Into the Jungle

Blogging on a daily basis clearly hasn't been a successful part of this trip. Apologies again for the delay.

     We packed our bags. We ate Mrs. West's pancakes. We realized that we had forgotten some things and repacked our bags. We pulled out of the driveway. Then we let out a cry of excitement and freedom that had been waiting to come out since we began our trip, "SPRING BREAK!!!" Tackling the mountain in our trusty Land Rover, we began the next leg of our trip, destination: Jacksonville. We made a quick stop at a Dairy Queen right before crossing the border into where we introduced Thomas to the Blizzard (complete with the obligatory upside-down test). As we drove out, we noticed our first glorious palm tree, a mere taste of what was to come. As we drove further and further into Florida, the foliage became larger, the divide between the lanes became wider, and the sky and air became crystal clear. We had made it to Florida, and were loving every sun-soaked moment of it. By the time we arrived in Jacksonville, night had fallen over the sparkling city's skyscrapers and sprawling bridges. We pulled into our good friend Mitchell's house at around 9:30 PM, weary from another long day of traveling and ready to crash. Mitchell had spent the last few hours preparing a dinner of Indian food. and we were all too eager to join him and his parents for a hearty evening meal. Pitch Perfect was playing on the TV, so we watched that together before getting ready for bed. Just before hitting the sack for the night, Mitchell threw on some Skyrima, showing us his epic character, Brienne, flying around on some dragons, and getting absolutely destroyed by another dragon. Good stuff.

     Morning came and we were greeted to the sound of Mitchell and Keith making bomlettes (omelettes that are the bomb). Blue cheese, alfalfa sprouts, sweet onions, and more perked us up for an exciting day in Jacksonville. First stop: Mitch's favorite beach. When we arrived at around 9:30 AM, we had the whole beach to ourselves, an overwhelming view of the ocean, sand, and 180 degrees of blue sky. Apparently, some other people thought it was a little slice of paradise, too, as some photographers arrived a few minutes later to take shots of a model. We had a blast playing some Frisbee on the sand (complete with master classes by Monsieur Villiams) and climbing out on rocks that extended far out into the ocean.

     After spending a few hours there, we decided that it was time to head to lunch where we were meeting Mitch's parents. A few detours on the way, however, allowed us to see some extra sights. We drove through an old sugar cane plantation which was densely packed with towering palms and other native foliage. It felt like the Jungle Cruise, but in real life. I can't even imagine what being in this kind of jungle at night must have been like. We jumped out and found another small beach that we walked around for a few minutes before returning, heading towards the ferry that would take us to the seafood restaurant where we were heading. While we waited in line for the car ferry, we bought a bag of boiled peanuts and a cup of fresh-made strawberry limeade. Everyone agreed that the strawberry limeade was delicious. Everyone also agreed that they were glad they tried the peanuts, but would probably never want to eat them again. We rode the ferry across the river and finished driving to lunch. The building contained both the restaurant company as well as a fishing company who worked together, meaning that the restaurant's food was freshly caught and was likely just pulled off of a fishing boat minutes before being cooked and served. It was pretty weird seeing all the pre-prepared fish staring back as you decided what you wanted to eat. Mitchell's dad picked out one flounder in particular and told us to get in fried up as an addition to our lunch. I took a picture. We ordered a feast of fried seafood, including shrimp, oyster, scallops, and okra. The quality was top notch, and everyone enjoyed digging into the Florida cuisine. And of course, our flounder arrived, scored and blackened. It was arguably the best part of the meal and we had no trouble reducing it to a collection of fishy bones. I took a picture.

     Conquerors of the seafood, we then left for Jacksonville's indie neighborhood, a place that Mitchell wanted to show to us. Straight out of Portland, the street we camped on was full of eclectics shops and indie gems. Dijiridoos to incense to He-Man comic books, the shops were full of character. After being offered financial assistance from some of our generous parents, we realized that the long awaited day at Disney World planned for the next day could be extended by purchasing a resort room at severe discount and the possibility of multi-day passes. We spent some time making plans for the trip to Orlanda, calling various resorts to figure out pricing and availability. Inconclusive, we returned to Mitchell's house after visiting a beautiful ocean-side park that was filled with acroyoga, larpers, street dancers, and frolicking children.

