Hey guys, it’s Elizabeth! I hope everybody had a good Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year. A lucky group of 600 cheerleaders and dancers will be starting off 2009 in style, by ringing in the New Year in London, England.
The cheerleaders and dancers performing in London were given UCA, UDA and USA All Star awards at camps this past summer. This award gave them the chance to perform in the 2009 New Years London Day Parade. While they are abroad, they will also be shopping, taking tours and seeing many historical sites.
My trip, along with the 600 other participants, began with an 8 hour flight to London. I traveled across the sea with the “Working Day and Night” group. Kathryn Foti, from Lafitte, LA said, “It was a long flight over here, I watched 4 movies, but couldn’t fall asleep because the movies were so good… but I also think I was just too excited to sleep!”
After landing in London, we loaded up the coach, or as we called it a bus, and headed for our hotel. It took about an hour to get to the hotel and surprisingly, even after our 8 hour flight the girls were still wide eyed, looking around and taking pictures of everything they could get a glimpse of! On our bus tour we passed some historical buildings, which the girls kept referring to as “cute” buildings.
Once everybody got settled in their rooms, the participants and family members headed to orientation. After a quick briefing from the International Special Events Coordinator, Mike Fultz, we were all starving and went down the street for a bite to eat. Once we were full, a couple of the groups decided to walk around the Tower of London. It was incredible, and we got to see and learn many new things about this historical site.
“I thought it was really neat being able to see the names of all the rulers of England in chronological order. The jewels were also really cool, I can’t believe how small some of the crowns where!” says, Avery Butts, from Dallas, TX.
Everyone is still exhausted from their flight to London, so bedtime came early tonight for most people—which is was a smart idea, because tomorrow will be a busy day with everyone going on coach tours in the morning. At night, the “Wanna be Starting Something” and “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” groups will be on a cruise, while the “Working Day and Night” and “USA Just Dance” groups will be getting ready to show off their dance routine to the UDA staffers at rehearsal.
Talk to you tomorrow!