Week #10 - Atlanta, Georgia

    This week has been so full of many different emotions and feelings - physical, mental and emotional! On Monday we left Statesboro and made our way to Atlanta, which was our last city in the USA. The travel day went pretty fast and when we arrived in Roswell GA (North Atlanta) we had some free time and we all explored a very cute downtown and got caught in the rain. I had a small cold and cough and was a little worried about getting to run down before Switzerland. My new roommate for the week (or until I went with my parents) was Lena from Norway and my host family was great as well - Mike and Nikki with their sweet little baby boy Grayson. Tuesday morning I decided I needed to take my first sick day and so I stayed home and took a day to recover, the best that I could. It was nice to sleep in and drink a lot of tea. It was weird not talking to anyone and being silent for such a long period of time. It made me realize just how much energy we all use each day just being together and talking. It was crazy to think about. Wednesday I was still not up to par, but went anyway to my study abroad  class and we actually got to see our professors! YAY! It was great to spend time with both Theresa and Pete and my class (SA FSC students) got to lead the cast in a small workshop as well. Wednesday night I said goodbye to my host family and packed up my stuff because Thursday I was seeing my family and good friend, Reese! I was excited all day in anticipation of their arrival. They pulled an “all nighter “ and drove16 hours from Wisconsin on Wed eve to come and see our show. After a day of regional learning, seeing the capitol in Atlanta and   doing a “meet and greet” with the mayor, they finally pulled up and I got those hugs I had been waiting for. It was wonderful to spend the night and the next few days with Reese and my family! It was full of laughter and fun and everyone I introduced them to at UWP loved them. They visited the UWP group on Friday and my parents (chiropractors) adjusted most of cast/crew. We had an awesome show on Friday night and the cast really felt their “life force flowing!” My little sister Perla (12 yrs.) said she cannot wait to join UWP and my brother Justys (15 yrs) attended the Open Door Day and  was also really interested. Reese was a guest student for the Friday and Saturday show days. We had 3 shows over the two days and I had my highs and lows on learning how it is to deal with a professional show and so on. I think I was also just emotional because I realized how crazy it is that we are leaving to Europe so soon! I also got the wonderful pleasure of getting to see Betsy and Aidan Farrell because they drove down from North Carolina to see the show and spend some time with us! On top of that my aunt Jennifer from Alaska was at her mother in laws in the area and made the 2-hour drive over to see the show as well. I felt so much love and support this weekend from family, friends and Up with People people! I am so very grateful for everyone in my life. After the show on Saturday Reese and I drove to meet my extended family. We spent Sunday hanging with my immediate family and the Alaskan family that  we rarely get to see! I spent the day shedding pounds from my suitcase as I packed my stuff getting ready to cross over the big pond for the first time ever in my life!

            It has been a wonderful 2 months in the USA with Cast A 2013. It is sad to see this chapter of our journey ending, but I am so excited to conquer the great lands of Europe and Mexico with Cast A - my lifelong friends! So tomorrow we are off to Geneva, Switzerland and I am nervous and excited to see what all Europe has to offer!

                                     “We are leaving on a jet plane!” 

Pictures from Week #9 - Statesboro, GA

Multiple Bus Dates for me from Vero Beach to Statesboro...

Above: Me, Molly, Charlie, Larissa & Robin

Below: Myself and Dylan

Jessica and I meeting our new host family! Our host code was Imagine - John Lennon

My little 5 year old host sister - Nastalia

Andrew and I have the same brand coat and he decided to tie me up - well unfortunately he tied me so tight he had to use a pliers to undo me! Yikes! Heavy Duty Jackets I guess :)

Myself, Oshizu (from Japan) and Yolanda (UWP dance captain from the Netherlands) with a some of the kids and their teacher from our CI day teaching the World Dance Class!

Out for a classic North American Southern Meal with the host family!

Myself and gorgeous Italian Anna in almost the same exact dress! 

Show girls smiling like models in between songs!

Our host family at the show! They brought us flowers!!

From left to right : Daniel, Jessica (my roommate from Mexico), Nastalia, Me and Michelle

She loved it so much she came a second night! (Also my arm looks freakishly long!)

Host family day in Savannah Georgia!

These pictures were taken on Riverstreet!

In the beautiful shaded parks of Savannah (there is a park on like every block... I swear)

Possibly the biggest piece of $3 pizza I have ever seen! We all could share it. After all it was bigger than Nastalia's head!

Week # 9 - Statesboro, Georgia

      This week has flown by extremely fast but  at the same time  has been a really long, tiring week emotionally and physically. We had a long travel day on Monday( about 9 hours on the bus) and saying goodbye to our “Super Family” was not easy. We were all tearing up and my younger host siblings and host dad were full out crying! It had been a week full of fun, and thus it was hard to leave. Alas, we had Statesboro Georgia waiting for us just across the border so we had to leave sunny Florida and keep moving. I had been in  Florida for 2 months so it felt odd to say goodbye but the memories will no doubt be with me forever! So we loaded the buses and said goodbye! I had a number of bus dates and a bit of an off day, but after talking to the people around me and working through it, I was ready for the week!