     We got back to the Kuhn's and found an amazing deal on a Disney resort room that would end up only costing each of us $40. We bit. Excited for the new opportunities that two days in Orlando offered us, we spent a little time planning and then jumped into some Halo co-op action before packing our bags again and driving down to the Kuhn's beach house for another seafood meal being prepared by Papa Kuhn himself. While Captain Kirk (as Mr. Kuhn has been known to be called) was finishing the food, we grabbed a light up frisbee (which we spent about 15 minutes trying to fix) down to the pitch-black beach. Few scarier experiences have I had than a strobing, multicolor disc being hurled towards you in near darkness. There were few catches this game and after a while, we sat down on the sand, imagining different crazy ways of viewing the star-filled night sky. Mitchell got a call from his dad: the feast was ready. We realized just how good of a cook Captain Kirk was when we got a taste of his flounder, the exact same fish we had eaten for lunch, taken from the same catch. Although both were quite excellent, there were a few of us who preferred his preparation even more than the esteemed seafood restaurant. Aside from the flounder, he had prepared three pounds of shrimp, double the weight in potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, sausage, and a mountain of clams. Dauntless, we gazed at the challenge presented to us and boldly attacked, fully aware of the potentially devastating food comas we were most likely to suffer from the fight. Between us five guys and Mr. and Mrs. Kuhn, we were nearly victorious, with a few small bags being needed in the end. Eternally grateful for their hospitality, we bid Mitchell's parents farewell and drove back to their non-beach house to prepare for the next morning. Day one in sun-soaked, foliage-covered Florida had been a dream, but we weren't done yet: Disney awaited.

Flowing, golden sun -

Eternal ocean and sky -

Way better than school.

The Final Countdown

This is going to be a doozy, strap yourselves in.

Apologies for the absence of posts for the past few days. Circumstances (as I'll soon get to) made it rather inconvenient. Yesterday morning was beautiful, staying in bed until around 10 AM with a successful concert behind us and a beautiful day in Cartersville ahead of us. Mr. and Mrs. Brideau (parents of Ryan, our fellow crony) had invited us to join them for lunch at a BBQ restaurant at noon, so we decided to go light on breakfast and munched on some delicious Waffle Crisp cereal while watching Ryan explain how to play Civilization V. We hung out and made our game plan for the rest of the day and then drove down to Bustin' Butt BBQ, a Cartersville exclusive. Thursday was their beef brisket day, so we naturally all had to get that, along with more authentic sweet tea and Mr. Brideau's highly recommended Brunswick chili. The meat was flavorful, moist, and soft. The sweet tea was. . .sweet (and highly addicting). But the real star of the show was the chili, which was probably the best I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Each spoonful packed a killer concoction of flavors that made my mouth feel like Remy from Ratatouille. Satisfied (and for some, slightly bloated), we left the restaurant and proceeded on a tour of Cartersville, courtesy of Ryan. Probably most striking were Catersville's Indian mounds, giant hills that were apparently used as burial mounds over the years. After getting back to the Brideau residence, we did some quick rehearsing and then decided to head to the church where we would be performing that evening. Going to the church early in the afternoon allowed us to have a really relaxed time setting up and doing sound checks without worrying about time. The church, Sam Jones Memorial Presbyterian, stunning both visually and acoustically. Keith thought the sound in there was comparable to New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, high praise indeed. We chilled there for a few hours, getting used to the space and doing some quick touch ups. We left to grab a quick dinner at Chick Fil A (we all got salads!) and then back to Ryan's place to change into concert dress. Then it was back to Sam Jones for Concert #2. The auditorium was full of excited members of the Carterville community, and we were all too eager to reciprocate their energy. The concert was out of the park, with everyone giving their A game. The reception was overwhelming, nearly everyone in the audience stayed afterwards to speak with us and ask when we would be coming back.

