Pictures from Week #42 - Gothenburg, Sweden

Their dreams of becoming models are becoming reality - slowly but surely.

You have got to love that public transportation!

The super six! We took those buses and trams by storm - photoshoots and all!

The biggest candy store I have ever seen!

Family and friends and boyfriends/girlfriends for fondue and family dinner. 

The "One Piece" a very popular thing in Scandinavia right now!

It is Christmas time in Sweden (on this exact day it was Thanksgiving back in the USA).

Liseberg! The famous christmas market- so beautiful!

Hello Swedish Santa!

Brekken and I on a mini date on the ferris wheel :)

After the incredible ice show - so many things to be thankful for, but especially friends who care for you so much!

My host dad won a gigantic chocolate bar!

Robin - soon to be my famous Swede! - and his band (MAYSIN) came to the show and loved it. It was so good to take some time to catch up a little bit!

Out in Gothenburg with our host sisters!

I just love this picture so much!

Jordan and I are like Thing 1 and Thing 2 when we get together :)

Baking Santa Lucia buns on host family day!

Week #42 - Gothenburg, Sweden

          What a week it has been here in Gothenburg, Sweden! We arrived on Monday with a very short travel day (length of 45min) from Alingsas and had a day full of internal activities – such as creating a cast book, having a religious debate and just soaking up our time together as we all know it is coming to an end so soon.

            When Marisa (from Germany) and I met our new family they began speaking in German to us because they were expecting two people from Germany – well obviously that did not quite work out J But by the time we ate dinner we were all speaking in English and the week was off to a great start. Throughout the week we enjoyed delicious, typical Swedish meals both in the early mornings and later evenings. We spent a lot of time talking and I became very accustomed to the public transportation system in Gothenburg (all of Cast B did more or less). We created great bonding moments as we sprinted to catch the train (a typical Swedish thing to do I have found out) and went out to the club together on Saturday night. My host sister, Helena brought me to one of the biggest candy stores I have ever seen and thankfully we had to leave to catch a train before I could buy anything! She loved the show and ended up applying for UWP as well so yay for me recruiting! On Sunday we had a relaxing day of baking Santa Lucia buns which is something I experienced in PRWS (Waldorf school), but now I am in Sweden, the heart of the Santa Lucia holiday so that was super fun. It became the first of December today so Advent has officially begun in Scandinavia and the Christmas season is in full swing! Christmas sure does put you in the best mood as the carols ring in your ears and family meals with candles and Christmas decorations bring that longing in your heart to be at home by the fire with family. But hey I have family around the world now and if that is not literally spreading the Christmas spirit I am not sure what is J

            In UWP this week we were busy but had  so much fun stuff happening all the time that we did not even notice how fast the week flew by. On Tuesday we had almost an entire day of regional learning in Gothenburg where we had time to explore the city, shop and even have a fika (coffee date) if you wanted. It felt so nice and because of that time during the day to see the city – I have fallen in love with Gothenburg. It is not too big and not too small, it is beautiful, efficient and just all around a great place to live in my opinion. On Wednesday I had study abroad and the facility we were in was one of the coolest I have seen in my entire year of study abroad in UWP. We had free cookies and tea and coffee all day and I got a lot of work done as well. Each evening there was about 6 of us who took the same train and we had so many nights of laughter that our stomachs hurt, but a good pain if you know what I mean. On Thursday I did CI at a place that is for young people with cancer. It was a great CI where we did a lot of work, but also had a lot of time to talk to each other, share stories and continue to soak up every second we have left together. We can all tell it is crunch time and that we don’t have any time to lose. If only we had realized that 1 month into the tour, but alas it is human nature J After CI we all made our way to Liseberg, a beautiful amusement park and the most famous Christmas market in Sweden. We spent the evening walking around and seeing the beautiful lights, talking to Swedish Santa, drinking glogg (a very typical Christmas drink here in Sweden) and ending the night with a gorgeous Ice Show that was put on by an UWP alumni (they are seriously all over the world and you never know when you will find one). On Friday we had our show at Liseberg in the theatre and it was a fantastic show. A very packed and enthusiastic audience and yes it was full of alumni, who may have helped the energy, but we were also on fire! My biggest surprise of the night was when I saw Robin in the audience along with his band members! I was so excited to see one of my closest friends again! He visited last week for like 5 minutes, but this time I actually got to talk to him and he brought me one of his newly released albums. I was so proud to see that he made it happen, because I cannot even count the times we talked about his band or went over grammatical errors in his lyrics or I listened to him test a melody. I am so happy there is now a finished project and it is so good! After a late night public transportation adventure, Jordan and I made it home to our respective host families to get a wonderful 10-hour sleep. Then I awoke and again went on a solo public transportation adventure to arrive at the  appropriate facility. We had a pretty intense 5 hours of closure activities, a lot of tears were shed but to balance it out there was also a lot of laughter.

