Hershey Park

I tried to stay strong and not cave into eating anything sweet while I was in Hershey, PA, but was unsuccessful. There seems to be a chocolate aroma wafting through the air of the entire city.

After a five hour lecture on my first day of class, I headed over to the Hershey Chocolate World for a tour of the company's history. Parking was free for under 3 hours, and entrance was free. The tour was also free. So I ended up walking in and out of the Hershey Chocolate World without spending a single dollar.

What most impressed me was the founding of the Milton Hershey School, which gives orphaned kids the opportunity of a great education. The tour itself was a ride with dancing cows and a model of what the factory looks like. It ended with free mini Hershey chocolate bars and a huge gift shop/food court with every kind of dessert you could imagine. There was even a big Hershey Kiss vending area and a place you could get your picture on the wrapper of your chocolate bar. Kind of crazy! Very different from my previous week in Ithaca, NY!

I really enjoyed the families I stayed with. The first three nights was with a family with 3 college students around my age. The oldest son and I had theological discussions. They also had a piano and we played music together on the last night. It was quite a nice visit!

The last three nights I stayed with my grandparents' friends. They were super nice and we ate breakfast together every morning. She even made baked apple raisin oatmeal (my favorite)! One night they had about 10 friends over for a desserts and a mini-concert. I was able to explain the Suzuki method in depth with them and they all were genuinely interested and engaged in the discussion. Because I myself was a Suzuki kid, they were very interested in knowing how I think about music as I play and how the Suzuki method teaching molded me into that kind of player. It was a nice evening.

I had Book 3 training this week at the Hershey Milton School. I am really excited about this scale book that Sharon Miller recommended for us to buy for our students. It's preparatory for the Flesch scale book with all the same fingerings in two octaves. I will be buying it in the near future.

Well, I'm really tired and need to get some sleep. A posting about the Stevens Point Institute (first established Suzuki institute in the Americas) is coming up in the near future!