To celebrate our second concert, we went out with the "college kids", which included some of Ryan's friends and Jake Darnell, a fellow Juilliard-ian, to Steak and Shake, a burger joint with a vast assortment of milkshakes. We got to relax and hang out with friends old and new, eating the signature “Frisco Melt” and slurping up some milkshakes before loading back up, saying goodbye to Ryan and the Cartersville crowd, grabbing our junk from Ryan’s house, and charging back up the road to Chattanooga. Thomas was a real champ, driving us through the dead of night back to his home until we arrived at around 2 AM. We grabbed our essentials, fell onto our beds, and fell into a light coma for a few hours. Hence no blog post. *cough*

As for yesterday, we woke up to the welcoming call of Mrs. West’s breakfast. She had managed to both pick up Chick-Fil-A breakfast and cook us some of her signature breakfast food. The combination was. . .glorious. We got to watch “3 Plus You”, both the recorded broadcast of us from the day before as well as that morning’s live 11 AM show. It was pretty funny reliving the experience, but this time from the audience’s perspective. We then spent some time arranging and rehearsing music for our final concert in Chattanooga, as we had to replace the repertoire that Ryan had performed with us. Thomas showed us some sights of Chattanooga as well as the arts institution that he was heavily involved with in high school. The outing took a little longer than we were expecting, so we booked our way back up the mountain to the West’s and grabbed our instruments to do a quick sound check at our final venue. Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church was a long, almost cathedral-like venue that boasted acoustics just as impressive as Sam Jones’. We did a rapid-fire sound check, then ran back to Thomas’ house to scarf down one last delicious meal, change into concert dress, and race back to the church a quarter of an hour before our own recital began. With limited warm-up time and an extra adrenaline shot from the rush, we jaunted out on stage to finish our concert tour. Performing for Thomas’ home community was extraordinarily special, and everyone performed at the top of their game. The crowd’s reaction was ecstatic and, like the night before, everyone was asking when they could expect another concert. A few members of the audience remarked that it was the best single recital they had ever attended. We were humbled and honored by their reception, but also so excited that our tour was finally over. Finally, we were truly on spring break. We went back to Thomas’, ready for the next chapter of our adventure.

The final countdown -

Off to a new adventure -

Florida awaits!

Wa-Hoooo

     We've haven't even been out of New York for 72 hours and it feels like we've been away forever. Each day has been so full and busy that we haven't really gotten a chance to just kick back and, you know, have a spring break.

     Thomas, being the boss that he is, had called on some contacts of his in Chattanooga to help promote our Friday concert. One of those contacts was at local TV station, WRCB. The station had offered us both a live feature on the top of their show, as well as the opportunity to pre-record some additional segments that would be aired in the days leading up to the concert. After some shenanigans involving disappearing phones and last-minute packing, we drove down Lookout Mountain to make our 10 AM call time at the station. We arrived right on time and were greeted by the loveliest television crew imaginable. It was an almost surreal experience for us being in a TV studio, getting the watch the weatherman gesture blindly in front of a green screen, waving to a group of homeschoolers who were touring the facilities, and of course getting in front of giant cameras and performing. We pre-recorded two segments for later airing, and then performed live for their 11 AM show (along with an interview for the hometown hero, Thomas).

     Following our live television debuts (for most of us, anyway), it was time for more driving, this time to Cartersville, Georgia, where we would be staying with Ryan Brideau while giving our two Georgia concerts. We met Ryan at Zaxby's, a fast food chicken restaurant with enough southern spirit to make anyone start saying "y'all". After eating, Ryan led us back to his house just a few minutes up the road where we made camp. Of Ryan's three-story house, the bottom level is almost the definition of a "man-cave". Video games, ping pong, pool, Nerf guns, giant sofas, and a fridge full of Dr. Pepper. What more could five college guys ask for? We decided to take advantage of the warm afternoon and played some Ultimate Frisbee for a few minutes (after which some of us were already pretty winded). As Keith put it, it felt like the first time we had sweat in months. Clearing out the pores, or something like that.

