By Annie Matthews, USA and Megan Luebke, USA

Hello out there to the amazing Cast B Blog readers! I’m Annie Matthews (from Arkansas) and, along with Ms. Megan Luebke (from Minnesota), we make up the fabulous duo of Blog Assistants for the remainder of the semester on the road. We’re excited to have been given this assistantship and hope to use it to the fullest to keep everyone at home, prospective students, host families, and anyone else who is interested in what we are doing around the world updated on our adventures.

Annie Matthews, Arkansas

Random Facts About Annie:

• Raised in Lake Village, Arkansas
• Addicted to BBQ, skittles, and hot chocolate
• Frequently gets made fun of for taking too many pictures
• Has a Masters in Social Work from the University of Arkansas

Megan Luebke, Minnesota

Random Facts about Megan:

• Born and raised in Montevideo, Minnesota
• Graduated from Concordia College (Go Cobbers!) in Moorhead, Minnesota with a Business Communications degree
• Obsessed with post-its, cleaning my bathroom, and grocery shopping
• Dreams of being a soap opera star or a professional tennis player

Our plan is to keep the blog updated multiple times a week. A week’s worth of events happen within one day on the road, and all of you deserve to hear about how much fun we are having and how much we are learning.

This week the cast is in Kolding, Denmark. We arrived on Sunday night after a 14-hour bus ride complete with long naps, too much chocolate, and sticking gummy bears to our faces! Yesterday the cast participated in different community impact projects throughout the city including working with children in local schools, painting a mural at the Nicolai Children’s Center, and admissions projects. The day ended with a great cast meeting with our awesome cast manager, Jen Moody, and a hilarious cast game of Truth or Dare.

The week is just beginning for us in Kolding and the schedule is amazing! We have so much great activities going on this week and we can’t wait to share them with you! You can count on Megan and I to keep you updated!

We asked a simple question to our cast of more than 80 students from 18 different countries. What do you value? - by Annie Matthews, USA

-by Breton Shepherd, USA

It was such a cool experience to get the oportunity to perform in the Globe Theater in Stockholm.  The Globe is one of Europe’s most famous event centers.  It opened in 1989 and can seat 16,000 people.  Obviously for the Vattenfall shows we weren’t playing for a sold out crowd but we did perform two shows for about 1,500 employees each night.  A night or two before our first show the band Green Day performed on the same stage, which was real cool.  Stockholm was a great and beautiful city and it made for an extra cool experience getting to perform in such a huge and famous venue!

Breton at the Globe Theater in Stockholm, Sweden

- by Scott Fitterer, USA about the cast’s travel day from Mexico City, Mexico to Lulea, Sweden.

The idea behind this blog is to show some of the insight to what random things happen during a 48 hour travel day

10:32 pm

Riding home from our last show in North America, and Mexico, we will be on a plane in 11 hours. I will never forget how we were rock stars at all of our shows. And that today the stage broke about 90 min before our show, add in some fireworks for spice as our finish.

12:33 am

I am about to go to bed. I will get a power nap in, roughly four hours of sleep before this flying to Sweden happens. Here goes nothing!

Oct 4^th

4:26 am

Just woke up for the start of this crazy travel day. I need a shower and to wake my host brother for my ride to the plaza in an hour.

5:08 am

Even though it is early on a Sunday morning with very little traffic I still wish that I was already at my drop off. This way I know that I would be on the bus bound for the airport.

5:42 am

On the bus, we are either so tired or something to the point that there was an impromptu ¨backstreets back alright.¨

6:59 am

Anywhere can be a great seat

8:43 am

Boarding for Newark, NJ

9:13 am

Take of #1 see ya Mexico City!

10:43 am

In flight movie ¨The Proposal¨

12:04 pm

Movie number two ¨Star Trek¨

1:33 pm er.. 2:33 pm

Touch down in Newark, New Jersey woo!

4:17 pm

Nathan´s Hot Dog for lunch, and getting my fix of a Root Beer, it is good to be in the states if only for an hour or two.