We all ended the day or week hugging each other a little bit tighter and smiling a little bit longer at each other before parting. As the last week approaches, the week full of “lasts” day by day we linger in the facility longer before we are forced out to our host families, simply because we don’t want to say goodbye knowing that each day the goodbyes get closer and closer to the REAL FINAL goodbye. The day’s get harder and harder for me as well and the pit in my stomach continues to grow as the reality of the end starts to seep into my brain and eventually to my heart. I burst into tears at random and I have the whole last year flash through my mind in such vivid memories as if it were yesterday! I cannot believe how fast time flew by and I still cannot believe it is ending. It is almost hard for me to comprehend that almost the entire year of 2013 I have been in UWP and living a life that people dream of living. It always comes around to how blessed I am and how each day I become more grateful for the opportunities, experiences, friends and gifts UWP gave to me. I will forever be grateful for this program. This thanksgiving I was thankful for UWP and my family and friends back home who support me in all I do. Without them UWP would not be possible and without UWP – the last year would not have happened and I would not be the same person I am today.

Off to an amazing and unreal last week in Denmark! Lets make it a good one Cast B because for real this time it is now or never!

Pictures from Week #41 - Alingsas, Sweden

Always at work - practicing a song on the bus! I love being surrounded by so much talent :)

Buying food for 16 people... I got buried.

Our Welcome dinner to our second semester retreat!

Regional Learning in Gothenburgh.

Cooking a whole bunch of stir fry!

Chow  Time!

After a lot of happy and sad tears ... lets just say we had puffy eyes, 2 less rolls of toilet paper and we learned that no matter what saying goodbye is never easy!

Before we took the most epic polar plunge ever! You can see we are still smiling :)

The gorgeous sunset in the woods :)

Preparation for Thanksgiving/Christmas Dinner and Celebrations!

Our Family Christmas :)

Playing an intense game of the White Elephant gift exchange!

A walk to the lake after the first snowfall :) YAY!

The victory team! Adam, Hugh, Erin S., Caleb and myself succeeded in planning a perfect second semester retreat! All the blood and sweat payed off :)

The first snow!! Leaping in glee!!

We are one big happy family! And this picture proves it.

Love you second semester family - cheers to one great year! Probably one of the best years of my life thus far. We can only go up from here!

Julia (my roommate from Sweden) and myself enjoying the music of ABBA at our host sisters dance concert!

Dinner with the host family!

A very quick, but wonderful surprise visit from one of my favorite Swedes - Robin!

Incredible meals :)

Going out in Sweden!

All bundled up to ride the bikes on a cold Swedish night.

Host Family Day!

Week #41 - Alingsas, Sweden

Wow! What an amazing week this has been! So far I like Sweden a lot  On Monday we traveled over the bridge from Denmark into the beautiful country of Sweden.

Upon arriving in Sweden the second semester group of 14 plus and two adults all left the cast for a few days to go on our second semester retreat. It is a tradition for second semesters to leave the cast for a few days to process the experience of their last year together in UWP. I was one of 5 who organized the trip and it was so incredible. We had a cabin in the woods and we had a great couple of days just being together in a big house. We had big “family meals “ every night, we played games, and processed with lots of tears and laughter our last year together. It is unbelievable how fast time goes. We also did some service work with an organization for teens with cancer. It was super awesome! We also went to this super sweet museum ( if you can even  call it that) On our personal second semester internal day we all did a polar plunge into the lake and then had to run back for 10 min. to the cabin. Thankfully there were hot beverages and a sauna waiting at the house. My favorite part of our little trip was celebrating Thanksgiving/Christmas all together. We had a funny looking Thanksgiving dinner, but it made its point and we even got to play white elephant gift exchange and everyone  loved it! Then back we went to the cast after waving goodbye to our adorable winter wonderland!

We returned to the cast and I got to meet my host family and roommate Julia (from Sweden). My family was fabulous and I loved our meals together by candlelight and I had a great time on host family day as we biked around Alingsas sight seeing. It has been so awesome getting some great fresh air this week! They loved the show and I am so happy they got to see me sing so many songs. It will be very sad to leave this home and family, because they are so fabulous and it was such a short time for me to get to know them, but I guess I just have to visit.

In UWP this week there was minimal activities because I was gone for 3 days, but when we were back we had an internal day, doing different educational activities, which was super cool. We had our first show day in Sweden with the Swedish medley and it looked amazing, I got chills when I saw it (especially the Euphoria). The show was great, the audience all loved it and now it is time for us to leave to the next city already.

