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Today was the big day to tour downtown Philly. The dining hall staff made us a fabulous box lunch to take on the journey so we took a short walk over to the #32 bus that took us right to City Hall. We met up with Ivy Glass, a friend of Mea's who knew the local sites and agreed to join us as a chaperone. We took a long, fascinating walk down to Independence Mall where we passed Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed, as we got in line to see the Liberty Bell. On to a quick lunch and then we divided into groups to conquer Philadelphia. My group went to the Quaker Meeting house, the National Mint, and the Christ Church Cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried. We asked the kids if they'd like to see the Betsy Ross House, or Independence Hall and they said they had had enough history and were ready for shopping. So our group walked up to the Reading Terminal Market. If you've never been -- it's an experience. A large space just stuffed with little shops. Fish stores, food stalls, souveniers -- all sorts of things. We had done a great deal of walking by now so we were actually a bit glad that it was time to go back to campus (well, at least the old folks were!) I could see the look of fear on the other passenger's faces as we started filling into the bus, but I really must say, our kids were respectful and polite to the other passengers -- offering their seats and trying to make room.

We had time for a brief nap before an early dinner, dress and off to another concert. Cathedral Village is a Continuing Care Retirement Community only a short ride from the Philadelphia University Campus. Their peformance space has a wonderful sound. Since the kids had been so active all day we weren't holding out much hope that they were going to sound very good -- boy were we wrong! The performance was well attended and we were warned that we had several musicians in the audience. The concert pieces were Akai Hana, Siúil a rúin, Simple Gifts, Sourwood Mountain, Joshua, Angel Invitation, Sea of Berries, Swingin' Sweet Chariot and and encore of Un an Cala. At one point, the seniors in the chorus came up and each spoke about how long they have been in the chorus, where they are going after here. I found I had to choke back tears when they spoke about what they would be leaving behind. We bowled them over. Heck, they bowled me over! In fact, one of the women in the audience approached me after the performance to say that they have had many musical performances at that theater over the years and our group ranks amongst the top!

Iesha was named MVP for unexpected acts of kindness on the bus.

Greetings from another singer here in Philadelphia!

Although we had a slightly busy day, it was full of excitement and laughter. After eating breakfast we took a hike up to the nearest bus station where we waited for a bus to take us to downtown Philadelphia. The bus ride was somewhat lengthy but we were able to see everything leading up to downtown Philadelphia. As we were being taken to downtown Philadelphia, one of our chaperones pointed out Logan Square. In the middle of the Square we were able to see a beautiful water fountain. it was like a picture you would find in a tourist map of Philadelphia. Once we made our way off the bus, we were placed in groups with our chaperones. As we were about to heads towards the Liberty Bell which was a couple blocks away, a young woman from Starbucks and gave us small cups to get any drink of our choice. All singers and chaperons were excited about this. We made out way towards the Liberty Bell and it was enjoyable to learn about the history of Philadelphia. Once we finished our mini-tour, we all gathered together and ate lunch in the shade. Some singers fed the pigeons and those birds came rather close for the likings of some in our group. We then broke into groups with our chaperons. The BCS Fellas as well as some young ladies joined with Jane and Mrs. Goodman. Our first stop was the U.S Mint, which is where all money is made. But as we were on our way we stopped by a Quaker meeting house, some of us were quite interested in the landmark. It was nice to hear their story. Then we were off to the U.S Mint and it is a must see if you plan to visit Philadelphia. It was amazing to see just how everything was made. Just think, the spare change that you have in your pockets or floating around your house could possibly be made here in Philadelphia at the U.S Mint. Right across the street there was a historic graveyard. Ben Franklin is currently buried with his wife. Also, three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried in the graveyard. We then took a small hike up to the market. It was a rather large marketplace and it was enjoyable just to be able to walk around, viewing all the different shops. Just being able to look around downtown Philadelphia and take in the sights was amazing. It is much different than Boston, it seems as if Boston is bigger, people wise. Our day did not end at downtown Philadelphia. We arrived back to campus around 4.

We had about thirty minutes of downtime to relax before our concert at Cathedral Villiage. During rehearsal, people of the residence came in and introduced themselves to us and they were beyond thrilled to see such young singers ready to perform for them. Once the concert begin, we knew that these people enjoyed are presence. They clapped and there was this older woman who was sitting about three rows from the stage. Each song we sang, she clapped endlessly and said "Bravo" and "Brava." As a singer in such a large chorus, it is overwhelming to witness how much our voices impacted them. Another outstanding piece of today was a specific part of the concert. Jane recognized the four seniors who plan to leave BCS this year and their small speech was heartwarming to know that they have made such close bonds throughout their time in the chorus. Once the concert was over, we socialized with our audience.

That pretty much wraps our up our day here in Philadelphia. Check back for more updates from other singers. -Erica

After such a busy day yesterday, today was much more relaxed. We slept in (relatively) and had a leisurely breakfast at 8:00 AM.

We were introduced to the amazing Kanbar Hall -- the student center of the campus. The staff set us up in a room they call the performance center that has high ceilings, an enormous window and glorious air conditioning! The singers rehearsed while I learned my lesson that the hardest part about being a chaperone is trying to track down all of the misplaced items along the way. Although it was cloudy on the way over to Kanbar, I believe our performers missed the brief sprinkles that happened while they were singing -- otherwise it was another beautiful day.

After rehearsal and before lunch, Mea let the group work off some energy in an exhausting looking game that involved a frisbee. Later, Ellen took some of the group exciting excursion to Rite Aid Pharmacy to get restocked in toothpaste, batteries and other necessities; some of the graduates went into Central Philly; and many of us returned to Kanbar to discover that our practice room had been converted to the ultimate WII room. For those of you who haven't heard -- the WII is a video game where the controller can sense your movements so you can play games such as tennis, golf, bowling and GUITAR HERO from the comfort of your living room. I was there long enough to see the guitar hero competition. We were like kids in a candy store, we jumped from WII to table pool to ping pong to basketball all before the campus tour.

The group that I was with was shown around by Tanya. She showed us part of the campus and got a chance to visit the school of Architecture and Design where they learn about building everything from houses to commercial buildings to museum exhibit spaces. And they learn how to design everything from roller coster rides to car parts. We also got to visit a building where they learn about textiles, fashion design, cartooning, mental health, occupational therapy and medical education (they are one of a few schools that have a cadaver lab.) We were surprised to discover that the participants in the television reality show "Project Runway" are students from this school. The winner of the first season, Jay McCarroll, had been a student here and is now teaching here. I know the participants in my group were full of questions about the school and about how college worked. It certainly piqued their curiosity.

After the tour we split back into groups based on interests. I went with a team back to the gymnasium where we discovered that their enormous basketball court is also surrounded by a raised indoor track. I was so impressed by how many times some of our young ladies raced around that course! Again, they will sleep WELL tonight.

After dinner we celebrated Allison's sixteenth birthday. The kitchen staff made her a gorgeous, enormous cake which were were barely able to make a dent in, just before the water battle that ended in liquid carnage and serious laughter. Those who managed to stay dry were given big hugs by those who weren't so there were very few dry shirts by days ended. (Fortunately almost everyone had changed into bathing suits first.) The volleyball game and hanging out were so much fun that we ended up canceling the movie that was scheduled for the evening and it was left as an evening of free time. Some kids had a party to celebrate Allison's birthday some more, some just took advantage of the down time to relax, hang out or go to bed early. (Some kids got a chance to learn how to do some laundry, too.)

Luke was named MVP for acting on his own to protect his fellow singers from traffic while crossing the streets.He made sure every one was back from the curb while waiting for the light to change and paying attention.