Hanna Fernando-Pacua (PHILIPPINES) temporarily leaves her comfort zone to travel, serve, and perform around the world in five months. She hopes to share with you this very meaningful experience.

Up with People provides students with an extraordinary semester of traveling the world. As a student your perspectives on the world will never be the same. UWP is for that certain student who's looking for an intense, hands-on, involved global educational experience. The program addresses the very real need for young adults and leaders who have global perspectives, intercultural understanding, knowledge of worldwide social issues, leadership skills and a dedication to community service. For more information, visit www.upwithpeople.org.

HANNA's SATTELITE SITE and GALLERY (+ photos, videos, calendar) http://www.bananaspinuwp.multiply.com/

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Official First Roommate

I talked about Lesley Loaiza from Tucson, Arizona being my first roommate in the blog entry "My First Host Family"

But now that I look back, my official roommate was really Alexandra Neageau from Romania ! If you can look back at my blog entry, "Reaching Denver" - we were roommates at the Microtel Inn where we spent our first night in the US. (We arrived too early!)

Anyway, it's a wonder what the Internet can do today - imagine, we were all able to have our hotel rooms booked from all over the world! It was Rafael from Brazil who made the arrangements from the comfort of his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Thanks Rafa! It's such a wonder that we were able to do that without ever having to meet each other face to face.

Well, they probably used an online booking agent like http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com/United-States/ which I think is so convenient and definitely makes the world smaller! Sometimes Internet booking is also cheaper.

I know the readers of this blog come from all over the world, and most are interested in travel. Let me differentiate 'traveler' from 'tourist' - for me a traveler is one who is eager to feel the local flavor and not just the recommended stuff in guidebooks. If you are a budget traveler, I guess you'll benefit from these links that I am sharing :-) So whether you are really traveling soon or merely traveling through the web - these sites can help you plan your adventure in the United States soon (OR, apply to be an Up With People student for the ultimate adventure!)

Cheap Los Angeles Hotels

You can see the famous footprints in Hollywood, LA.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Around this time a year ago...

... I was at the height of my UWP preparations.

From time to time, you will see me update this blog about my previous experiences or about stories that I failed to write about. As I was reviewing my entries for the book I plan to publish.. I saw a lot of holes that I can still fill and entries that I'd like to improve.

Keeping this blog going will also increase awareness about UWP and my fervent wish that people support Pinoys who want to travel with the program.

I also hope to earn a little bit of revenue through advertising so I can support this campaign. So please check back from time to time to read more of the adventure!