With this excitement comes a flurry of my last minute preparations for this trip. These include things like making sure my luggage actually meets the specifications for international travel. It does, it just took me about two hours of measuring, himming, and hawing in order to come to that conclusion. I don't want to be that person that didn't make sure his baggage could actually get on the plane. Luckily another member of our choir put together a packing list for everyone, so we could check things off as we put them into our luggage. In other words, so we don't forget anything. Among the music, tuxes, and umbrellas I hope to find some sanity.
Tonight, we have another rehearsal as a choir. The song list that we have put together for our concerts has three main sections: Masters of Choral Literature, American vs. Irish Folk Songs, and American Spirituals. When our director gave us this list, I became even more excited for this tour because I could see both us learning about the traditional music culture of Ireland with songs like "Danny Boy" and "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and us teaching about the traditional music culture of the United States with songs like "Shenandoah" and "Nelly Bly." Also, American Spirituals are one of my favorite types of choral music, so I'm ready to share that with a new audience. I love to sing, so even though we'll log up about 20 hours of rehearsal time before we even get to Ireland, I know it's going to be worth it.
Other preparation activities I should probably finish up. I should make sure that my tux pants are still hemmed. Other small but important things like that are on my To-Do lists underlined with my determination.
I should also mention that this blog and this experience are also encouraged by the Honors Program at MSSU. They require for members to study abroad and to document the journey with a blog, and I am so thankful for this because it gave me a reason to travel which is something that I've always wanted to do.
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