5:01 pm

I am guilty as well as but everyone of us American´s have been glued to our phones the entire time that we had the layover.

6:02 pm

Take off from Newark, NJ! Here is to the 6hr 57min flight!

9:32 pm

Photo!

11:56 pm

In flight breakfast….

Oct 5^th

6:34

Another time change, with our first photo in Sweden.

7:05

We have landed in our 3^rd country during this travel day.

7:32

Baggage clam

8:18

The bus has wifi!!!

8:52

We forgot some staff, we need to go back to the airport to get them from the different flights.

12:27

The second half of our cast is starting their journey to Sweden.

13:30

McDonalds for ¨lunch¨ I do believe that the sleep depravation or jet lag is starting to effect the group. Small things are becoming funnier.

17:04

What else do we do when the bus has wifi? Skype!

18:53

It is FREEZING here!!! This desert rat will miss the warmth. Send me a jacket soon.

21:16

Allocation meeting Lulea, Sweden

21:47

A quick tour of the House of Arts (English translation)

22:45

I am home with a new host family, and thankful for being safe, what a day.

Check out the lastest Up with People Music Video uploads, “Arm Yourself,” and “Sing your Song,” available now on Youtube…

Official Up with People Youtube Site

The Harbor - Lulea, Sweden

Cast B has officially arrived in Europe.  After a 5-hour flight from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey, an 8-hour flight to Stockholm, and a 12-hour bus ride north… were finally in Lulea, less than 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle.  No penguins yet, but the weather has been cold and rainy with just a small bit of snow falling yesterday evening.  We have great Swedish host families in this beautiful northern city on the water.  Cast B has discovered one of the best things about Sweden… “Fika!”  A bi-daily break for coffee, and cakes.  We’re trying to take full advantage of as much Swedish “Fika” as possible.

That’s all for now.  Back with more very soon!

-by Lynsie Haley, USA, about her community impact projects in Veracruz, Mexico

Hola from Veracruz, Mexico! A city full of history, humidity and yes, the beach!  While the beach was just one thing high on the priority list of Cast B this week, so was our show and of course, Community Impact (CI)! This week consisted of several CI events including cleaning up a beach, visiting a retirement center and re-planting trees.  Of course, all of our CI events are incredibly rewarding on a personal level. The CI I enjoyed the most was the retirement center.

Lynsie assisting with morning exercises

On the same day as the beach cleanup, Cast B headed to a retirement home in the city of Veracruz.  While we were all sandy, exhausted, and sweaty from the early morning activities, and sun burnt from the day at the beach before, we knew we had a job to do! So we rallied together to bring up our energy and  bring a smile to the elderly people who were looking forward to our visit.  Once we arrived, we put on a brief show for the residence which included traditional songs from Mexico sung in Spanish, a popular song from America in English, “Are You Sleeping”, a popular children’s song around the world sung in several different languages and of course, Viva la Gente complete with international  costumes.  The cast even managed to introduce themselves individually in Spanish! It was awesome!

After the show, we all grabbed a grandparent and escorted them outside for their morning exercises.  We assisted our grandparents making sure they did the exercises correctly and to their fullest potential so that they could get the most out of it.  In addition, we were just a new smiling face to be by their side and brighten up our day.  Although many of us found it difficult to communicate with them seeing how the majority of us know very little Spanish, we put to use what UWP had previously taught us about using body language and facial expressions to communicate and of course, a smile goes a long way.  With the smiles on their elderly faces, it was very clear to see how much they appreciated us being there.

Lynsie dancing at a retirement home in Xalapa

The next day, Cast B was prepared to be planting trees in Xalapa, a city about an hour outside of Veracruz.  Due to the rainy weather that morning, a consensus was made that it would be unsafe for us to be planting trees in such wet conditions.  If UWP has taught me one thing, it’s how to be flexible and just “go with the flow”.  Slightly bummed about the change in plans, I quickly perked up when I heard what the alternative was going to be.  We were getting a second chance to go to a retirement community, much like the one we went to the day before, but this time in the City of Xalapa! Stoked about spending another exciting day with the elderly community of Mexico, we loaded the buses and headed for Xalapa.

