Day 260

Maandag, 23 April 2012

Well, my bus from Lille to Turnhout is shorter than the one from  Lille, so I get to leave later, and I get there a bit earlier so I can do all the housework then!  Whoo!!  Marcela and I registered in the morning, and then went to class.  Quite a few of our old classmates were there - Dolesse, Begona, May, YuanYuan, Carolina, Santiago, and May were all there, and I think Christina is coming too :)  It's going to be a fun class.  Just introduced ourselves, nothing much.

Then, school for a bit, but again, I had nothing to do in since it's a Monday.  But, I now have buses home before 4!  So, went home, did some stuff there (tryyyyyying to figure out Norway~), watched some TV, read a bit.  Then everyone else (sans Bart) was home, so we ate, and then Senne and I watched TV while Heidi and Femke went swimming.  Read some more, and now it's time to sleep.  Slaapwel!

Oh, but before I put it off any longer, super super huge congratulations on my old drumline River City Rhythm.

But first, a little drumline terminology so this makes sense:

There are two main "types" of groups: Scholastic and Independent.  Scholastic groups are for high school (middelbare) students.  You have to be enrolled in that high school/school district to be in the group.  For example, I was in the Coon Rapids High School Winter Drumline (CRWDL for short).  ONLY students from Coon Rapids HS could join, and once you graduated you couldn't join anymore.  Independent is anyone up to the age of 22 - after 22 you cannot march winter drumline in America (competitively).  River City Rhythm (RCR) is an Independent group.  It's usually a higher level, since people can be older, and you can come from anywhere.  People come from all around the US (and even the world) to join the best drumlines.

Then, there are three classes: A, Open, and World.  This is for both Scholastic and Independent.  For example, CRWDL was Scholastic A my first year, and my second year we got moved up to Scholastic Open.  RCR was Independent A my first two years, and they got moved up to Independent Open this year. "A Class" is for beginning drumlines - it's the easiest level.  "Open" is harder - you need to know more, play better, march better, etc.  "World" is of course the best - this is for people who are amazing at drumming and marching: these people live and breathe drums.

I've bragged before, but this is only RCR's third year of existence - the first two years we made it to finals at the World Finals in A Class.  In 2010 we tied for 6th with Drumspirit (the Belgian group I am in now, aka the reason I'm in Belgium), and in 2011 we got 4th place.  So, WGI (Winter Guard International, the international drumline organization) moved RCR up to Open class this year, which is a HUGE DEAL, especially for it only being the third year.  And, this year at WGI they made it to finals (!!!) and got 11th place!  And, not only that, they got the Fan's Favorite award for Independent Open Class!!

So that is a huge huge deal, and I'm so so so proud of them, and proud to have been a part of the group for the last two years.  I can't wait to join them again next year.  And if you haven't yet, you should like them on facebook - great pics, and soon to be one of the best drumlines~