Mammmma Miaaa, here I go again..."

So, I know I keep saying this: but this thing is hard to keep up!
My cast is already half way done with Europe, which means we creep closer and closer to going home...hm.
Europe has been extremely amazing. And surprising a lot like the United States, at least in my opinion. It's soooo beautiful, the only bad thing being that I haven't seen the sun since we got here. :)
My host families have all been very very wonderful to me! And extremely welcoming. I found that they only family to not know any English at all was the wonderfuly family in Germany. But the rest of the Europeans I have met know English exceptionally well!
I spent my birthday in Stolkholm, Sweden. I was searching for one thing all day: a place to pierce my nose! (My parents about died.) But I never found one, being it was Sunday and all the shops were closed. But I did find a shop in Sundsvall, Sweden. :)
Our cast got the amazing opportunity to visit Auschwitz a few weeks ago. The experience was deeply moving and spiritual. It sunk deep into my stomach.
The Vattenfall shows are going well. They are much different than the "Up With People" shows we had in the U.S. and Mexico. We are now the entertainment for the night, which is something UWP hasn't done in Europe yet. It's sometimes a rough process, but I think it's going well. Our night ends with half and hour of dancing to oldies with the employees. :D
I tried for another solo and got it! :)
(Knock on wood.)
It's called "Shine the Light" and it means so much to me. When I saw the UWP show, this was the one song that continued with me until I traveled where I SO hoped we would have it in our show. And now I'm singing it! I love it! There's a semi-decent clip of it on facebook if you would like to check it out!
Other than that, the cast keeps traveling and so on.
In one day, we do a month's worth of things. It can tend to be hard to keep track of...and we DEFINITELY stay busy. :)
I hope this is finding everyone safe and happy.
I must get sleep, it's one in the morning and we leave for Berlin tomorrow.
Love!
Emilie

Soooo, like I said:

WORST
blogger ever!!!

Queretaro, Mexico was beautiful.  My roommate, Tinna and I stayed with a lovely woman and her roommate.  It was so different than any house I had ever stayed in on the account that once you walked in, there was no roof!!  There was only covering over the bedrooms and the kitchen.  Our show venue was amazing...  It had the potential to hold up to 4,000 people!  On our free day we traveled up to the mountains and walked around the little shops.

Veracruz was next.  The humidity there was AWWWFUL!  But.  I got to see the ocean for the very first time.  And I got to swim. :)  It was amazing.  We had a day where we finally just got to "be".  And the next day, we were sunburnt to a crisp!!!  But our CI for the week included cleaning up another beach and our grand total was around 25 big black garbage bags full!

Puebla went by in a zip.  After another small mishap with a host family, I was put into a W-onderful house with a daughter who was 7 and took ballet! :)  I visited a girls orphanage in Puebla and the experience broke my heart.  The girls would hug you and not let go.  They would play with your hair, touch your face, and hold your hand.  IT was so depressing to see a child in such dire need of love.  But that's what we were there for.  

Mexico City was definitely interesting for me.  MY PARENTS SURPRISED ME!!! I was excited that I started crying!!!!  I was wanting them to come so badly.  It was so wonderful to be able to see them and hug them!!  Colleen Eastman also made an appearance!!!  It was wonderful to see her face among the crowd as well.  So, I spent as much time with my parents as was permitted, including staying up until 2 in the morning packing with my mom!  And off to Sweden I went!!!

After a THIRTY hour travel day, Cast B 2009 arrived in Lulea, Sweden.  The closest to the Arctic Circle I will ever be!!  It was freeeezing, but oh-so nice!  And beyond beautiful!

VIVA LA MEXICO!!!!!

