Pictures from Week #32 - Cheyenne Indian Reservation/Lame Deer, Montana

"Here we are and now the story is changing..."

At the Cheyenne Indian Reservation

At the Little Big Horn Battlefield!

Gorgeous Regional LEarning on Travel Day :)

My Hughbert :)

Building a teepee 101!

Just enjoying the views and the sun!

My roommates for the week.

Waiting for the powwow / drum circle to begin :)

Andrew my good friend and mushu!

The lucky Prayer Lodge Clan with April our wonderful host mom!

Bonfire and native dancing ;)

Show Day on the Reservation!

My new mother Susan Baker! I cannot say thank you enough for being such a special part of my life!

Week #32 - Cheyenne Indian Reservation/Lame Deer, Montana

           What a week it has been in the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation! I can easily say without a doubt that each person had a very unique experience and individually was challenged in their own way. We went into a community that needed us to come. It was not really because we were wanted, but mainly because we were needed. Though we all had challenges throughout the week and on the outside maybe it did not seem like we were making an impact we really were. We were changing lives simply by making the effort to reach out to the community in a place where most people choose not to go. The goal of the week was not only to help the individuals within the community, but also to find a way to build a bridge of understanding between the communities just off the reservation. We also wanted to help spark some inspiration in their hearts to act on their own and change what is around them simply because they can.

            On Monday we traveled into the reservation, on the way stopping at the Battle Field of Little Big Horn and learning all about the importance of that in the Cheyenne tribe native culture. When we got into Lame Deer we had a super cool welcoming session where we heard stories from some of the wise elders and were blessed as a group with sweet grass and native prayers. We also learned how to set up a teepee before having a potluck dinner with all of our new host families. I was at the prayer lodge so all of us girls instantly started speaking with our contacts. When we arrived home it was in a beautiful area, all alone on a hill surrounded by gorgeous open fields and a wonderful sunrise and sunset each day. The motto of the prayer lodge was “ A place for women to be” and it was exactly that. We had a great time getting to know one another throughout the week. My roommates were Shawna, Lauren W., Lauren B., Myself, Laura, Sanne and Abbey B. We spent many nights with our host mom April who is a native of the Cheyenne Tribe and she told us all we needed to know about anything involving the reservation and Cheyenne Tribal Culture.

            During the week we learned some native dancing, looked at her old items her grandma has beaded, had two delicious dinners (we had a busy week in UWP) and on the last night with her we had the opportunity to partake in the sweat. It was an incredible experience that I think everyone should try and I mean that full heartedly. We also did something called energy drawings for each other and it was so cool to test and then realize how powerful our intuition really is. Thus the saying goes always trust it. The whole experience at the prayer lodge was great. Whether we were meditating at sunrise or lying under the stars in the autumn breeze, we all bonded a lot and were able to have a relaxing week.

            In UWP we did many things as usual. We went into over 4 different schools to do workshops and wow did we all have some challenges! Why? Simply because education on the reservation is far from anything we have ever been acquainted with. However, we grew so much from that and I am thankful to have that experience with the classroom workshops. It triggered conversation and eventually helped you resolve whatever it was and things are much better, always J I had study abroad during the day as usual and that evening we had a drum circle and potluck gathering with all of our host families. It was super awesome, that got in the dark, which we need to get out. On Thursday a group of us arose super early to go into Billings to do a BTS for a service group of volunteers. Friday and Saturday we were busy as can be putting on show after show for all who could come. This was the place we most definitely saw some big change and also witnessed people regaining some sort of hope in their lives. We had a very busy week, but as we talked amongst each other and shared stories from ourselves and from our host families we were all able to fully understand what it is like to live on the reservation and it is not easy at all. Our minds were opened and I think we all realized how much more we could give as long as we live with open hearts and focus on things step by step. It is the little things that matter especially in this case. Although we all had moments of frustration and maybe missing our homes, we really changed lives this past week and all of the things we had to push through were all worth it. Simply knowing we bridged communities together is a really wonderful feeling.

Week #31 - Pictures from Billings, Montana

Travel Day! The buses have become a second home at this point...

Preparing for anti - bullying workshops!

Home team time!

Volleyball in dress? Of course who do you think I am to pass up an opportunity like that :)

My new crazy roommate - Fien from the Netherlands!

Show time on three - 1,2,3 SHOW TIME!

Host Family at the show - they loved it almost as much as we love them ;)

Manicures and Pedicures Oh My! 

Love those mall photo booths!

Last night together... laughter, tears and goodbyes! Thank you Hargrove Family it has been fabulous and the goodbyes are never easy! 

Week #31 - Billings, Montana

          This week has been pretty fabulous overall. We traveled a short distance from Bozeman to Billings Montana, both cities are college towns so similar in a sense, but the geography around the cities was very different. Bozeman is surrounded by mountains and Billings is in the plains part of Montana.

