5-29 These Are the Best Days of Our Lives

Location: Motel One, Leipzig

Listening to: Billie Holiday - God Bless the Child

Wow, it’s really been a while.  I’ve tried to start writing this post multiple times and failed miserably.  I’ll try as best I can to remember it all.  After our concert in Rottenburg and the Castle Hohenzollern, we just drove for the rest of the day back to Leipzig.  The next morning, we left for Bernburg.  We climbed another tower, but this time we were greeted by a creepy animatronic jester who explained his own history - in German.  I still don’t really know why he’s there, or why that castle seemed to be mostly about him, but the other museum was very interesting.  The basement was a monument to medieval torture (and there are some pretty gruesome pictures to prove it), and the ground level was an archeological museum devoted to stone- and bronze-age prehistory in that area.  There were some pretty interesting artifacts, including several that showed evidence for trade with the mediterranean region by the early bronze age.  For supper, a dozen or so of us had the chance to sit out under the umbrella and eat with our bus driver.  Even though he looks like the lovechild of Voldemort and Mr. Clean, he turned out to be an incredibly nice guy and we had a great time getting to know him a little more.  We sang very well in our concert, though we had a fairly small audience, and came back to Leipzig.

The next day, we went to Köthen.  This is a very important Bach city - essentially, he was employed by a prince who absolutely loved music, so this was the one place where he primarily worked on secular music (or at least music outside the liturgy).  We had a great tour guide, and I think this was honestly one of the best experiences we’ve had on tour.  We were able to see chapels where Bach participated in weddings, baptisms, and attended as a congregant rather than an official musician.

Before our concert, I gave the devotion.  Anyone who’s ever sung in a choir has heard someone say music can communicate emotions and ideas for which language just isn’t enough, and may have even though so themselves, so I decided to put this notion to a test.  I said a few words about the importance of communities to their individual members - congregations, ancient villages, and college touring choirs.  All of them come or came together to achieve something far greater than the sum of their parts - something synergistic - and those able to express love to others beyond their community are able to do so because they first love one another.  After elaborating on this briefly, we sang the “Abendlied” (quoted in a previous post).  We did this first to ask our Lord to stay with us as the evening and concert fell upon us, but also as a request and reminder to each other.  Organizations like ours are subject to substantial losses and acquisitions on an annual basis, and this is one reason our connection to alumni - and future members - is so strong.  They haven’t been gone that long, and each of us has the chance to see a significant piece of the legacy we leave behind.  It was a breathtaking but energizing experience - somber regarding our pending departure but celebratory of the times we’ve shared together.

After the concert, we had a chance to see a few of the artifacts held in the Lutheran church there, namely a communion registration sheet with Bach’s signature and the chalice with which he communed.  The chalice is still in active use today, and apparently the pastor has no interest in putting it in a museum any time soon.  After we returned to Leipzig, a bunch of us went out and I ended up finding Marton Borsanyi, the keyboardist for the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra.  We talked for probably a few hours - he’s an awesome person.  I’m really excited to hang out with him in Berlin on Monday.

I guess that brings us to yesterday.  We had the chance to tour the Bach Archive here in Leipzig and see a bunch of invaluable Bach artifacts - it was really cool for the music nerds, especially those of us who took the Bach seminar this Spring.  We sang a concert/service at the Tomaskirche, then had the rest of the evening off.  It was...epic.  Definitely one of the most fun (and mostly memorable) nights in my short lifetime.

Today, we were in Leipzig again all day.  I love this city - it’s not huge but you’re never bored and its history is so interesting.  I can literally see the sidewalks of the Peaceful Revolution that helped to end the Cold War from my window (we’re right across from the Nikolaikirche).  The choir we’re subbing in for this weekend is in their 798th year.  They premiered the cantata we performed today over 250 years ago.  Anyway, we had a couple of brief rehearsals and then performed the cantata service.  I’m sure this was the last time we’ll have a chance to sing a few of these songs, and it was a very emotional performance from the devotion beforehand to the final chorale of the cantata.  I have to admit I was terrified during the Hallelujah because I could barely hear anyone from the choir from where I stood, back next to the organ.  All in all, I think it went well, and I think we’re ready for our final chance to sing together tomorrow morning.

I’m sorry I haven’t been communicating much - the internet at our hotel is sporadic at best and unbelievably frustrating most of the time.  Hopefully I’ll be able to find something a little more reliable tomorrow.  Till then!