     Our recess had to come to an end, though, in preparation for the evening's concert, the first of the three. After some quick rehearsals and printing out programs, our crew packed up again and started the drive to Rome, Georgia. About five minutes out, Matthew realized that his car was running on fumes and, after a few tense minutes (full of prayer) of coasting along to rural highway, we rolled into a gas station, and not a moment too soon. Everyone arrived at the church where we were performing, a cozy building with beautiful stained glass windows and velvety, red carpet. Upon finishing some quick sound checks, we were invited to eat with members of the congregation who were there for a mid-week service. I got to try authentic southern sweet tea for the first time (delicious), and we all enjoyed scarfing down some chocolate Oreo pie (extra energy for the concert!). With that, everyone made their way next door into the sanctuary and the concert began. Everyone's performances were extraordinary, the program went very smoothly, and the audience ate up every musical offering we presented them. It was a huge weight off of our shoulders, with one extremely successful concert down we felt far less worried about the next two. We mingled with the attendees afterwards, got some pictures with them, and then said goodbye for the evening.

     The champions returned to the Brideau estate where we finally, after days of being constantly on alert and ready to work, just sat down and relaxed. We finally felt like we were on spring break, in the man cave with a great concert under our belts. After an hour of the most chill chilling, we made a celebratory outing to Waffle House, or, as the locals call it, "Wa-Ho". I believe the overture to Wagner's Lohengrin would be an appropriate soundtrack to the presentation of our food. We started off our morning with delicious breakfast food and ended our evening with delicious breakfast food. Waffles, Texas toast, eggs, various meats, and hash browns covered in cheese, onions, and chili were my portion for the outing, a combination which produced one of the most satisfying diner meals I've ever had. Sorry, but Denny's just can't compete with the legendary Wa-Ho. We returned to the cave and chilled out (are chilling out) for the remained of the evening, early morning. Spring break is great, even more glad that it's really starting to feel like it.

3/5/2015 - 2:24AM

Glorious waffles -

We're not counting calories -

Breakfast of heaven.

Door Nails

And here we thought the road trip would be the tough part.

     Dead as a door nail is a pretty good analogy to what The Juilliard Four are feeling like right now. This morning, we all woke up in beautifully squishy, clean beds. Mrs. West had prepared a breakfast spread of epic proportions that we gratefully (and ravenously) dug into. We spent the next few hours practicing individually, getting ourselves back into our respective instruments after having not touched them the whole day before. A delicious lunch of hand-made pizzas (prosciutto and arugula pizza is to die for) preceded a brief outing to get Matt's car's headlight fixed. We arrived at the car service station and in literally less than a minute the serviceman had fixed the light. It was unplugged. *facepalm* We appreciated the swift fix, though, and started to head back to Thomas' abode. On the way back, we decided to try and play some Frisbee. . .despite the fact that we were inside of a cloud that was showering us with miserable precipitation. Nevertheless, we attempted at some disc-slinging for a few minutes in a slightly muddy park before giving it up and going back. Upon arriving, we found that the one and only Ryan Brideau, another good friend who was joining us for two of the three concerts, had arrived from Georgia to rehearse music for Wednesday and Thursday nights' concerts. We hit the scores and dived into intense rehearsal for the next few hours. After looking through the pieces that he was involved in, Ryan departed for the day, and we took a brief respite from our work (including a few great games of ping-pong). Realizing that we did have TV interviews the next morning to promote Friday's Chattanooga concert, we decided that we had to jump back in to figure out what we would play for that. More intense rehearsal ensued. We smelled dinner long before we saw it. The day's final glorious meal was a welcome break full of fun conversation and unbelievably delicious teriyaki pork. One more quick break and we were back at it, arranging and polishing up the next morning's television repertoire. We all had headaches, potentially from the altitude, warding off sickness, lack of water, or perhaps breathing the same air for twelve hours. We're all exhausted, but excited to see our work's result in the coming days. But as for now, we're all pretty much dead door nails. 

