02/18/2019 - 02/25/2019
Welcome to this journey! As I sit at home (safe and healthy) during this crazy time, I decided to spend some time finally blogging out my mess of a journal from my year on the road. I told myself I would keep up with this while traveling (ha), and made it a good three weeks into staging before never doing it again. Seems like my messy little notes of each week and endless photos in my camera roll will suffice. I wanted to have these posts to look back on. I already worry about forgetting the small but significant details of my weeks on the road, and now seemed like a good time to start getting them all down :”)
Greeley, Colorado. My first week on tour with Up With People, and a memorable one at that. I had already spent five weeks in this beautiful state, one I had absolutely fallen in love with, and was preparing for another three. This was the first. Though only about an hour away from where we had just spent five weeks in chaotic staging, Greeley felt new, unexplored and exciting nonetheless. I was nervous about what this week would bring, but also just so thrilled to finally be on the road.
We arrived on busses to Greeley mid-afternoon, and immediately went right into what we call “CA” in Up With People, or “community action.” I spent the afternoon flyering for our shows, promoting UWP and exploring downtown Greeley. The ART hidden throughout this little city was incredible.
Monday night we received our “allocation cards,” identifying who our host family was, how many host siblings, pets, etc. we’d have, and where we were staying. We were also told who are roommate for that week would be. As I found my roommate - Leo from France, we waited nervously for our “host mom” to come pick us up. Nerve-wracking as it is, randomly meeting a stranger and then going home with them to live in their space for a week, it also gives you a massive amount of hope knowing people are inherently good. To selflessly open your home to strangers for a week, provide them with food, a place to sleep, and all sorts of accommodations is something very rare and extremely special. Our host “mom,” more like our host sister, was the perfect example of just that - absolute selflessness. She radiated kindness, and just seemed so real to me the moment I met her. I met Amanda over a year ago, and I can say today she has had a massive impact on my journey in this program and in life in general. I was so comforted knowing we’d get to be staying with her this first week. Also, a sidenote: Amanda is young, extremely fun, and hilarious. She lived with roommates who went to college nearby and her apartment was the cutest spot :) Leo and I felt so at home here, and I was so thankful for that.
This week was extremely hectic, as I, and all one hundred of us were adjusting to life on the road and what this would look like. I had promised myself I would journal each week, which of course, I didn’t find the time to actually do. After getting home each night, we spent time drinking wine with Amanda, making pancakes for dinner, or watching A Star is Born :”)
This week, my mom and Ray visited. They saw our first show on the road, and sat with me for hours just talking and catching up. Yes, I hadn’t even been gone two months - but that little piece of home made me crazy happy. I stayed with them overnight at their hotel, had breakfast and explored Greeley and downtown Boulder the next day. We went to some of the best spots including Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse for the loveliest lunch. It felt so weird seeing them in this whole new world I had just become a part of. I was so content.
After my mom and Ray had left to make their way back home to Mass, I spent the rest of the week warming up to this whole UWP thing, and volunteering at local places around Greeley with my cast. My first CA day was at a Boys & Girls club. A group of about twenty of us spent time painting murals around the B&G facility. It was one of the best things I’ve been a part of, and also just so much fun. We spent all day laughing, joking around, getting to know each other, and painting some of the coolest murals for the kids that spent time there after school.
This week felt unreal. I had been preparing for this “trip” for almost a year, and now I was finally living it. It was something so special, and I was so thankful. I had to stop every once in awhile and remind myself what I had decided to do with my life for the next five months. Some days it felt like a crazy dream.
Over the next few days, I spent time on a few different sites volunteering with a small group of castmates. One of the projects I was a part of took place at Poudre River Trail. We spent time helping the park service employees clean out a barn, sort through old things kept there, and organize tools and equipment. It was a beautiful spot, and the weather was just as beautiful. At the end of this long day, my roommate and I were picked up by our host sis, and we made our way back home. We made 9pm pancakes and watched A Star is Born in the kitchen, stayed up late and just talked. This week literally felt like three sisters hanging out and I was so damn lucky for that. I just knew how much I was going to miss being with these two.
Sunday was host family day. Amanda took Leo and I to Horsetooth Reservoir in Larimer County. We went on a hike overlooking the most beautiful views, and had the absolute best weather for it too. We spent all day outside soaking up the sun and taking allllll the photos of the most incredible mountains. I had fallen in love with this state, and it seemed like every day it decided to amaze me just a little bit more. I was so excited for another two weeks in Colorado.
We made our way back home, and spent the rest of the night packing up our suitcases, and getting ready for travel day the next morning. We would have another short bus ride, only about an hour to our next destination, Erie. I experienced those same feelings all over again - what would my host family be like? Would I get along with my roommate?
What would the next week look like? I did know we had five shows over the next seven days. I was exhausted just thinking about it, but so dang excited too.
I was so sad saying goodbye to Amanda the next morning - it was the best first week I could’ve asked for. I tried to remind myself that was what every week would feel like: strangers on a Monday and family by the following Sunday. And the goodbyes just sucked. That’s really the only way to put it. But holy crap was I beyond grateful for the journey I had decided to take on for the next few months. I was grateful for my first on-the-road roomie, the friends I was making, the relationships I was forming with people I had met only a few months prior, or in my host sisters’ case, only a week prior. Over these seven days I truly recognized the powerful presence of hope, in a world where I used to think it was lacking. I saw someone open their home to a complete stranger out of the kindness of their heart. I saw young kids faces light up as they saw the murals we had so much fun painting for them. I had spent the last few weeks not knowing what the next day would bring - and I fell in love with that feeling. That isn’t to say I wasn’t still nervous about what the semester would bring. I was worried sick about missing my family too much, losing touch with friends from home, or being unprepared for what I chose to do. However, someone once told me, “Preparation is important. But we can’t always wait until we feel ready. Otherwise, we’ll just waste precious moments, and we won’t be living the life we imagined for ourselves.”
“I hope that under no circumstances, do you sacrifice your dreams, dignity, or self-respect for anyone. I hope you retain who you are and who you want to be become with ferocity. Take the time to be self-reflective, and always fight tooth and nail for things that are worth fighting for. Now, before you worry, don’t. Because we will absolutely keep in touch. Love from your host mom/sista/friend.”
Absolutely blessed for my first week on the road, and for all the people who were a part of it. This crazy program had just become my life, and it was only the beginning :”)
Next stop: Erie, Colorado.
xx, Anna
