My Journey With Up with People: 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!