Today we mostly had some lectures. First in the morning we went to Westin hotel as all our activities were planned there. First we were listening Songs of the world where Coldwell brothers and their band performed for us some of the songs they learned during their travels. It was amazing.
At 11.00 our speakers were Belks and Sohma family. Mr. Belks is founder of Up with People program and Mr. and Ms. Sohma are their good friends from Japan. It was inspiring to listen Mr. and Ms. Belks talking about their Up with People experience.
After lunch, Dr. Carolyn Lee talked us about her Up with People experience. She was traveling with Up with People as a teacher for few years as back than Up with People’s structure was different that today.
At 15.00 we had internal time with our cast and we talked about how do we feel and what are our expectations for the future. Everyone was talking about their feelings and it was hard to open our hearts but it was also good as we get closer as the cast.
Around 17.00 bus waited us for barbeque party in some house which was rented only for both casts. House was little with little swimming pool and they were also preparing barbeque. Everyone was swimming and enjoying. I enjoyed sitting at the back and talking with some friends from cast B as this were our last moments together. I didn’t want to swim as my throat was still hurting and I was afraid not to catch cold.
At 20.00 we went back to hotel to watch ERA show. ERA show is show where all alumni try to perform songs and dances which they were dancing and performing when they were participants of Up with People. It was nice to watch them performing but at the same time it was so freezing that I couldn’t believe.
I ended up coming home with fever. I took aspirins and hot tee and went to sleep immediately. We came home after midnight again. We really had rough schedule during our last 2 days and that is the reason why I wasn’t writing on the blog. Luckily, today is host-family day so we stayed at home. I had a really good night sleep and I hope that I will get over this cold I have till tomorrow as tomorrow is traveling day and tomorrow we are traveling to San Diego for 2 nights. I knew 2 days ago that I will catch the cold when we came to Westin hotel for the first time. Hotel is really nice but inside air conditioning is really strong. I never thought that I will be freezing in Arizona where temperature is always around 35 Celsius or higher. These 2 days were really hard for me and as Carolyn Lee said: “Up with People experience was hard.” she really didn’t lie about it. I felt a little bit lonely at one point of time during the day, but to be honest I wasn’t good company also as my cold took over my body.
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