For most, summer starts as soon as school gets out. Such was not the case for juniors Gretchen Gambill and Julia Wheeler. As soon as the 2014 school year ended, they were in rehearsals, constantly preparing for their international Allegro Choir performances.

The Allegro choir is an honor choir throughout Kansas and Missouri. There are five levels to it, including choirs for singers in third grade up to seniors in high school. Both Gambill and Wheeler are in the highest level, Brio.

After knowing about this trip since the beginning of their Brio year, Gambill explained how this all came about.

“Allegro goes on tour every summer, but there is a starter choir that everyone has to start with,” Gambill said. “They don’t go international, only the top choir does … at the start of our Brio year, we knew we were going to go to Europe … it wasn’t just a surprise thing.”

During the first week of June, they performed in three cities: Strasbourg, France; Paris, and Lucerne, Switzerland.

Gambill said that after landing in Europe, the trip was beyond busy.

“It wasn’t really like a vacation. We were touring, we performed, we had rehearsals and we barely had time for sleep,” Gambill said. “It was go, go, go all the time. Right after we got [off the plane], it was our first day. We didn’t really get to sleep.”

The choir performed four concerts throughout the trip, and Wheeler said performing was phenomenal.

“The concerts were amazing. It was kind of sad because all the seniors left, but it was a good time. It was very memorable,” Wheeler said. “Even though the people [in different countries] couldn’t understand what we were saying, it was still fun.”