Friday, April 21st
My dream was about to come true. Finally. After nine years, I would finally be able to play in the Chan center in UBC. My dad graduated here, and I hope to as well one day. We worked with an amazing conductor (and I won’t say who, just for confidentiality purposes) on one of our hardest pieces of the year “Symphonic Dance No. 3 – Fiesta” and he vastly improved us as a band. He made us repeat multiple bars for what seemed like a hundred times, but it was worth it. Just having the opportunity to play there was heaven! It was roughly a two hour workshop. Afterwards, all of us who weren’t in jazz band, walked around the rose garden, the grand libraries in UBC, and just around the campus. I was surprised as to how much I remembered about the campus and how close I was to tears that day. Walking around brought back so many memories, it was surreal.
Afterwards, we went to the aquarium! This was my sixth time going there. I had seen it all, yet every time it managed to surprise me. We did a workshop where we got to touch a few sea creatures and explore the place, I even had the chance to touch sting rays! There was a new dolphin in the routine, which was amazing and the experience was vastly different compared to what it was before. Going and hanging out with friends there makes a very big difference in my opinion.
After all of that, we quickly grabbed a bite at whole foods, and got changed for an amazing performance of “Anything Goes.” The production was a wonderful journey that made us all laugh and clap and compelled us all to sing along. The main actress’s voice was unlike any-other I’ve ever heard. The show was absolutely spectacular and I only wish I was able to enjoy it a few more times. That night we got to our hotel around 12 a.m. and it was my last night in Vancouver, and because of that, I didn’t sleep most of the night.
Saturday April 22nd
The morning was unbelievably painful for me, to leave home and venture on back to Salmon Arm. We first went to Kelowna, to support our Jazz band in the Kiwanis festival. At breakfast that morning, I was so terribly engrossed in a conversation, that without realizing, I put Tabasco instead of sugar in my coffee. Little did I know that adding Tabasco to your coffee doesn’t make it spicy, rather it spikes the flavor of the coffee, and since I have been drinking my morning cup the same. Who knew right?
We quickly headed off to Kelowna and I very much enjoyed the ride there because I was able to reminisce most of the way there. We saw two other groups perform and I must say our band did an outstanding job. We quickly walked to Boston pizza where I can’t seem to recall how many pizzas I devoured myself! As soon as we could, we headed to an arcade near Salmon Arm. There my friends and I played for tickets, went mini golfing and just ran around like kids on a sugar high. My band conductor had a dance off with multiple students as well! But the highlight of that place was when my entire group of five friends thought I was going to be last because I was playing mini golf so terribly, and I ended up tying for first place! Who knew my skills were so good? Although I didn’t get much from the tickets I collected, I got two bouncy balls and a voodoo doll. And right as we were about to leave, I challenged two of my friends to basket ball, three rounds each, and unfortunately I lost by three points each time. For some reason everyone had gathered around us to see that. An hour later, driving in the dark having the stars on the ground in the mountains, we reached the hotel at Salmon Arm, where we had stayed at previously at nearly 1 in the morning!
Sunday April 23rd
This was the last day. The final day when we would reach Calgary. There wasn’t too much to this day apart from sleep. When we reached back here, it was raining hard, and I couldn’t help but feel that the universe was helping me reminisce and be happy to come back, that this was Vancouver’s way of says “see you soon.”