7/16/07
I'm in Cast C! In other words, I'll be traveling to Thailand, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, and several locations around the U.S. (including Arizona, New York, Washington D.C., and Georgia). Not to mention that we'll also be performing in none other than the Macy's Day Parade and on a cruise ship traveling from Finland to Sweden.
But even more importantly, Cast C is where most of the cast members I was hoping to be with ended up. Sure, there were some really amazing people I'd befriended who ended up in Cast B, but that was to be expected. But over all, I am very satisfied with the group of people I ended up with.
During the few hours after the casts were announced, I think I felt more emotions in such a short period of time than I ever have before. The staff threw an elaborate induction-like ceremony for both of the separate casts, and ours was such a rush of emotions: excitement for getting matched up with friends, euphoria for realizing the opportunities we'd have with the countries we'd visit, disappointment for those we were separated from, relief from the week-long anticipation, and jubilation for the fact that it finally felt like this whole thing was actually getting started. It was dark when we walked into the room after finding out our cast, except for the strobe light-esque lights dancing around from the flashlights held by the staff members. There was loud music playing, and we all rushed in accompanied by shrieks of joy and laughter. We all had a mini dance party before the Cast C staff gave a truly inspirational presentation by flashlight light. One of the staff members gave a very moving speech that brought several of us to tears (excluding myself - I was so filled with so many intense emotions that I was completely incapable of expressing just one of them at the moment).
Anyways, I'm really looking forward to making remarkable friendships with these beautiful, amazing cast members. At any rate, I have a feeling that these last several hours have been some of the most pivotal of my life thus far.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Comfort Levels and Panic! Zones
From my sociology journal: 7/15/07
My first week of Up With People is over, and so far I've pretty much had an overload of information, emotions, and new experiences. We've started learning the songs and dances, and we've sat through several educational sessions as well (including a particularly juicy one about stereotypes).
One of these educational sessions was about different comfort levels. They talked about the comfort zone, which is rather self-explanatory; the challenge zone, which is when one is in a situation in which they feel uncomfortable, yet still in control of their circumstances for the most part; and the panic zone, in which one feels completely out of control of their surroundings. The UWP staff wants us to push our comfort levels during this semester, and visit the challenge zone often.
I've been in the challenge zone during our dancing sessions, seeing as I have never had any formal dancing experience before in my life. It's been somewhat difficult for me to follow all the steps, but over all I think it's been good for me to learn something new. However, I noticed that some of the other students seemed to be in the panic zone for these same activities. One girl was literally in tears because it was so frustrating for her. I'd imagine that it would be pretty scary to be in a foreign country speaking a second language doing something you had no prior experience with. Hopefully I won't be experiencing the panic zone very much this semester.
Tomorrow we will find out which of the two casts we'll be on, and which countries we'll be visiting. Either way I'll be perfectly happy, but I'm just a little worried because either way I'll be on a different cast than some of the people I've started to befriend.
My first week of Up With People is over, and so far I've pretty much had an overload of information, emotions, and new experiences. We've started learning the songs and dances, and we've sat through several educational sessions as well (including a particularly juicy one about stereotypes).
One of these educational sessions was about different comfort levels. They talked about the comfort zone, which is rather self-explanatory; the challenge zone, which is when one is in a situation in which they feel uncomfortable, yet still in control of their circumstances for the most part; and the panic zone, in which one feels completely out of control of their surroundings. The UWP staff wants us to push our comfort levels during this semester, and visit the challenge zone often.
I've been in the challenge zone during our dancing sessions, seeing as I have never had any formal dancing experience before in my life. It's been somewhat difficult for me to follow all the steps, but over all I think it's been good for me to learn something new. However, I noticed that some of the other students seemed to be in the panic zone for these same activities. One girl was literally in tears because it was so frustrating for her. I'd imagine that it would be pretty scary to be in a foreign country speaking a second language doing something you had no prior experience with. Hopefully I won't be experiencing the panic zone very much this semester.
