From Greeley to Miami... what a ride.

Wow, what a ride is right. So, where am I and how did I get here? I may not even know the exact answer to that but I can try to tell you as best as I can. Last week, we left Denver, CO to go to our very first city and show in Greeley, CO... about an hour or so by bus up the road, and very close to Wyoming. I got new roommates and host moms and dads (Amy and Michael Dugan were hosting Alex from Vermont/Arizona, Gregor from Germany and I) and they were all absolutely incredible. I really do miss my host family from Denver- Colleen and Jug were so good to us and so much fun... it was weird how we all became a tight family in such a short month, but I'm always welcome to go back there along with the other host children they've had. SUCH great people, God bless them. Anyway, back to the story. Amy and Michael only had the "priveledge" of having us UWP folk for a short week (last Wednesday to this past Wednesday) and they took advantage! They were so good to us- took us out to their favorite place, Kenny's- owned by the guy who owns the Rockies, cooked out steaks for us (because Greeley is cow country- smells like manure and death when they boil the blood on Wednesdays), took us up to Estes Park, right at the start of the Rockies- a quaint town that is famous for the Stanley hotel- where and what Steven King wrote "The Shining" about... the hotel is amazing and beautiful- we had coffees on the porch just looking at the Rockies (all while I was sneaking upstairs to take a picture of the room where King stayed and wrote the horror... room 217). The week, as far as UWP goes, was just as exciting- we had plenty of PA time (rehearsing for the show), and I don't think I've ever danced and sang this much in my entire life. We ran through the show countless times, in and out of dress, and with such a high energy show- it's tough to keep going strong BUT it's great exercise so I tried to push as hard as I could. However, community impact was also introduced this week and we had the opportunity to work with the Boys and Girls Club of Greeley. UWP hosted a culture fair for the kids (I'd say about 30 came) and they had a blast- everything from potato sack racing from Idaho to line dancing from the good ole Southern kids (the Alex's and I) to Swedish outdoor games to Danish balloon games... the kids were having the time of their lives, and the next day of CI we had the opportunity to paint their gym and put their moto "Be Great" all over the gym in different languages that represented our cast. The director of the B and G Club was so happy with our work and it was very rewarding to see how we had such an effect on a great community.

The week ended with Wednesday... possibly the longest day of my life: rehearsal all day including a full dress run... dinner with Shaylan (from Alaska)'s mom and grandparents along with a few good friends then we had the show. The show went REALLY well: we had a great crowd and they absolutely loved it. We had a thing called "Green Room" before the show where basically the staff got us really pumped up for the show- games, pump-up songs and readings, and we had to say goodbye to our staging staff who would not be traveling with us. As far as what I did in the show- I was on mic groups (backup singing) for the songs I was not participating in the specialty dances for. Dancing-wise, I got the great opportunity to dacce hip hop to "Power With", jazz/technical to "Keep the Beat", I was the Love Boy with Katja from Denmark as the Love Girl in the "Love Medley" which was SO FUN- best part of the show for me because I got to sing, dance, and act out for ten mintues to tell the story of this boy who falls in and out of love with a beautiful and very talented girl from Denmark- it's a really funny part of the show and a good way to incorporate popular songs from 50's/60's America, then second act I danced the international medley including a gypsy dance, swing, and a very sexy salsa. Needless to say, I was exhausted BUT the day had just begun. We striked the set, packed the trucks, hung out in the auditorium until 2:15 or so in the morning, rode on a bus to the airport, slept in the lobby for an hour or so, checked in and went through security, slept in the airport floor for a couple of hours, flew to Ft. Lauderdale, got to Miami around seven or eight on Thursday night with a lack of sleep, found out that 25 of the cast that came to Miami (only half the cast came that day) didn't have host families so we were going to be shipped to a facility for the weekend, turns out the facility didn't have blankets or pillows or showers, SO we arrived and finally settled into a student hostel at South Beach, Miami around midnight or 1 on Friday morning. WHAT A TRIP. I was frustrated at first, but this has turned out to be the best thing that could happen to me. There's about 16 of us still host-family deprived (which has now been solved- so come Monday we should all have a family), but we were given today, Saturday, and Sunday off and we're literally a block from Ocean Dr. on the greatest beach I've seen. Today, we just enjoyed the sun. I took a run around Miami and my friend Matt and I put on a gun show at the pull-up bar with some muscle men. Last night we just hung out with the characters at the hostel- talked to a guy from Italy for an hour, girl from Serbia for awhile, and estoy practicando mi espanol mucho y estoy mejor ahora! It's been incredible and we're heading out for Valentine's Day dinner here in an hour or so. This is not UWP typical- much more like vacation and it's been more than nice.

Here in Miami we're going to be working with a recycling company that's promoting a new product that will hopefully get more people to recycle AND we have two shows at the end of this week- free tickets at an ampitheatre. It's going to be another amazing experience. The stories, the people... I couldn't imaging my life if I had passed up this opportunity. UWP still proves to change lives and mine has been changed for the better. Much love to everyone at home- I miss you guys like crazy and wish you could be on tour with me!