An Adventure Around the World- Up with People 2013

WHEN IN ROME...

First night in Rome with our Italian host mom! What a wonderful woman she is - sassy and full of life!

Exploring the Colosseum...

Seeing the Roman Forum...

There were seriously huge Christmas trees everywhere!

In International Costumes out doing community service in Rome... you don't do that everyday :)

Out to celebrate a birthday, out to have some drinks and be merry in the holiday season :)

The Trevi Fountain with Molly!

Oh the delicious and famous gelato.

Got to have at least one jumping photo!

Touching the Vatican!

Nature in Rome in the gorgeous winter weather :)

Italian cooking lessons with our host mom ;)

Molly and I... well... just being...us I guess :)

Getting in the Christmas spirit!

Inside the government building in Italy (equivalent to the white house here in the US).

There is just so much gold!

Performing at the Vatican in Saint Peter's Square!

The last Hoorah - Performing for the Pope! We even sang him Happy Birthday!

Our last moments together!

My little family together for the last time for a while :(

How can I say goodbye?

The group that stayed in Rome for a little bit longer...

We shared a 10 bedroom hostel!

Out on the town, in the bars, on the bridges - a gorgeous night :)

At Fien's house - discovering that we really do have family all around the world!

Going out in Amsterdam... it gets crazy with the Dutch!

Exploring Amsterdam! The red light district and all...

Holy catfish what an intense last week of Cast B 2013 it has been. The emotions are all very high this week because it is not only the last week with Cast B, but for me when this semester is over, the UWP program is over me. Honestly, I am not sure what I will do without it. I know that life goes on and new (maybe even better) opportunities and experiences will come to life, but at the moment I am so full and rich and happy with the UWP program that I cannot bear the thought of it being done. This time it is for real. When I go home it is not just for a week and then back to the crazy life of UWP. So needless to say this past week has been full of “lasts” and bittersweet moments, tears, laughter and joy as well as I soaked up every last second.

The week started out fabulously with a long travel day from Sweden into Denmark for the second time. We arrived and received our final allocation cards and I lucked out. I was roomed with Emelie from Sweden, one of my best friends from the past semester and we had an amazing week. Our host family was wonderful and we had a great week having family dinners, making Christmas cookies, sharing stories, meeting the various animals, playing music in their beautiful, old country home and driving through the countryside seeing the different mansions of the starter of Lego Land etc. We had a pretty big family during that week and it was a ton of fun. They all loved the show and so did their nanny – Gurly from the Philippines. Overall they were the perfect host family for Emeilie and I to have during our last week together. We spent so much time talking and writing goodbye letters, laughing and crying when we realized our days were dwindling.

In UWP during the week we had a lot of last times as well. We had our last cast meeting where we talked about how far we had come in the past 6 months. We had staff appreciation where we told the staff how much we loved them. We also had a laughing session, which is a time where we look back at the past 6 months and watch all the funny videos and pictures and just laugh our butts off. There was also a big windstorm that caused the town to shut down for a day, but that just meant extra time with our host family. My professors of my study abroad came to Denmark to finish off the semester with us and it was a ton of fun, bittersweet of course, but a great way to conclude a full year of studying with two outstanding professors. I cannot even begin to thank Pete and Theresa for all they have taught me as my first college professors. We had our last two show days, which were wonderful of course, but also, very hard since we knew it was coming to an end. The last shows were incredible, but the last one did not end without tears. Both tears of joy and happiness openly flowed from our eyes as we sang the final song of the show for the final time. We had our last strike and got showered in champagne, a victorious way to end a year of touring the world with an international show and an amazing group of international people. On our last day together before we traveled to the airport to say heart-breaking goodbyes, we had our final banquet as Cast B. We ate delicious Danish food and drank wine from all over Europe. We took our last pictures together and shared any words with each other that needed to be said before we headed back to our separate lives. It was an elegant night with a touch of bitter sweetness drizzled over the whole room. It was time for our semester to end, but that definitely doesn’t make it any easier. So the banquet ended and we had a huge sleepover on the floor of a large gym before we all loaded the buses before we headed to the airport to say quick and painful goodbyes.

And just like that it was done. All that energy and all that time it took to develop our UWP family, it only took one split second to say goodbye. But that’s life I guess and as hard as it can be, no matter what you do and where you come from, the people you meet and lives you touch, with one split second it is all done. But somehow those memories you savor in your heart forever and moments that change your life, they make that one-second of goodbye all worth it. You may feel a lot of pain and heartache as you close that door but the pain is worth all the other amazing moments that had been and it is always just the beginning to another door that is swinging wide open.

After that goodbye, a chunk of us are fortunate enough to be able to travel on an extended trip to Rome, Italy as a special UWP cast. So that is where we are headed now – the land of the ancient Romans and gladiators and historical artists and masterpieces older than America itself. Bonjourno Roma!! Viva la Gente!!