Up with People On Tour Gap Year Experience

I was only 18 when I traveled, I signed up last minute and it was the best decision I ever made. At the time, I wanted to be a musician, singer specifically, and was planning to go to a local college to study music. I had always wanted to go to Europe and when presented with the opportunity, saw I could do both. Some of the scheduling has changed since I traveled, but the experience is still very similar today.

We started our year with an extensive staging workshop in Colorado where we learned the current show, got to know each other, and were taught how to be savvy travelers and global citizens. The people training us were all professionals. Many of us were coached by top Broadway stars.

My cast was scheduled to go to Europe, but could have been Asia as well that year. We were guaranteed a chance to experience 2 continents. The unknown spontaneity of the tour schedule was really thrilling. We spent 6 months in the US and 6 months in Europe on my tour.

When I traveled we changed cities almost every 3-5 days and stayed with a different host family in every city. They were all wonderful and it was a great opportunity to meet people from all different cultures and backgrounds. We also did in depth philanthropic work in each city such as visiting schools and teaching children about diversity and cultural awareness, building and maintaining youth centers, entertaining in nursing homes, building habitat for humanity homes, helping organize food banks and many more activities.

We had opportunities to intern in different business roles too. I was a communications assistant marketing intern and PR intern while on the road and did advance work where I would travel ahead of the cast to a city and help set up all of the host families, service projects, ticket sales and other logistics of their tour there. It was real world work and experience. I fell in love with working with people and marketing and I ended up studying Public Relations and International Business in school and am now a professional Marketing and Event Manager.

We also had many opportunities on the road to meet inspiring and successful leaders. We sang for the Pope on his 80th birthday, met with heads of major corporations on joint service projects, performed with Faith Hill and the Temptations for 60,000+ people in the Georgia Dome, and were guests of Presidents for national celebrations.

Some of us organized or joined in on side trips to countries not on our tour to learn and experience even more. I went to Mexico with a group of cast mates for a week and represented the organization at a meeting of world leaders and young leaders. We had one on one lunches and chats with presidents, kings, prime ministers, world peace leaders and Nobel Prize winners to help them learn to make good decisions that aligned with what our generation wanted for the future of the world.

I received a scholarship and some credits to college as a result of my participation in Up With People and a letter of recommendation from the President of the United States.

Most importantly, I literally have friends to this day in every corner of the globe (23+ countries from my cast alone). Thanks to the rise of social media, we talk with each other daily. I can travel anywhere any time and find someone I know, someone my friend knows, or someone who has traveled in Up With People too who wants to know me. It has opened up numerous doors in my career and even though we only traveled to 7 countries on our tour, I traveled to 24 countries between the ages of 18 and 24 as a result of friendships I made in Up With People. We also have reunions frequently with multiple casts attending and I have made friends with other alumni from all decades.

Music is still a very important part of my life, but I have so much more life now than I did before Up With People. I not only learned what I wanted to learn and do, I also learned who I am and what kind of person I want to be.

There is nothing like the experience of Up with People where you can travel side-by-side with people from all over the world, live with hundreds of host families worldwide, and spread a message of peace while doing quality, important work in the community. The people I met in this group continue to impact my life today, and I can't recommend this program enough. It was life-changing for me and everyone else I know who has shared this unique experience.

There aren't many gap-year programs that offer the opportunities that Up with People does! it's the chance to travel extensively with people from many countries. Participants do community service projects and stay with host families. Travel includes at least 2 continents, and students visit cities and towns that tourists don't normally visit. Up with People is full of extraordinary , talented, driven young people. It remains a unique program that is life-changing.

I was in Up with People in 1988 after finishing university, and was privileged to work for the company for a few years after. The experiences and training and friendships I gained are beyond measure. I can't say enough about the program! Do it, you won't regret it, i promise!! =)

I traveled in this program when I was 20 years old. It was the hardest year of my life, but also the best year of my life. Between the lifelong friends I've made around the world, the host families I now call family, and the opportunities to serve each community through service projects and performing arts...I had an experience to draw from for a lifetime. I will make sure my kids travel in this program without a doubt.

January 1996- First flight to Denver.. Never been in a plane before.
Meeting my first and best hostfamily.The beginning of a great adventure.
During six weeks.. dancing, singing, like i've never done before. Talking English, meeting people from all over the world. Meeting my best friends since than. After six weeks our first show.. and i even didn't feel like a stage patato.. saying goodbye to my hostfamily and my best friend from Zwitserland.. There was anohter cast leaving the same day.
1 year.. laughing, singing, dancing, learning, feeling frustrated now and than, traveling, talking, meeting people.. staying with 75 hostfamilies, doing community service, performing during the openingsceremonies Olympic games Atlanta. feeling tired but didn't give up on it.
Doing different internships.. Admissions.. getting young people involved with Up With People.
Talking in front of 1200 German students without knowing that many words.. but i did it.
Speaking Enlish.. i did it. learning Swedish.. i did it.
Did the trustfall, travelled one year with one suitcase, slept after 20 minutes in the buss and i still can do that.

Nobody said it would be easy but it was Worth it!!

A whole year felt like a ride on a rollercoaster.. a rollercoaster of mixed feelings.. But it was worth it..

I was working on myself, for myself and by myself.... with 123 persons from 22 different countries..
If you have the opportunity.. Go and explore..It's 21 years ago for me.. but i remember it like yesterday..

It's been a while since I travelled, but this program definitely made a difference in my professional path. I learned to be flexible, I learned what I'm actually go at, I learned to solve issues with others in a peaceful manner. I grew up a lot on the road.

To me, the host family experiences are what make UWP memorable. It is something immensely unique and I'm thankful for the opportunities I had in UWP and the many that I have had because of UWP.

I traveled in UWP Cast A 2000, and was given the opportunity of a lifetime. The friends I met 17 years ago are life long friends. One cast member is the godmother to my son, and I still regularly see a lot of my cast members both in my own town and when I travel. The show creators are brilliant and they create music that tells stories and helps bring communities together. The Alumni Group provides many networking opportunities once you are done traveling. I highly encourage anyone to travel with Up With People. Open your eyes to the world, it will be life changing!

Up with People is without a doubt the best way to spend 6 months of your life. You'll make lifelong friends from all over the world, gain a greater global perspective, give back in more ways than can be numbered, and your heart will grow about 3 sizes. I would recommend it to absolutely everyone. I traveled at age 29 and grew in ways I thought I'd already passed through in life. My host families gave me invaluable perspectives, my cast mates literally became family, and the organizations we volunteered with have me a greater passion to live my life deliberately when I returned to the states.