot, I over heard an older lady mention that she remembered watching that unfold live on the television. "No one saw it coming" she said. "My mom's jaw dropped to the floor". After the tour, I stopped by their gift shop and picked up two buttons: one was a vintage picture of the museum and the other was of a JFK campaign poster. I didn't even bother to bring my camera because of the copyright laws on the pictures that covered the walls.
After the museum, we headed back to the hotel and rushed to get ready for dinner and the Dallas Symphony Performance. Dinner was at a more up-scale Mexican restaurant called Blue Mesa Grill
I didn't really eat much there, but they did have this corn cake that brought back memories of my childhood. My mom used to work at a (super sketch, now that I'm older) Mexican restaurant in California and they used to serve something that tasted so similar to it, except obviously the corn cake from my childhood tasted better. One of the alumni surprised us at the restaurant and later accompanied us to watch the Dallas Symphony.
We arrived at the Meyerson and had a group photo-op.
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| Only part of the ladies - I took this one and was super happy with the lighting here |
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| All of the girls |
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Seniors
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| Our impromptu "photoshoot" with MsO. Love this - reminds me of a promo shot for the TV show, the Real Housewife's of ______ |
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| Maxi skirt - F21 ($12) / Metallic Black Tank - Thrift ($2) |
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I'm that sad, blurry attempt at jumping on the far right
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The architecture of the building was stunning - contemporary and streamline enough so that the building will stay classic for decades to come. The architect that designed this building also designed the world-famous
Louvre in Paris, France.
Inside of the Meyerson, the orchestra was already warming up. Directly behind the orchestra was a massive pipe organ that covered the entire wall. I wish we could've heard it in action, but it was still pretty to look at nonetheless.
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| The fixture directly above the orchestra |
I sat with Flo, Juliana, and SLORK Alumni, Sam.
After the DSO's spectacular performance, it was time for the Senior Surprise. Us Seniors hopped on a bus to our unknown destination with a couple of chaperones and MsO. We were all pumped up with anxiousness and excitement. Suddenly we pulled up next to a Hooters...
Just kidding. Well, kind of. We arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe to feast on desserts on desserts on desserts. We took a 180 music genre wise - from aggressive classical to passive-aggressive rock. We were overwhelmingly fed huge brownies and sundaes topped with ice cream, then we washed it all down with milkshakes of our desired flavour. I don't think anyone of us left that place with all their dishes completely empty. During our feasting two Marilyn Manson videos came on. This led my director to call the bus immediately. She said that she felt like she needed to go to church haha.
We all probably got home at around midnight. None of us had our phones because we were told to leave them on the bus for the DSO performance. My roommates were peeved to say the least. Regardless, we all had a great time, and were exhausted so again, we fell asleep as one does.
Saturday, April 13: This day was the day of our competition. I had the usual oatmeal with fruit and a biscuit for breakfast. My allergies were insane this morning. I was sneezing and itching my eyes left and right. We wore our formal attire to the MacGorman Performing Arts Center and waited for quite a while for our turn to perform. I would say that we waited for a good couple of hours. Luckily the weather was quite pleasant in the morning, so many of us sunbathed and napped outside the building. The MacGorman was actually part of a huge church, although one would never tell until you walked in and saw the huge baptismal pool - which was gorgeous. The architecture had hints of what you would see in a chapel, but it was very suttle with the stucco exterior.
The original plan was to perform at the Meyerson, however the company that plans our activities screwed up. It was still a lovely place to perform at. Before competing we were able to watch a band from another high school in Texas perform. They played a march or two and a fanfare. I then realized how I'm not one for plain band music. Maybe it was just the song selection, but eh. It was quite boring for my taste. I much prefer music that has emotion and tells a story, which much of string music has.
We took a labyrinth to our warm up room and warmed up there with Ms. O since Mrs. Mathews was on stage conducting the Philharmonia groups. Warm up went well and lasted about half an hour. We were up on stage next. Performing and projecting our sound would be our biggest challenge. The auditorium was not built to suit string orchestras. Above us on the stage was a huge gaping hole that would make our sound rise instead of project forward to the judges. Performance wise, I'd say we did well, however it wasn't nearly as great as our performances at the Pre-UIL concert and UIL contest. My bow was already in desperate need of a re-hair; about five bow hairs decided to break in only the first song. By the time we got to playing (all) of Bartok's Rumanian Folk Dances I was playing on half the amount of hairs a bow usually has. This resulted in a weak sound.
