This Spring Break, I had the opportunity to travel with the Edina High School Tour Orchestra to Hong Kong. I traveled to Italy as a sophomore and Chicago as a junior, so this was my third orchestra trip. These trips are truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

What makes these trips so unique is not only traveling with a group filled with your best friends, but also traveling with your instrument. The statement “music is the universal language” is so true. Our group learned this especially during our school exchanges where we experienced hospitality like we’ve never known before. At a school in Macau, we had so much fun with the other students that we stayed past our scheduled time. During our school visit in Hong Kong, we got to have our stand partner be a student from the school for the group pieces we played. Sitting next to a fourteen-year old boy who has been playing violin almost longer than you have and trying to help him decipher your bad handwriting is truly a unique experience.

In addition to amazing musical opportunities, traveling with a school group is a great way to see a city. We were paired with a hilarious tour guide named David who showed us all the main attractions in Hong Kong, and made sure we had a great time. When we traveled to Guangzhou, China for a day and Macau, the tour organization paired us with tour guides who ensured that it ran smoothly. Without our Minnesota tour company (Grand Tours) we never could have had such a great experience. Thanks to our sponsorship by Dairy Queen, we even got to eat free ice cream in Guangzhou. Rice Paper Restaurant was also one of our main sponsors.

Some of my favorite parts of the trip were traveling to Lantau Island to see the Tian Tan Buddha and the Tai O Fishing Market, visiting a school in Macau, stopping at Repulse Bay so we could put our feet in the South China Sea, and riding a cable car to the top of Victoria Peak. Although our group encountered a lot of rain, there were always breaks in the clouds so we got to see awesome views.

Hong Kong is a beautiful place. Tall skyscrapers surround dense jungle mountains which go right up to the sea, a landscape which is hard to come by. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people or location to spend my last high school spring break. I hope that EHS continues to offer such incredible travel opportunities to its music groups so that other students can have the experiences that I’ve had.