Senior Reflections - Tenors Ike Brehm

Tenors:
Carson- Carson’s favorite thing about the trip was definitely the acoustics he wishes that we had more places and churches like they have in Italy.

Franklin- Franklin really loved the art that was in all the museums he learned a lot about the history and the artists of Italy.

Clark- Clark really loved everything about Italy. He loved the museums he loved the cities, he just absolutely everything.

Ike- My favorite part was being together with everyone and the thing that made all the performances worth singing was being surrounded by the friends, and these aren’t just classmates they are people who you could talk to for hours. They are true friends.

Senior Reflections: Soprano Hanna Bleznak

3/6/15

If you asked the Sopranos to describe this trip in three words, they would sum it up to "eye opening", "inspiring", and slightly "insane".

Last night the chorus split up into our four sections; alto, tenor, bass, and soprano to discuss our overall experience from the past 7 days. A senior led each discussion, and with just 2 months left of our high school choral experiences, were able to reflect on the growth of this amazing ensemble. Eye opening is a phrase we have both heard and used countless times on this trip describing attractions such as the ruins of Pompeii, the architecture overflowing Rome,  and the religion and culture that encompasses the country.  Living in a city like Virginia Beach, we don't see a lot of history or architecture that hasn't been modernized. The Pompeii ruins have been maintained to remain in their best original condition in order to tell the story of life in Pompeii. In Rome, much of the city has been renovated, but renovated to resemble its original image. The art painted on the ceilings of the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Church tell the story of ancient Italy and Catholic beliefs of creation. This trip has brought me an overwhelming sense of peace by the religion this culture worships, even though it is so different from my own. Many times throughout this journey we have questioned the reasoning for things such as different languages, different religions, different food, (even different outlets and bathroom appliances).  And while we may not have the answers to all of those, we have learned to embrace these new experiences and remain open minded regarding these differences.

When we departed for Italy, my mind was set on fulfilling my childhood dream (based on the Lizzie McGuire Movie) of meeting a boy at the Trevi Fountain and becoming an Italian popstar. This was soon made more realistic to me when I lost my voice on the second day of the trip, and the Trevi Fountain was under construction. So since that was out of the question, it was time to set my sight on the true meaning of this trip, making music. While a small fraction of our time was actually spent singing, the appreciation we received from our audience members was by far the most meaningful part of this trip. The majority of our performances were spontaneous, and began with nearly no onlookers. But by the conclusion of each piece, we held the attention of those who heard us. This was such a great difference from our assembly performances as we could sense the passion those listening had for our sound. While they most likely did not understand the words we were saying, they responded to our tones, facial expressions, dynamics and overall emotions within each song. I believe our chorus benefitted greatest from witnessing the affect our music can have when we truly portray its purpose.

For seven days now we have spent nearly 20 hours a day together (23 teenagers won't sleep much at night). You can imagine it could be difficult to coexist when there is little time to ourselves (most of which is spent napping), and some disputes happen to arise. Between misplacing a passport, misplacing two kids (we found them), leaving a sleeping student on the bus (not our fault), and dealing with food allergies (and an unbelievable abundance of food), this journey has proved to be just a tad insane. And although my Lizzie McGuire dream may be lost, I feel comfortable returning to Virginia Beach knowing this ensemble has grown together over the past week, and will be even stronger because of this when we seniors depart in two months. Ciao :)

Papal Audience - Madison Levine

Madison Levine

3/4/15

This morning started off extremely early, but it was definitely worth it. At 5:30 the front desk gave us our wake up call and we had around 45 minutes before we had to be down in the lobby

and ready to go. We all boarded the bus with our boxed breakfast ready to go and headed to the Vatican for the second time this entire trip. At around 7 we got in line to enter the Vatican where Pope Francis would be entering around 2 or 3 hours later. Half an hour later, the guards opened the gates to the Vatican and we all ran as fast as we could to get seats because there were so many people. We actually got really good seats a few rows behind the first row, and we were very close to the Pope's chair. While waiting for the Papal audience to begin, we warmed up with a couple of songs and talked with each other. A few moments later, a man came out and announced all the Italian groups present, and then another came up announcing all the French groups present, and so on so forth. When they finally announced all the English-speaking groups present, we all got super excited. They finally announced the Cape Henry Collegiate Choir, and we began singing "Everytime I Feel the Spirit" instead of cheering like everyone else when their group was called. Then on the big screens around the area, a live video of Pope Francis and his cardinals saying prayers in Italian came on. Finally, the Pope came out in this fancy white car and the entire crowd started cheering. As the car he was in, drove around the area, his security guards would carry some of the babies and hand them to Pope Francis so he could kiss the baby's' heads. He even stopped to talk to an elderly women, and it was so sweet. When he sat down in his chair, he began speaking. However not everyone could speak the same language as him, so there were about 10 different translators that summarized what he said afterwards. At first I wasn't that excited to hear the same thing translated into so many different languages, but then I remembered that the Pope was literally so close to us and that this opportunity doesn't come around often. Also, being in the Vatican was amazing, because all the buildings are so intricate and jaw-dropping. It was also really cool being surrounded by so many cultures that all came together to see the Pope.
Currently, we're headed to Assisi. We stopped about 40 minutes into the trip for lunch, and now everyone is sleeping or talking with one another on the bus. I can't wait to see what the last few days have in store for us. If they're anything like the past few days, then I know they will be absolutely amazing.

Renaissance Rome #CHCItaly15

Anna Xystros

Later that day, we walked around Renaissance Rome. We visited the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Panthoen. Sadly, the Trevi fountain was under restoration, so we were not able to see it when it was actually running. Oh well, I guess that just means we have to come back. After our walking tour we checked in to our hotel, the Nova Domus. The hotel was very nice and had a long balcony that was connected to every room on that floor. The balcony was a great way for all of us to come together each day to talk and spend time with each other. For dinner, we walked down the street to a delicious pizza restaurant. It was quite strange to us because the streets of Rome were empty due to the fact that there was a major soccer match that night between Rome, ranked at 2nd in Italy and Juventus, the number one team in Italy. After dinner we returned to our hotel and went to bed and prepared for the next day.


3/3/15

Today was more relaxed. We started the day off with a tour of the Colosseum. The Colosseum was incredible; it was mind blowing how a building built in the year 80 AD, could be in such great condition and be so beautiful. It was the experience of a lifetime! Later in the day we toured the roman forum and the academia Santa Cecilia, an academy of music, which were very interesting. After we completed our tours we had leisure time to relax. While many students and chaperones took their first true Italian "siesta" or nap, nine students, myself included, and Mr Cunningham decided to go on a walk. We walked from the hotel around the Vatican and into St. Peter's square. We walked around a country, wow! On the way back we stopped for a quick snack and then returned to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a fantastic 5 course dinner at Alle due Fontanelle. When we returned to our hotel, we went straight to bed and braced ourselves for the dreaded 5:30 wake up call the next morning.



This trip has been an unforgettable opportunity. I can't wait for what the rest of the trip has in store for us. Ciao!

The Vatican, The Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica, Oh my!

By Hazel Tankard

On the dawn of March 2nd, we left our hotel in Sperlonga to head to the beautiful Vatican museum in Vatican City, located in Rome. Our tour guide shared several interesting facts with us. The Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo took him a total of nine years to complete, and in fact he never wanted to paint it anyway since he was a sculptor. Following the tour of the Sistine Chapel we went to Saint Peter's Basilica which is known to be the most holy Catholic Church in all the world. To us the experience was eye opening. The church also contains a door known as the holy door that is only opened every twenty-five years by the pope. In between that time, the door is plastered over so that it could not be opened even accidentally.

Reflections Alex Mancoll Italy

Alex Mancoll:

I'm very excited to be on this trip. I've always wanted to travel to Italy, and now I finally am getting the chance. Today is my 17th birthday, and I can't think of a better way to spend it. We are going to tour the Vatican museum today, and I am really excited.

Yesterday we went somewhere that I have wanted to go to since I learned about it in our sixth grade language roots class. I never dreamed that I would ever have the opportunity to do so, but yesterday we toured Pompeii. It was an amazing experience, and it was much nicer than I ever dreamed it would be. I was expecting just the remains of a few stones giving the general outline of buildings, but there was much more than that. There was full walls, and at times almost completely intact buildings. I could really picture what the city used to look like before it fell. There was even intact art on some of the walls. It was a beautiful place, and I am very grateful to have been given this experience.

Later that day we sang at a church in a city called Lenola. It was an amazing experience, and since the town was so small, they made us feel so special, as our appearance was a huge event for them. We then went to a very nice restaurant, where we ate a very nice meal, and sang songs for them. A group of Italians in the restaurant knew some of our songs, and they sang with us. It was an amazing experience. We met these people who can't understand our language, and we can't understand theirs. We then stood shoulder to shoulder, and just started to sing. Music was a unifying force, and it was so amazing to just spontaneously start singing, practically flawlessly, with a group of kind foreigners we had never met before. It was an amazing experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Lenola, Italy

On Sunday evening we visited the small village of Lenola. The chorus performed at a mass and later at dinner.