Tomorrow we will find out which of the two casts we'll be on, and which countries we'll be visiting. Either way I'll be perfectly happy, but I'm just a little worried because either way I'll be on a different cast than some of the people I've started to befriend.
[the lack of] American Culture
From my sociology journal: 7/9/07
Today was the first day of my Up With People training (and I realize that these aren't necessarily in chronological order, but I write them down first and then type them up just whenever I get the chance).
The most interesting aspect of my experience so far has definitely been meeting people in the cast from various locations around the world. I think there are eighteen countries being represented in our cast altogether. One especially interesting thing about this is noticing the similarities that so many of us have in common. The marks of globalization are evident in such things as simply discussing favorite movies or talking about American culture.
I was certainly surprised by the amount of knowledge so many of the international cast members possessed about American pop culture. In fact, my Canadian roommate, Raine, is more able to discuss American movies and TV shows with our host dad than I am. I mean, I knew that Canada and the U.S. have a lot in common, but I didn't realize that we are quite that similar.
Another similarity that a shocking number of cast members shared was a severe fondness for the Harry Potter series. During one of the seminars today, the speaker mentioned that the new Harry Potter movie comes out tomorrow, and nearly the whole cast started cheering and hollering (which reminds me - it was very interesting to see how enthusiastic people from various countries became during such moments - it seems that some cultures applaud for nearly everything, whereas other countries save it for things that really move them). But anyway, I think that the Harry Potter series is one of the few series of such popularity that is actually worthy of all the hype it gets, and it's amazing that one story can affect so many lives from all over the world.
I think that there are some very polar pros and cons when it comes to the issue of globalization. On the positive side, the interconnection between societies due to the internet and other such technology allows people to communicate easily with members of other cultures, and therefore leads to better understanding of those cultures, and can even create a sense of solidarity between diverse groups of people. However, on the other hand, it also causes these same cultures to blend together and therefore causes a tendency for some cultures to lose their uniqueness and diversity, and can even lead to cultures being completely submerged in the more dominant culture. I have yet to come to any stable conclusions about such matters, but I am sure that the next five and a half months will offer me an extravagant amount of food for thought on the subject.
On a somewhat different note, we also had a seminar today providing a [somewhat] objective outlook on American culture. We will be having a seminar similar to this prior to arriving in every new country we'll be visiting along the way. In this seminar, we started out with people giving their opinions on what they thought about American culture. It was very interesting to hear the opinions of those from other countries. We heard things such as:
"Americans are happy all the time".
"Americans are a very wealthy people".
and
"If there is a separation of church and state, why do so many American politicians say things such as 'God Bless America'?" which I thought was a very valid question. I strongly dislike that cliche for several reasons, the main reason being that it is such an ethnocentric statement. I mean, theological arguments aside, why is it that only America deserves to be blessed? What about the rest of the world?
Several Americans, including myself, expressed our own opinions on trying to define our culture, and we found that there were numerous points of view that were rather contradictory to each other. Many people pointed out that the U.S. is so big that it's impossible to have just one culture, and many illustrated the differences in culture throughout the different regions of the country. I pointed out that the various subcultures in our society are certainly not limited to being defined geographically, such as the Jewish, GLBT, Amish, and hip-hop subcultures, just to name a few.
Over all, there were some very good discussions that ensued, and the main conclusion we came to was that the USA offers such diversity and freedom (now that is one word that has often been misinterpreted) that it is impossible to describe just one culture to be fitting for it.
Today was the first day of my Up With People training (and I realize that these aren't necessarily in chronological order, but I write them down first and then type them up just whenever I get the chance).
The most interesting aspect of my experience so far has definitely been meeting people in the cast from various locations around the world. I think there are eighteen countries being represented in our cast altogether. One especially interesting thing about this is noticing the similarities that so many of us have in common. The marks of globalization are evident in such things as simply discussing favorite movies or talking about American culture.