When we arrived, we put on a short program compiled of the same songs we had sung the day before at the retirement home in Veracruz.  What happened after that, I’m sure was one of the highlights of my week in Veracruz.  We had a dance party.  The staff cranked up the music and we danced, and we danced and we danced.  Ever single person in the room had a grin from ear to ear  and everyone was having a blast.  We did a conga line, some step touching in a circle, a little cross jig that one of the residence taught some of us  and we just jammed out. The staff of the retirement home was so appreciative of us being there! They told us that they had never seen so many of the residence participate in extra-curricular activities nor had they seen anything quite like our UWP Dance Party! It was sad to say goodbye after such a fun and energetic day, but it felt good knowing how much fun both we and the residences had!

With the beach, the aquarium, Independence Day and an amazing show all happening in one city, it’s difficult to choose just one memorable moment.  But for me, making someone smile with just my presence and positive attitude was definitely the highlight of my week!

-By Yui Mihara, Show Manager, about the week in Puebla, Mexico

Puebla is one of my favourite city in Mexico. It’s been my hope to come back to Puebla since I came to the city a year and a half a go with A08 tour. So here I am! My dream comes true! Yeah!

You can find the colony style of architectures everywhere you go and really get to experience the Mexican history in this city. On the regional learning day we drove around the city by bus and got a tour at Chiklets gum factory and saw the highest volcano in Mexico, Popocatepetl!

Since I was staying in a hotel with other staff, the advance team provided us a white old Beetles as our ride. This little guy became our friend throughout the week. Beetle is my dream car but it was the 1^st time to ride a “classic” type of Beetles. You can find Beetles very often in Mexico. They were one of the popular cars that people purchased in 70’s. It may bring you back nostalgia if you’ve ever learnt how to drive stick when you a kid.

I was so amazed to see how car can be that simple. There were only 2 buttons and stick to drive. It was an adventure everyday and we had a lot of fun!

Another thing became one of our favourite things to do was going to bakery at the end of the day. Mexican pastry is very tasty, has lots of variety and what is more, they are so cheap! I bought 3 pastry and it was less than a dollar! Please check it out if you come to Mexico! Viva Puebla!

Puebla, Mexico, September 21- 27, 2009

Yui Mihara

Show Manager (Japan)

-by Breton Shepherd, USA, about his week in Veracruz, Mexico

You may have heard of the TV show on VH1 called “The Best Week Ever” that interviews celebrities who are having “good weeks” according to the tabloids.  Well, for the past week UWP Cast B’09 has been in Veracruz, Mexico and it turns out the producers of the show caught wind that I was having the best week ever down in Mexico and selected to showcase my week!  We were able to get the transcripts and screen shots of the show before it airs so enjoy!

VH1:  Welcome to “The Best Week Ever”, the TV program that showcases the rich and famous having THE BEST WEEKS EVER.  On this weeks episode we have a unique story.  Breton Shepherd, a 21-year-old student from Nebraska, is traveling around the world with the international educational program, Up With People.  We caught up with him down in Mexico, where we heard that he was having the best week ever!

Breton:  Hey everyone, welcome to Veracruz, Mexico.  I’m having the best week ever down here and I want you all to be a part of it!  So sit back and I hope you enjoy hearing some stories that make my week, the best week ever!

VH1:  What are the top five highlights that make up your best week ever!?

Breton: Here are my top five highlights from the week in Veracruz counting down to number 1!

HIGHLIGHT #5 – Show Day!

Sunday was our show day in Veracruz, and ended up being a busy and exciting day for me.  I spent the whole morning rehearsing for a project that the show interns were working on.  They are putting on a show for their final project and was really excited when they asked me to be a part of it.  I’m usually always stuck behind the drum kit, so this will be a new experience for me, as well as those getting to watch hah!

