Today our day started with a 7:50 breakfast! It is a buffet breakfast with lots of choices, including
all kinds of eggs, pastries, lunchmeat, fruit, and yogurt. And they had peanut butter and Nutella.
Also, there is a crazy coffee machine that makes about 10 different kinds of coffee as well as
hot chocolate.

After we ate, we walked over to the convention center for some morning handbell ringing! We
got some songs to sight read like “Sweet Caroline” which we played… actually we sight read,
however I think we did pretty well. The day is divided into several different sections. Each
section we work with a conductor and the conductors come from many different countries. It is really interesting to be playing the same songs as many other handbell choirs all in a giant
room. There were a few breaks between songs but we did alright!

A little while after all the ringing and a few much needed breaks, we headed off for lunch. Lunch
was another buffet with potatoes with butter, noodles, and some other food like salad. There are often lots of buffets here so that a large number of people can eat quickly in a short time. After lunch, we gathered in the ringing hall to ring some more! We rang for another hour or so and then each of us had workshops/classes. There were all different kinds of classes. Some of
them were about musical and handbell related things and some of them were cultural. Some
people even made origami! We each went to those and had lots of fun!!

Once the workshops were over, we headed back down to the ringing hall for yet another
rehearsal. This rehearsal felt like it stretched on for eons. We made good progress on the
pieces, but all the ringers were exhausted after a long day with an early start.

Following the rehearsal, it was dinner time. For dinner there was a choice of southern fried
chicken and a chili steak bowl. Both were pretty good and all were rejuvenated after eating
something. After dinner, some ringers went back to the hotel to rest and some remained at the
hall to await the solo concert. The solo concert was very well played, with choirs from Korea,
Japan, the United States, the UK, Hungary, etc. All performed their solos beautifully. Once the
concert was done, everyone made their way back to the hotel for the night.

While the ringers were at the symposium, the non-ringers and roadies started the day with a trip to Stonehaven, a charming picture village on the coast, not too far from Dunnottar Castle. They
learned a few things about the area:
1. This is where the deep-fried Mars bar was invented and people come from all over the world to try it.
2. Stonehaven is the home of a fireball festival on New Year’s Eve.

The festivities start in the evening with food and drink and a pipe band outdoors. And then
around 11:00 PM, 50 or 60 locals prepare large metal spherical cages filled with sticks that they
light on fire. Right about midnight, after the final fire festivities, they take the fireballs down to the
water to extinguish them safely. They then came back the next morning to fetch them.

-Dante and Katrina