Sanne Meert
Hasselt, Belgium
Trying to get to know about 130 people at the same time – trying to find our spot in that big group of amazing people – trying to learn a complete show with songs and dances – trying to adapt to the new cultures that all of a sudden surrounded us – trying to learn everything we can about that new place where we’re living – trying to find out what Up with People is all about – trying to learn new languages – trying to be a part of our new host families – trying to have the time of our lives. And all of that in only four weeks time. Now you know some of the reasons why I call it staging madness!
Since we arrived in Denver a month ago, it seems that life has been put in fast forward-mode. We’ve done so many things and had so many impressions and emotions that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with everything. But the one feeling sticking out for me the most so far is excitement! And that is thanks to all the great opportunities we’ve already had so far. We’ve had our first Community Impact day in all sorts of facilities for homeless people, where some of us would be serving food while others were folding socks and washing clothes in the homeless shelter’s laundry room. But one thing we all did, was learn about this problem in society and the great effort people put into improving the situation, while helping ourselves at the same time. An eye-opening experience! Another moment that stood out for me was the day we walked in the Martin Luther King Marade. The first time we presented ourselves as Up with people Cast A 2012 to the outside world! It was an amazing feeling to be walking between all those other organizations that were all fighting for equality in some way and to feel through the energy coming from it how much this subject is still very much alive today. And then we’ve also had the chance to talk to a few very interesting people in whose lives leadership plays an important role. Two of my favorite quotes from these conversations were: “Get comfortable being uncomfortable” and “The world is run about those who show up. It’s all about participation”. We know what to do.
But most of the time we spent preparing for our fantastic Up with People show. In a very short period of time we had to know all the songs and dances, and make sure that we were actually also able to make it look and sound good on stage too! So we gave all the energy we had, and it was a great reward to see the show come more and more together each rehearsal.
Fortunately we also had some breathing and group bonding moments in the form of our education sessions. They were moments to take a little step back and think about everything that was going on around us. And to get to know each other a little better. We talked about the stereotypes we have towards several other countries, about differences in leadership styles in different places in the world, we learned that we have to “step up the ladder” if we really want to learn 
from the experiences we have, we thought about the goals we want to set for ourselves while being here, through a big Las Vegas evening we experienced that living in new cultures and not being able to communicate can lead to misunderstanding and frustration if we are not aware of those differences, we thought about what our ‘comfort zone’ is and were encouraged to push ourselves to our ‘challenging zone’ to have a Kiwi moment, and to make our identity as a group complete we created our very own Cast A 2012 flag with the three words we want to stand for: Connect – Passionate – Alive.
And then the big day arrived on Saturday: our very first show day!! It was almost like you could feel the tension in the air. We were excited and nervous at the same time, and when our first green room started with a 5-minute party it was like a burst of energy got released. We were ready! And it felt AMAZING!! Finally standing there on stage, ourselves, being able to present different parts of the world, giving all our energy and trying to infect the audience with it, showing who we are and what we stand for, and most importantly: doing all of this together as a group. As a new ‘family’. With people we are only getting to know but who we already very much appreciate just for who they are. That show day for me in one word: WOW.
And one thing that is great to realize is: this is only the beginning! There are so much more interesting conversations that lie ahead of us, so many opportunities that we can seize and so many more incredible people to get to know better. To say it in an English word that I love and only learned here the past weeks: I am ‘pumped’ to get on the road and see what the next few months have to offer!