Travel day was a lot of fun because when we arrived in Billings we were at the zoo and we ended up having a fun little gathering with our host families.  The gathering included volleyball, graffiti painting, a BBQ dinner, bounce houses and much more. My new roommate for the week was Fien from the Netherlands and we have been waiting for awhile to be roommates so we knew right away it would be a great week. Meeting our host family made that even clearer. Right off the bat they were super outgoing and we were laughing within the first couple of minutes of knowing each other. My host parent’s names were George and Regina and we had three host sisters Hannah, Morgan and Grace (17, 12 and 10 years old). I felt so at home the entire week, which counteracted the fact that I was not feeling 100% health wise. I ended up staying home sick one day to just stop my sore throat and lack of sleep from becoming something much worse. Throughout the week we had nights full of laughter and tears (when watching a sad movie haha), delicious dinners and lots of girl talk. Poor George was over loaded with estrogen this week, but he handled it well. They loved the show and we talked about it for hours afterward. Last but not least, host family day was just perfect. We got to sleep in, have a delicious breakfast and then a well-needed girls day. Our little host sisters did our hair and painted all 20 of our nails (toes and hands). Then we went shopping before having a yummy final dinner, movie and scrapbooking evening of goodbyes. It will no doubt be challenging to say our final goodbye in the morning as we head off to our last stop in Montana.

            In UWP this week we had 3 shows so we were very busy. We also set a new record for the most interviews in one week for UWP (last set in Quebec Canada at 112). The admissions crew interviewed 122 people, which is almost a full UWP cast on its own! Yay Billings haha J Friday was a big day for me because I completed one of my goals for the semester, which was to sing the acapella song in the show “Let the Music Play”. We also had the backstage begin to flood during our show on Saturday because Billings was having record rains and the building was leaking. Complete craziness, but we pushed through and it was a great show despite the chaos behind the scenes. On Tuesday I facilitated an anti-bullying class and it was super powerful to see the young middle school really understand the message we were trying to spread. This week was just the beginning of the anti-bullying workshops that we will be doing in schools and I look forward to the rest of the impact that we make in the coming weeks.

            Next week we head to Lame Deer (the Native American reservation of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe) and it is going to be quite the week. I get the amazing opportunity of staying in a prayer lodge where we will be living along side the women in the lodge and learning about their ways and culture so I am super excited for that. I will do my best to share that experience with you next week, but it will most likely be hard to put into words. So here we go – to a life changing experience. I have no idea what to expect so I am just keeping my mind and heart open as I head into the coming week.

Pictures from Week #30 - Bozeman/Big Sky, Montana

Being tourists in style!

Collision of Happiness :)

There she blows :)

Old Faithful blew us right off our feet!

Old Faithful - here I come!

Yellowstone National Park!

My sweet little host brother - Jordan :)

Host family in Bozeman

My relatives Janet, Bernd and Jennifer came to visit and see the show in Bozeman :)

Reunited again! The Baker Clan!

Views from the ski lift :)

Super competitive volleyball! 

Jumping off the mountain in Big Sky Montana!

Week #30 - Bozeman/Big Sky, Montana

          Well another wonderful week in Up with People. Really I could start every weekly entry by saying that same sentence because UWP is really that incredible.

            But moving on, this week we left the gorgeous state of Wyoming and headed to its good ole’ neighbor Montana. We were able to drive through Yellowstone Park and stop and see the epic sight of Old Faithful! It was a wonderful travel day full of beautiful views and interesting sights. When we arrived in Bozeman we headed off to our new host families. I had a sweet little 2-year-old host brother and a lovely couple, relatively new to the Bozeman area, but they were a very sweet family and I enjoyed reading little Jordan to sleep and playing ball with him as he realized his insane amounts of energy! I actually was only with them until Friday morning because for the weekend I was with my old host family “The Bakers”.

     Susan Baker has a vacation home very near Bozeman so she came up for the weekend and we (Miguel, Erin, Nicole, myself and her daughter Brekken), joined her there for the long Labor Day weekend off and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We spent time sleeping in, having deep talks, laughing constantly, relaxing, having family meals, riding on ski lifts to the top of mountains, hot tubbing, having super intense air hockey tournaments and as a bonus we got to go zip lining! It was an amazing weekend, which we all needed and enjoyed immensely! Saying goodbye to them gets harder every time because they have all (roommates and Baker family included) become like a family to me.

     In UWP this week we had a much shorter week than usual. On Tuesday I went to Habitat for Humanity for my community service day. It was a lot of physical work and it felt so good. I also had a wonderful time getting to my cast mates, which is one of my favorite things about service days. On Wednesday I had study abroad and we got caught in the rain a few times – a fun experience for all J We also had culture fair for the European and Asian countries and it was a ton of fun. It was full of games, different types of food and fun facts. Both Thursday and Friday we had show days and quite the shows they were. We had some challenges but we overcame them as a cast and it brought us much closer. We also had a cast meeting with Paul Whitaker, who talked about the meaning of life and home team time, which was embarrassing story time J Then we had 2 days off for labor day weekend, which almost never happens in UWP.

    Overall the week was fabulous and I am excited for Billings Montana next week because so far I have loved every city and I feel as though things can only get up from here J This has been a great US tour and semester so far and Mexico sounds like it will be great as well so thank you UWP for all these amazing moments. I feel blessed.