People: You Meet Them Wherever You Go

I recently graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies and Philosophy.  One thing that I have discovered about myself through my studies of communication is that I have a passion for learning about people and cultures.  From my semester abroad in Estonia and my international internship in Tanzania, I have discovered a love for traveling to explore cultures and the people.  

Having two parents and a brother that traveled in Up with People, I grew up learning the lessons and values of the organization.  I always knew I would travel in Up with People one day, but it was not until my senior year of college that I finally realized that I really wanted to be a part of an organization where I can learn about people and cultures while giving back to the communities and the people I meet.   

Because I have a desire for learning about people and cultures, I want to dedicate my blog to sharing the lessons that I learn from the people I meet along my journey.  For the next six months I will travel to Massachusetts, Taiwan, the Philippines, and throughout Mexico.  Additionally, I will be traveling with 98 students from 19 countries around the world.  I think there is something to be learned from each person that I am fortunate enough to meet, and I look forward to the lessons that lay ahead.

My journey began on Friday in Denver, Colorado where I met the 98 students I will be traveling with for the next six months.  After checking in at 2:00pm, I spent the next six hours meeting my new international family.  I met students of all ages from 17-29 and students from countries from Europe, Asia, North America, and South America.  After an afternoon of meeting my cast mates, we had dinner  together and got ready to meet our host families that we will be living with for the next five weeks.  I am fortunate to be staying with our good family friends that traveled with my parents- Bruce and Linda Erley.  We were given a host code that we use to help us find our host families.  Bruce and Linda made a giant poster with a clue to my host code.  The rest of the evening was spent catching up with Bruce and Linda as well as catching up on sleep after an exciting and very eventful day.

Saturday was a host family day, which meant we got to spend the entire day with our host families.  Linda took me, along with my two host-sisters Marloes from the Netherlands and Linda from Taiwan, to the Cherry Creek Art Festival in downtown Denver.  We met my parents and brother at the art festival and spent the afternoon walking around the festival looking at photography, sculptures, paintings, and ceramics.   

Sunday morning Linda made Marloes, Linda, and me a delicious pancake brunch before the opening session of Up with People Cast B 2012.  As we all arrived at our staging facilities, I could see the excitement and anticipation in all of my cast mates.  During the opening session, the current Up with People staff performs some of the songs and dances that we will be learning during staging and performing on the road.  This semester, I am traveling in a cast that will be performing a brand new show.  Our new show Voices, is the first original show for many many years.  Several times throughout the show, my cast mates and I all stood up and cheered for our staff as they performed.

After opening session, we all had a potluck and talked about how excited we are for the coming weeks of staging.