Viva la Mexico!!!!!
Whoop whoop!!
My very first “big” travel day started by arriving at the bus spot at 6:30 Sunday morning. After a four hour bus trip to Phoenix, Arizona, we arrived at the airport for a two hour wait. Pieter and I wandered around the halls laughing and joking, which was surprisingly relaxing. I got in my last phone call to my parents and took off on an airplane with my cast. The first flight didn’t go so well for me. Since I am currently suffering from some kind of cold, my ears really didn’t appreciate the difference in altitude. I thought my head was going to explode!!! Thankfully, that flight was only about an hour. Our layover was quick…and back on the plane we went. This time the flight was around 2 hours and very enjoyable. Our plane landed and 80 well dressed, tired, and hungry students stepped into the Mexican air. We picked up our suitcases and headed towards the giant “VIVA LA GENTE” sign! The A-team had made us sack dinners, which were the best and only real food eaten all day!!! J Then, onto a bus…it was already 11:30 at night! So, as everyone is now wound up and spastic, we all load onto buses and headed out of Mexico City. Knowing that there is a seven hour bus ride ahead does not leave people in a state of slumber. The first hour of the ride, the bus was buzzing. Stories were shared and laughter was created. Our first stop was for a restroom break. It was extremely scary and I was very close to shedding a tear or two. I had to pay two pesos to get into the bathroom and it was like a jail under attack. Metal bars all over. And at three in the morning, it’s even scarier than normal. We hoped back on the bus for a little while, like 4 hours, and we arrived in LEON! We drug our behinds into a huge room in which we had no idea where we were, grabbed some chair covers and fell asleep on the floor. Nice, right? J We had a loooong time to sleep and get ourselves cleaned up and ready for the day. News cameras are always everywhere around us, which makes us all conscious of what is going on around us. My host family is wonderful. They don’t speak much English and my roommate doesn’t speak much Spanish. But we communicate okay. I have eaten a lot of beans. J And tortillas. They live on a ranch, so Melissa and I get woken up by roosters every morning. There are many things different here. The showers are waaay different in the fact that it is made out of stones, no bathtub. But I’m still alive!
I send my love.
<3

A-traveling we will go, a-traveling we will go...

So, I have discovered that I am the WORST blogger ever.
I'm sorry to all the readers who have been so patiently waiting!
I have a lot to catch you up on.

Durango~
The cutest little town in Colorado. Very quiet, yet at the same time very populated. The stay there was quite short, without a host family day. But our evenings were greatly enjoyed in the comfort of our house in the mountains. One big event: I had an allergic reaction to some homemade yogurt pretzels. My allergic reactionngs consist of my lips swelling up and turning even MORE red than they already are, the roof of my mouth blistering, and my tounge turns, itchy. Keep in mind these reactions are quite uncommon. But nonetheless, I had one. So, graciously, the staff came to my rescue with some Benedryl. To find out later that it wasn't non-drousy...on a show night. I don't remember much of that show other than people were given strict orders to NOT let me sit down. I was falling asleep standing up! I provided great entertainment for much of the cast that night. :) Two shows in 6 days, along with aiding at a Soup Kitchen, and off we went on the road again...dooooown to Arizona.

Prescott/Chino Valley~
We stopped by the Grand Canyon!!!!! It was beautiful! One giant hole in the ground. :) It poured while we were there, but it was soooo amazing! Then we hopped back on the bus for a few more hours and landed in hot hot hot Prescott. LizZ and Keira's moms came to see them and see the show, so I was able to stay with them in a hotel over this stay. And we finally got another host family day! We took a little trip to Jerome and Sedona, which are up in the cliffs of Arizona. Breathtaking. They litterally built Jerome into the side of a cliff! The show in Prescott went well, especially for being in a high school gymnasium. :) We packed it up, and hit the road again!

Lake Havasu~
BEAUTIFUL! Lake Havasu is a resort/retirement town. And it's gorgeous. Although there is no grass, and temps reach up to 111 degrees, the atmosphere here is so relaxing! Yesterday we had a Culture Fair. 500 kids filled a gym as they went from booth to booth learning and having fun! I was stationed at the face painting booth! Wow. It was crazy! Tonight is the first of two shows! Wish me luck.
I promise I will write again soon!

Down to Mexico we go!!!!! :D
Loves!
Emilie

How's your Aspen? Colorado!!!!!!!

Our first show has already come and gone. I was soooooooooooo happy to see my family and my friends. It really made the show so much better for me, although it ended in tears.
It is so hard to believe that we are already in our second month. It scares me to realize that this experience really is going to end, and sooner than I think. So I am trying to take advantage of every opportunity.
We are now in Aspen, Colorado. Our first stop on the trip. :)
It's beautiful here. Not too hot and not too cold. And the view of the mountains is amazing.
But, it seems that as soon as we got here, we now have to leave.
Our free day this week is already over, having picked peaches, hiked a mountain and played Apples to Apples. :)
So, I'm packing my suitcase and getting ready to leave for Durango, Colorado.
Hope this next show goes well. Will write again when I get there!
I miss everyone and am sending my best love and wishes!
Take care!
Emilie.

You could almost call it a show...