            When we arrived in Statesboro Georgia, we were greeted by some delightful children whom I had the pleasure of teaching a World Dance Class to later in the week. There was also an “Elvis Presley” who sang for us and I was not sure if it was creepy or amazing! Haha. My new roommate was Jessica (she is 18, from Mexico and a second semester student). When we found our host family a sweet little 5-year-old girl and her mother greeted us. Instantly I knew it would be a good week. Her name was Nastalia and she loved us right away. She was eager to show us the house and I snuggled and read her a bedtime story on the first night. Supposedly she had never met a stranger before and had been waiting for weeks for us to get there. Our host parents Michelle and Daniel were wonderful too! They took great care of us and we had awesome conversations and delicious meals and an incredible host family day. I will most definitely miss them. On our host family day (Sunday) we went to Savannah Georgia and walked on Riverstreet by the river and walked through the gorgeous shaded squares and ran into many other Uppies of course. It is hard to avoid when there are so many of you. It was so relaxing and exactly what we needed after our super long week. I was feeling a little under the weather for the first time on the tour so a good morning of sleep and a walk in the sunshine with the family was perfect. We had our last dinner together and shared stories while laughing and soaking up our last moments. Nastalia realized we were leaving very soon and she got pretty upset. Departure could get emotional, after such a great week. So grateful for yet another fantastic host family.

             During UWP this week we had a very intense and busy schedule. On Tuesday we had a private show for the students at Georgia Southern College. We set up the whole stage, performed and then took it down all in one day. On Wednesday we had an internal day where I had FSC Study Abroad and also a Global Series where we learned all about Bully Awareness. It was a very emotionally charged workshop and then  we headed into a Cultural Fair for the college students. I taught in the World Dance Class. We had 3 sections, Mexico, Japan and Africa (me). It was a lot of fun. On Thursday we had a CI day and I went to an elementary school and taught 5 World Dance Classes. Very fun, but exhausting. Then on Friday and Saturday we had show days with a lot of rehearsal in between. By the time it got to strike on Saturday night I was going down hill fast and I hit a bit of a wall, but a good amount of sleep cured me. I woke up fresh today and am ready to take on our last city in the USA before I leave to Europe and then Mexico and then Cuba. My  immediate family, some relatives from Alaska and friends( Reese Westerhoff, Betsy and Aidan Farrell) are coming to see the show and visit me in Atlanta so I am very excited for that before I leave the country. I could use an adjustment and some family energy!

            Lastly I decided to finally purchase a Life Is Good shirt for one reason. I have always wanted one, but for some reason could never bring myself to spend money on one. But recently I have been using the phrase “Life Is Good” a lot lately and I finally felt justified to buy one because I truly feel like that phrase has perfect meaning to me right now. It is the best way to describe how I feel about my life right now. Simply put, but also so perfect. My shirt says “Life is Good, Enjoy the Ride” and that is exactly how I feel.

            Cheers to one more week in the USA – then off I go! Here we come Atlanta!

Pictures from Week #8 - Vero Beach FL

Brekken was my bus date from Orlando to Vero Beach and we had a wonderful time sharing our life stories, but first....

We made a pit stop at Disney EPCOT and this is where Larissa (pictured above) and I traveled the "whole world" in a few short hours!

Of course we ran into many of the 115 Uppies as we made our way through the park!

My host family for the week! The host code was Superman and so we were greeted by multiple and we became the Super family!

My international roommates for the week! It was an absolute blast! Norman from Belgium, Montana from Canada, Raymundo from Mexico, Oscar from Sweden and myself from USA!

After dinner the friendly family napkin war turned into a full blown, blow dart war throughout the house... It was epic!

Night swimming in the pool after the dart war! 

FSC study abroad skyping one of our teachers!

Dylan pictures behind me chucked an unwanted to pickle at my head and it actually stuck! Craziness! 

CULTURE FAIR TIME!

We were group #1! and super excited about it... as you can see :)

In Italy learning the customs!

Meeting a real Swedish man - they sure are wonderful!

Enjoying a japanese treat in Japan!

Learning how to pose for a picture in the Philippines, if you want to look suave of course!

Late night treat with the host family of fresh whipping cream and fresh berries! So delightful!

As you can see Norman and I could not get enough :)

At our CI day when we finished working they let us have a swim in the pool! It was gorgeous out and a lot of spontaneous fun!

Our "Super Family" at the show! They even made signs for us! My face had the biggest smile ever at the end of the show when I saw the signs! 

