Andi

Just the title “Hell Week” sounds intimidating right?

But have no fear! Hell Week is all about the Hawkeye Marching Band! I moved in on Monday, and that’s when Hell Week all began. Since day one, I think the only free time I’ve had is to sleep. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining. I’m having the time of my life! Sure the practices are long, and the days are hot, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. The band is such a tight-knit group. I’m so happy, and proud to be a part of it.

The Hawkeye Marching Band (HMB) has 2 different types of practices. There is the actual marching drill that is performed on the field, and then there is music rehearsal where all the fine tuning happens. Drill starts around 9:00am and ends around 11:30am. Then we all break for lunch, and come back for music rehearsal at 1:30pm and practice there until around 4:30pm. Then we have a dinner break, all to come back to drill practice again at 6:30pm. The final practice ends at 8:15. Its a long, sometimes grueling schedule, but the people is what really makes the HMB. Without them I don’t think I could survive these long practices. Everyone is so positive, helpful, and overall just extremely welcoming to a new freshman like me.

Today was definitely a different kind of practice. We only rehearsed for 3 hours, and in a new location. It did not take place on the typical HMB practice field over behind the Parklawn Residence Hall. We rehearsed in KINNICK STADIUM! Sure, just last night I was on the field for On Iowa! But this took the cake. I was marching and singing and was with my new friends, or as I like to call them my “built-in band friends.” Because as soon as I arrived on campus, I just knew I could easily make friends with anyone participating in the band. We are all there for the same reason, I just figure how could we not get along?

Overall Hell Week, may be physically tiring (I mean let’s face it, marching around all the time I definitely won’t be needing to hit the gym any time soon!) but mentally, its a whole other place. I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been ever since I’ve arrived on campus, and the HMB is definitely a huge contributing factor.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 21st, 2011 at 12:38 pm and is filed under General, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.