Pride of Cincinnati Diaries 2006

12/15-12/20

Shannon Clark

Our long awaited voyage to Amsterdam for the WGI European Regional came and went way too fast!! It started something like this..
Wednesday morning we met in the parking lot of the Florence (Y'all) K-mart in northern Kentucky. We hung out, took pictures, held a small dance party, loaded some cars, and left for the airport. The Airport events were smooth rollin'. Some people acquired Euros while others slept, and some hit up the Starbucks in the spirit and love of coffee. Our flights to Amsterdam were eventful; we took lots of pictures and laughed just loud enough to keep most of the plane awake for a few hours. Then we slept as, our Amsterdam arrival time was to be 7:55 am, or 1:55 am Cincinnati time. Of course when we arrived in the Amsterdam airport, we had a 5 hour block of time to do what we thought would be sleeping; however, we quickly learned that sleeping in the Amsterdam airport was not cool, and the security people were quite persistent about reminding us that this was the case.

Rehearsal Thursday night was in the Pride of the Netherlands hall in Huizen, Holland, approximately 36 km from Amsterdam. While the guard rehearsed, the staff pieced and taped our 60 x 90 foot tarp back together in a 55 x 70 foot facility. They did a fabulous job (no scarcasm), and we, the guard were so excited to fold that tarp and get it under the bus (extreme sarcasm)! Oh and let me not forget that while we rehearsed, the Pride of the Netherlands folks held a straight up party at their hall. I was jealous.well just a little, and those folks sure know how to party.

Moving right on to Friday..
We woke up, stuffed our faces with bread covered in chocolate sprinkles, and some mini cups of coffee, tea and juice. All beverages in Holland are mini by the way. Then, we packed onto our bus and went to rehearsal for the next 8 or so hours at the end of which we had our first dropless run (which we hope and strive to do again). Following rehearsal we spiffied up a little, put on our "blacks," and headed to a dinner provided by the city of Huizen. We thought we were going straight to dinner and then to do a clinic with Oracle. Little did we know that these wonderful people hosting our dinner had also planned a short cocktail hour where we drank wine, and consumed some mysterious hors d'oeuvres. Finally, we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant.THANKS HUIZEN!!!

Our clinic followed the dinner. We watched Oracle; Oracle watched us; there are a few pictures on the Pride message board if you want to see (www.prideofcincinnati.com). Great clinic, fun times, lets move on.
Saturday.

So Saturday we woke up real, real early. We ate some bread with chocolate sprinkles, and drank mini coffee, tea, and juice. Rehearsal flew by in about 2 hours, ate some sandwiches, we showered, put on make up, put on costumes, loaded the tarp (fun), loaded the bus and headed for the show. Our first run went pretty well, the crowd at prelims was out of control loud. We the colorguard had tons of fun in that run, and we got to leave the tarp and not load it under the bus!
Next, we ate at a small café, and headed back for some brief rehearsal, redid our makeup and hair, watched Keith and Charlie sleep on the floor, changed into costume, loaded the bus and returned to the show site for finals.

Finals were awesome!!! We did not have a stereo at all so we sang The Greatest Love of All, which may or may not have sounded good but it felt very unifying. The guard vibe was relaxed as we entered the floor and greeted the extremely loud crowd. Our run was far from perfect yet it was filled with energy. It was by far my most favorite run to date for the 2006 Pride of Cincinnati. One of the greatest memories of the entire trip was pushing the tarp off the floor behind the curtain and meeting up with Rosie who shed a tear or two while commenting that our performance was moving, as we looked very mature as performers. Usually its Bart that cries.he's a crier that one; I guess a little just rubbed off on Rosie. Then we cut up that retched tarp and gave it away to anyone who wanted a piece. We loaded the bus and headed back to the Pride of the Netherlands hall for some celebrating Dutch style. There are some pictures of this event on the pride website too. FYI.the Dutch people know how to party. 'Nuff said.

So here it is Sunday morning. We really did not wake up on time. We woke up like an hour and a half late, probably a direct result of the previous evening events. We ate bread and chocolate sprinkles. Matt loaded the bus all by himself, THANKS MATT. Then we headed to Amsterdam for a few hours of rushing around to get in as many museums as possible. First we had to check into our hotel and take a few group pictures then it was off. All I have to say was it was the greatest day of my life I think. Jackie, Chad and I started our day with some cheesecake for lunch and it only went up from there. A trip to the Van Gogh museum and the Ann Frank House followed some time during that day. At one point the whole colorguard met in the Red Light district for some viewing of the bare scenery. We only had about 16 hours to experience Amsterdam, the coolest city on earth.

Monday morning crept up a little too quick for my taste. Matt totally loaded the bus for us again so we could head on to the airport in a timely fashion, THANKS MATT. This day I opted for a change of menu and ate some muffins for breakfast.mmmm I'm totally up on that chocolaty goodness. Finally, we arrived at the airport, one of the saddest moments of my life, and boarded a plane back to Cincinnati. I totally slept for the entire way home. Thank You POC for this opportunity!! It was truly a high point in my life!!!

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