Pride of Cincinnati Diaries 2006

12/15-12/20

Chad Greife

Marching with the Pride of Cincinnati is a pretty awesome experience within itself, but to take a trip to Europe on top of that makes it that much better. Trying to describe the sensations that we were all having at different times during the trip is a tedious task. I know for me it pushed the limits of what I call exhausted. But when you are at a level of professionalism that is expected at the POC then you just have to grin and bare it. Now don't get me wrong this definitely was not a trip that we all had to drudge through to get to the end. In fact I think that there were a few of us, if given the choice, could have stayed and took a spot at Pride of the Netherlands. But it certainly was a tiring trip. Since I knew I was going to be writing in the Pride Diaries about this trip I decided that I needed to keep a journal throughout our international travels. So what you are going to be reading is what happened when it happened as far as I remember, which isn't a whole lot. So here it is unedited and unplugged. Ladies and Gentlemen the POC is proud to present our trip to Europe.

2/15/06- So here it is. The saga begins. It is Wednesday morning and it is 10:26am we are supposed to meet at the KMart at 10:30 and of course we are late. Glad to see that this trip is starting off with a great start. I can't believe that we are still on the interstate right now. The sad thing is that we are following Nick, he doesn't even know where he is most of the time and he is going to get us to KMart on time. Oh well, wait....ok good news Jackie just called and she said that Travis called her and told her that no one is there yet. Thank God, I never feel bad about being late if there are a lot of other people who are late too. Man I am so tired right now and the trip hasn't even begun yet.
Last night Sam, Yoshi and I all decided to come up from Indy and stay in Cincinnati for the night. We knew that we were going to be on a plane all day today so we decided to stay up as late as we could. After finally finding Jackie's place (btw it's really cute) and getting all the last minute things done, we of course decided to go out. So yeah that means we got home about 4 hours ago. Oh well I am ready to pass out on that plane. I keep telling myself that this is just another show weekend. But it is not this is our 1st Regional and in EUROPE!!!! Heck ya. I know a lot of us just want to give those Dutch an awesome show. Good news though I finally got that headstand. I wonder if Johnny puts it in this weekend. Oh we are at the KMart. Good, everyone is just standing around.***

*** Ok well that was interesting, well we all arrived at the parking lot of Kmart. Well almost all of us made it. We had some other Indianapolis travelers that were late. It's quite a funny story that Kim has no problem sharing with people. Of course when has Kim ever had a problem telling a funny story? That girl cracks me up; watching her tell a story is like watching Tiger from Winnie the Pooh on Speed. Kim is a little afraid that her trip is starting off with bad karma. With everyone late and then having to wait for Kim and Caitlin we were still ahead of schedule. Kim reminded us that thanks to their tardiness that we were back on schedule. So a big thanks goes to those two. We all made it to the airport and got everything checked in without any problems. We even got complimented from the Delta guy. From there we had a bit of a wait. Everyone seemed to be preparing for the long flight in different ways. Some chilled out, some slept, some ate and some got that last minute cigarette in. Lots of people got their money changed over to that ever-popular Euro. So right now we are sitting on the plane getting ready to take off for NYC. I wonder how Sam is doing right now. Well his eyes are closed but something tells me he is not sleeping. BTW Sam hates to fly so this is really hard for him.***

*** Well we all made it to NYC safely and everything seems to be running smoothly. We had about an hour and a half layover, so by the time people used the restroom, smoked, and grabbed a quick bite to eat it was time to board the plane again. We are now sitting on our plane that will take us to Amsterdam. I feel like the paparazzi are around me right now, there are so many flashes of cameras. I am sure we are a sight for people to see. I really hope that Christine, Suzanne and Kristen are doing all right. I would be freaking out if I was doing this on my own, but I am sure they are used to it.oh wow here we go. The plane is taking off and.. we.. are.airborne. Good time to sleep. See ya in Amsterdam.***

