And so it begins... in New York City!

"I'm leavin', on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..."

Thursday morning, June 19, 2008
My home teacher, Charlie, picked me up about 8:30 am. I was having a crisis--not everything I wanted to take would fit into my carryon, and I really didn't want to take more stuff, and it was just stressful. I went with a canvas grocery bag, but even that really wasn't what I wanted to use. We got to the airport in plenty of time, Charlie helped me get checked in--he was rather surprised I had 10 days worth of clothing in only one suitcase, but I figured I didn't want to haul around too much junk, and I had to have room for souveniers (hence part of the crisis--if I already had a carryon plus my purse, how would I manage getting my souvies home???). I bid farewell to Charlie, and then made my way through security, still unhappy about the luggage situation. I know, I know, I really should have left some of that stuff home, but was just too stressed to think rationally.

I found a seat, got something to eat, and then went to a shop for some water (since they won't let me bring my own anymore). There I found the cutest shirt that fit my mood (I'm Crabby--Don't bother me), and a small travel bag that I'd looked at before but couldn't justify. Well, now I could. I walked out of that store with a rolling travel bag, new shirt, and my water.

After some repositioning (and putting away the grocery bag that was now doomed to travel with me), I was finally happy and ready to go. Too bad my plane wasn't there. I didn't realize it then, but this was to be the theme for the next 7 days (yes, I know the trip was 10 days)--late, late, late. I did have about three hours between the time I was supposed to land and the time I was supposed to be at the hotel, though, so I wasn't too worried. Yet.

The plane finally came, I finally made it to JFK, and I had an hour to figure out where to go and get picked up by the bus. After waiting at the hotel pick-up and drop-off point for about 15 minutes, I called the hotel from the phones inside, and they promised to send a bus right out. 15 minutes later... but I did make it to the hotel, meeting the Abbot's and the Bristol's on the way. They had come in the night before and decided to spend the morning in NYC; they were returning to our hotel on the same hotel shuttle as me.

Got to the Howard Johnson's, checked in to find neither of my roommies had come by yet; I would meet them later. I went downstairs, music in hand, to see many more people with black folders similar to mine. Here I met Angel, another Alto II, and my fifth friend so far on the trip. We shuttled over to the local LDS church meetingplace (located in a store front by a Farmer's Market in Jamaica, New York), and passed out our bags that had our red nametag-things and scarves (ties for the men). These scarves were huge purple things, that I liked, but not to wear as a scarf. Way too bulky. We managed. We had a meeting on the second day of rehearsal to decide what to do about them. Which was to rip or not rip, and to wear as we liked. Which was the starting position, but I think the women felt better after airing their concerns about the scarves.

So, rehearsal started, once the second group of busses came (we had to be bussed over in two groups, using two shuttles--there were over 80 of us). Dr Brady Allred was our conductor. He is amazing. If I ever have the opportunity to sing with him again, I will certainly take it. He's the kind of conductor that makes the people in his choir better just by participating. This whole experience reminded me of just how much I enjoy singing in a semi-professional choir. Simply fabulous.

We rehearsed for about 5 hours, with a break for dinner (subway--yum!), then got shuttled back to the hotel. Angel and I were in the second group, so we--and others of us--walked down to the Walgreens where we purchased those last few things that we might need. I needed glue sticks for my journal, which I managed to keep fastidiously this whole trip, pasting in all the tickets and momentoes and even post cards of everywhere we went. The shuttles finally came, and we were taken back to the hotel. I then met Diane and Rebecca (Don't ask me last names; I haven't recieved my roster yet), who were to be my roomies for the next 9 days, and we settled in for the night--our last night in America.

Friday morning, June 20, 2008

Up, packed, and ready to go fairly early. They had us leave our suitcases and paraphernalia in a locked room at the HJ, then shuttled us over to the LDS meetingplace again. This is Afton, who also sat by me during rehearsal:

The church is right behind us. And you can see our red nametag things, too. I did mention we were in Jamaica, right? During our lunch break Angel and I went into this fabric store, which had the lovliest fabric. It was hard to remind myself that I was going to Europe, I couldn't spend all my money here.

But it was tempting...

All-day rehearsal, followed by shuttling back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff, and then being shuttled to the International terminal at JFK. Where we got to check in, find our gate, and then wait. And wait. And wait some more. Our plane was very late. Which means our flight was very late arriving at Frankfurt the next morning. Which means we missed our flight to Vienna. It was a very, very long day. But I did get a picture of the waning moon as we flew over the Atlantic:

Here is the Frankfurt Airport, which I became all-too familiar with. Because the plane they put us on was--you guessed it--late.

At last! The plane that was to take us to Vienna!!