I was certainly surprised by the amount of knowledge so many of the international cast members possessed about American pop culture. In fact, my Canadian roommate, Raine, is more able to discuss American movies and TV shows with our host dad than I am. I mean, I knew that Canada and the U.S. have a lot in common, but I didn't realize that we are quite that similar.
Another similarity that a shocking number of cast members shared was a severe fondness for the Harry Potter series. During one of the seminars today, the speaker mentioned that the new Harry Potter movie comes out tomorrow, and nearly the whole cast started cheering and hollering (which reminds me - it was very interesting to see how enthusiastic people from various countries became during such moments - it seems that some cultures applaud for nearly everything, whereas other countries save it for things that really move them). But anyway, I think that the Harry Potter series is one of the few series of such popularity that is actually worthy of all the hype it gets, and it's amazing that one story can affect so many lives from all over the world.
I think that there are some very polar pros and cons when it comes to the issue of globalization. On the positive side, the interconnection between societies due to the internet and other such technology allows people to communicate easily with members of other cultures, and therefore leads to better understanding of those cultures, and can even create a sense of solidarity between diverse groups of people. However, on the other hand, it also causes these same cultures to blend together and therefore causes a tendency for some cultures to lose their uniqueness and diversity, and can even lead to cultures being completely submerged in the more dominant culture. I have yet to come to any stable conclusions about such matters, but I am sure that the next five and a half months will offer me an extravagant amount of food for thought on the subject.
On a somewhat different note, we also had a seminar today providing a [somewhat] objective outlook on American culture. We will be having a seminar similar to this prior to arriving in every new country we'll be visiting along the way. In this seminar, we started out with people giving their opinions on what they thought about American culture. It was very interesting to hear the opinions of those from other countries. We heard things such as:
"Americans are happy all the time".
"Americans are a very wealthy people".
and
"If there is a separation of church and state, why do so many American politicians say things such as 'God Bless America'?" which I thought was a very valid question. I strongly dislike that cliche for several reasons, the main reason being that it is such an ethnocentric statement. I mean, theological arguments aside, why is it that only America deserves to be blessed? What about the rest of the world?
Several Americans, including myself, expressed our own opinions on trying to define our culture, and we found that there were numerous points of view that were rather contradictory to each other. Many people pointed out that the U.S. is so big that it's impossible to have just one culture, and many illustrated the differences in culture throughout the different regions of the country. I pointed out that the various subcultures in our society are certainly not limited to being defined geographically, such as the Jewish, GLBT, Amish, and hip-hop subcultures, just to name a few.
Over all, there were some very good discussions that ensued, and the main conclusion we came to was that the USA offers such diversity and freedom (now that is one word that has often been misinterpreted) that it is impossible to describe just one culture to be fitting for it.
A - a - eh?
The other day I was walking to the bus stop with Raine and Justin, and we passed a homeless guy who was shivering with a cardboard sign. Then, to my surprise, Justin stopped and said something along the lines of "You look pretty cold, man", and then proceeded to take off his own jacket (which definitely did not look cheap - Justin is very fashionable) and gave it to the homeless guy! I was immensely impressed by his generosity, especially since I'd been unsure what to think of Justin before then (I mean, earlier that day he was showing off a photo of his penis on his camera phone), but this incident definitely sent him up a few notches in my book.
This week we had two nights of "culture jams", which were sort of like talent shows, except that we weren't judged on our performances, and our acts were supposed to represent our cultures. I played a medley on my harmonica ("Angry Anymore", "Storage Unit Empire", and "Hand in my Pocket"), and the audience seemed to really enjoy it; to the point that everyone was clapping along, and later I think I was congratulated at least 27 times. I suppose the harmonica could be a good representation of Wyoming culture. I've determined that there are only four places in Wyoming that people tend to know - Cheyenne, Casper, Laramie, and Yellowstone.