Double Hallelujah

Location: Bus (of course) from Rottenburg to Leipzig

Listening to: Haydn - “Seven Last Words of Christ”

Actually, I’m listening to Laura Hewitt talk about her brother Mason and his wine reviewing site - nickelanddimewine.com.  It sounds pretty interesting.  Anyway...

Yesterday we arrived in Rottenburg at around 13:00.  It’s a beautiful town - I’m definitely a little bit jealous of Emily.  We had lunch and took a walking tour - like every town, the churches just take your breath away, especially the Weggental church where we had our concert.  It’s a huge, baroque-style building with beautiful paintings, architecture, and other visual art.  It’s up on a hill via a little service road (which we walked), which only makes it more majestic on the outside.

Last night’s concert was absolutely unforgettable.  For the first time in my career with the chorale, we came back to the front of the church after leaving for an encore performance.  This is a little ironic considering they were so hesitant to applaud at first (because the concert was in a church, I later found out) that I think Dr. C started the applause after Andrew conducted the third or fourth song.  After Mata, our encore song, they applauded so loudly (and in unison) that Dr. C turned to me and asked whether I had another hallelujah in me.  At first I thought he just wanted me to shout “Hallelujah”, but then I realized he was actually asking whether I could hit the two F#‘s in my solo again.  I wasn’t sure, but we did it a second time and I had a blast with it.  It’s a huge, bombastic spiritual where I get to pretend to be Kirk Franklin or an old-time baptist preacher with lines like “Moses stood on the Red Sea shore (been down into the sea), Smotin’ the water with a two-by-four...”  I walked about halfway down the center aisle during the call-and-response section, and there was one older man waving his arm in the air and singing right along with us.  I’ve never smiled so wide in my entire life.  

These very prim-and-proper Germans just can’t get enough of the raw, explosive energy that we’re lucky to call the American spiritual.  As I said before, even the concertmaster of the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra was moved by our “Hallelujah”.  This trip and these audiences have given me a much deeper appreciation for this music; I always knew spirituals were more fun to sing (for me anyway), but I’m not sure I ever really considered their theological significance and power in the same way that we think about the St. Matthew Passion or Praise to the Lord until this week.

After the concert we had a chance to see where Emily’s been going to school all semester.  I don’t suppose all of you know Emily German - she’s a Church Music major from Valpo and an absolutely incredible person.  We’ve really missed her and it was fantastic to see her again.  She attends the Hochschule of Church Music there in Rottenburg, and the facility was pretty interesting.  Music students always joke about living in the VUCA (music building) at Valpo, but she literally does.  The first two floors are classrooms and practice rooms, the third and fourth are residence halls, and the fifth floor is administrative office space.  They have a beautiful view of the surrounding area from the balcony - it must be very intense but I think it would be really cool.  They had a nice reception for us where I actually got to practice my Spanish with Marcel, a Barcelona native (I probably butchered the spelling, lo siento).  Today, Dr. C gave a 90-minute lecture on American choral music, which was probably as educational for the majority of the chorale as it was for the Germans.  I may end up traveling with Emily and Marcel toward the end of July - stay tuned.

After our workshop at the Hochschule, we went to Burg Hohenzollern (again, probably butchered the spelling on that one).  It’s an enormous castle on top of a mountain, owned by the Prussian royal family and its descendants for around a millennium.  I thought it was especially cool to see Frederick the Great’s flutes and scores, after reading Evening in the Palace of Reason in our J.S. Bach seminar.  That didn’t happen at the castle, but the museum area downstairs had some really interesting stuff like those flutes and a bunch of old letters, medals, swords, and ridiculous clothing.  I think the most impressive thing (at the risk of sounding very “European”) was the dress - this thing took 11 people a full year to make, using only real silver thread.  The train could have covered a small room like a rug.  It was really incredible.

We’re on about hour 6 of this bus trip - I wasn’t hungry and the beer was cheaper than my Diet Coke or the water but I resisted.  We’ll be staying in Leipzig for the rest of the trip (except our final night in Berlin), and we’re all pretty excited about it.  We loved our motel and that area of town - should be a fun week.  Adios.

Ice Cream with Martin Luther

Location: Bus from Wittenberg-ish to Rottenburg

Listening To: Billy Joel - The Entertainer

“So many places in and out of my life, some that last, some were just for now and then.” - Say Goodbye to Hollywood by Billy Joel

Well I don’t want to fall any farther behind - this has turned into a morning after blog in the last few days.  It isn’t that Jeff isn’t giving us any free time, it’s that I want to take advantage of every chance I get this summer (and especially during these two weeks).  I’ll try and catch up tonight, but no promises.