***2/16/06- Well we made it to Amsterdam. It's hard to believe that we are in Europe right now. The flight went really well and we all made it through customs just fine. The worst thing is that we needed to sit at the airport for like 5 hours. Most people didn't mind because we got a chance to catch up on some sleep. But of course that would be too easy. The airport security came around and apparently sleeping in the airport is a huge threat there. Well that made it hard for us to do anything. Lots of people went and had some dinner. Some people, like Julianne, tried to do that whole I am wearing sunglasses so you can't see my eyes are closed thing. It doesn't fool too many people when your mouth is wide open and snoring. It was finally time to go so of course that's when it starts raining. We defiantly packed the bus tight with luggage. Now we are on our way to Amsterdam to have some lunch. Good because I got really hungry all the sudden.***

***Well its Thursday night and we are all getting ready to go to bed. Tonight was fun, after the bus dropped us off everyone had about an hour to go and get some food. This was the first opportunity for everyone to do some light shopping and a little sightseeing. We headed to the Pride Hall which was a little over an hour away. As soon as we arrived Charlie told us to get ready for rehearsal. I think we all forgot why we were here besides for a great time. After an "inspirational speech" from Johnny we were all reminded of our purpose. We worked out our kinks from the long plane ride and in no time were back in the swing of things. The staff taped our floor together and we were in one piece again. We finally finished rehearsal about 4 hours later to some pizza and fries. Wow, are we American or what? The Pride Hall is really cool. We had wonderful hospitality from The Pride of the Netherlands. Frank was an awesome guy to talk to about Color Guard and Drum Corps. What I always loved about this activity is the passion and the timeless effort people put into what we do. My favorite thing in Drum Corps is to listen to stories from alumni about what it was like when they marched and the struggles they went through to keep the organization alive. It was inspiring to see that it is the exact same passion and love on the other side of the Atlantic. Seeing him and Yoshi talk was a pretty cool cultural experience too. God I love this activity. Well I need some sleep. 5, 6, 7, dut dut.***

***2/17/06-Well it is Friday afternoon. We just finished with rehearsal now and we are heading to a dinner that the town is throwing for us. It sounds pretty cool; I'm just really hungry right now so I am excited about food. Rehearsal went pretty well. It was about 7 hours and it went really quick, especially the warm-up. Ok so the plugs are different here in Europe and we did body warm up to counts this morning. Lunch was good, thanks so much to The Pride for providing the meal. "Its HAM, WITH MAYNOASE." I was one of the people who really enjoyed that interesting potato salad. The staff looked pretty excited about the run thru. It was funny though because they asked us about how we felt about it and we just stared at them still panting as Shady said, "Its Hard, we're doing a lot of stuff." So poetically said Shady. After the staff talked we showered and loaded the "DARN FLOOR". That's what I am calling it now until we are done with it. Good, we are here I am starved. ***

***Ok so no one is sure what is going on right now. So we went to the place where we were going to do a nice little presentation and a dinner, so we thought. They walk us in and of course we feel very uncomfortable, "ummm hello people we don't know from another country." But we did our pleasantries and moved on. Man everyone is really giggly on the bus right now. Anyway they did this presentation of their flag to us and gave us some local cookies. Which I thought was very nice. Thank you town of Huizen. Then they said, "ok we need to go somewhere else for the food." Ummm ok we need to be in a clinic in like 45 min but if no one else is concerned why should I be. Who knows where we are going now. ***

***Ok that was cool. Were back on the bus now heading to the clinic. So we pulled up to this awesome restaurant. Melissa and Julianne-o-meter give it a high 10. I personally had the spare ribs. They were excellent. And ended it with.wow Caitlyn and Kim know the last names of everyone in the guard.anyway we ended it with some awesome ice cream. And of course the eye candy with the meal was great right Nathan and Amanda. Hey guys anything else interesting happen that I can write down.. ok. well Julianne says that she is interesting and a cool girl.. anyway well we are at the show. Well never mind we took a wrong turn. Um anyone have anything else to add.ok.well Kristen is over the extremely cold water in the bathrooms. I can agree with that, I get hypothermia every time I wash my hands. Ok now it looks like we are here. Charlie just went inside***