There were lots of spectacular acts in the culture jam - Faith wrote an AMAZING poem earlier that day and recited it during the show; it was about getting past our differences and whatnot, and there is no way I could do it justice by summarizing it here. Perhaps I'll talk her into getting me a copy of it. Another noteworthy act was the group of Japanese students who did several different acts to represent their culture, the first of which being a highly entertaining performance of air guitar, which was particularly funny because earlier that day we had been lectured on the proper uses of microphones, and during their air guitar bit, they set their mics on the floor and accidentally stomped on them a few times because they were getting into it so much. Another act that really stood out was when Brodie and this other guy did a cover of the Umbrella song by Rihanna on acoustic guitar and beat-boxing. They even whipped out an actual umbrella toward the end of their song. I had always thought that song was rather horrid until I heard their version of it, which really kicked ass. Anyways, there were countless other great acts, and it felt like the culture jam really brought a sense of solidarity to the group.
One thing that still sticks out to me from Faith's poem was when she talked about how whenever we introduce ourselves, the first things we say are our names, and which countries we are from; therefore focusing on our differences. She said that we should just think of each other as people and not as stereotypes of where we come from. Hopefully that will be the case by the end of the semester.
So this week we started singing and dancing. I hope to really improve my singing abilities this semester. So far I really like several of the songs, although some of them are rather cheesy. The dancing bits have been particularly interesting since I've never really taken any sort of formal dance lessons before (my spastic seizure-ish dance moves just wont cut it here). It's been really exciting to learn something completely new though.
It's funny because last night I talked to Kayla on the phone, which was the first time I'd talked to anyone back home besides my mom, and I surprisingly couldn't really think of much to say about my trip so far (which is really strange if you've been reading this blog, since I've been blabbing on and on about every little detail). I think I told her a total of maybe three things that had happened so far (and we talked for almost 45 minutes), but it was more just talking about things from back home in Douglas. I suppose it was reassuring to see that some things are [comparatively] steadfast.
The only thing I've been somewhat nervous about is the revealing of the casts, which will happen tomorrow. It won't matter to me which countries I end up visiting, because either way I'll be visiting several remarkable places, but the thing I'm anxious about is parting with some of the friends I've started to make. Right now we're split up into the "red" and "green" groups, which will become the two different casts tomorrow, but might get switched around before they are finalized. The tough part is that there are such amazing people in both groups. Oh well, I guess that whoever I get put in a group with is who I'm meant to be with, and I'm sure that I'll make some great connections either way.
This week we had two nights of "culture jams", which were sort of like talent shows, except that we weren't judged on our performances, and our acts were supposed to represent our cultures. I played a medley on my harmonica ("Angry Anymore", "Storage Unit Empire", and "Hand in my Pocket"), and the audience seemed to really enjoy it; to the point that everyone was clapping along, and later I think I was congratulated at least 27 times. I suppose the harmonica could be a good representation of Wyoming culture. I've determined that there are only four places in Wyoming that people tend to know - Cheyenne, Casper, Laramie, and Yellowstone.
There were lots of spectacular acts in the culture jam - Faith wrote an AMAZING poem earlier that day and recited it during the show; it was about getting past our differences and whatnot, and there is no way I could do it justice by summarizing it here. Perhaps I'll talk her into getting me a copy of it. Another noteworthy act was the group of Japanese students who did several different acts to represent their culture, the first of which being a highly entertaining performance of air guitar, which was particularly funny because earlier that day we had been lectured on the proper uses of microphones, and during their air guitar bit, they set their mics on the floor and accidentally stomped on them a few times because they were getting into it so much. Another act that really stood out was when Brodie and this other guy did a cover of the Umbrella song by Rihanna on acoustic guitar and beat-boxing. They even whipped out an actual umbrella toward the end of their song. I had always thought that song was rather horrid until I heard their version of it, which really kicked ass. Anyways, there were countless other great acts, and it felt like the culture jam really brought a sense of solidarity to the group.
One thing that still sticks out to me from Faith's poem was when she talked about how whenever we introduce ourselves, the first things we say are our names, and which countries we are from; therefore focusing on our differences. She said that we should just think of each other as people and not as stereotypes of where we come from. Hopefully that will be the case by the end of the semester.