Wittenberg is essentially one main street, complimented as you get farther from it by bars/restaurants, souvenir shops, hotels, and eventually neighborhoods.  It was a bit more touristy than I had hoped, but I don’t think it detracted too much from my experience there.  I can’t really put into words what I felt walking into those churches, except what I said to a few people yesterday: I can’t say I’ve dreamed of being there in the same way I’ve dreamed of playing football in Memorial Stadium or even just “growing up”, but I’ve definitely thought about it.  It wasn’t a Eureka moment and I don’t feel somehow more pious or faithful for having been there - and I think Luther would have wanted it that way.  At first, I was very uncomfortable with our tour guide (look at the album to see why), but in hindsight I think it reminded me not to take this too seriously.  He was just a man, just like me.

That said, it wasn’t something I’ll soon forget.  I touched the baptismal font where Martin Luther baptized his own children (among many others).  I saw the room his voice would fill every Sunday and I stood by his grave.  It makes the history of Lutheranism I’ve learned for so long seem somehow over-complicated and almost mystical rather.  It should be simple, fundamentally driven, ever seeking truth and never disparate from our occasionally beautiful human condition.  Ok, coming back from deep-land...

There are a few pretty funny pictures from yesterday.  A brief highlight reel:

• Martin Luther and I “toasting” our nearly-finished ice cream cones - “this is so we can see that not every from Italy is so bad”
• Sam and I taking an “ecumenical” photo in front of the 95 Theses door
• The Catholics spelling out “POPE” in front of the missing Luther monument in the square.  They told us it was under renovations, but I think Ryan Miller stole it

Suppertime last night was probably the hardest I’ve laughed in about a year.  Evan, the “old man” of the chorale, somehow moved our conversation from honeymoons to pets - specifically his tortoise Henry.  Inside jokes are never too funny when you try and write them out, so I’ll just say our first topic was the fact that Henry will only eat USDA Organic spinach.

After supper we didn’t do too much.  A few drinks at a few different places over the span of several hours with a lot of great conversation.  I suppose I should mention that Jadon Nisly (chorale alumnus) joined our tour yesterday, and I was especially thankful for the chance to catch up with him.  He’s going to be in Austria for another year, and unfortunately I can’t hire him out as a translator for my 4-day stint in Germany after this tour is finished as he’ll be heading home to the States pretty soon.

Today, we provided music for two church services with Pr. Meinhof.  It was another fantastic experience, and the people here are so kind and generous.  We had another very German lunch in between services and heard some more about this area’s history.  He was almost apologetic when he informed us that this church is only about 300 years old rather than the 700-900 year-old churches we’ve been singing in the last few days.  After the 30 years’ war, this town was inhabited by just two widows and two widowers, but the king of that time stepped in.  He gave them livestock, money, and most importantly a church.  It’s nothing huge, but it’s still there and the congregation survives.  Both services involved confirmations, which were quite a trip down memory lane for some of us.  I’ll admit I was a little homesick as I saw one boy’s family crowd around him to join him in his first communion - I’m so blessed.

We’ve stopped for supper, started on the road again, and we’re driving through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen - rolling hills, bright yellow rapeseed fields broken up by modern windmills, tall pockets of trees, and a truly spectacular sunset painting it all.  Our food was...interesting.  The salad had a strong dressing (which I liked) and it was a chore to get water, but the real fun started with the entree.  There was a horseradish sauce over the roast beef, accompanied by some berry dish, but none of us knew what to do with the side, except to come up with names like “goo-ball” and “crouton jiggler”.  Ethan discovered it was edible, but it was sort of like eating a softball made of grits and some kind of glue stuffed with croutons - though flavor improved significantly when accompanied by the berries on the side.  We’ve decided the desert was some kind of pudding involving goats milk, probably from the goats in the pen outside the front door.

I’m really excited to see Emily again and to do our session on American music - should be a great couple of days.

Bleib Bei Uns...We Wish We Could.

Location: Luther Hotel (Wittenberg) Lobby

Listening To: Charles Mingus - Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

What a day...I hardly know where to start.  I’m sitting a ten-minute walk from the church where Martin Luther preached and about as far from the one to which he nailed the 95 theses (see Sam’s & my “ecumenical” picture).  I received a tour from a man dressed as Dr. Luther and making a not-so-concerted effort to stay in character and experienced the nightlife offered by this bumping metropolis - and all this after the real highlights of the day.  I am sure of one thing - no one on this tour will ever forget at least a few the memories made on this beautiful May day.

