Thirty members of the Madrigals at Convent of the Sacred Heart will pack their suitcases and their voices, and travel to Austria for spring break March 11 through March 19.
Middle and Upper School Music Teacher and Upper School Music Director Miss Annette Etheridge will accompany the girls on the trip.
The Madrigals previously traveled to England in the spring of 2013. Miss Etheridge has been planning a trip to Austria for the past year, but ultimately decided to schedule the trip for the spring of 2016 in order to avoid overlap with last year’s Chinese class trip.
The itinerary includes tours of European cities and a visit to Sacré Coeur Riedenburg, a Sacred Heart sister school in Bregenz, Austria.
The Madrigals also visited Austria in 2009 and stayed with host families from Sacré Coeur Riedenburg.

“This trip was such a success that it opened up possibilities of more tours with the group,” Miss Etheridge said. 
The girls will first tour Munich, Germany and visit places such as the Milka Chocolate Factory and the Neuschwanstein Castle. They will also sing during Mass at a church in Munich.
“I can’t wait to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle because it’s what the castle at Disney is based on,” junior Delia Hughes said.
The next stop on this trip will be Bregenz, Austria. During the day, the Madrigals will visit the Bregenz Opera House and the Rankweil Basilica. The girls will also ride a cable up a mountain in Lech, Austria to view sites of the city.
The Madrigals will stay with the families of girls at Sacré Coeur Riedenburg. They will not only be able to meet and live with the students, but will also perform a joint concert with the Sacré Coeur choir.
“I looking forward to living with the families to see how they are similar and different from mine,” junior Molly Smith said. “I have never done an exchange like this before, so I am very excited.”
Junior Helen Rail is also excited to meet the Sacré Coeur students.
“I am looking forward to making connections between our two schools,” Helen said. “It will definitely be the trip of a lifetime, and I’m happy that I get to share it with girls from our sister school.”
The girls’ last stop will be in Salzburg, Austria, where they will tour Mozart’s hometown and see places where The Sound of Music was filmed.
“I am very excited about seeing the places where The Sound of Music was filmed,” Helen said. “It has been a favorite in my family for a long time, so it will be surreal to see the place where such an iconic movie was filmed.”
The Madrigals hope to immerse themselves in a new culture and to let their voices be heard around the world. 
“This is my last year as a Madrigal,” senior Alessandra Nocco said. “I can’t wait to share these last moments of my senior year with the Madrigals and girls of our sisters school in Austria.”
As an exchange, the students from Sacré Coeur Riedenburg in Bregenz, Austria will travel to America to stay with the Madrigals this May.