Drew Marscheider:
The city of Lenola was a small town crowded with the kind culture of the Italians. We were greeted at first by many stares, but as the night went on, we found that the Italians were very friendly people who seemed to have enjoyed our company. Last night we performed at the Saint Mary Major church in Lenola. We had the chance to experience Mass in the Italian language which was a very interesting experience. The church seemed to have treated us as we were the choir of their church.

We performed multiple songs that the Italians definitely appreciated. At the end of Mass we made our way up to the front of the church and sang countless songs which turned out very nice. Afterwards, we were greeted by the Mayor of Lenola who spoke to us in Italian saying "we enjoyed your company, we hope to see you again and that he would like to bring his choir to our school in the future." He then gave us a plaque with our picture for the church's appreciation. It read "Comune di Lenola al Coro Cape Henry Collegiate Upper School Chorus con stigma a gratitudine per la presenza."

Later that night we met many of the people we saw at the church, at a restaurant named "Ai Piozzi." As people started to arrive we performed even more songs. In some of the songs, the Italians sang with us making our chorus sound even stronger. All of the Lenola community made us feel welcome and a part of their community.

Pompeii CHC Italy

On Sunday morning, our group traveled further south to Pompeii. The students spent the morning touring the remains of a thriving trading city at the height of the Roman Empire.

Rachel Keenan:

The city of Pompeii was absolutely beautiful. We toured around and saw structures like houses, sanctuaries, and theaters that were incredibly preserved. The architecture and the roads were almost exactly how they were before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Even the stepping stones to cross the road were still in place. The structures were very large and intact and although archeologists have found the majority of the city, there is about a fifth of the city still waiting to be discovered.

We learned that Pompeii was a city that was once on the coast and held many sailors who built large homes to house a good amount of these sailors. We got to go into a home which belonged to a wealthy family, and the estate was huge. Even the bedrooms were two floors! Our tour guide told us that this was common in ancient cities because they were surrounded by walls and the only way to expand their cities was to build on top of the existing structures. We saw a sanctuary where the citizens of Pompeii would worship their emperor and make sacrifices during their ceremonies.
While in the theaters that held plays and musical performances, we even got to sing "All Ye Who Music" and "Earth Song" which others touring the ancient city also seemed to enjoy. Ever since I was about six years old I have wanted to visit the city of Pompeii and see this amazing city, and it was better than I ever imagined." 

Sperlonga, Italy

From a bus to Dulles, to the flight to Amsterdam, to the final flight to Rome Italy Nexus 2015 Participants were smoothly Transferred to Europe. As, with any trip, little dramas always occur along the way, the who is diverted for an extended search in the security line, to the always enjoyable, "Where's My Passport?", the group sailed through travel on day one without a hitch.

Upon arrival, the group went from Rome to Sperlonga, Italy about two hours south. We are staying at the Gannimede, a true four star hotel, with a very modern style in the former fishing village turned major summer tourist attraction.

Clark Berlin: Following check, we visited Emperor Tiberius' Villa and Grotto. We saw Roman sculptures depicting the great sea monster, Scylla, to scenes of the one eyed giant, Polyphemus, being blinded by the hero Ulysses, etc. All of These sculptures were originally situated inside the grotto Because That was where Tiberius His guests entertained. They were conversation pieces, like today's movies.

We Walked down to the archaeological site of Emperor Tiberius' Villa. The walls were crumbling but you could imagine what it could have Looked like Thousands of years in August Then we went into the grotto, Which is like a shallow cave. There were pools of That held water fish; Romans enjoyed fresh fish, so they created Specifically These pools to breed and hold fish. While inside, we sang "Total Praise" as a choir. The acoustics were beautiful.

I personally enjoyed being Involved in the demonstration of the Roman toilets. I volunteered to act as Emperor Tiberius for a demonstration. The tour guides Told us about how the Emperor wore a diaper. He wrapped me in a loincloth and tied it into a diaper!

Then, we went to Gaeta in Southern Italy. The town was very quaint and historically important in Italian history. We visited The Golden Chapel, Which in the past also served as a pharmacy, hospital, and orphanage. Many servants Had to abandon Their newly born children, Which was very common in Italy During medieval times. The Majority of the orphans were females, and they were well taken care of and raised with a good education. We went into the sanctuary, dedicated to Holy Mary. In this sanctuary, Pope Pius the IX had a vision of the Holy Mary's Immaculate conception, and this is why the Italians have celebrations on the 8th of December. This sanctuary Had large beautiful paintings of the New Testament stories circling the room, one of Which Was a rare depiction of the Holy Mary's birth. The ceiling Had designs painted with real gold and the royal blue That Represented the Mycean? Dynasty. "