Okay, today was busy!! We traveled to our last stop on tour, Vilnius. The bus ride was quite special today—we held the first annual Crane Awards! The section leaders and presidency members presented each member of the choir with a funny ‘anecdotal’ type award and an origami paper crane (yes, we had to fold 40 paper cranes). Other gifts were presented to our section leaders, grad students, and our incredible president, Courtney Lawson. Rebecca Miess even wrote Dr. Crane a book after his most famous song ‘quiet time,’ which we all signed and presented to him along with his paper crane crown. Needless to say, we love our director very much.
After a long bus ride and a pit stop at McDonald’s (which has Arby’s seasoned crinkle fries that were amazing), we arrived at a very nice Hilton Garden Inn. I am specifically mentioning that it was a Hilton because not only is it familiar, but it actually has large enough beds! We will all be getting plenty of beauty sleep tonight.
After we arrived, we had a few hours to explore the city and eventually meet up at the cultural center for rehearsal. Some went to look at shops and churches at Old Towne, others scootered their way around the city, and some opted for scenic walks to beautiful views of the city.
Ukraine is not forgotten
We had a great rehearsal with the Sonoros choir for tomorrow’s concert. It’s shaping up to be a good one, and hopefully it is because it’s our last one! (We are all trying not to think about that at the moment). We finished the evening with a combined dinner and more free time in city. We are soaking up every last drop of this beautiful place before we have to return to the States.
