Journal
Balkans
Travels through Eastern Europe with the Heinz Chapel Choir in May 2014.
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2014-05-03
Rila Monastery
After another great breakfast in the hotel, we left at about 9:30am on Friday for the Rila Monastery. It was a rather long bus ride — about two and a half hours — but the scenery was awesome as we made our way up into the mountains. The monastery itself was incredible. It was surrounded by tall rectangular buildings that formed somewhat of an irregular cube fortress. The inside of the monastery was overwhelming — ever inch of the walls was covered with beautiful artwork and intricate decorative engravings.
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2014-05-02
Sofia Concert
Thursday evening was the first concert in the tour at a Catholic church in Sofia. There was a quick rehearsal earlier in the day, and from the sounds of it, I knew it was going to be an awesome concert. I have heard Heinz Chapel choir throughout my four years at Pitt, but I was unable to make their spring concert this past semester, so I was really looking forward to hearing them tonight.
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2014-05-02
Food
So I’m doing a pretty terrible job blogging, but it is what is. The first night we were here, we had a great dinner comprised of a salad-like appetizer with fresh tomatoes and sliced cucumber. The meal consisted of chicken and potatoes — both of which were really flavorful. The dessert was some sort of Carmel pudding that had the consistency of flan. After dinner, we just played some cards back at the hotel and hit the sack pretty early.
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2014-04-30
Travel
Believe it or not, I ran into Don Charlton (the CEO and founder of The Resumator — the company I will be working at in a few weeks) at the Dulles airport. It is certainly a small world. Random meetings aside though, we had a very uneventful experience at the airport and departed for Germany on time. The flight was pretty smooth as well — no complaints. I had a nice chicken dinner while watching the first movie in the Bourne trilogy.
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2014-04-29
The Unexpected
I got a call from Mr. Goldsmith on Sunday night. He told me that one of the guys in Heinz Chapel Choir could not go on the trip and at the last minute, and he invited me to come along. Honestly, I’m still trying to process everything — things happened so fast! But for whatever reason, here I am: about to embark on a two week tour through Eastern Europe. I am so grateful for this unbelievable opportunity.
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