Sunday, July 13, 2008

This past week has been absolutely amazing. Everyday Birgit and I have come home completely exhausted…but it’s all part of the fun!!! It’s great coming home from a long day with the cast, eating dinner and sitting around talking with our host parents for a while! One day my host parents took Birgit and I up to a lookout point in the mountains for us to take pictures. The picture below is my host mom Judy, me, Birgit (my roommate from Switzerland) and my host dad Bob.


Our host families house is extremely cozy and makes both of us feel right at home. Here are some pictures of where we are staying!!

Our bedroom...



The dining, room, kitchen and living room...



At the opening session Sunday and the Monday morning kick-off the staff performed a few dances for us to get us pumped for staging. It was a phenomenal performance…one that made me extremely excited. I can’t believe that in a few weeks it will be us up on the stage!! Below is the staff performing a few Up With People dance numbers!!


The mountains here are so beautiful. Where we live in Boulder there is a formation that is known as the “Sleeping Indian.” The picture below is of the “Sleeping Indian.” Look towards the right of the mountains and you can see the head and than moving towards the left is the stomach and directly to the left of the telephone pole is the toes!!



My roommate Birgit took part in the Culture Jam on Wednesday night. She sang a Swiss-German song with another girl from Switzerland. They performed first in the show and did an absolutely amazing job. This is a picture of Birgit and Gwen performing!



Thursday night after staging we went to the Rockies game. Kirk who is a cast member from Denver was our "tour guide!!" He showed us how to get to the stadium, helped us get our rock pile tickets, explained to everyone the American food at baseball games and helped us get to he bus station! Ten cast members went to the game and out of the group, 6 of the cast members weren’t from the United States. They had never seen a baseball game before! They were all very excited. Not only did they enjoy the baseball game, but they also enjoyed eating Rockies dogs and snow cones. As you can see from the pictures below we all had a great time!!! A few of us even went to the batting cages that they have in the stadium.



Some will call staging (the four weeks that we spend in Colorado learning the show) “Up With People” boot camp and that’s exactly what it is! The cast has been going through intense dancing and musical training, as well as sitting in on education sessions to prepare us for our upcoming tour. We are currently working hard to prepare the numbers in the show for our dress rehearsal that we will be having at the end of staging in only a couple of weeks!!! The first dance that we learned as a cast is called “Keep the Beat.” It’s an extremely upbeat and fun song and dance. Two staff members performed the dance so that everyone could record it to practice at home. Below is a recording of the “Keep the Beat” dance being performed by Kaleigh and Cody who are two past cast members.



This weekend our host dad Bob is out of town. He is with a high school group white water rafting and doing a lot of outdoor adventure sports with them. Our host mom Judy is home with us and today we are having a day of relaxation resting up for the busy week ahead! This afternoon we are going out for Pizza and we are going to have a game night. A great way to begin the week ahead :)

Events from my first weekend in Denver, Colorado


My first weekend in Denver, Colorado was great! After being introduced to my host dad Bob and roommate on Friday night, we headed to my host families house and were greeted with brownies and ice cream from my host mom Judy. We sat outside in the backyard next to their garden and water fountain chatting and getting to know one another until late into the evening!

Little did I know when I met my host parents Bob and Judy...that they have hosted 78 Up With People Students as well as many others from various service organizations and over 90 foster students. They have done all of this as well as raise their own 4 children!! How absolutely amazing!! They are phenomenial host parents and even though we have only been here for an extremely short amount of time..I already feel right at home :)

Saturday morning Bob and Judy brought us to the Railroad Museum that he volunteers at for a volunteer appreciation luncheon. He gave us our own private tour of the museum...it was very interesting! On our way home from the museum Bob wanted us to see a few trains pass...on our way we were stopped in the road by a large group of cattle. There were guys on horses with lasos stopping the traffic allowing them to cross. Once we got to the area to watch the trains, we found out that the cattle would be crossing by us again. Little did we know that they would be only inches away! We were able to see 4 trains as well as the cattle! It was an absolutely amazing experience! I have included a picture of the cattle with this post!!!

Saturday evening we went to the Boulder mall. It's an outdoor shopping facility and many street performers were there. We were able to see the zip code man...if you give him your zip code he will tell you where you are from. As well as a girl who juggled and did handstands while standing on a base surrounded by knives and fire!

Sunday morning we went to church with Bob and Judy and 0ut for lunch with a bunch of their friends from church before attending the opening Up With People Ceremonies. Many of the staff members participated and put on a mini version of the show for us! It was great :) Made us extremely excited for our upcoming tour!!!

First weekend in Colorado

I have only been in Colorado for 3 days and I have already been having the time of my life! Between meeting many other students, the staff, my host family and exploring the area it has been phenomenial!

My host parents for the month that I am in Colorado are Bob and Judy Rothe, and they are absolutely amazing! My roommate and I are their 77th and 78th host kids from Up With People! They have an area set-up down stairs for us. Their is a room with two twin beds, a closet, dressers and across the hall we have our own private bathroom, it's absolutely perfect. My roommates name is Birgit and she is from Switzerland! She is 25 and is an elementary school teacher as well.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Leaving for Denver, Colorado

The past few months have flown by. The fundraising, packing and goodbyes are almost all done and in less than 6 hours I will be on a plane heading to Denver, Colorado. I am full of emotions. Sad that I am leaving my family and friends, excited to meet new people and start an amazing journey and completely scared, not knowing what to expect. Tomorrow I will have the opportunity to meet the other members of Cast B as well as meet my first host family. It's going to be a day that I will never forget. The first day of my Up With People experience...