Home of the Happiest Place on Earth: Orlando!

We spent last week in the home of Disney, Orlando FL.  But we quickly realized that Orlando is so much more than Disney.  The first day, right off the bus from Ft Meyers to meet the Mayor of Orlando.  It was an interesting experience and we learned more about Orlando and what they are doing to improve it.  We also got to sit in the board of Orlando's chairs, so that was pretty cool! After the mayor had to leave, we headed over to the building that our host families would pick us up and just got to hang out or explore the city (the study abroad students and I studied for a test, nothing too exciting).  We got a quick pep talk from our sponsor for the week, UWP alumni Angel Cortes, and then we were off to meet our new families.

^Simone and Liz

My family was a single woman Louise and her 23 year old son Matt.  I roomed with Simone from Denmark again and also Liz from Arizona. We are holding soap cause that was our host code which got donated to Ronald McDonald house.  We all hit it off right away and all three of us felt very comfortable.  This was also my first week sharing a bed with someone, and that doesn't bother me, I'm just afraid I will bother them with talking or moving.  But it went fine, and she talked more than me anyways!

Tuesday we were off to our CI sites and mine was Clean the World.  They are an organization that takes in used hotel soaps and such and then sanitizes them and packages them into care packages that go to homeless people in both the states and other countries.  They also take the used bars and grind those down and create new bars.  They have distributed them to many villages in third world countries.  Our group split up into two teams.  My team packaged sanitized bottles of conditioner and lotion so that people could put them into actual packages easier.  The other group had the not so glamorous job of scraping used soap bars so that they could be sanitized better.  They we confronted with some mysterious stains and hair.  But overall, it was a really cool thing to do, and a great cause and made us more aware of how many soaps were being thrown out every day when they could be reused.

Wednesday was another school day and we had a couple tests, and also had a great bonding time over mutual stresses.  This program is amazing, but every once in a while it can get a little overwhelming.  Then that night we had what is called a Culture fair.  We get to present about our countries to the rest of the cast.  Our presenters were Mexico, Bermuda, Canada and the US.  The US split up into 5 regions: East, Mid west, south, west and Mountain Range.  In the mountain range, we decided to do a "day in the life of a mountaineer" so we had people put on a back pack and "hike" up a mountain (a ladder) then snowboard around (on hand made cardboard boards) and then sat around the fire and ate s'mores while the camp guides taught some fun facts about the range.  Did you know that Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote? Or that the 13th step on Colorado's capitol building is exactly one mile above sea level? Yup we learned that! We also had an Old Faithful demonstration.  (Mentos in a diet coke)  It was a blast, and everyone pulled out all the stops.  We even had to smuggle people in and out of Mexico who "lost" their passport.                                                        
East Coast                                                          The Rocky Mtn range (day in the life of a mountaineer)

                                               West Coast bus tour>





Thursday we had a regional learning day at NASCAR! It was the race right before the Daytona 500, so it was a big deal.  While it would not have been one of my choices, it was very interesting because it's a very American thing that I have never experienced.  It was so loud and was fascinating for about 5 minutes, but after that, it was just a good time to hang out with friends in a casual setting.

Friday and Saturday were both show days, and boy were they hot! We were at Edgewater High school.  The audiences weren't that big, but they had a ton of energy! I even had some great aunts and uncle to come see the show that lived around there, and it was great to "meet" them because I don't even remember the last time I've seen them!

Sunday was our day off, so we went to my host mom's time share at a resort where we hung out in the pool and then played mini golf right as it started to rain.  I'm still not any better than I ever have been, but we all had fun so that's what counts! Then we had an amazing fish dinner at a place on the ocean.

Monday we picked up and left for Vero Beach, but we made a little pit stop at..... EPCOT! yay Disney! It was perfect weather, and we got an introduction from students who are working for Epcot from all around the world.  Epcot is the international part of disney where people from all over the wi=orld work in their native country's part of the park.  It was so much fun! It was good to just have free time with friends and explore.  I was also kind of sad about leaving Louise and Matt, because we had all gotten so close, but I know now that I have a family in Orlando.

Jumping with Misa(WI), Larissa(NH) and Molly(VT) in front of the Epcot ball!

The one princess we got to meet was Belle, and she was lovely! I wish I could have met more

Trying on all the mouse ears!

Next city, Vero Beach! I'll leave you with a Walt Disney quote, "The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique." And also a promise to write again soon! I didn't have wifi in Vero, so I'm play catch up now!

Much love