3/4/2015 - 12:27 AM

Philip is tired -

Does not want to write haiku -

Woops, already did.

Sunrise

5:50 AM - Wondering why I decided to put off the last of my packing to this morning. Regretting that decision. Snooze alarm for a precious extra eight minutes of peace. It's finally the big day, the beginning of a new adventure.

       Rewind three weeks: I had just found out that my previous spring break plans had fallen through when my indefatigable visionary of a friend Keith Williams bursts into my room with a sheen in his eye. He and two other friends, Matthew Maimone and Thomas West, were thinking about going on a road trip down to Florida over spring break, couch-hopping at friends' places along the way. Fast forward two weeks, and we'd added a three-concert tour, TV and newspaper advertisements, and a stop at Disney World. The spring break of legends, to be sure.

       Back to the present: after some expected delays, our quadrumvirate had grabbed our last meal from the venerable Juilliard cafeteria, beaten Matt's car's trunk in a fierce game of Tetris, taken an obligatory first selfie, and set off onto the long road, our first stop: Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thirteen hours away.

       Keith warned us from the start about the nature of long road trips (of which he is a grizzled veteran), hours one thru six are fine and dandy, but once hour seven hits, everything goes downhill. Hour ten is when everyone gets quiet, hour eleven is when everyone feels like they need a shower, and hour twelve is when you can't stop staring at the clock. The first hours were spent catching up, hearing about Thomas' RUF retreat from the weekend before, and planning how we intended to keep our sanity. To keep ourselves from killing each other, and to help regularly mark time intervals, we decided that we would read from Psalms every thirty minutes. Sanity was retained, and order was preserved. Amongst other frivolities, we kept ourselves busy with "The Truth Game", which actually doesn't seem like much of a game at all, but just asking each other questions in which the ask-ee is obligated to answer truthfully. Go figure. By noon we had officially passed into "The South" as we made our way into West Virginia. Our patient stomachs were rewarded with a prize beyond measure: an honest-to-goodness, authentically Southern Chick-Fil-A. Not only that, but it was Keith's first time eating at the blessed restaurant. We dallied little, and in a few minutes were back on the highway.

       The afternoon passed quickly as we continued making our way West and South. Snow (which had completed blanketed New York the night before) was nowhere to be seen, the air was fresh and pure, and the rollings hills and scenic views were extraordinarily refreshing after months of urban jungle. Keith put on Beethoven Op. 127 and Op. 133, allowing Thomas to experience his first Beethoven string quartets, Matthew shared an especially powerful Tim Keller sermon, and Thomas instigated a modified round of The Truth Game in which we all described what we most admired in each other's character. The sun was setting as we pulled in for our third and final gas station stop, a mere three hours away from our destination. Looking onward towards our goal, we decided to skip a formal dinner and sustain ourselves on PB&J sandwiches made by Matthew's gracious mother so that we could power through and get the Chattanooga ASAP. An offer by Thomas' mom to have a home-cooked dinner ready when we arrived spurred us onward, as well. So we pressed on into the night, singing songs, reading Psalms, and making up stories about depressed tree fairies who were rejected by the Keebler Elves. One final driver switch outside of Knoxville put Thomas back in the driver's seat, ready to take us in for landing. We had made it to Chattanooga, but the road wasn't over yet. Keith notices some distant lights to appear to be floating high above the rest of the city. Oh, why that's Lookout Mountain, on top of which is Thomas' house. Of course. Cue Indiana Jones music, as Thomas races up the winding bends of the mountain. The road offers us one last jewel of a view over the expansive ocean of lights that is Chattanooga down below. We had arrived at our destination, exactly fifteen hours after we pulled out of Juilliard. Perhaps even more amazing, we all still felt fresh and alive, and very much not  desiring to kill each other. Shocking even to him, we had defied Keith's prophecy of woe. And true to her word, Thomas' mom had prepared a build-your-own taco dinner for us, a truly wonderful bookend to our first day. We'll see how the rest of it goes, but if the first day is any indication, this will truly be a spring break of legend.

