Three Thousand Miles From Home

I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life when it comes to cultural experiences. I’ve been luckier than a lot of people since I grew up on military bases in the south, but as a child I rarely traveled anywhere off the coast unless it was to visit family. We’d always talked about going on vacations, but never got the chance to leave the country. I dreamed of being “one of the cool kids” whose parents got stationed in Germany or Okinawa for a few years so I could come back and have some stories to tell. So, when Jay made the announcement over a year ago that the Purdue “All-American” Marching Band was traveling to Ireland, I was obviously happy, but the ghost of little 10-year-old Maddie inside of me was bouncing off the walls.

We had all been talking about it constantly for months, gabbing to each other how much fun it was going to be, counting down the days, and figuring out what we were going to pack. I knew it was coming, but for a while I didn’t really believe that the trip would ever become a reality for me. I had this sinking fear that I’d run into financial or health issues, a family emergency would happen, or my dog would die. (Pessimism is my strong suit, I guess). I felt anything that could go wrong — would. I was signed up and ready to go, but I always thought that something was going to come into my life that was going to take the whole experience away from me. So Ireland didn’t hit me as reality until I physically heard my seatbelt click shut on the Aer Lingus plane. It was something tangible, something that told my brain, “hey dude, you can relax now.” I was on the plane, surrounded by my best friends, and everything finally felt okay.

Once we were in the air, the 8-hour flight didn’t bother me in the slightest. I watched our plane inch across the Atlantic on the map in front of me for probably an hour straight. It was mind-blowing to me that we could be so far away from land in all directions, and it was such a casual thing to everyone. I’ve flown to and from campus and my hometown countless times, but the magic of flight still isn’t lost on me. The flight attendants asked me “tea or coffee?” more times than I could count, and I got more excited every time they came back. I ate Shepherd’s pie, lentil salad, a wheat roll and chocolate truffle for dinner, while I was miles above the ocean. How is that even possible? Flight is crazy. The future is crazy. I love traveling.

We touched down in Dublin and immediately hopped onto the bus to meet the rest of the band at the Cliffs of Moher. I was certain the trip couldn’t get any better after that experience. Watching the fog roll out and reveal a 700 ft. drop to the Atlantic Ocean was a sight that legitimately took my breath away. As cliché as it is to say, I felt like I was looking straight into a postcard. I wouldn’t have believed any of it was real if it weren’t for the 25 mph winds that threatened to sweep us off the side at any moment. Being on the edge of that cliff had been on my bucket list for years, and I felt close to tears the whole time we were there. I didn’t think anything could beat what we had just seen, but of course I was wrong. What a depressing turn of events that would have been if our first stop was the only enjoyable one.

Perhaps the most moving part of the week occurred a couple days later in Galway, where we performed a pep concert in Eyre Square. From the standpoint of a guard member, our performance honestly wasn’t too remarkable. We had hardly any room to spin and didn’t want to get in the way of the crowd. But the reactions from the people around us both during and after the concert showed that they felt quite differently.

While shopping and eating lunch in town afterwards, person after person came up to us wanting to shake our hands, showering us with praise that we didn’t feel like we deserved. They kept saying how honored they were to have “such a lovely group of musicians” share their talents in town and that they wished we could stay in Galway for their St. Patrick’s Day festivities later in the week. It was honestly my first taste of culture shock. I felt like a celebrity, as gross and inaccurate as that word is, and I really didn’t expect to have so many kind people thank us for giving our time. Performing back home is always amazing, but it’s rare that we get such an utterly overjoyed and thankful reaction out of an audience that doesn’t consist of parents and band alumni.

I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire week. Each day amazed me a little bit more than the last. A moment that I believe will stick with me for the rest of my life occurred when we were on the last leg of our march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin. We were spinning to “Hail Purdue” for what would be the last time that day, when I looked up to see the spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and just started crying. I was completely awestruck by the history and pure beauty of the building, and I realized that not many people can say that they’ve done what I was doing in that moment.

Since I was in the very last line of the guard block, and subsequently the last line of the entire band, everyone that had flown over to Ireland together was in my line of sight when we marched along a curve in the street. It felt as if the entire week had been building up to that moment: 358 kids from Purdue playing their fight song in front of one of the most beautiful buildings on the planet. It struck me how surreal it was, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude -to the point of tears -for everything it had taken for us to get there.

Not once have I taken being a member of the “All-American” Marching Band for granted, but our trip to one of the most beautiful countries in the world just reaffirmed the fact that auditioning for Purdue’s color guard during my senior year of high school was the greatest decision I have ever made. Never in a million years would I have thought that my childhood dreams of international travel would have become reality during my college years. This band brought me three thousand miles from home so that I could spend a week performing with my best friends and making memories that will last a lifetime. I am Ever Grateful.