A brief plug - I’m not the only one frantically trying to write down the experiences of this tour so they can be remembered, and Abby Lange did a great job on her blog for today.  If you haven’t seen the other bloggers, photos, or videos (yes, videos!), just head over to Valpo.edu and look to the right side of your screen.  You can’t miss it, and I promise the pictures are much better than my own!

Our day began with a tardy bus ride from Berlin to a small town called Jütebog.  There we met the pastor of their church.  Pr. Thomas Meinhof is an incredibly kind, soft-spoken, energetic, and generous man, and he was kind enough to take us to his church after providing refreshments for our entire group from a local restaurant.  In this church, we heard a bit about the significance of this place to the Reformation movement (after singing “If Ye Love Me” by Tallis).  This is one of the churches where Tetzel sold the indulgences that so infuriated Martin Luther, but it had an interesting twist to their mutual history: after Tetzel had sold his papers and tried to leave, a local prince took his money chest by force.  Tetzel, of course, told him he could burn in hell for stealing the church’s money.  The prince responded by showing Tetzel the papers their seller himself had claimed could redeem someone who defiled the holy mother herself, believing that taking the chest was surely covered by this indulgence.  The chest is still in the church in Jütebog, though my camera unfortunately died at about that point in the tour.

The other incredible part of our stay in town was our opportunity to climb the 217 steps to the top of the church’s spire.  As such, the view was breathtaking in more ways than one.  I had a good conversation with Pr. Meinhof about U.S. - German relations and specifically about the emigrant families like my own.  It was a surreal experience between trying to both explain Woodstock and clear up his notions about the homestead act.  Grandma, if you’re reading this, I did get the packet and I’ve been reading it piece by piece.  They’re driving us pretty hard and I just haven’t had time to really stop and think about the four days between Berlin and Barcelona - I’ll get there, I promise.

After Jünebog came the really incredible part of today.  We left the city and headed down a few narrow country roads through country not unlike the Midwest until we arrived in Mark Zwuschen (which meant I found some fresh batteries for my camera).  On the way, Pr. Meinhof told us a bit of history about the area - it’s been occupied by everyone from Napoleon to Stalin and some wooded areas were still off-limits due to explosives in the area.  He actually participated in the Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig as a student and told us about that night in 1989 when his father told him over the phone from Berlin that the wall had come down.  It's still tough to comprehend how important this event was to these people, even when your pastor and tour guide chokes up just thinking about it twenty years later.

I think it’s safe to say this village is to Wittenberg what Wittenberg is to, say, Berlin.  It is a tiny, tiny place, but the faith and actions of its faithful congregation are anything but insignificant.  Today we helped to consecrate (“top”) the first chapel to be built in Eastern Germany since the forties.  It’s no glass cathedral, but it doesn't need to be.  These people came together as a community of faith and decided they wanted a space to share their fellowship, so they made it happen with the resources at their disposal.  I’ll admit most of us were surprised when the speaker shattered his champagne glass on the roof, but I think these were some of the best musical moments of our time in this country.  We sang four songs for them, including Praise to the Lord and Shenandoah.  One woman in front was particularly moved - by the former, understandably, but I was startled to see her in tears during such a distinctively American folk song.  I’m certain she understood no more than a few of those words, but something about the intense longing for home expressed in that beautiful piece reached out and touched her in a way conventional language could not.  Leaving that little chapel was the hardest thing we've attempted thus far.  "Bleib Bei Uns" means "stay with us", and I know many of us would gladly have given up the rest of our day just to be with those people for a few moments more.  Looking back, it’s hard to believe what I wrote before experiencing the events of this afternoon - it couldn’t have been more appropriate, and I’m sure the somber taste in my mouth only enhanced the open and loving embrace of this tiny, mighty group of believers.

I wish I could write about all of our experiences in Wittenberg - maybe tomorrow.  I took lots of pictures!  Right now, I’m falling asleep on this keyboard and I need to leave this hotel in 7 hours.  Gutenacht!

Wall-Walking

Location: Bus from Berlin to Wittenberg

Listening to: Gabe Glass - Edelweiss

Every morning you greet me...

