The Final Countdown Begins...

As the days before I leave become fewer and fewer, I realize that I have to stop procrastinating writing my welcome blog post that I have promised to so many of you. First of all, I figured I would explain what exactly I am doing in these upcoming 5 months, as I realize many of you have very limited information on that. If, however, you’ve heard it explained over and over, feel free to skim through :)

(from their website):

Up with People is a global education organization which aims to bring the world together through service and music. The unique combination of international travel, service learning, leadership development and performing arts offers students an unparalleled experience and a pathway to make a difference in the world, one community at a time.

(read more here if you're interested)

That said, my particular Cast (the group of about 100 people which I will be traveling with) will be traveling to Florida, Georgia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Mexico. Each week, I will live with a local host family in the area in which we are working. The first 4 weeks in Florida will be time for “staging,” in which we will put together our entire show, a show which will encompass music and dancing of all different cultures. Each week after that will follow a similar schedule, with various kinds of community service during the week, with our show on Saturday night and a day of traveling each Monday.

A detailed list of our tour schedule can be found here (scroll down to where it says Cast A 2013).

I will also be taking three classes during my time away: Intercultural Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Contemporary Leadership Models. I, along with about 20 other people, will be traveling down to Lakeland, Florida, (the home of Florida Southern College) for an intensive week of classes before staging. After that week, the classes will be mainly online.

And so my last few days at home will be (have been) spent doing last minute shopping and packing, an excruciatingly difficult task, as I have very limited luggage space for 6 months of clothing for many different weather conditions and occasions. I’m packing everything from business clothing to work clothes, and trying to keep my shoes to an absolute minimum. (A very difficult task indeed….I think I’ve settled on 4 pairs right now, we’ll see if that lasts.)

I expect that my later blog posts will be shorter, but hopefully often enough that I will be able to keep them short and sweet (I sure all of you will appreciate that as much as I will!) The interesting bits are yet to come, stay tuned! Or don’t, that’s fine by me.

I leave around noon on January 4th and I return home on June 11th. Five months and one week of complete unknown. Unknown people, unknown places, unknown experiences. It’s a little scary, but I’m so excited to have this amazing opportunity to see the world and discover more about the world and myself.