  So just 2 more weeks, and honestly I have no idea how I can even begin to say goodbye to anyone.  I know the process is going to take much longer, and so I am going into the next two week with a big open heart. I just hope I can keep it open long enough without it breaking into pieces! All right off we go to a neighboring Swedish city tomorrow :)

Week #40 - Roskilde, Denmark

“Follow the cobble stone road, follow the cobble stone road, follow, follow, follow, follow the cobblestone road! “  That is how I feel now that we have arrived in beautiful Denmark!

It is so crisp and fresh here in Europe and it is the exact breath of fresh air that our cast needed after our fun and exhausting tour in Mexico. To fly from the Americas over to the lovely continent of Europe, we ended up flying in 3 different flight groups, which we called “ the great migration!” By the time we all flew over the big pond we were reunited on Wednesday morning in Roskilde Denmark. My flight group was all U.S. passport holders and we had driven to the Mexican border in Nogales and walked across it with our suitcases.  Next we got on another bus to head to the Phoenix airport for a flight to London and then eventually onward to Roskilde Denmark where we all became Cast B together again!

            Meeting my first Danish host family was wonderful and their house was so welcoming and cozy. I have had an incredible week. My roommate this week is Mie from Italy and it has been a joy getting to know her as well. Throughout the week we enjoyed cozy dinners and great discussions and on host family day we took a 15 min train ride to Copenhagen. Here we were able to sight see, enjoy typical Christmas Danish drinks and food and enjoyed the Christmas lights that decorated the city of Copenhagen. After some shopping, eating, talking, sight seeing, and yes even roller coaster riding, we made our way home to our last dinner with candles and wonderful company!

            In UWP it was a shorter week considering we were not all together until Wednesday morning. When we were back together we had an internal day where we had rehearsal and then had lunch with the mayor before finishing up our day with some educational workshops. On Thursday I had study abroad and then on Friday and Saturday we had shows. On Friday we had a few alumni join us from my last cast so I was very happy, but I was overwhelmed with tears of joy when on Saturday another 10 alumni showed up. I performed my heart out for them and so did all the  other second semesters. We were all crying by the end as we watched their faces in the front row well up with tears during almost every song. It was one of the greatest feelings ever to hug someone who you’ve been longing to see for months and then all the horrid feelings of saying goodbye 4 months ago rush back when you have to say goodbye again. It was as if we were all in a dream being surrounded by people from Cast A. We were on a cloud and then all of a sudden we would have to pop out of it to be back in Cast B mode. It was a very odd feeling and we were all shocked at how easily we fell back into that comfort and ease of friends and cast mates with everyone. It felt like just yesterday that we had said goodbye. It was wonderful and yet very surreal as well. Also on Saturday we had Expression Session where we shared our talents with one another and let me tell you we are a talented cast! It was super enjoyable and Brekken and I sang a song together where we both almost cried. The end is coming so soon and it is not going to get any easier to say goodbye. I succeeded in my goal and was able to perform “Song of Peace” for the big group of alumni that were there and it felt so good!

            Tomorrow we head to Sweden for two weeks and the second semesters head off for a few days on our own to debrief the last year we had just spent together! It is going to be a whirlwind last 3 weeks and I just hope I am ready for everything that is going to come at me! I can say though that I am so happy to be in Europe right now in this pre- Christmas season! The spirit is all around me!

Pictures from Week #40 - Roskilde, Denmark

We are going to Europe ladies and gents!

Reunited at last with Jordan Greene - Fien and I are just a little excited :)

And this is what we were welcomed into our host families house with at 10:30 at night!

Is it safe to say I am in love with the cozy Danish culture?

Our host mom Dorthe is an incredible cook!

When Cast A and B 2013 combine! 

It is insane how fast you go back to normal with friends when your in UWP!

Cast A is back :)

For 24 hours at least ... :(

My heart both was healed and then broken again as I said hello and then goodbye all in 12 hours to this guy: Norman I love you so much it hurts.

Yep we were crying in the last song of the show when they help up these signs in the front row!

Thanks guys!

Mie from Italy my roommate and our lovely host family!

I finally got my partner in crime back :) Jordan thank goodness your here!

Nothing gets better than dancing with old friends and new friends! Europeans who surprised us, I can not even began to tell you how much joy I feel even to this moment!

Finally get to meet the women who raised my best friend! Just as wonderful as your daughter!

Host family day in Copenhagen, Denmark!

The Danish go all out in their campaigns they even use camels!

Oh just grabbing a quick snack! Thats all :)

And just when I thought I was short - I met this guy- tallest man in the guness book of world records!

Roommate Mie, my amazing host sister Julia and myself!

Tree pose whenever and wherever!

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A sweet christmas drink!

Looking over the water at the beautiful billion dollar opera house

Roller coaster time!

The gorgeous late display in the Tivoli amusement park!

Our last family dinner - so delicious!