3/3/15 - 12:35 AM

Sun rise and sun set -

Marking our new horizons -

Our greatest journey.

 

There Has Been An Awakening...

...have you felt it?

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

                                      

                                                                                   -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Many moons have passed -

an old tale returns to life - 

a new adventure.

There and Back Again

     Jet lag really isn't a pleasant thing. Right now I'm trying to type up this final blog post, but keep falling off into quasi-sleep. As one wise scholar once said, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” Bummer, guess that means I gonna be pretty poor by the end of today, cause I'm sure having a hard time staying awake. Although I could have ended the blog with last night's post, I thought today's events had enough in them to merit another final post. Staying up till 2 AM wasn't too hard. Some pool, YouTube, singing, and packing helped the time zip by until the bus arrived. At that point, my roommates and I bid farewell to our beloved room and left the Meininger Hotel. After loading all the luggage and taking a final roll call, the bus departed for the two hour drive back to Munich. The bus got really quiet really fast, for obvious reasons. For the light sleepers or especially energetic, however, we got to retrace our steps through the Austrian and German countryside. Even though we had only traveled that way once or twice before, at least for me, the drive was almost a nostalgic experience, knowing that we were leaving for good.

     We reached to airport a little after 4 AM and proceeded to pass through all the usual airport business. For better or for worse, I got a little bit of extra spice in my airport experience thanks to my cello. I knew going in that I would probably have to pay a 100 Euro fee to check my cello because it's an extra bag and bulky. Upon reaching the check-in point for extra luggage, however, I was informed by another attendant that the previous numbers were incorrect and that the charge was actually 300 Euros. *cue audible gulp* After speaking with her superiors, she confirmed that the charge was indeed triple what I was expecting, but, because I had already been told that the charge was only 100, she kept the price at the lower level. This was especially beneficial, seeing as I only had 150 Euros on me and didn't exactly plan on leaving my cello in Europe. After dealing with the instrument, pretty much everything else went smoothly. A few of us hung out at a fish restaurant, listening to stories of stolen golf carts and why one should not overeat at Guppy House. Thoroughly exhausted, the already short one-hour flight sped by all the quicker with the help of some much desired sleep.

     We jumped off at Frankfurt and walked to what seemed like the other end of the airport to catch our second flight to LAX. The 747 we were taking back home was not only a good plane, but actually an improvement over the previous flight to Austria. The TV's were more advanced, the seats were better designed, and the head cushion didn't feel like it was going to snap off. The flight flashed by, whether that was due to a few movies to pass the time or some sleep I have no idea, but before I knew it, we had landed in sunny California. The final, bittersweet ending that comes with all such trips had finally arrived. We made our way through the terminal, through customs, and through the baggage claim before saying our last goodbyes and walking to the curb where our adventure began.

     Returning home after a trip is a weird feeling. I'm happy to be home and back with my family, but walking around and expecting to see people you know you won't see, not hearing stupid things from Cameron each night when he was exhausted, not eating the same thing for breakfast each day, and not playing Rat Slap with vicious opponents (Ethan, I'm looking at you) kind of pulls the saturation out of normal life for a little bit. Thank God for Facebook. For those of you reading, this is really the last post of the trip. Thanks again for sticking with me, may you find adventures in the little (and the big) things of life.

-Philip

P.S. I'll be re-uploading all the photos from this trip to Facebook, hopefully those links will work better. I'll also be adding annotations to each one explaining what was happening since my constant picture taking was probably more comprehensive than my faltering memory when blogging. I'll add a link to this post when they are uploaded.

Pictures from Day 1: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101645123304334.839.100003765390828&type=3&l=f622b97603


Pictures from Day 2: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101689966633183.863.100003765390828&type=3&l=9e48b3e3ca