I was also really excited on show day because I was selected as the new marketing intern.  This will be a great opportunity for me and my communication studies at Nebraska Wesleyan University.  I really love show days in general because I am most comfortable behind a drum kit doing what I love to do!  No matter what I’ve been feeling that week it all goes away when I take a seat behind the drum kit and count off “1…2…3…4…” to start the show.  Did I mention that the Governor of Veracruz stopped by to say a few words to our cast?

A jam-packed and eventful show day comes in at highlight #5.

HIGHLIGHT #4 – Mexican Independence Day

September 15^th was the Mexican Independence Day.  I had the opportunity to go with my host family to the town center to watch the celebrations take place!  We saw performances by traditional Mexican dancers, got to hear the Mayor of Veracruz speak and chant Viva Mexico and then watch some awesome fireworks to finish off the night!  Mexican Independence Day is one of the biggest holidays here in Mexico, so you can be sure they do it big!

HIGHTLIGHT #3 – Host Family Day

Saturday was a free day to spend with our host families.  My family took Kristine, my roommate, and I to see some ancient pyramids about an hour and a half away from Veracruz.  It’s so cool to have the opportunity to go and see things like this that I normally wouldn’t have the chance to see!

After we returned home, we headed down to the beach in the evening to night swim and just enjoy the ocean one last time.  There’s something awesome about sprinting full speed down the beach and crashing into the water when it’s pitch black out.  Then you lift your head out of the water and end up taking one big wave smack in the face because it was so dark you couldn’t see it coming.  Then topping if off with a big glass of salt water hah!

Ancient pyramids and night swimming on host family day take highlight #3.

HIGHLIGHT #2  — Cucumber massages and host family experiences

After spending a whole morning and the better part of an afternoon out in the intense Veracruz sun, I got pretty sun burnt.  Upon our arrival home from UWP activities the next day, Kristine and I found our host mom standing in the kitchen holding a sliced cucumber.  We were confused as to why she would be carrying cucumber slices but we didn’t know enough Spanish to ask.  Apparently cucumbers sooth burnt skin so she wanted to rub the cucumbers over our sunburns.  She patted down Kristine’s neck and when she was done she moved to mine.  Then she proceeded to pat down my burnt back as well…  Was it awkward having a cucumber rubbed on my back by my host mother who didn’t speak any English? Yes.  Was it hilarious and something I could only imagine happening to me in UWP? Definitely.  I said gracias and went into the bedroom to work on my computer with Kristine.  No longer had I sat down on the bed and our host mom comes back in with more cucumber slices!  She flipped me over and patted me down again all the while our host sister was doing the same to Kristine’s neck!  I just love the host family experience, especially when language becomes a barrier because you just never know what to expect!  My host family was so kind and welcoming and it was hard to say goodbye.

Cucumber massages and the host family experience comes in at highlight #2 for sure!

HIGHLIGHT #1 – Sailing the open ocean, homemade raft style

On our regional learning day we had the opportunity to spend the morning and afternoon at the beach hanging out with everyone!  Some of the guys and I noticed a bunch of big logs washed up on the shore.  We decided we were going to build a raft!  We walked along the shore picking up the huge logs and collecting scrap string to tie them together to build the frame.  We summoned our inner Man vs. Wild skills and Survivorman instincts to build one of the greatest floating devices known to mankind.  After lots of hard work and dedication we finished the raft and took it on its’ maiden voyage.  My fellow crewmates trusted me to captain the vessel.  I decided I would set sail for Sweden and meet the rest of my cast there in two weeks when we depart for the European tour.  It turned out that I washed up on shore and found myself looking up at a Chinese man… for a second I thought the winds had shifted and I had blown off course, accidentally arriving in China.  As my eyes adjusted to the blinding sun, I quickly realized it was only my friend, Tiancheng.  Unfortunately I wasn’t anywhere near Sweden, the waves had just pushed me back up on the shore I just set sail from.  So, unfortunately I won’t be arriving in Europe Tom Hanks style like in the movie Castaway.  I’ll just be flying like everyone else.  Nonetheless, survivor raft building makes highlight #1 of the best week ever!

