Walking through a traditional German town almost out of a fable, watching the clear blue sky over a breathtakingly transparent fjord surrounded by snowy mountains and visiting cultures firsthand in Europe is something many will never experience in their lifetime, but for various students in band and their parents, they will never forget it.
Every four years, students in the high school marching band are offered the opportunity to sightsee and perform across Europe. For fifteen days during the summer, the group will travel to five different countries across Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France, and will visit a plethora of interesting and renowned locations on the way.
For band director Gregory Wells, it will be his sixth time going on the trip, once as a student and now his fifth time as an adult. His favorite place to visit is the Alps mountain range that spans across multiple countries, but more than that, he treasures the memories and moments he made with his peers and students.
“You will literally never be able to do a trip like this again, with that many friends and colleagues,” Wells said. “You might be able to travel abroad [in the future], which is awesome, but it’s often with a class of five or six people from your college, and you don’t even know them. It’s a different experience.”
The Alps mountain range, which is in Switzerland and Austria. This view is one of Wells’ favorites. Photo credit to Greg Wells.
In addition, Wells believes the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities the trip offers make it a no-brainer to attend.
“The impact is amazing, and the memories and the experiences are lifelong,” Wells said. “For some people, it’s the only time they’ll ever get into Europe, let alone out of the country. It’s immensely cool to see that many cultures and learn all these different things and try these foods, and you just may never get [to do] that again.”
Junior Brody Thompson is one such person that has not been out of the United States before. However, on this trip, he will be able to visit an entirely different hemisphere of the world, and gain invaluable memories with his friends.
“This is kind of an otherworldly experience. I can’t really process the fact that it’s happening yet,” Thompson said. “I think it’s cool that we get to share our music with other countries and see how they react to it. We’re going to be in a lot of small towns rather than big cities, so people get to really appreciate it, stop their days, listen in and have fun with it.”
This change of pace in performances is impactful in most of the students. In addition to the audience being more appreciative and spontaneous, the entire atmosphere is different than a traditional performance setting.
The difference is enough to inspire growth and learning in the abilities of the aspiring musicians. Sophomore Kelly Burke is more than ready for the change.
“I get really nervous for performances, but outdoor performances sound like a lot of fun, so I’m really excited for the performance part and also just seeing new places,” Burke said. “I feel like when people come to those outdoor spaces, it’s not necessarily planned and it sometimes seems a little more exciting.”
A photo taken of a French town on the Europe trip. This setting is a good example of type of places the students will be performing at. Photo credit to Greg Wells.
To know what to expect, Burke reached out to a former fellow student who went on the last trip to Europe. College freshman Maddie Tay went on the trip in 2019, and now attends the University of Michigan.
“She said it was amazing, [and] she had so much fun with her friends,” Burke said. “She really liked that we get to stay in hotels really close to the mountains, and so I’m excited for that.”
Wells believes the most important part of the trip is the opportunity to observe the lifestyles on the other side of the world.
“Being in a language minority is new for us,” Wells said. “Everywhere in the world, even in most of Europe, they speak English but you look around and all the signs are not in English. People speak to you first in German [even if they can] usually speak English pretty well. But it’s that idea of, ‘holy cow, this is this is not home, this is somewhere truly foreign.’”