***2/17/06- Well yesterday ended really well. We are on the bus right now getting ready to go to lunch. We did the clinic with Oracle and everyone seemed to really like us. After another no tension floor folding (hahaha) we headed back to the Pride Hall. Everyone was pretty tired, but Shady, Jackie, Kim, Yoshi and I convinced Charlie to stay up a bit longer. I think it was the Machine Face. 7:00am came really soon with Charlie giving everyone a personal wake up call. We went to a very quick rehearsal then prepared for the show. Well almost all of us rehearsed. Christina got what we call the Color Guard Rash. It really is a medical term you can look it up. Christina got a huge rash that covered her everywhere. The doctors said it was caused because of an infected knee from going on the ground and slamming it down so much. At least that is what I was told so I could be way off. But Scoops (that is such a cute name) is doing much better now. We had our very spacious Pride Body Warm up (again haha). If everything is bigger in Texas, then everything is smaller in Europe. The show went really well and the crowd really got into it. We packed everything up and are now almost to the restaurant. Thank god we didn't need to load the floor.***

*** Well lunch was good almost everyone had the Hamburger/Hotdog combo that Charlie provided. Some of us had to take one for the team and eat somewhere else. Shady, Jackie, Sam and I all had some Chinese. Now a Dutch accent can be hard to understand at times, but a Chinese Dutch accent is impossible to decipher. Oh well it was REALLY good, even though I had no idea what I ordered. Alright time to get ready for Finals. Yay. ***

*** Well we are on our way back to the Pride Hall. After lunch we did a real quick rehearsal and equipment run thru. Then it was time to get ready for another show. We went through the same routine as before without too many SNAFU's (thanks for the new word Charlie). The show went really well. Everyone was excited and we ended up with an 86-point something. It was awesome hanging out with Oracle during retreat we had a blast with them and can't wait to see them again at WGI. After the show they announced that we were not taking the floor back to America and if anyone wants a piece to help themselves. It was so cool watching people tear our floor up. Lots wanted pictures and autographs with that piece of floor. Which we were happy to oblige. We threw the leftovers under the bus. Maybe we'll find a dumpster for it somewhere. Lets have a moment of silence for our old floor.. ok enough of that. I think I can speak for everyone when I say thank god we are done with that heavy floor. Lets get some final thoughts of the day from people. Rachel what is your Final thought."Amsterdinians Rock".. Ok what about you Suzanne "It is darn cold everywhere in this country". Uh oh hold on.. ok needed to put on a seat belt there is a cop behind us. Lets have some more final thoughts. Amanda what about you. "Puke if you gotta Puke". Thank you Amanda. Ok we are here. Time to have fun***

***WOW. I mean a big WOW. Last night was soooooo cool. Ok I was just reading Amanda's final thought from last night and can we say foreshadowing anyone. So its Sunday morning right now and we are on our way to our Free Day in Amsterdam. A day many of us have been looking forward to for awhile. But we are all a bit tired this morning. So last night was amazing. We walk into the Pride Hall and there are tons of people at the bar area and everyone is cheering as we walk in. I am of course all about this. Some people were really tired after a long day, but we all pulled it out and showed The Pride that we can party as well. After Shady, Jackie, Daniel, Christine, Nick and I all took a long shower we decided to join in the fun as well. I still didn't feel very clean afterward. Oh well, it was such a cool experience just partying with The Pride people. They had the dance floor opened up and for people like us that is a scary combination. We taught them the hip-hop feature that Johnny taught us and they even taught us a few moves. It was really cool getting to know so many people. We were all up to the crack of dawn and now we have another full day ahead of us. And what a day I am anticipating***

***Well this is it. The final entry. We are on the plane now ready to go home. What a trip this has been. We all got dropped off at the hotel in Amsterdam. After that we were free to run around the city until the next day. Most of us branched off to do our own thing in smaller groups. We all ran into each other as the day went on. There was even a point in the day when half the guard was hanging out in a coffee shop. The big thing to see was the Van Gogh Museum and the Ann Frank House. It is hard to describe the free day. Many people had different experiences. Some people stayed up the entire time and held tight to every moment that we were there. Others took naps and attacked the city when they needed to. All in all I could tell that everyone really enjoyed the trip and had an awesome time. It was more then just a new city; it was a new culture and a new way of doing and looking at things. I know I feel a lot closer to my fellow members and staff after this extended vacation. As a Color Guard we made leaps and bounds visually and emotionally. I want to thank Charlie and the Board of Directors for this awesome experience. But most importantly thank you POC. I wouldn't want to travel to Europe with any other people. I want to end this Pride Diary by quoting Suzanne, "well 4 out of 30 ain't bad "

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