Spencer - Van Etten School
Band
and Chorus Tour Finland While most high school students spend the first part of July relaxing following a busy school year, 70 student musicians and 12 adults from Spencer-Van Etten logged over 10,000 travel miles and made memories this July that will last a lifetime as participants in the second part of a musical exchange trip with the Kymi Wind Band from Kouvola, Finland. The first part of the exchange occurred last summer, when the members of the Kymi Wind Band visited the S-VE community for ten days. This year, after two years of intense planning and fund raising, the senior high band and chorus students from S-VE left for Finland on the morning of June 29. We had a tense start to our trip when we sat in traffic for three hours waiting to cross the George Washington Bridge. We made it to the airport about one hour before our flight, rushed through ticketing, customs and the security checks and made it to the plane, which was held up for close to 45 minutes waiting for our luggage. Once we arrived in Finland, we took busses to the Kymi Valley Music School in Kouvola, which was our base for the next two weeks. The S-VE students and chaperones stayed in the homes of Finnish host families throughout the trip. The hosts welcomed us into their homes, fed us well and treated us like honored guests. The first few days of the trip were spent rehearsing, taking bus tours of the Kymi River Valley, visiting the Russian border, spending a day at the Tykkimaki Amusement Park in Kouvola, and visiting two large paper mills. We also were treated to two wonderful evenings lakeside with our Finnish hosts. At those evening picnics we ate, played games, enjoyed the saunas and swam in the cold lakes. Our first concert was on July 4th in the architecturally modern Central Cathedral in Kouvola. We had a wonderful and appreciative audience and both the band and chorus performed well. Our second concert was the next night in the concert hall in Kuusankoski. The fine acoustics of the hall brought out the best in the students, who once again performed wonderfully in front of a large and appreciative crowd. The second week of the trip began with a trip to the old mill and museum in Verla and also included a hike through the beautiful Repovesi National Park and a day touring some of the major sights in Helsinki, including the central cathedral, the Church in the Rock and the Sibelius Monument. After leaving Helsinki, we boarded a Silja Line cruise ship for an overnight cruise across the Baltic to Stockholm, Sweden. While in Stockholm, we watched the changing of the guards at the royal palace and did some shopping in the busy downtown area of Stockholm before heading back to the ship for our cruise back to Helsinki. After landing back in Helsinki, we journeyed to Lahti, where we were able to participate in what may be a one of a kind tuba throwing contest, visited the Sibelius Concert Hall and rode a ski lift to the top of the ski jumps to get a panoramic view of the city below us. The day after the Lahti trip was spent with our host families. Some of us spent a peaceful day at summer cottages, while others traveled back across the Baltic to shop in Estonia. We celebrated our final day in Finland with a party at the ski center in Kouvola. By far the most popular activity was the downhill car track. We also played tennis and beach volleyball, climbed to the top of the hill for a final look at Kouvola, and went in one last sauna. We flew home on July 12th and arrived back at the S-VE high school around 11:30 p.m., tired but excited after our two week journey. A trip like this would not be possible without the efforts of many people. Thank you to the S-VE Friends of Music Finland Committee for working so hard planning both parts of the exchange. Thank you also to the entire Spencer-Van Etten school district and community. Their continued support of the S-VE music program makes experiences like this trip possible. Finally, thank you to the members of the Finger Lakes Finns for your support in making this trip a reality. If you would like more information on the trip, you can visit the S-VE music department website, www.sctboces.org/spencer/music/music.htm and click on the link to information on the Finland trip. |