Afterwards a group of Lyrica volunteers and I rushed to warm-up with the upper groups. You could smell the tension in the room the moment you set foot in it. Regardless, we warmed up. Concertino wise, we did fine, except for some intonation issues. To me, the rest of the group sounded fine too, then again, I don't know their parts nearly as well as they do. The bigger part of the group went on stage to perform their first two songs. Meanwhile, Mrs. Mathews rehearsed the concertino. We got on stage and performed.... well let's just say it wasn't at all close to our best. The concertino barely played at all; we missed our ques and couldn't even get it together. You could see the look of disappointment all over Ms. O's face. At the end of our noise, she mouthed "Lyrica did better than you". For us Lyrica volunteers, it was quite a bittersweet statement to soak in. For me, it was great knowing that our main contribution to the orchestra group was appreciated, but I knew that we had let another group down. And that is a feeling that sucks to be felt.
Since the contest was running late by about two hours, we casually had lunch outside the MacGorman. we canceled our plans to go to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Instead, we got more time to get ready for dinner at Buco di Pepo's and the Student Surprise that was later that night.
I already did my research about the Student Surprise. A few weeks before I looked at the Dallas City website and saw that the musical Wicked just happened to be starting their round of shows in Dallas starting on the 10th... We just happened to be there from the 11th-14th. Anyways, we got an hour to get ready this time, and I made sure that I brought my glasses this time. We arrived at the outside of the theatre and saw the billboards for the show.
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| The theatre |
All of us were ecstatic and the whole bus roared in excitement. We rushed inside because the show was starting soon. I sat in a row with Flo, Juliana and a sweet freshman girl, Savannah. Luckily, our tickets were exactly a row above the rest of our so-called-group so we ended up enjoying the show together.
I won't spoil the show for those who haven't seen it yet. Growing up in SoCal, it was a tradition to watch The Wizard of Oz at my aunt's house on New Year's Eve, so naturally I was quite infatuated with the story. I've always been meaning to read into the Wicked books, but for some reason I never did. On short, I saw the musical without knowing anything about the show besides what I knew from watching The Wizard of Oz. I can't really say much about it without spoiling it, but if you ever have the chance to see it, go. It was mind-blowing.
When we got back to the hotel we had about 15 minutes of downtime before lights out, so I took this last opportunity to get some pictures with some of my favorites while we were dressed up.
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| Bobi |
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| Caitlin |
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| Lauuuuuura! |
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| Awkward elevator selfies. I know 80% of the people in this picture oops. |
Outfit details:
Black Lace Dress: Primark - Price unknown
Cobalt Blue Pencil Skirt: Thrift - $1.50
Camel Platform Ankle Booties: Forever 21 - $7.50 (half off sale items online)
Sunday, April 14: This was our last day in Dallas. My roommates and I basically packed everything the night before, so the morning wasn't that hectic. At breakfast, I found out that my good friend Tony was asking his girlfriend to prom. I took pictures of the asking for him, which took longer than I thought since we were waiting for her to come out of her room for a while. Turns out she decided to sleep in a little bit. I was worth it in the end because they both looked so happy, especially Tony, who was nervous from all the waiting. After breakfast we gathered our luggage and handed over our card keys to Mrs. Liu. And off we were to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington.
Our Six Flags group consisted of Zoe, Flo, Corey, Laura, Bobi, Cody, Devin, Cassie, Taylor, and Juliana. The first ride we attacked was the Batman roller coaster. To be honest, it wasn't that exciting. It was like a warm-up ride. Next we rode the Mr. Freeze reverse coaster, which was much more exciting than the Batman ride. Our group split up after that into smaller groups that. We rode the Superman, which was a vertical suspension ride, and was probably my favorite. Another that was one of my surprisingly favorites was a wooden ride, the Texas Giant. In San Antonio, there's another wooden roller coaster called The Rattler and it pretty much gives you whiplash. The Texas Giant was pleasant and not too jittery in comparison to the Rattler. We rode a few other cute, calming rides to end our adventures in Dallas.
The last supper was at a Golden Corral in Huntsville. Long story short, I overdosed on chocolate. Damn chocolate fountain...
xx
