Well this week
has been very draining, but also very good. I have come home every night ready
to go to sleep at the snap of a finger! We had 3 show days with 4 shows and I
had a very energy intensive community service day where I was the crew leader.
It has been a very fun, high-energy week. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every
second, I just know I did my best because I left each day feeling vey satisfied
and also very tired. My high of the week was receiving the wonderful
opportunity to be the Band Intern for the next 5 weeks! I am very excited to
learn about all that the band entails and maybe learn how to play some songs on
different instruments as well. My low for the week was probably having the
realization that we only have 6 weeks left before the semester is over and we
will never all be in the same place at the same time ever again. Both moments I
had tears in my eyes, of both happiness and sadness.
This week we arrived in the
wonderful country of Belgium, a country that loves UWP and has many alumni of
UWP living within its borders. Belgium is also known for and very proud of its
beer, chocolate, fries and waffles! All of which I got to try throughout the
week! It was another split city week and so half of the cast was in the larger
city of Mol and the other half was in Turnout just 20min away.
My
new host mom, Ilse, was an alumna of UWP and had two teenage daughters Mindy
and Sari who will most likely be in UWP someday as well. I had a great week
getting to know them and sharing stories and laughs the whole time. My host
mom’s mom and dad live directly next door (they actually share a wall) and they
were hosting Miguel from Mexico. So we were pretty much roommates considering
we all did everything together besides sleep. I felt very welcome and well
taken care of. My host mom new exactly how it felt to be in UWP so she knew
exactly what we needed which was wonderful. It was also so fun to be able to
bring her back down memory lane as she recalled her year in UWP and watched the
show with the biggest smile on her face as she thought about when she was on
the stage 25 years ago. It will be hard to say goodbye. On host family day she
told me to sleep and later in the evening we met up with another host family
and went bowling and then hit the popular
street where everyone goes out bar
hopping!
After
travel day on Monday we had CI on Tuesday. I was the crew leader for a group
that went to a place called De Witte Mol. It is a care center and place of
residence for people with severe mental and physical disabilities. It was
definitely a challenge zone for me and many others but we worked through it
together and ended up having a great day interacting with the different
residents and creating a dance party for them in the after noon. It took a lot
of energy to be so positive and present for 6 hours straight with people who
may have lost all hope but we did our best and went home very tired.
On
Wednesday I had study abroad and I got a chance to explore the city of Mol a
bit. It was beautiful and sunny outside and it felt like I was home in the
Midwest on a May Day. On Thursday and Friday the cast was reunited for our show
days in Mol. Very long days, but of course fulfilling and wonderful. We had a
guest speaker come in who had HIV and he talked about his condition and was
very informative. We also had the 3rd round internship announcements
and I got the Band Internship so I will hopefully be learning a whole lot in
the next 5 weeks about the band and how it works within UWP. I am hoping to
gain knowledge for my future if I ever sing in a band again. Saturday we had
our host family day and then on Sunday we had a big ole double show day. Talk
about exhausting!
Now
it time to move on to our next city in Belgium! Two more weeks in Europe and
then off we fly to Mexico for our last month together in Up with People. Time
to live life like it is your last 6 weeks to live! Let’s do it up! YOLO (you
only live once!)
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