first official day of training...

hola!!

okay, not gonna lie. today is kind of a blur!! i hope i remember the highlights.

we woke up and drove to denver w/ the fam'. we did end up being like 2 minutes late to the opening session, but it was still phenomenal. that show is so in your face at times...and others it's entirely moving. i got goosebumps i don't know how many times! i'm SOOO psyched! my mom, grandma, and friends paula and hilary from boulder came down from their camping trip in Red Feather up in the mountains to see the show. i looked back and my mom was crying. a lot. but that's how we are i suppose. emotional. so after the show they all came down and met my host mom and siblings. then i met tommy spaulding! he's the head of the UWP program now. he's great.

following the show we all went downstairs to the ballroom to do some ice-breakers. that was a blast. K time out. this building is so beautiful! it's really old, and has hand-painted ceilings and walls. its classic. it almost seems arabic. it's also surrounded by skyscrapers! so that just adds to the classic beauty it has.

after icebreakers we went into what i will call family groups, cuz that's what they are. we got to know each other and are currently coming up w/ a group theme song and name and "gang" sign! (we're a peaceful gang. promise) that was a good time. we then went inside for lunch; turkey sloppy joes and salad w/ beets in it! strange i thought...

after lunch was a really interesting activity. we tried to define USA's culture. people from other countries had many different perspectives of us. some of which are: we are all always happy, we like things big (starbucks coffee, big portions), we're selfish, we like to consume, and such. that debate went on for quite a while.

then we sat and talked about what we'll be doing for the next couple days for a while...

after stephanie picked me up our host family went out to eat to celebrate stephanie getting a high profile client! go her. at the restaurant at the flatirons mall i got this spaghetti squash and zucchini thing, which actually ended up just being a big pile of vegetables, but hey. it was yummy. then we sat on some "love sacs" it was a good time.

after my LONG day... especially since i stayed up so late last night (3 a.m. :S) i was exhausted. so here i am. ready for bed. hope all is well w/ you all. miss ya. luv ya. HUGS!

xoxo
--callie