The sign below is one of the two they brought to the show!

Host Brother Love!!

Got to love those passionate Mexicans!

HOST FAMILY DAY with the Littletons!

Roomies all out with the farm animals!

At the beach we ran into many other Uppies. Classic.

Of course the fact that we ran into each other without planning it called for a spontaneous Uppie photo shoot!

Robin and I braved the Atlantic Ocean and actually caught some waves while body surfing! It was off the hook!

3 person piggy back ride with Ray and my little host sibling Paul!

Our "last supper" at the Littleton house hold!

The beautiful homestead of the Littletons in Vero Beach Florida, I will most likely be back to visit!

Overall a wonderful week full of so much excitement, let us be honest, I did not sleep very much! It was just too much fun, but then again do I ever sleep in UWP? No. I can sleep next year :)

Week #8 - Vero Beach, Florida

So this week started out with a big ole’ BANG! As a cast we had the wonderful treat of going to DISNEY EPCOT on Monday and visiting all of the different cultures in EPCOT and we shared our cultures with everyone there as well. It was super cool because we went behind the scenes and honestly it felt like we were definitely VIP status! They brought us in before the park was even open through backstage and gave us food in France and little goody bags! We also met many of the young students who work at EPCOT. They are international and come as an exchange to work at EPCOT in their appropriate countries for about a year.  EPCOT was wonderful! One of  my closest friends (Larissa) and I made a video of touring the world in just an hour. I was the tour guide and it was so much fun! We were sweaty and exhausted by the end! Let’s just say after running around the world, we definitely burned off the sushi we ate in Japan! Hopefully a video will be viewable at some point. It was an epic day.

Next it was off to Vero Beach, our last city in the sunny state of Florida. When we arrived in Vero Beach we got our allocation cards and just from reading whom my roommates were going to be and seeing what a big family we were hosted with, I knew the week would be good. My roommates and I made up a very diverse group: Montana (Canada), Raymundo (Mexico), Norman (Belgium), Oscar (Sweden, he was the PR for the city, so he had been with the family for a month already) and me (Wisconsin, USA)! We were hosted with the Littletons but do not let the name deceive you. The week was everything but little. Starting with their family plus us Uppies we had 10 people in the house and by the end of the week they had guests and so we were 18 one night. Bob and Lynn were my host parents and they had 3 and at one point 4 kids home. Noah (18), Pricilla (15) and Paul (12) and then Luke (20) came home for a few nights as well. We had a blast! There was so much to do and it was always a party! Even after returning from a long day of UWP things, there was always room for laughter and fun! We played volleyball, went night time swimming in their pool, had an 8 person Wii “Just Dance” party, played around the world ping pong, UNO, ate delicious dinners and told wonderful stories and laughed until our stomach hurt! The ultimate nights were when we had our wet napkin battles which got super intense! One night that turned into a blow dart wall that raged throughout the house! On host family day we attended their lovely church, played in the pasture and fed bread to the goat (Ezekiel), horse (Fable), cows (Sirloin and Hamburger) and played volleyball. We also made a trip to the beach where we played volleyball and me and a few other Uppies braved the Atlantic Ocean! It was a gorgeous blue color but it was a windy cold day in Florida, but you know me, I had to go in anyway! We had a lovely last supper together and shared our favorite moments from the week and laughed more of course!

This week has been so awesome and I felt so at home. I got to know a few more cast mates even better, both male and female which was nice because I felt more at home with host brothers and sisters. This week was a wonderful relaxing week before we prepare to head to Europe in just 2 weeks. I finally got my voice back to normal for the most part and I am going to try to keep it rested this time around!

            In Up with People this week life was good as always. On Tuesday I got to do workshops for the first time in classrooms and present on Up with People. That was super fun for me, to share my passion for the program and work with high school students. On Wednesday I had study abroad and got a lot done, which made me happy. Also on Wednesday we had another culture fair, but this time I got to learn about everyone else instead of being the one who presented! It was a ton of fun and very interesting. On Thursday I had a community impact day and afterward was invited to  go swimming in the mini pool/waterpark which was at their facility! Awesome and spontaneous! Then on Friday and Saturday we had show days of course… the usual set-up, lots of rehearsal and then the shows. I finally felt the impact that the show had when people stood up during the bully awareness song. It was incredible. On Friday I had a bit a low, actually the whole cast seemed to be having a bum time but we pushed through and on Saturday our vocal instructor John gave the most motivating speech in the Green Room which had most of us crying by the end! It was what we all needed to be lifted up and the night proceeded wonderfully! I worked through some things and I continue to learn more about myself each and everyday! My Up with People experience is already helping me grow and discover more about myself and I am more and more thankful for it everyday!

Tomorrow we leave to Georgia and soon after we depart to another continent! The excitement never ends!! Life is soooo good!