I really do love this song (and it's the name of my favorite run at Winter Park).  I always wanted to be Captain Von Trapp, plucking my guitar and singing the sweet little melody.  Unfortunately, it was chosen as the theme for this year’s “senior song”, so I may never hear it the same way again.  For those of you who haven’t sung with a touring choir - I think most of them do this - our seniors get together and write a parody describing our trip to a tune all of us love until that point, adding another verse every bus trip.  Clementine, You Are My Sunshine, Over the Rainbow - they’re all tainted in my memory, but it’s a small sacrifice for all the other memories made on these trips.

It was an early morning yesterday, some of which you can read in my last post.  I’ll pick up where I left off: the bus tour.  Our guide, Christoff, was absolutely fantastic.  He spoke very clearly and never ran short on stories that were funny, meaningful, or both.  He had a very intimate understanding of the fall of the Berlin Wall because was there.  Actually, he understood American perceptions of the event even more thoroughly because he had been Tom Brokaw’s limo driver when NBC arrived in ’89.  We toured a large part of central West Berlin (the city is HUGE) via bus, then hopped out and walked through the Brandenburg gate onto the Parisian Plaza, then down to the holocaust memorial.  It’s an incredible sight if you’ve never been there, especially when you walk through the sculpture as the architect intended.  We hopped back on the bus and toured our way to the hotel.  I took quite a few pictures, so again I’ll let them tell more of the story than my commentary.

I will say that touching the Berlin Wall, feeling that symbol of interpersonal division and tyranny on my fingers, made the history and significance of this place come to life in a unique, visceral sense.  I can’t imagine what it feels like for a modern East Berliner to do this, or for any Jew to touch the memorials in Berlin or D.C. or Dachau, or for anyone whose ancestors were enslaved to touch or see a memorial to their emancipation.  I can imagine even less what it must feel like to be a victim of the genocides yet unresolved and unmemorialized - active sufferers of human arrogance and pride blown to lethal proportions.  As a good friend of mine put it in a poem, I am “historically white” - privileged to have descended from loving, faithful, hard-working families which have been blessed beyond my own comprehension, but those of us who have been privileged in such a way cannot ignore the sufferings of our fellow human beings in good conscience (and to ignore one’s conscience is neither right nor safe).

Today, we go to Wittenberg, the place that in some ways started it all as far as my own history is concerned.  It’s mind-boggling to consider how one man’s convictions have affected my own life centuries and an ocean away from his own, or to try and imagine the scenes I’m about to see with my own eyes.  Martin Luther’s actions changed the world forever - he opposed those who sought to take advantage of their fellow human beings via the trust placed in their offices in the name (or place) of God.  In serving his Creator, he took decisive and rebellious actions to throw off those who tried to oppress his people to their own profit.  On second thought, maybe I can imagine what it feels like to touch the places where liberators and visionaries freed my ancestors.  Maybe, in the course of human history, every person’s ancestry is tainted by the sins of fathers and mothers, and maybe it’s precisely in this unified suffering that communities like the multicultural neighborhoods surrounding our hotel in Berlin are able to exist in peace.  Maybe looking through a window into a shop or a church or a prison is not so different from the mirror in the bathroom.  Maybe this is precisely why music is so potent when it is our only means of communication, the common language of friends, strangers, families, and even enemies.  Maybe this is the reason we’re here.

Sorry to end on such a serious note, but I've got to run - Auf Wederstehen.

Fleeing the Goths

Location: Train from Leipzig to Berlin

Listening to: Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway

Once again, I’m not actually listening to my “listening to” - The forty-something gruff looking man with an “Adventure & Travel” shirt across from me is, however, and it was loud enough for the people in the row behind him to ask about it.  I’m actually listening to some Jason Mraz, courtesy of Samantha K. Wilson.

We’re fleeing Leipzig due a Goth convention - “Goth-fest”, as we’ve come to call it.  I’m not making this up: we had to leave because our hotel is booked by a bunch of Goths from across Europe for a weekend of demonstrations and concerts.  So...off to Berlin!  I suppose I should sum up yesterday, since I was too exhausted to write anything last night.

We started our day with a bus ride to Naumburg (roughly “Newcastle”), a very old and fairly touristy town about two hours from Leipzig.  Most of the city was 750-1000 years old, and the same wine-makers have been there for over a millennium.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to sample any of it: we were pretty rushed, taking a walking tour of the city and then another of the cathedral and leaving again in under three hours.  I didn’t retain a lot, so I’ll let my pictures tell the story, though I opted not to pay the 5 Euro fee to take pictures inside the cathedral.  The tours overlapped a fair amount of information - if I were to do it again, I’d take the city tour and do a self-guided tour of the cathedral from the gift shop (are you taking notes, Jeff? :).  I’m really glad we had the chance to see the city, though.  It was a stark reminder that this place shares a history several times deeper than the US, plus we got to see the statue of “Uta”, Disney’s model for the Evil Queen from Snow White.