So this week we started singing and dancing. I hope to really improve my singing abilities this semester. So far I really like several of the songs, although some of them are rather cheesy. The dancing bits have been particularly interesting since I've never really taken any sort of formal dance lessons before (my spastic seizure-ish dance moves just wont cut it here). It's been really exciting to learn something completely new though.
It's funny because last night I talked to Kayla on the phone, which was the first time I'd talked to anyone back home besides my mom, and I surprisingly couldn't really think of much to say about my trip so far (which is really strange if you've been reading this blog, since I've been blabbing on and on about every little detail). I think I told her a total of maybe three things that had happened so far (and we talked for almost 45 minutes), but it was more just talking about things from back home in Douglas. I suppose it was reassuring to see that some things are [comparatively] steadfast.
The only thing I've been somewhat nervous about is the revealing of the casts, which will happen tomorrow. It won't matter to me which countries I end up visiting, because either way I'll be visiting several remarkable places, but the thing I'm anxious about is parting with some of the friends I've started to make. Right now we're split up into the "red" and "green" groups, which will become the two different casts tomorrow, but might get switched around before they are finalized. The tough part is that there are such amazing people in both groups. Oh well, I guess that whoever I get put in a group with is who I'm meant to be with, and I'm sure that I'll make some great connections either way.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Upwith People and my Pancakes
Okay, I'm used to writing down my thoughts and memories in the form of poetry, but my poetry tends to be very enigmatic, and I'm sure nobody but myself could possibly understand most of it (I don't even understand some of it myself). So, I suppose I'd better just record my epic adventure in the more coherent form of memoirs (though I'm sure I'll bust out in poetry every now and then). So, thus begins the documenting of my spectacular voyage with Up With People.
Today was the second official day of our UWP experience. So far it has been utterly amazing - especially getting to know so many great people from all over the globe (18 countries alltogether). Since I'm keeping a sociology journal for school along with this one, I'll try not to repeat myself too much. But yeah, the people here are amazing. However, I think instead of giving a generic description of each of them, I'll just let them reveal themselves through my writing.
My host family is really great - Alex and Tonya are both alumni of UWP, so they know just what we're going through. They have three little kids all under the age of four. Ian, the oldest, is very entertaining and surprisingly smart for his age. He refers to Raine (my roommate, who lives in Canada) and I as "the upwith people", as if "up with" were an adjective describing us. For instance, he will sometimes say things such as:
"Mom, can the upwith people read me my bedtime story?"
"Why aren't the upwith people coming to church with us?"
and
"Will the upwith people play Sorry with me?" (which he has so far talked us into doing twice - Raine has even showed us some of the special Canadian rules).
It's cute.
Yesterday was overwhelming, and felt more like two days than one; to the point that Raine and I were referring to events from that morning as "yesterday", when it was only later that evening. I met a LOT of people that day - some of whom I'd "met" on Facebook prior to coming here. It's so strange when that happens - "meeting" someone before actually meeting them in person; kind of like a blind date. It was extremely embarrassing though, because for some reason I had chosen to wear the tightest shirt I'd brought (my Righteous Babe "resolution" tee), and was thus pitting out like mad. Raine referred to my sweat stains as "pancakes". Gotta love the Canadians. I usually don't care about such things, but this was my first impression on most of these people, and pitting out is kind of gross... okay, I'll cut the pretense: there were plenty of hot guys running about from Sweden and Texas and other places, and I'm sure my "pancakes" didn't make too much of an attractive impression on those who just might be of my persuasion. I mean, these babies were very visible.
One of our seminar-ish things was about goals, and we wrote and sealed letters to ourselves concerning our goals for the semester. I don't really hold too much regard for making goals, seeing as I signed up for Up With People basically on a whim. But I was able to think of a few. One was to find a way to be proud of my country (it made me slightly jealous to see how patriotic some of the foreign students are to their native countries - especially those from Mexico), and to be ambitious enough to try to change the things that I still don't like about my country. I wonder if that will happen? I guess the events to happen in 2008 will probably have a little effect on that.