VH1:  Thanks for watching VH1’s “The Best Week Ever”!  Don’t forget to check out next week’s episode, where someone else in UWP Cast B ’09 is definitely going to be having the BEST WEEK EVER!

Breton:  Thanks again for watching, hope you enjoyed my best week ever!  If you’d like to check out more screen shots from the episode head on over to www.bretonshepherd.blogspot.com to follow my travels each week!

-Written by Jessica Johnson, USA about her first week in Mexico with Cast B09.

Una Nueva Vida!! (It’s a whole new life!!)

“Hola, mi nombre es Jessica. Soy de Colorado.”(Hello, my name is Jessica. I come from Colorado.”) I have Life seems to be a whirlwind at this point and I have been hit with major culture shock. I do not speak any Spanish, have never taken it in school and am surrouned by unfamiliar sounds of a language unknown to me.  In the past few days, I have been relating my experiences to words in Spanish in which I have written down as a reminder for what to say. Each day seems to go hand-in-hand with a word or phrase I have learned. I will be writing this entry based on one of the words or phrases I have learned in the first few days in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico!

A Warm Welcome

Domingo & Lunes (Sunday and Monday)

ESTOY CANSADA! (I am tired)

Between Sunday and Monday we had an adventurous 24 hour travel day! On Sunday morning, we loaded the buses in Lake Havasu City, Arizona and headed for the Phoenix, Arizona airport. Nerves were running high as some of us realized we were leaving the United States and would not return until January6 I personally found myself not able to sleep and worried about leaving the comfort of my country.  When we arrived in the Phoenix airport, we grabbed our things, jumped in line and began to panic about how much our suitcases weighed! None of us wanted to pay $100.00 dollars to get our overweight suitcase on the bus. (Luckily, my bag only weighed 43.6 lbs. I was almost 7 lbs under the weight limit!) Our flight to Mexico was a bumpy one and at times people said they felt as though they were in a washing machine, with the loud noises feeling of tumbling. We safely arrived in Mexico City around 9:30pm where we were warmly welcomed by the advance team and some media. After a fast dinner of sandwhiches we loaded up our Mexican tour buses and hit the road for our overnight bus ride to Leon. We arrived in Leon, Guanajuato around 6:30am on Monday morning!

Martes (Tuesday)

ESTOY CONTENTA ESTAR EN LEON! (I am happy to be in Leon!)

On Tuesday, we had a day filled with Regional Learning. We took a tour of the city of Leon on topless tour buses, while accompanied by media from the city. Our cast visited a couple cathedrals, the downtown district, an area full of shoes and leather products, some city monuments and we also got a chance to meet the Mayor of Leon. The city is beautiful and people seem to recognize the name of Viva La Gente wherever we go. We get honks from cars, waves and “holas” from passerbys as well as people who break out into song…Viva La Gente! The media seems to love us and was with us almost all day photographing our every move. We were also in the newspaper in a two page article!

Viva la Gente in the newspaper

Miercoles (Wednesday)

USTED HABLA INGLES? (Do you speak English?)

Wednesday was our first Community Impact day for our tour of Mexico. However, I am on the admissions team so we got to enjoy a beautiful day at two presitious schools in the heart of Leon. Our team gave presentations in classrooms and had a booth set up outside for students to come look at, ask questions and get to know us. I used the phrase “usted habla ingles?” a lot today and was always delighted to meet someone who was comfortable in their use of English. At one of the highschools, I felt like a complete tourist and outsider. I had students surrounding me and staring. When they finally spoke, they said: “You look funny, where are you from?” I replied and they continued to tell me it was due to my blonde hair and blue eyes. They loved asking me questions, and I loved practicing my little amount of Spanish!

I hope you enjoyed learning a few phrases in Spanish, and are enjoying following our tour. I will leave you with this; “There’s only one you in this big world. Make this place yours and change the world.”

You can do this in many ways; smile at someone new today, try to communicate in another language, sit by someone you don’t know well, call an old friend, or just simply tell those you love how you feel. Most of all simply be yourself. You are changing the world.