I fell asleep on the bus ride back to Leipzig, and woke up to Jeff saying something about us having 45 minutes to make it from our bus to the hotel, change into concert dress, and walk to the Lutherkirche for our rehearsal.  This might not sound absurd to you, but we were at least a fifteen minute walk from the hotel and another twenty-plus to the Lutherkirche so we were definitely pushing it.  We had a rehearsal, supper, and came back for the concert, which went extremely well.  The Leipzig Baroque Orchestra is an absolutely fantastic group of musicians, and I think we all feel very blessed by the opportunity we had last night, though I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best at switching between 415 and 440 four times in a concert.  Abby and Mark were great on their solos, and I think everyone in the room had a lot of fun when we performed “Hallelujah” as an encore.  The concertmaster was grinning from ear to ear by about the third bar and almost giddy by the end.

After all that walking and giving a fairly substantial concert, most of us were a very good kind of tired.  Singers and anyone else who plays a “wind” instrument have heard of the concept of stale or dead air - essentially, if you continually take breaths in before you really need to you won’t have your maximum lung capacity.  Sometimes you just need to get rid of the old air to and take a fresh breath to really do your best.  I think that’s the best analogy I can come up with for how musicians feel after a concert like last night - like I used to feel after playing under the lights on Fridays or like I think both of my parents must feel after a day in either of their lives - exhausted but happy and ready to tackle the next day head-on.

On the way back from the concert, Sam was kind enough to buy me my first Döner-Kabob (see picture of the cucumber sauce dripping down my face).  Afterwards, we unsuccessfully looked for some kind of convenience store and ended up pretty lost.  It’s difficult to navigate when you’ve seen many of the landmarks of a city but haven’t really kept track of where you were when you saw them (were we closer to the funky statue or the construction site with the crane?  There’s that creepy Lion! etc...).  Luckily we’re music nerds and recognized the Thomaskirche almost immediately.

Well, the train ride’s over and we’re on our bus into the city.  I guess I could live-blog our bus tour with Christoff, but I think I’d rather take pictures than notes.  Hasta mañana.

Un Día Gracioso

Location: Motel One, Leipzig

Listening To: "NBC", Courtesy of the "fish tank screen" in my room

Well, we had another action-packed day today, concluding with a brief evening in an Irish Pub down the street.  Regrettably, I forgot the camera, and yes - I did say Irish.  Yes, I am in Germany for the second and maybe one of the only times in my life.  Looking back, it was probably a poor decision - the Köstritzer schwarzbier was honestly much better than the Guinness (don't hate me, Chris), and whatever Pilsner was on tap was much more flavorful and "drinkable" (in USA terms) than any comparable light American beer.  I'm definitely a fan of the Köstrizer - if someone in the states knows where to find a six-pack, let me know.

Lest you think I did nothing but drink today, let me talk about the rest.  We began with a 9am tour - and fortunately Ryan managed to come out of hour jet-lag-induced coma by 7:50 (I still wasn't used to 24-hour clocks to set the alarm correctly).  We started with a German breakfast, which was amazing.  Croissant + nutella = heaven.  Roll + incredible swiss cheese and various meats = free lunch (even though Sam took them and abandoned Ryan and me).  Our tour was very informative but we were stuck with a very gloomy mid-May day.  It misted or flat-out rained for most of the day and was anything but warm.  Fortunately, no one was killed via train (despite some very impressive efforts).  Our tour guide certainly knew her material and had reasonably good English, but looked rather unique.  I think I'll call her Elton, even though she probably reminds me more of Mrs. Duensing.  Some memorable quotes:

"I have heard you would like to sing in the Thomaskirche."
"Zee (halfway between die and the) Peaceful Rrevolyoushun (spelled phonetically)..." - this is a big deal for Leipzig, especially the Nikolaikirche.
"...so you should stay in Leipzig for three weeks, ja?"
"You must see it." (At least twenty times, all referring to a museum of some kind).
Chorale people, feel free to leave more in the comment box below.