Today I was diagnosed as a tenor, and I did organized dance for the first time (we had audition-type things for both). We also had a lot of down time in between, so I went exploring down 16th street with several new friends. I felt proud to be seen in such a group - I mean, we were comprised of people from the USA (of course), Brazil, Sweden, Canada, and the Netherlands. It's funny, because just a couple of days ago, my Dad said that he could distinguish European guys from Americans while in a city by the way that they dressed in an almost-American sort of way, but not quite. I wonder what he would have thought of this eclectic ensemble. It was odd to think that this was the only time in my entire life that I would be in such diverse company on that particular street. It was great. I'm getting better at reveling in such moments while they are actually happening, the only time I'll ever be able to properly.
Today was the second official day of our UWP experience. So far it has been utterly amazing - especially getting to know so many great people from all over the globe (18 countries alltogether). Since I'm keeping a sociology journal for school along with this one, I'll try not to repeat myself too much. But yeah, the people here are amazing. However, I think instead of giving a generic description of each of them, I'll just let them reveal themselves through my writing.
My host family is really great - Alex and Tonya are both alumni of UWP, so they know just what we're going through. They have three little kids all under the age of four. Ian, the oldest, is very entertaining and surprisingly smart for his age. He refers to Raine (my roommate, who lives in Canada) and I as "the upwith people", as if "up with" were an adjective describing us. For instance, he will sometimes say things such as:
"Mom, can the upwith people read me my bedtime story?"
"Why aren't the upwith people coming to church with us?"
and
"Will the upwith people play Sorry with me?" (which he has so far talked us into doing twice - Raine has even showed us some of the special Canadian rules).
It's cute.
Yesterday was overwhelming, and felt more like two days than one; to the point that Raine and I were referring to events from that morning as "yesterday", when it was only later that evening. I met a LOT of people that day - some of whom I'd "met" on Facebook prior to coming here. It's so strange when that happens - "meeting" someone before actually meeting them in person; kind of like a blind date. It was extremely embarrassing though, because for some reason I had chosen to wear the tightest shirt I'd brought (my Righteous Babe "resolution" tee), and was thus pitting out like mad. Raine referred to my sweat stains as "pancakes". Gotta love the Canadians. I usually don't care about such things, but this was my first impression on most of these people, and pitting out is kind of gross... okay, I'll cut the pretense: there were plenty of hot guys running about from Sweden and Texas and other places, and I'm sure my "pancakes" didn't make too much of an attractive impression on those who just might be of my persuasion. I mean, these babies were very visible.
One of our seminar-ish things was about goals, and we wrote and sealed letters to ourselves concerning our goals for the semester. I don't really hold too much regard for making goals, seeing as I signed up for Up With People basically on a whim. But I was able to think of a few. One was to find a way to be proud of my country (it made me slightly jealous to see how patriotic some of the foreign students are to their native countries - especially those from Mexico), and to be ambitious enough to try to change the things that I still don't like about my country. I wonder if that will happen? I guess the events to happen in 2008 will probably have a little effect on that.
Today I was diagnosed as a tenor, and I did organized dance for the first time (we had audition-type things for both). We also had a lot of down time in between, so I went exploring down 16th street with several new friends. I felt proud to be seen in such a group - I mean, we were comprised of people from the USA (of course), Brazil, Sweden, Canada, and the Netherlands. It's funny, because just a couple of days ago, my Dad said that he could distinguish European guys from Americans while in a city by the way that they dressed in an almost-American sort of way, but not quite. I wonder what he would have thought of this eclectic ensemble. It was odd to think that this was the only time in my entire life that I would be in such diverse company on that particular street. It was great. I'm getting better at reveling in such moments while they are actually happening, the only time I'll ever be able to properly.
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