The past week...

So much has happened since I last wrote on here and my apologies for not keep all of you more up to date! I am going to try to recap this past week for all y’all so I can bring you up to speed. We have been dancing and singing everyday this week which has been a lot of fun! Starting with Monday though, as you know we were placed in casts and I am in Cast C!!! This means that I will be traveling to the East coast and to New York City for the Macy’s Day Parade on November 22nd. We have a 60 second time slot during the parade so you should all tune in!!! I am so excited for this!! Also, we are going to Tucson, AZ after our staging in Denver for the Up with People World Alumni Reunion!! This is going to be too cool and I am so excited to perform for a bunch of incredible alumni!! After that we go straight to Thailand for 3 weeks and we have been told that we should prepare for a real Thailand adventure because most of the host families that have been arranged already do not speak any English at all!! I am so ready for this challenge (I think), it will be amazing to learn how to communicate effectively without words!
Tuesday wasn’t quite as eventful, we did a lot of singing, dancing, and spend some time going over policies, and also got together for the first time as Cast C to develop some cast expectations. It was a busy busy day!
On Wednesday UWP brought in leaders from the community to come and talk to us about leadership in small round-table discussions. This was so interesting and definitely the highlight of the day! One of the coolest people I had the opportunity to talk to was a young woman who worked at the University of Colorado at Denver. She was one of the heads of a leadership program that is available for top students at Denver to develop their leadership skills. It is a program that is incorporated into a student’s curriculum. I just found it so interesting and I wonder if it could be applied to the NDSU student body?? I definitely think it is going to be something I look into when I am done with UWP! Also, I got the opportunity to talk to a man that works with the Guild Foundation focusing in Civil rights/justice issues. He was incredibly interesting to me! All of the people that I got the opportunity to talk to was incredible! ( I think there were 5 total) I learned so much about leadership and myself and I feel like the session really helped me to realize even more that I am going to be able to take the experiences that I have in UWP and apply them in my everyday life to become the active member of society that I wish to be!! I truly think that when I am done with my time in UWP I will have a different perspective and a greater passion to work toward different issues in the communities that I go back to!
Thursday we had our first cast blocking session. Cast blocking is where we learn where we are suppose to be on stage and when we move on and off, etc. It was interesting but a lot to take in all in one day. We will continue to work on blocking until our show so it should become like habit to me by the end. Also, I found out that I was chosen to do advance work in the 2nd city in Sweden that we go to, which means that I get to go to this city early and will set up everything for when the cast arrives!! I am way excited about this because that means that I get to spend 3 weeks in Sweden working hard, but also getting the chance to really immerse myself in their culture!!
Friday we had our first CI (community impact) day! We went south of Denver to what they call the Upper South Platte, which is an area where many of the rivers in CO run and it houses over 100,000 acres of forest! We spent our time building new trails, trimming plants that had overgrown onto the trail, and just cleaning up the area. It was quite hot but definitely rewarding work! The guides that we worked with told us that 75% of the Denver area get their water from the rivers that flow through this platte! I thought this was so interesting and all day I was constantly amazed by how everyone put all they could into the projects that we did even if they were hard work or not the most fun, like picking up trash. I think it is so cool how the people in my cast put everything they have into all that they do and am constantly surprised at the incredible things that are accomplished! So our first CI day was a real hit and I can’t wait for more!
Saturday we didn’t get the day off like last weekend, instead we spend more time blocking, dancing, and participating in a diversity program. The diversity program was so incredible! I was once again amazed by the incredible hearts that my cast members have and their abilities to have the confidence to really share intimate things with the entire cast! I feel so blessed that we have only known each other for 2 weeks and yet people are so willing to share who they are and continue to bring everything to the table! I sometimes look at the cast and almost feel as if I don’t deserve to have this many incredible people in my life for 5 more months! I just really admire each and every person in my cast!
Today we got up early and went white water rafting! It was sooo much fun and in order to get to the place where we were rafting, we had to drive through the mountains! The views were spectacular the entire trip. I think I am currently very smitten with Colorado! It is so beautiful and I have decided that in the future I want to be a rapids tour guide, have a horse farm, own a bed and breakfast in the snow covered mountains, and learn to rock climb! Big dreams right:) Anyways, I am continuing to have a blast here in CO and I think it will be sad to have to leave such a beautiful place. By the way, I think the best part about CO is that you can go so many places and see so many things for free (minus the price of gas). Anyways, that is all for now! I hope to post more frequently in the future!
Also, one last note, thanks so much to all of you that have made comments on my blog, I love going back and reading them and it is so good to hear from home!! Thanks again and I send my love!!