After our walking tour, a group of us decided to head for the train station.  We began walking down a street and, being the son of a mall-walker, I naturally charged out in front.  Unfortunately, I hadn't the slightest clue where I was going, but after half a mile or so Ryan kindly asked where the hell we were going and we followed him the rest of the way.  The train station is absolutely beautiful, large enough to be considered a small to medium-sized mall.  This is where I bought the ridiculous bratwurst pictured in the Picaso album, and I think my German is getting better: I successfully took one bank's directions to the bank on a different platform that could exchange US Dollars.  All in all, we had an indecisively good time.

On our way back, Ryan, Dan, and I visited the Nikolaikirche (which you can also find in the Picaso album).  We were lucky to stop by during a free and quite good organ concert. It's an absolutely beautiful space, especially with the huge palm-tipped columns imitated by the Peaceful Revolution memorial outside, and it made me think even more about my Lutheran (specifically my German Lutheran) heritage - so I decided to include my tattoo in the picture for this post.  The script reads "Sola Gratia" now that I've un-mirrored it.  It means "Grace Alone", and I think it's one of the most theologically significant concepts of both Lutheranism and my philosophy in life.  Life isn't about trying to earn your way into something.  It's not about how good you can make yourself look, even and especially to yourself.  If you were only worth what you could put in on your own, life would truly be meaningless compared to its worth when you add in the sacrifices and investments of countless generations of ancestors and, ultimately, your Creator.  Our purpose in life is to love and honor both Him and one another, and I don't just mean "that small and arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around" (GK Chesterton).  I'm really excited for James Strasburg to do his Fulbright work here - there's so much meaningful and interesting history - and yes, you should get used to these briefly philosophical nuggets (or piles of crap, depending on your viewpoint) if you continue to read this blog through the summer.

After the Nikolaikirche and a brief iChat session with the family, we were off to our rehearsal with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra at the Lutherkirche.  They were all phenomenal musicians, though some were certainly more congenial than others.  I'm very excited for that concert.  Unfortunately, the space was very cold and we were all wet from the 20-minute or so walk to the church from our hotel, so by the end we were definitely ready for supper (and in my case a cup of very traditional coffee).

Dinner was served at Coffe Baum, a coffee house that actually opened just before J.S. Bach came to Leipzig (by 3 years, A.D. 1720).  It now also houses a fine restaurant and a museum because (as our tour guide said) nearly every important German musician, painter, poet or other artist since that time has worked and relaxed there at some point in his or her life.  Judging by the ones I've met so far, it probably happened in that order.  Our meal was fantastic as long as you liked mushrooms and cinnamon - they even tricked most of us into eating liver on our salad!

The title of this post refers to my email conversation with Loli Blasco, the director of my program in Barcelona.  I tried sending her a note saying I would be most "thankful" if she could send me the address of my home stay a bit early.  As it turns out, "gracioso" actually means funny (the real word is "agradecidio").  It just served to remind me of my need for a solid immersion experience come June, as well as every the need to laugh at ourselves once in awhile.

That covers most of the day, but I think I had better explain my "Listening to" selection before I hit the hay.  Whenever you power up the hotel room (by inserting the keycard into the slot just inside the door), a fairly lengthy video clip of a vibrant fish tank shows up on your TV.  You can it see this in the picture, over my left shoulder, but you can't hear the beautiful (though very simple) synthesizer accompaniment consisting mostly of two- or three-note arpeggiations.  As a graduate of Musicianship IV, it's a never-ending brain teaser: Sol-Mi-Do!  Fa-Sol-Do!  Sol-Do!  Ti-Sol-Do!  Mi-Do!  Do!...I guess this is what I get for devoting my life to a music major.  Auf Wiedersehen!

Location: Motel One, Leipzig

Listening to: Ke$ha - Tic Toc

Let me start by saying I'm only listening to Tic Toc because I heard Ryan Miller singing it from the bathroom.  Not a huge fan, but whatever.

"Die Abend Werden" is from a song we sang today in the St. Thomas Church - Abendlied. You can find the translation in Luke 24:28, and after being awake for something like 36 hours you can probably figure out the title of this post.  We're all exhausted, but it was a fantastic day once we arrived in Leipzig.  Our bodies were pretty confused by the time we got here, but we took our experts' advice and stayed up through suppertime.  A very stupid few of us are still awake.

