Hotlanta

Monday we drove from Statesboro into the big city of Atlanta.  This week was an exciting week because I had the opportunity to live with a cast mate that I traveled with last semester and also had five roommates that traveled last semester as well.  It was going to be an exciting week together.

Tuesday was spent preparing for the anti-bullying workshops for the following day.  Up with People has been working on a curriculum for the anti-bullying workshops since last semester.  The curriculum has been updated since the first time I facilitated the workshops in Hamilton, MA.  The feedback received after this semester will help determine the final curriculum for the UWP anti-bullying workshops.  Because we were piloting these workshops, it was important that we were prepared and organized.

After preparing for two weeks, it was finally our time to facilitate the anti-bullying workshops.  We worked at Sequoia Middle School, which had a very diverse student population.  Many of the students come from low-income families and do not often have a strong support system at home.  Most of the students and their families have lived much of their lives in other parts of the world before coming to Atlanta.  The students knew we would be coming because we had been working closely with an UWP alumna who is an English teacher at Sequoia Middle School.  She was so excited for UWP to be coming to work with her students and she had spent months helping her students raise money so 125 students could come see our show.  We were all very excited to get into the classrooms and meet the students.

It was a very successful day working with the students in the classrooms.  Each group facilitated 2-two hour workshops to the eighth graders in the school.  I was amazed at how engaged the students were and the level of respect that was shown to us as facilitators.  We were all pleased with the workshops and felt like we were able to give some good feedback to finalize the curriculum.  We were also really looking forward to having the students learn more about what we do at our show.

Thursday was a regional learning day where we had the chance to spend the morning at the State Capitol building.  We had the morning to explore the capitol and sit in on the meetings going on as well as read about the history of Georgia and the city of Atlanta.

After lunch we headed to Roswell, which is a suburb of Atlanta and the city in which we are performing.  We went to the Roswell City Hall and had a meet and greet with the mayor.  We got to give a little presentation about who we are as UWP and then the mayor got to ask us some questions about our experiences.

Friday and Saturday were our show days.  Saturday was a double show day.  We had great audiences that were really enthusiastic about our show.  Friday morning, the first round interns had to announce the new interns for the second round.  We decided to make the announcement Harry Potter themed, so we all dressed up as students from Hogwarts and ride in on boomsticks.  To announce the new interns we sat on a stool and had the sorting hat call out the new intern.

The Saturday matinee was the show where the Sequoia Middle School students came.  During our final song, Voices, I was standing in the front wearing an international costume.  Towards the end of the song, I noticed the students in the front holding up letters.  When I realized what the letters spelled, I began crying, along with several other cast members on stage.  They had spelled out "Thank You" for all of us to see.  Seeing the sign made me cry because I felt like I should have thanked the students for making my experience at their school so memorable, yet there they were thanking us for their experience.  That moment on stage and seeing those students will always be one of my most cherished memories from the semester.  It was a great way to end our final shows in the US.

Our host family took all of us to the world's largest aquarium and the Coke Museum on Sunday.  Aquariums are one of my favorite places to go, so I was thrilled to be going to the worlds largest.  I could barely contain my excitement from the minute we walked through the doors.  I could not believe the magnitude of this aquarium and all they had in it.  The first tank that blew me away was the massive tank of Beluga whales.  I could have stayed and watched them play for hours.  If I did not think that tank was big enough, we went next to the most majestic tank I had ever seen.  I felt like I was in the ocean as I stepped in front of the glass with three Whale-sharks and two Eagle Rays swimming passed me.  It was unbelievable watching these creatures swim around in the tank.  It made me feel as if I had entered their world rather than seeing them from behind glass.

After the aquarium, we headed across the street to the Coke Museum.  We watched movies and read all about the history of Coke and the secret recipe.  When we got to the end, we were able to try different Coke products from every continent around the world.  It was awesome to experience the taste of Coke from some of the remote parts of the world.

I had such a wonderful week with the Hamadi family during my time in Atlanta.  It was so great to spend the week with my former cast mate and my roommates from last semester.

The South

From Florida we headed to Georgia for our final two weeks in the United States.  After only seven quick hours, we were in Statesboro, GA.

I lived with the Lee family for the week and my roommate was Tonio, who is our Technical Manager.  After we met our family, we went out for a real southern meal-BBQ and sweet tea.  After one meal, I knew I would be loving the south.

We started off the week with a private show on Tuesday at Georgia Southern University for 800 students on campus.  It was a great show for the university students.  We had so many students interview and want more information about how they could become a part of UWP.

The following day, I helped teach some of the cast movement for our new European songs that will be added to our shows in Europe.  After lunch, we prepared for a culture fair with the students at Georgia Southern University.  I helped teach several world dance classes for the students.  We took them on a tour of the world through dance, where they learned African, Japanese, and Mexican dances.  It was really fun to see the students so interested in learning about our cultures and enjoying all of the activities.

