An Adventure Around the World- Up with People 2013: August 2013

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Pictures from Week #29 - Jackson, Wyoming

7 hour bus date with Josiah with a whole lot of sleeping :)

A wonderful bunch of room mates (Emelie, Mallory K., Helen, Myself, ErinS., and Lauren B.)!

A night out in the center square of Jackson with ice cream and friends :)

My Hughbert

Going western style today!

Jamming away to good ole' country songs :)

Real Wyoming cowgirls at the Chuckwagon!

Oh Andrew my Mushu... somehow we get along :)

It was a family affair at the Chuckwagon!

Midwest Culture Fair! The theme was a crazy road trip through the midwestern states and one stop was in good ole' Wisconsin where they got to milk me as a Wisconsin Cow :) haha

Our sweet modes of transportation for the week.

Delicious dinner time!

Old Time Family Portraits :)

Nothing better than getting lost in the rain and dark while biking home after the show!

Roomie Snuggle Time

Pyramids are Pretty sPectacular

Team number one remains number one in the Jackson UWP Olympics :)

WE completed the challenge... somehow

Oh the crazy Fien from the Netherlands... so similar it is scary!

Fun with Leslie was a blast - surrounded by countries in this photo (Mexico, USA, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Japan, China, Italy, The Netherlands and Bermunda as well)!

Showtime on three - 1-2-3 - SHOWTIME!

"The Sky is the limit and I have so much farther to go :)"

My Hughbert

Friends on the mountain top :)

My Precious Pumpkin from Sweden :)

UWP choreography can be done everywhere :)

We got stuck in the swamp, but Paul was our savior!

We can even create an uppie picture in the middle of the lake - now thats talent :)

Perfect Photography!

A portable hammock!

Incredible Host Family Day

Superheroes to the rescue!

Potluck dinner as the sun set over the mountains.

Acrobatics

Uppie love before the trampoline broke :)

Last night in Wyoming - what a beautiful place :)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Week #29 - Jackson, Wyoming

I have been extremely lucky this semester when it comes to host families and roommates and everything else. The weeks are just one good one after another and it just keeps on going that way. Not to mention the places we have visited are extremely beautiful when it comes to the nature that surrounds the city we are in J This week we traveled from Sheridan to Jackson (across the state of Wyoming), Jackson is very well know for its natural beauty and western life style. It is a very touristy town especially in the summer, and it is well known for its downhill skiing in the winter. But it is absolutely gorgeous and the weather was wonderful all week thus making the week in Jackson extra fabulous!

On top of a great place to be in I had a wonderful host family with fantastic and fun roommates. I was hosted with a girl from my Cast A (last semester) and her family: The Flanagan’s. We ended up being a group of 10 people in the house with their family of four and six of us UWP girls (Erin S., Lauren B., Emelie, Helen, Mallory K., and myself) so it was quite the party all week long. Throughout the week we had a lot of fun. We explored Jackson in the day and the evenings, had a movie night and a night where the whole family went to have an “Old Time Photo” taken. We had delicious breakfasts and dinners together and host family day was the best of all. We rode in a sky tram up the top of peak in the Teton Mountain Range and saw gorgeous views and took a ton of fun photos. We were joined by a few other uppies at this point and from that point on the day just keep getting better and the group of uppies kept growing (with their host families of course). Next we made our way to a small lake at the base of the mountains, which was stunning and beautiful. We spent the afternoon with a ton of other uppies paddle boarding, swimming, laughing and just enjoying the great outdoors and all it had to offer. After that the night was still not done because we had a grill out at another host families house and enjoyed our food as the sunset over the mountains. We ended a wonderful week by having a late night with hot chocolate, stories and the never-ending process of Sunday night packing and closure.

In UWP hours this week we were very busy. We had CI day and I went to a center that helps out the Latino population here in Jackson and then of course on Wednesday I had my study abroad class. Both Tuesday and Wednesday evening we had a special events. A small group of us went and presented at the rotary club on Tuesday night about UWP and then on Wednesday the whole entire cast got to go to a classic western event called a “Chuck wagon” where you eat classic western food and listen to classic western music. It was the whole cast plus host families so quite a lot of fun. We jammed away with the guitar on the bus to such an event and while we were there as well. Thursday we did a lot of anti-bullying workshop preparation and we also had half of the cast do a culture fair so we could learn more about each other. So much fun! Friday and Saturday were show days and the venue we performed in was beautiful and air-conditioned J. Saturday morning I was signed out with the cast manager and the group of us signed out with her got to do a bunch of team bonding games and just have a blast all morning.

On Monday we travel to Montana and get to stop at “Old Faithful” in Yellowstone National Park on the way, which should be spectacular! Today was one of those days where at the top of the mountain I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and tried to take in all the incredible blessings in my life. I am so lucky and I still cannot believe how many amazing things I get to do each week or even each day. Simply looking around at my teammates during team bonding and realizing I was surrounded by Belgium, The Netherlands, Japan, China, Denmark, Mexico, Sweden and the USA just about made my heart skip a beat in excitement. I am living such an abnormal life and I am beyond grateful for the experiences I get to receive and give to others!

So long Wyoming – its been great!