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.

The Happiest Place on Earth

From Fort Myers we headed to Orlando, were we spent some time downtown at City Hall with the mayor.  We also had some free time to walk around downtown and explore before we had our allocation meeting to meet our host families.

This was an exciting week because I got to be roomed with two of my close friends that I have been traveling with since last July- Grant from Colorado and Sean from Orlando.  I also roomed with Pedro from Cuba.  All four of us stayed with Sean’s family who sponsored Up with People and brought us to Orlando for the week. 

Tuesday was the first of our Community Impact days where I had the opportunity to facilitate workshops in high school classrooms.  Facilitating workshops with students is my favorite Community Impact activity because I have the opportunity to watch the students grow and change while I am in the classroom.  The class is usually talkative towards the beginning of the class, but by the end of the activity, the students are genuinely listening to one another and respecting the opinions of their classmates. 

I spent Wednesday working at a plant sanctuary where they preserved rare plant species from around the world.  Most of the day was spent picking weeds from around the plants, but it was a great day to get to know some of my cast mates a little better.

Thursday was a regional learning day where the cast had the opportunity to go to Daytona and watch a NASCAR race.  The cast had the whole day to experience the NASCAR lifestyle by walking around and looking at all the vendors, people, and watching a race.  I had never really watched a race before, but it was a fun experience with 120 of my friends.  Just as the final laps were approaching, we watched a car spin out of control, which got the crowd excited.  Fortunately, no one was hurt. 

Friday and Saturday were our show days.  Like any other show day, we spent the morning setting up the equipment on the stage and working on some of the dances in the show.  Although the crowds were small, the audiences were very good. 

My host family from Lakeland drove all the way to Orlando to see us again and it was a very special surprise.  I also had two dear friends from North Platte who are both UWP alumni come see the show.  They were in Orlando to run a half marathon at Disney and it worked out where they were able to come see the show. 

Sunday was our host family day and Grant, Sean, and I, along with another cast mate Katy from Wyoming spent the day at Universal Studios.  When we arrived at Universal we immediately headed to Harry Potter World.  I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series and I cannot even describe the excitement I had as I walked through Hogmeade on my way toward the castle.  It was like I stepped into the books and was a student at Hogwarts.  We went straight to the castle to ride the newest ride and we loved it so much that we got right back in line to do it again.  We explored some of the shops in Hogmeade and then sat down for lunch where I enjoyed a nice butter beer, which tasted like joy in a cup. 

After lunch, my friend Laura Lynn, who ran the half marathon, joined us at Universal.  We went on all the roller coasters we could until the one roller coaster I will never forget.  I sat down in my seat and off we went.  The coaster went straight up at a 90-degree angle.  As I looked up at the sky I was off of my seat.  We came to the top and then shot straight down at 90-degrees.  As we came back up to catch our breath, I felt something move in my pocket.  As soon as I realized it was my phone, I quickly tried to reach for it.  However, it flew out of my pocket before I could do anything.  By the end of the ride it hit me that I had actually lost my phone on a roller coaster.  While I was somewhat disappointed, I also thought it was a little comical.  But after such an awesome day, losing a phone was not going to stop the fun. 

We all headed back to Harry Potter World to ride the castle ride again and drink more butter beer.  We also went into Olivander’s wand shop to by our souvenir dueling wands.  It was a fantastic day with great friends!

Round Two

My semester began in Lakeland, Florida with four weeks of staging.  Like last semester in Denver, the cast spent the four weeks preparing for the semester and learning our show.  Although most of the show was the same as the previous semester, we did add several new songs and dances into the show.  As Cast A 2013 started getting into rehearsing the show, the day grew longer.  However, after only four short weeks, we had our show, Voices, ready to take with us on the road. 

During my time in Lakeland, I was blessed to live with a very special family, the Eidenbergs.  We had a houseful with four roommates- Wouter, from the Netherlands, Caleb, from Arizona, and Arley, from Cuba, in addition to their two teenage boys.  Over the course of the month, the Eidenbergs took me and my roommates to numerous places to experience the Floridian culture.  From monster truck shows, holding alligators, and riding Segways, there was never a dull moment in our family.

It was very difficult to say goodbye when the time came to start traveling.  After only four weeks, I had become part of their family and they had become part of mine.  One of the things I admired most about the family was the love and support they had for one another and that is something that is a characteristic I want my own family to have someday.  I am very grateful to have had the chance to learn and grow from the Eidenberg family and because they hold a special place in my heart, I know I will be seeing them again soon.   

On Monday morning we drove south to Fort Myers. During the afternoon we had several educational workshops before we met our host families.  This week I was hosted with our show manager, Miguel, Josh from the Philippines, and Thomas from Belgium. Our host dad, Dan is an administrator at the local children's hospital.

The next morning was our Community Impact and I went to a human trafficking rehabilitation organization and helped create a garden. We spent the day weeding and planting flowers to beautify the area. During lunch we had the opportunity to speak with one of the women working at the center and she shared her incredible story with us all.  She explained how she had been taken into the human trafficking life when she was very young. After years of drug use, rape, and being bought and sold, she got out of that life and decided to go to college.  She would make straight a's one semester, but would fall back into her old life the next semester and have to drop out. It took her years to get off her drug addiction but she was finally able to graduate from college with honors and go on to receive a masters degree. She was an inspiration to all of us who had the privilege to hear her story and I will always remember my time at that site.

On Wednesday I had the chance to help teach World Dances Classes. This semester I am the dance intern and part of my internship is getting to help with the dance classes.  For the classes, we take the students on a tour around the world through dance and expose the students to different cultural dances.
In the morning I helped lead the warm ups before we started dancing.  During the class, we visited Mexico, Japan, and South Africa.  It is such a joy to see the excitement of the students when they learn dances from other countries.

That afternoon I went to an after-school program for students where we helped paint and reorganize classrooms. Once the students arrived, we taught another dance class with the children and had a fantastic afternoon interacting with them.

Thursday was an internal day with several workshops and time for the cast to prepare for our culture fair coming up.

Friday was a rehearsal day for the cast.  I started the morning working on several dances with some of the dancers in the show.  After lunch, we had a full run-through of the show.

Saturday was our host family day.  We all got to sleep in and when we woke up, Dan made us Belgian waffles.  After relaxing for the morning, Dan took us to walk along the beach.  It was a chilly day, but it was so nice to walk along the water.

That evening, our cast was invited to be part of the Thomas Edison parade of lights.  We marched down the street in our intensional costumes and flags and carried glow-in-the-dark accessories.  We promoted UWP for 500,000 people on the streets.

Sunday was our first show day on the road and it was a double show day.  Great way to start off the semester with two very responsive audiences.