I spent all of Thursday preparing for a workshop for the following week in Atlanta.  Up with People has been working on a curriculum for anti-bullying workshops to facilitate in classrooms around the country.  I had the opportunity to facilitate anti-bullying workshops last semester and from the feedback received last semester, a new curriculum was created to pilot this semester.  Fifteen students were chosen to train and pilot these workshops in a very diverse school in Atlanta.  The whole day was used for us to become familiar with the material in the workshop and to start planning how to facilitate the workshops.

Friday and Saturday were show days.  In addition to the two evening shows, we had a sound assembly on Friday afternoon for the Statesboro High School students.  It was fun to see the students get in to the music and dance along with us.

Sunday was host family day, which began by going to church.  From church we headed to Savannah, GA and had lunch at the Crab Shack along the river.  The Crab Shack played fun dance music, so each time we heard the music play, Tonio, the kids, and I would get up and dance around our table.  After lunch we walked along the river looking at all the shops.  We passed several candy stores and could not walk by without checking them out.  As we started walking along the river, we kept seeing other cast members and their host families who had the same idea.  We ended up in a little park with 15 of us and our host families laughing and enjoying the day.

Although it was a very busy week with many late nights, I had a great week with the Lee family.  We were always laughing at something and enjoying one another's company.  Their two children always wanted to play with us outside whether it was hide and seek, freeze tag, or have cartwheel races.  There was never a dull moment and I am very thankful I was a part of the Lee family for the week.

To The Beach

Monday began our travel day to Vero Beach.  However, the cast had the opportunity to spend the afternoon at Disney's Epcot!  We entered the park through the backstage entrance and met with some of the international students who are interning for the park.  They talked to us about their experiences as international students and working in an international theme park.  It was neat to hear how their experiences were similar to our travels.

After meeting with the students, we had the afternoon to walk around the park and enjoy the day.  It was so nice to have free time to spend with the cast.  We rode several rides, but we loved walking through the international area and learning about the various cultures.

From Epcot, we headed to Vero Beach where we had our allocation meeting and met our host families.  My roommate was a second semester student, Miguel from Mexico.  He and I were roommates for 10 days in Taiwan, so I was very excited to get to spend the week being his roommate once again.  Miguel and I stayed with Richard and Niki, who lived right on an inlet where dolphins and mantees play off their dock in the backyard.  

Tuesday, I spent the entire day working on dances and helping teach dances to cast mates as the dance intern.  It was a very exhausting day, but the group of eight of us who worked on dances had a blast together.

Wednesday was the first time I got to help promote the show by doing a radio interview as well as walking along the beach and talking with people and telling them about our show.  After the radio interview, six of us headed to the beach to play a promotion game called "Trade Up."  Each team started with a quarter and it was our job to try and trade the quarter up for as much as we could by talking to people and asking them to trade something of greater value with us.  After talking with the people, we would then explain why we were playing the game and tell them about our upcoming shows.  My team was not very successful at trading-we ended up with $2.00, but we talked with lots of people at the beach about our shows.  

That evening we had our second culture fair.  This time it was for the Europeans, Asians, and the Australian.  I always enjoy getting to see what people like to share about their countries.  I especially love hearing the passion that each person has for their country and culture.

On Thursday, I had the chance to work at the Dasie Hope Center, which is an after school program for children.  There had been a group at the center for three days, reorganizing, decorating, and repainting the entire center.  I was amazed at how much work had been done over the three days.  We had the chance to talk with all of the staff at the center and I was blown away by the passion and dedication that the staff has to helping their children succeed.  After only a day of painting and working with the staff, I grew very fond of the people at the center and it was hard to say goodbye.  However, we found out that the entire center with their 70 students would all be attending our first show the following night.  A donation was made to allow all of the students the opportunity to see us perform and hear our message.

Friday and Saturday were show days.  We had great audiences and it was very special to have the Dasie Hope Center in the audience.  They cheered loudly after each song and could not wait to talk to us all after the show.  

On our host family day, Miguel and I slept in, which was so nice and then we had a relaxing morning just hanging out.  That afternoon I had the opportunity to go see Les Miserables on stage.  A friend, and UWP alumni who is a broadway actor, was cast in the production that happened to be showing while we were in Vero Beach.  It was the first production of Les Miserables since the release of the movie.  I have always wanted to see it, so I was incredibly excited for the opportunity.  I was in awe the entire show because it was so phenomenal.  I was on the edge of my seat throughout the show and it made me both laugh and cry.

That evening we had a nice family dinner with Richard and Niki.  Miguel and I had such a wonderful week with our host parents.  We loved just sitting around and talking and playing board games together on the living room floor.  Richard and Niki were so supportive with all that we did during the week and I am very blessed that they are now a special part of my UWP experience.