Marching toward architecture success
Practising marching drills in the hallway of her flat while studying for exams is how a Victoria University of Wellington architecture student spent the past few months.
Practising marching drills in the hallway of her flat while studying for exams is how a Victoria University of Wellington architecture student spent the past few months.
Melissa Cawdron is part of ‘The Lochiel Marching Drill Team’ that represented New Zealand in the Oman Military Tattoo event held in Muscat last month. While training for the Tattoo, Melissa was also studying toward her first year architecture exams.
The Tattoo, a celebration on the Omani calendar, is similar to the well-known Edinburgh Military Tattoo with Army, Air Force, Navy and Police pipe bands, highland dancers and marching groups. This was the first time groups from outside of Oman were invited to perform, which Melissa says was a true honour for the team.
Melissa’s architecture exam was scheduled during the week the team was visiting Australia to acclimatise to the heat before heading into Oman’s high temperatures. Fortunately, the School of Architecture arranged for Melissa to take her exam at the University of Sydney.
“It was initially very daunting as I had never sat a university exam, or travelled overseas,” she says. “Fortunately everything was sorted quite easily.”
The Tattoo was a huge success, with the Wellington team completing three high quality performances in front of the Royal Opera House of Muscat.
“The whole trip was an amazing experience and a great opportunity to represent New Zealand in something I love doing,” says Melissa. The team was impressed with Omani hospitality and sang waiata for the organisers on the last night to say thank you.
Photo credit: Khalid Al-Busaidi, ROHM
Watch the Lochiel Marching Drill Team in action: