~hciso.hkmoy//1~

The long-awaited HKMOY-HCISO exchange programme has finally come!!! This first day has proven to be exceptionally event-packed.

Today was especially busy as we had to make all the arrangements to accommodate all the additional members of the orchestras. We rushed there after school to set up. There was to be about two and a half times as many people as usual, so we had to squeeze in as much as possible. Even so there wasn't enough space and all the doors had to be opened with some stands positioned outside. The most troublesome problem to solve was the four timpanis. They were humongous instruments and there was certainly no way they could all fit even into the corridor outside the room. After racking our brains for quite some time, an anonymous bright spark thought of using the bass practice room. After all, the timpanis were already there for storage, and all we needed to do was to open the connecting doors and shift the drums slightly. We set to work immediately, and we were ready for practice by the time the other orchestras entered. This practice was fun as those with foreign desk partners would begin to interact with them and get to know them. It was exhausting, however, as we repeatedly went through parts of the Tchaikovsky piece that we often erred in. After an arduous session of three straight hours, we were finally released. Everyone was fatigued and happy to set off. Indeed even the girls were tired as they had to awake at 3 a.m. in the morning just to catch the flight over!