Travel Day: Off to Europe!

Boy was the start of our European tour rough! Our travel day from Atlanta to Geneva was indeed a LONG one, and more than just a day, I might add! We eventually made it, but our initial flight from Atlanta to Heathrow, London was RIDICULOUSLY delayed... We arrived at the airport at 4pm, which was already super early for our supposed 9:45pm flight. Then we found out we were delayed until 1:15am, but we didn't leave until 1:50am. It made for a lot of quality time in the airport, but we made the best of it! What better way to kill time than with 100 of your closest friends? I made a video that best sums up our travel day! Enjoy!

Roomie Blog: Molly C.

It's quite uncommon in our US tour for UWP to host two American students together, so Molly and I realized we might never be roommates. We wanted to change that, so since I knew who my hosts were going to be, I requested to have Molly as my roommate for the week! =)

So, some info about Miss Molly!
From: Northfield, Vermont, USA

Age:19

Favorite color: purple

Molly's favorite activity we did as roomies: All of our late night pillow talk and chit-chat. There was ALWAYS something to talk about...so much so that we rarely got to bed before 1am...oops!

Some other fun facts about Molly:
- She's a ridiculously good singer and dancer
- She participated in the first summer of Camp Up with People 
- She, too, has a big brother Michael (and a brother Benjamin)
- She is going to school in the fall to study Music Education (hooray!)

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Host Family Day: World of Coca-Cola

For our host family day in Atlanta, I knew I could sway what we did since mom and dad were in town! We slept in, which was WONDERFUL and definitely needed…but Molly’s alarm clock went off without her ever knowing it was set. Luckily that wasn’t until 9:15, so we still got some good sleep in. We had a gorgeous and delicious egg dish breakfast with everyone! Then Molly and I worked on packing and organizing a bit before saying goodbye to Edward and Jessica. It was nice spending the last weekend in the US with them, and having them meet my family!

After they left, Mom, Dad, Molly, and I headed to the MARTA station to ride downtown to the World of Coke. We were going to do both the Aquarium and WoC, but we got a late start and the Aquarium was going to close at 5…we didn’t get downtown until 3, so… We enjoyed exploring the World of Coca-Cola and trying 64+ Coca-Cola products from all over the world! I’ll tell you what, some Coke products are nasty!! I enjoyed quite a few from Europe, but so many of the other continent drinks were just plain weird! My tummy wasn’t my biggest fan after I insisted on drinking all 64 flavors! We explored the gift shop and I found awesome shirts that are made out of recycled Coca-cola bottles, so I knew I had to get those!

Holding the Olympic torch

Fresh Coca-Colas!

Tons of fun designs for the Coke bottles

Gotta celebrate St. Patty's Day in style!

We headed back and met Judy for dinner. We were going to an Irish Pub, but it was packed and had a very expensive cover fee, so we went across the street to a wine and tapas bar. That night, we were furiously packing and preparing for Europe, and we also welcomed Misa over for the night since she’d been staying with her family and they were leaving early the next morning. So, we had some girl time and then headed to bed late late late!

HOTlanta, Georgia

We rolled into HOTlanta, Georgia on Monday, March 11^th and enjoyed some freetime exploring downtown Roswell. I had an awesome bus date with Josh from the Philippines riding from Statesboro to Atlanta. Once we arrived, the cast had freetime, so many of us went antiquing and to a cute shop called Serendipity (where we were greeted by an ADORABLE dog, Benjamin). Before we knew it, it was POURING down rain and we had to be back at the Performing Arts Center…so…we had to tough it out in the rain! Whoops! We were supposed to have an improv troupe come and present a little sketch to us, but they never showed, so we continued to have free time until host pick up. I knew I’d be staying with family friends Tony and Lu, so my roommate Molly and I patiently waited, but Lu never showed! I called my mom and she said to text Lu, but then that didn’t work. So I called our other family friend Judy to see if she knew what was up. She got a hold of Lu and said she mixed her times up and that she was on her way! We met up and headed home! We stayed up and talked around the table while eating and eventually headed to bed!

Bus date with Josh from the Philippines

Sage, Benjamin, and me while shopping

Host pick up! =)

I had a great CI day on Tuesday working at My Sister’s House painting one of their huge hallways. We got to paint it ORANGE! =) It was a nice small group of 13 and we got a lot of work done. My Sister’s House is a women’s shelter that offers both temporary and more permanent options for its residents. They also provide childcare, food, and educational courses. We had lunch in the cafeteria with some of the residents, and I enjoyed meeting Allayah who was a 9 year old sweetheart! We talked about various things, and even spoke some in Spanish. I wasn’t able to attend the second day on the site because of Study Abroad, but I enjoyed the day I was there.

 

Mom came into town on Tuesday, so by the time Tony, Molly, and I got home from host pick up, Mom and Lu were right on our heels! It was great getting to see her and spend some time. My high school friend Melissa lives in Decatur, GA, and our other friend Katie flew in from Colorado to visit, so the two of them came over for dinner that night. We enjoyed tons of conversation and DELICIOUS salmon and salad that Lu made. Yes…I, Amy Polete, just said salmon was delicious! WHAT? I couldn’t believe I even went back for seconds!