Our hotel is literally right next to the Nicholaikirche, and today we made the walk that J.S. Bach and a small army of singers a bit younger than ourselves would make, over to the Thomaskirche where Bach was officially employed.  It is an absolutely beautiful space in nearly every way - you can view my online album here or subscribe to it as an RSS feed here.  We were extremely privileged to meet Pr. Wolff, and afterward to begin the singing portion of this tour by reproducing #17 from the Saint Matthew Passion in the space for which it was conceived.

It was an absolutely surreal experience, being in that church for the first time after hearing about it and studying its music for quite awhile.  The choir loft is "relatively unchanged" from Bach's day, according to Dr. C, though I doubt the double-wide bicycle seat has been in the director's area for quite that long.  We also had an audience for much of our rehearsal, but they were very quiet and respectful.  I'm sure I'll be writing more on this church in the next few days, so let's move on before I completely pass out.

I had a great chat with prof. Bjornstad on the way back from St. Thomas, and all of us ate together at a nice little restaurant less than a block away (good move, Jeff).  The food was fantastic and by the end we're all just about ready to go into a coma.

Day 1 Dawn

Location: South of Greenland
Listening to: James Cameron - Avatar

Ok, so "Avatar" isn't actually a song but I just finished watching this movie and some of the music is definitely going through my brain.  It's an incredible story - predictable at times but only because it embodies the timeless human notion of rebirth.  Sometimes the initial being has to die for this transformative event to take place.  Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, as in this movie, it only takes a shift in perspective.

I know this sounds deep and philosophical, but that shouldn't surprise any of you who know me even in the slightest (after all, it is 1am Central Time).  I've thought a lot about what this summer will hold, about the changes it will bring, but as I've looked into and though about my family roots (and watched James Cameron epics) I've realized that the changes which take place in my life this summer are not confined to my own future.  They will affect my family.  They will affect my Alma Mater.  They may even dramatically affect individuals yet unnamed.  I think we would all do well to remind ourselves that we truly are not compartmentalized individuals, but rather parts of a whole - a "network", a "community", a unified "people" divided only where we allow ourselves to be.

The sun just rose outside Angelo's window.  If you've never witnessed a sunrise from the sky, do your best to make it happen (even if it exacerbates your jet lag).  You won't regret it.  I've had the opportunity to witness this a few times, thanks to my early-bird pilot of a father, but watching it happen over an ocean is really something.  It somehow seems a fitting analogy to this point in my life - it's bright and beautiful but I have no idea what's going to show up on the horizon.  Ironically, it's time for me to sleep if I don't want to die at rehearsal tomorrow.  Hasta luego.

Highway Robbery

O'Hare Airport
Listening to: Dane Callstrom - Killed Via Prius

Unfortunately, I left my power adapters in my room and consequently gave my left arm for a set of 5 cheap pieces of plastic (actually it was a meager $24.99). I'm even more annoyed because now I definitely can't afford the unmarked draughts at any of the only restaurants with tables - how strategic. Guess I'll just sip a $4.65 15-ounce bottle of juice and contemplate the rest of this adventure.

To elaborate on my last post (since I have another 15 minutes), I think my biggest worry is that I'm barely worried at all. I don't have a list of people to call and tell goodbye like Sam - I don't even have a phone. I'm anxious, but I think I feel like I've done all the fretting I can do. It's just time to do it. I'll miss everyone at home and at Valpo, especially my little brothers, but it's time to go.

Mike and Luke - I know I'm going to feel even smaller and more out of shape when I come back to see you guys. It was fun working out those couple of days...lay off the roids.

Sam - Use that camera I gave mom to record you and your buddy playing in the music room (but don't let him use my guitars). I wanna see this.

Tom - I know I'll catch you on facebook so don't use me as an excuse to just sit on it for hours. Have fun this summer - do something you'll remember in 10 years when you're sitting in my spot.

Mom and Dad - Hope you like the beginnings of that song. Unfortunately, I probably won't have access to a piano over there, so it'll have to wait until the fall. I love you guys and owe you more gratitude than I can put into words. You're giving me the opportunity of a lifetime - now all I have to do is make it count.

Samantha - Quit looking over my shoulder. :)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well we're on our way to Germany, even though I'm currently sitting in the VUCA.  It's hard to believe it's - today.  I've been planning and preparing for so long that I'm completely programmed to think of it as somewhere off in the future.  I think I'm ready, but the plane doesn't really care either way.

I've spent a lot of time the last few days saying goodbye to a lot of great people.  I'll miss you all, but I know we can't hang on to you forever.

They're yelling at us to get out the door, gotta run!