Ok, today (which was actually yesterday cause I started this blog and never finished it last night) was awesome. We started out by eating a yummy breakfast and then taking a tour of Tallinn. This was SO great because the weather was sunny and PERFECT. We saw many beautiful buildings, but most importantly, the Song Festival Grounds. Estonia is known for their HUGE singing efforts. Every 4 years, the Baltic citizens get together at this location to sing! This singing movement is what led to the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. There are usually 15,000 participants, and there is room for 200,000 in the audience!! It was HUGE! So, we went there... and got to sing! Here are 2 videos of us singing in this VERY historic place!
Cantate Domino:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHtLDzNezkU
Jesus I Adore Thee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81ZT8-Owu5s
After this tour, we were dropped off at the center of town called "Olde Town". There are many beautiful buildings, fun cafes, and great shops! We were then allowed to roam around for the rest of the day! Here are some pictures from this afternoon.
Also, we had senior night out... that was SO much fun! It was at a great restaurant with a traditional Estonian 3-course FEAST! Just delicious! So, tonight (which is actually a different day than I was just talking about... cause now it's the next day... if that makes sense??) we have another concert. I have been SUPER sick for the past 2-3 days, but thankfully the Lord has been speedily healing me, and I think I'll be able to sing my solo with just a little bit of a stuffy nose :) Tomorrow we leave for Finland... we're taking a ferry!!!
We went from "open the bus door!! It's HOT!!!" to "CLOSE THE BUS DOOR!!!! It's FREEZING!"
Hello! Well, I am in my third day of being in Estonia! A few days ago, we were in Tartu. We had a concert 2 nights ago and sang in their church on Sunday morning. The concert on Saturday night was AWESOME, but we didn't wear robes because we're still missing a box of them! It was INCREDIBLY mosquitoey too, and everyone was getting bitten up! 20 of us girls stayed in the seminary on Saturday night, which was basically like dorms. It was DISGUSTINGLY mosquitoey and one of the girls even got a bite on her lip! We took showers without towels, so we used our pillow cases to dry off... let's just say it was definitely an adventure. The hosts of the seminary were also difficult... they didn't speak any English (only Russian)!! They asked if any of us played piano or anything, so I sat down at the piano and had the 20 of us girls sing "Let Everything That Hath Breath" for them! They LOVED it!!
This is our friend that we made at this church. His name is Taivo and he spoke awesome English! 
On Sunday morning, the church service was all in Estonian! It was sooo weird!! I felt like I was in a dream! After the church service, we started heading to Narva, Estonia, which is right on the border of Russia. We didn't actually get to go to Russia because it's either $200 or $300 for a visa! However, we can see it! Last night was our last concert in a string of concerts that we've had, now we have a few days off. I had a bit of a sore throat, so I was pretty nervous about my solo! However, that piece has been going really well so far... one of the Estonian girls even video taped me on her phone during the church service on Sunday!
This is the church we sang in last night... it was ANCIENT! It was bombed during WWII and it's still being renovated. We were the first college choir to ever sing in this church! 
Today we drove to Tallinn, Estonia. On the way there, we stopped at Narva Castle, which was founded in 1256 under Danish rule. We saw Russia right across the river!!! It was incredibly windy, but BEAUTIFUL. I'm currently sitting in my hotel room in Tallinn with a VERY bad cold :( Thankfully we don't have any concerts for the next 2 days! I hope I can kick this one fast!
Here are some pictures from our castle adventures today:
Well, we are still in Riga (today is our last full day). We have been given until 3:30 this afternoon for free time! So, this morning we ate a nice breakfast at the hotel and then Shawn, Kurt, Barry, Dan, and I went wandering around the city. We stopped at an INCREDIBLE little tea house. It was basically a pretty small glass octagon in the middle of a beautiful park. The first level was where you smelled/ordered the tea, and then we climbed a spiral staircase to the top where we sat on the floor cushions. It was so fun! They brought our tea up on trays and we each got our own pot. Delicious and cheap :) After that, we wandered the city some more and did some shopping. I got a really unique amber ring for a great price. (side note: the Baltic countries are known for their amber. 80% of the world's amber is found here). We did a lot of walking after that, and stopped at a BIG market. We found a lot of fresh fruit, veggies, and meat there, along with some souvenir-ish things. After looking around for a while, Barry, Dan, and I walked back to the hotel for some rest before our first concert tonight!
Mr. Sawyer finally arrived at dinner last night, and all of our luggage (including Dr. Kolwinska's long-lost trombone) made it too... except for one choir robe box.. that will make for an interesting-looking concert tonight! We are singing a somewhat abbreviated concert tonight, so hopefully it won't wear us out TOO much.
Here are some pictures from dinner last night and our adventures today:
Beautiful ladies at dinner :)
It was suuuper mosquito-y last night when we were watching the boys play Killer Bunnies... sooo we grabbed our choir jackets and made turtlenecks look fashionable!
Tea time!
Our CRAZY time in the market... where Dan tried some pop that tasted like Tootsie Rolls!!
Well hello everyone! We have arrived in Riga! We didn't have ANY volcano issues at all, even though the Reyjavik (Iceland airport) was closed the day before we flew in. Thankfully, there were no delays or cancellations. Last night was basically a free night after we arrived at the hotel. Several people were missing their baggage, however, and some still are! Shaylee and I both have our luggage though :)
This morning, we had a great continental breakfast at our hotel that included a LOT of great fruit! After breakfast, we took a guided tour of Riga which was BEAUTIFUL! We saw a ton of VERY old buildings with lots of history behind them (got some great pics too... like this one!)
During our free time, we ate at a beautiful cafe with delicious pizza! After that, we went on a row boat ride!! It was only $4 for the 4 of us to ride... super fun! Here's a video of our chaos...
Tonight we have dinner together and then more free time... lots of free time in Riga... oh well. It's Latvia. Cool, right?
We have our first concert tomorrow night, and thankfully Mr. Sawyer is on his way (his dad had a stroke the night before we left, so he stayed until yesterday). I was pretty worried that I was going to have to conduct the concert because he wouldn't reach Latvia on time!
Well, that's about all I have for right now! Here are some of our funny quotes... I'm just writing them on here so I don't forget them :)
"Darba laiks" -- every door on any building
"Door! Shut your door!" -- Barry
"Flick the dicker" -- Shaylee, referring to the camera switch
"I can use it as an utter... i mean RUTTER!!" -- Barry rowing the boat
"Shaylee is having a TOTALLY BLAST in Latvia!" -- Shaylee's facebook status