Can you believe that I have already been here for three weeks? It's so unbelievable. We practiced our first full run through Thursday of this last week. It was extremely crazy: between running around, figuring who was on what mic, who was doing the solo, who was dancing, who was just supposed to be standing there looking pretty and changing costumes, it was amazing. :) Friday we had an ice cream social with the whole cast. Everyone was laughing, dancing and eating ice cream.
I have not had the easiest time being here. I am very homesick and don't always agree with what is going on and how things are being chosen. But, I am grinnnning and baring it. I have had to take a few timeouts by myself to decide how to approach situations, which usually ends with good results. My head is still held as high as it can be, and that's all that matters.
Time goes by so quickly here. There is never enough to go around and accomplish every task that needs tending to. I have never found the expression, "early to bed, early to rise" so entirely true before now. The sound of the alarm clock in the morning is definitely beginning to join my list of pet peeves. :)
This weekend Colleen and Jug left to go to a class reunion, so Laura Lynn Horst is currently staying with us. So, today is our fun day. Tomorrow is Elitch's (sp)!! Fun, fun!
I will fill you in, but only if I survive the crazy coasters!
Hope this is finding everyone healthy and happy.
I send my love.
-Emilie

Twwwo weeks.

Hey, everyone! It has been soooo crazy busy here! After a minor mishap, I am now living with Colleen and Jug Eastman, of whom are THE sweetest people in the world. They have been nothing but wonderful to me and I am utterly thankful for that. I am living with Manuel from Mexico, Pieter from Belgium and Tim from Chicago. We instantly connected and I greatly enjoy spending time with them. My days have been consisting of early rises and late nights. Not healthy, as my mom would say. :) But I'm remembering to drink plenty of water and take my vitamins. Anyway, I get up in the morning and get ready. Easy peasy. Depending on the later activities of the day, we all either drive to the bus station and take a bus downtown or we drive the car downtown. I personally prefer the car. :P We usually arrive about half on hour early, which is wonderful time for mingling. At 8:30 is our morning meeting where we discuss topics that need discussing. Then our day begins! There is always something different to do, never the same pattern. We have our education times where they teach us about the certains aspects of the show that is important for us to know about. We have movement and fitness time which is dancing/working out! And we have vocals! By 5:15, we are all tired and ready to go home. A few people are starting to get homesick now. But it's normal, so we all just band together and keep pushing through. I have already learned many songs and many dances in the past two weeks. Now to keep practicing and memorizing. I chose to move down to an alto to help out. It's different but possible. So, as an alto, I made the backup singers. :)

Hope all is well.

Will try to write soon!

ARRIVAL DAY!

My trip to Denver consisted of 4 people being squished into a three person backseat. The whole way there consisted of someone always laying on top of someone else, elbows being jammed into ribcages and music being blared from each set of headphones in the car. But I wouldn't have changed any second of it. My "nervous-ness" level slowly started rising the closer we got to the meeting place in Denver. But as we pulled up and walked up the sidewalk, a sense of relief flowed over me as I realized that the faces I was seeing were very recognizable. Thank goodness for Facebook! :)
It was extremely hard saying goodbye to my family. But I have this gut feeling that this is where I am supposed to be right now. So through tearful eyes, i gave my farewells to last for a month. I already miss them all dearly. But I will see them soon... <3
The first person I saw when I walked through the doors was Melissa Lepp. I was so happy to finally be able to see her in person! We all discussed flights and such as I praised God I was only 4 hours away and not 14!
I met my first host family at about 8 o'clock that night. They locked us into one little room and had us just sit and wait while everything was being settled. They counted to three and told us to scream as loud as we could. And when they hit three, the whole cast started running through the door, unsure of what was waiting ahead.
The theme was "circus". I was told to look for a juggler. :)
I saw Ruthe and Steven right away. The first thing Ruthe said, "I have no idea how to juggle!" :) I currently don't have a roommate. Her name is Helen and she is from Ethiopia, but won't be staying here until Sunday. So I have had a great chance to get to know my "new family". This is my new home for about a month and I'm really enjoying it. The family is wonderful and supportive in everything that is happening. They live in a cute little duplex filled with Ruthe's favorite...elephants. :)
I'll be posting pictures soon!
I miss everyone!
Stay in tooouch!

<3<3<3<3
-Emilie

PAAAAACKING!

I'm off. In [LESS] than 30 days on an adventure worth a lifetime.

I cannot wait in so many ways: finally meet all of these wonderful people of whom I have chatted with endlessly over the past two months, begin working on the show that once gave me goosebumps up to my ears, and to see the world.
I cannot thank enough the generous people who have helped me achieve my money goal for this journey. Without their help, I wouldn't be busy packing at the current moment. :)
If you would like to see my preliminary scheduled tour (there is talk that there might be a slight change) at this website: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upwithpeople.org%2Fsiteadmin%2Fimages%2Ffiles%2FMarch_April%25202009.pdf&h=1300ce4ccbe6beed262d12c837998c1b . Just scroll all the way down to the bottom.
Anyway! I hope this is finding everyone happy and healthy!
I will be updating soon! Hopefully finished packing soon as well! :D
-Emilie