Molly, Katie, me, and Melissa

Wednesday was study abroad day and we had an AWESOME time at the YMCA doing class with both our professors, Theresa and Pete. We had an extreme classroom that day as we were in the Teen Center and there were fun chairs, lots of room, and even a mini theatre space for us to play around on. We had great sessions and then headed back for a cast meeting where we would be secret plants in the group. We split into small groups to work on projects and those of us in on the secret purposefully tried to sabotage the groups either by being a jerk, a slacker, or a depressant. The groups had no idea, but then we came back to debrief and it was becoming apparent that more than one group was having difficulty with group dynamics. Pete revealed the study and it was clear what we were doing. It was a cool thing – just one bad apple can ruin a whole bunch!

The Study Abroad group with our professors

AWESOME chairs in the Teen Center!

I NEED this chair in my life!

Thursday we had a regional learning day at the state capitol and Roswell City Hall. We had a sponsored lunch at the Shriners’ temple that afternoon. I had no idea who or what Shriners were before our lunch, and their fez hats kind of weirded me out, but they really do have a great mission and have helped millions worldwide with their hospitals. After that, we headed back to Roswell and had a meet and greet with the Mayor and some council members from Roswell. Mom joined us for that and we had a good afternoon. We had also had some internal time where Nirite, Sarah, and Leslie presented a “Health on the Road” workshop. We learned tips and tricks to staying healthy while maintaining our crazy UWP lifestyle! I find it funny that now our whole cast sings (to the tune of Row Your Boat), “Wash, wash, wash your hands, make them nice and clean! Scrub the bottoms and the tops and fingers in between” two times through as we wash our hands! Have to love good hygiene!

At the Georgia State Capitol

At the Yaarab Shriner's Temple for lunch

Mama joined us at Roswell City Hall in the afternoon

Pie on PI day! 3.14

Gotta love the bunkbeds at Tony and Lu's! =)

After dinner that night, we moved to our other friend Judy’s house so that we’d have enough room for our expanding company that weekend! Judy’s house is STUNNINGLY huge and beautiful! She has enough potties for every day of the week! Yup! 7! Dad flew into town LATE that night, so they didn’t get home until 3am picking him up from the airport!

All 3 of our shows went well in Roswell! Friday night, I had 11 people in the audience just for me! Mom, Dad, Judy, Tony, Lu, Craig, Sandy, Edward, Jessica, Melissa, and Megan! Phew! It was fun seeing them all. After the show, we headed home and hung out and played the piano for a bit. Saturday’s shows went well, too. After morning rehearsal and a host family potluck, we had a group of 112 from a local middle school in attendance for our matinee, and their story was very moving. Their teacher, Beth Clay, traveled with UWP in 2008, and she was determined to bring a group of her students, who are among the underprivileged demographic, to our show. She set out to raise enough money for 10-12 students to attend, and ended up raising enough to bring 100+! The students all had to write essays explaining why they should be selected to attend, and once selected, they were to dress nicely since they were attending the theatre! We loved having them there, and at the end of our show, they held up brightly colored letters that read,” THANK YOU!!!” So sweet. We enjoyed cake with them after!

Everyone in attendance, minus Craig and Sandy

Sunday was host family day, which will require another blog post! =)

Roomie Blog: Clemence

So, I've had quite the streak of roommates during UWP! I've roomed with a Belgian, Chinese, Belgian, Chinese, and in Statesboro...yet another Belgian! Go figure! Clemence is a dear heart who is so funny and crazy at times! We had fun getting to know one another better in Orlando, and it was great to spend more time with her as a roommate this week!

All About Clemence:

From: Brussels, Belgium

Age: 18

Favorite color: Green

Favorite thing we did together as roommates: Goofing off in the loft on Friday night after the show. We took ridiculous pictures and giggled...a lot!

Fun facts:
- She plays field hockey
- She rides horses (and was SHOCKED that we here in the US don't ride frequently...like every week)
- She speaks French, English, and Dutch!
- She LOVES Nutella and would willingly eat it out of the jar by the spoonful
- She calls cookies biscuits...or as she says, "Biskweeeets" and loves the "Biskweeeets with marshmallows." ... aka s'mores! =P

Host Family Day: Savannah, GA

Apparently there isn’t a whole lot to do in Statesboro, GA, because about half the cast ended up in Savannah, GA for our host family day! We shopped along the water front on River Street and had a great day running into tons of Uppie families! Before we got to Savannah, however, our family enjoyed sleeping in and a pancake breakfast! Clemence had never had pancakes before, so I insisted I make some for her! They weren’t the best, but they made do! =)

I tried to upload my homework on the Prosser’s computer that morning, but when I took my assignments upstairs on my flashdrive to upload them, I learned that their computer was so old it only had a floppy disk or CD slot…no USB ports! Yikes! I had to get more creative about how to upload my homework since I didn’t have the necessary technology!

We headed to Savannah and stopped at a restaurant that Billy and Sylvia LOVE so we could try their onion rings…another yummy thing Clemence had never tried! We enjoyed some salads, as well, before hitting the road to River Street.

Once there, we enjoyed the sunshine and gorgeous weather, as well as all the cute shops around. I found some postcards, some really neat jewelry, and some other random souvenir type things. Billy had to take off for work, so we said goodbye to him while out and about. Then us girls enjoyed the candy shops and getting to see them make taffy – Sylvia SPOILED us by buying us chocolate bark and pecan clusters. YUM! Once we’d seen all we wanted to see, we headed back home but stopped for dinner along the way. We stopped and got burgers at a pretty tasty restaurant, then headed back home to pack and finish everything up! It was a great day and we really enjoyed ourselves!

Taffy machine! It rolls the taffy into a thin strip, cuts it, wraps it, and shoots it to the taffy elevator!

Hat store

By one of the fountains they dyed green for St. Patrick's day

Out to conquer the world!

River Street

Dinner out