Singing Patriots' European Vacation

There is no experience like traveling with 50 kids and 8 faculty chaperones to Europe for 10 days. Over Spring Break 2015, the Singing Patriots traveled over 3,000 miles to Czech Republic and Poland.

Saturday, March 21^st, we all showed up at the airport ready to take on Europe. 6 hours later while most everyone was sitting on the plane, there was still a group of us waiting to check in. Thankfully after lots of frustration and loooonnnggg lines, we all successfully made it aboard the plane to Frankfurt. Once arriving in Frankfurt, they split the group and while half of our group ventured to Prague the rest of us were stuck for 6 hours in the Frankfurt airport. I can confidently say that I know terminal A of the Frankfurt airport like the back of my hand.

One of Madison's view of Prague.

Post shower, dinner, and much needed 10 hours of sleep it was time to explore Prague. Prague turned out to be incredibly beautiful. We started our day with a walking tour of the city. We drove to the very top of Prague and began our walk to the bottom. We toured the main castle and stopped for espresso and hot chocolate. The group then wove our way through a beautiful vineyard on a hill and made our way onto the Charles Bridge. The view was incredible and the atmosphere was indescribable as we watched the astronomical clock, the Prague orloj, chime at 1.

Locks of love.

 

In front of the Lennon Wall.

During our 2 hours of free time, some friends and I decided to go find the John Lennon Wall and I couldn’t be happier that we did because it was like something out of a movie. Walking back across the Charles Bridge with music from a group of street performers and large groups of European boys, I really got this feeling of pure bliss. We got a little lost, but it was worth it because we stumbled across a small dog park and Prague’s equivalent to the love lock bridge in Paris.

The wall was something else. When we arrived, there was a guy singing with his guitar. We had been told that the wall had been painted white by communist supporters only 2 months before, but it was full of color now. People would walk by and as you listened you knew that people from all over the world were appreciating this. I will never forget hearing the words of John Lennon’s “Imagine” as we walked away it was definitely a chilling moment.

Our first concert later that night was a huge success. Around 300 people came out to watch and listen to us perform. We had an incredible time even though the church was freezing. The acoustics were fantastic and I know, at least for me, it was a moment like no other to be able to sing our first note in the church and hear the echo.


Fast forward 3 days and we have arrived in the Polish city of Wrocław after a long 5 ½ hour bus ride. When we pulled into the city, our tour guide started explaining to us that this city is know for gnomes that are hidden all around the city, none of us really understood until later that night.

One of the famous gnomes.

We had a competition to see who could find the most gnomes (I actually think I won, I got really into it). We ate lunch, threw our bags in our rooms, and had an hour of down time before our concert. That night the church was also freezing, but by this time in the trip we had actually started to bond, so it wasn’t awful sitting in the dressing room because we were all able to sit with each other and laugh. We had another incredible concert that night, and although it was a smaller turn, the people were amazing. They were some of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. There was even a man who started singing along with us.

The next morning we departed for Kraków, Poland. We got there around 5 o’clock and headed to rehearsal with our sister school. When we walked into the main entrance of the school, we were greeted by loud cheers and lots of clapping - the feeling was incredibly welcoming. The first time we heard the entire group sing together, I remember all the girls looking at each other because the bass/tenor section was actually there.

Friday was our trip to Auschwitz. I had a very hard time going there, and I don’t like to talk about it, but it was important for us to go and learn and remember what happened there. That night was our third concert at a Catholic mass. Even though I’m Jewish and don’t speak Polish, I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever watched.


After our rehearsal with the First High School of Kraków, we split up with some of the kids and had around 4 hours of free time with them. My group had fun. We went to lunch and then to a museum that is underneath the main town square.

Patriots party, Polish style.

We had a party with the Polish kids that night, and it was a lot of fun. We all got to spend some quality time together unwinding form our busy trip.
The last day of our tour was sad but also extremely exciting because we were going to sing with the Polish high school in their brand new ICE congress center in the city. The sound that our 2 choirs made together was amazing and we all had become good friends.

One of the Singing Patriots' performances.

After 10 long days together, we grew a lot closer but also were very ready to get a break from one another. Although the food wasn’t great and we never got any sleep, we were like a huge dysfunctional family and it was honestly one of the coolest trips I’ve ever taken. We got to sing in a castle, a salt mine, the Estates Theatre, and in the Polish equivalent of the Kimmel Center. We are unbelievably lucky and grateful for these opportunities and I can’t wait for the Polish choir to come pay us a visit in 2 years.

~ Madison P. ‘18