Wow! What a Day!!!

Hello again! So today was a huge day! We did our very first vocal and dance practice, we had two presentations, lunch and dinner at the University, and then our Culture Jam!

So, lets see. We started out with morning announcements. We talk about the things going on in the news like the issues in Somalia. We talked about Sadaam and what info we knew that wasn't exactly a headline (the details). Janet from Singapore is doing an indepentdent study through her university where we all answer series of questions that will be asked throughout the semester to see how we develop. We turned this project in today. After morning meeting, we did our first vocal practice. I was put as a Soprano. I don't know if it's really where I belong (maybe I should be an Alto (but I know NOTHING about singing to I am going to trust the experts!)) Anyways, we learned a couple songs for the show...and we didn't sound too bad. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun to hear how we sounded altogether. Next we did a presentation on host family expectations and how to make our experience the best ever. We heard from Colleen Eastman who works for Up With People, but more importantly today she told her story of being a host mom. It was an incredibly touching story about how all 100+ students she has hosted have all become family and that she has gone to weddings, been there through hardships and now even has 27 "grandchildren." As I sat there with happy teary eyes, I hoped that I can give that type expereince to my families along the way, so I may be able to keep in touch with them for years.

We ate lunch and proceeded to our fist dance practice. We did a bit of hip hop, a bit of salsa, and a little more fun. It was hard work, but I can tell already it will be a great cast and show. And again a lot of fun. Afterwords, we had another presentation about the history and story of Up With People. We then broke into groups of about 7 around tables and spoke with Alumni of UWP. We got a chance to speak with four people. Two women and two men. Some that traveled 10 years ago some that traveled 20. Their stories were funny and moving and helped me realize why I'm here. We had dinner at the same tables we had chatted, finished quickly and then went to rehearse for our culture jam de Mexico. The culture jam came then the gentlemen from Mexico, Armando, Jorge, Pepe, and Ivens joined the girls, Lauren from USA, Charlotte from Belgium (I think, sorry if I'm wrong), Whitney from Panama, and myself from USA danced and sang to La Bamba. I messed up a bit, but it couldn't have been a better time and we were LAST!!! Everyone before us was phenominal so I am posting everyone except Patrick from Chicago because I was singing to his song instead of taking pictures, and Leonardo from Brazil because I was dancing with the rest of the cast on stage to help Leo with his Carnaval performance. Anyways, for the Culture Jam our host families were invited to come too and they did! That was nice to have our families there to support us with our activities. After that we came home and here I am and that's it for the evening! Enjoy the pictures!

Jessica from Wisconsin!

For the slideshows... I'm still trying to learn everyone's names so some slide don't have the name or a country written down. Sorry!!!