It's SOOOOO Hot!

[Author's side note...to all those grammar freaks...yes I do realize my post switches tenses...a lot. get over it]

We are going on week 4 down here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The days just seem to run into each other. I can't believe it's already June! I'm almost half way done with my journey. We were supposed to be here until June 10th, but we are extended until June 24th.

The work we are doing in Alabama is definitely hard and stressful, but very rewarding. We are working in one of the distribution warehouses (organizing, sorting, escorting clients...aka tornado victims, etc). Roxann (one of my teammates) and I are working in the toiletries department. It was a MESS the first day we got there. You couldn't even walk in there. But now, after all the hard work, sweat, tears, and some cuts and scrapes, it looks AWESOME! (I'll upload pics later).

There have been a lot of ups and downs for sure. I live in a house with 17...yes...17 other people. And after working 11 looooong hours with these same people, I have to come home to them. So as you can tell...we have all been getting on each others nerves, but things are finally looking up. Everyone seems to be getting along a lot better (thank goodness).

The people I've met down here have all been amazing. They are suuuper nice and grateful.  This is probably THE most humbling experience anyone could ever have.  On Monday I'll actually be able to go into the field and do some debris work. According to a teammate, it's ridiculous. It's not only physically draining...it's emotionally draining. I'm totally ready for it though.

I know that the past two places I've been, I've made a difference, but being here in a disaster area makes me feel like I'm changing lives.....and I love it.

Absolutely Devastating

So my team was sent on disaster call to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We were all soooo excited to hear that. This is definitely going to be an amazing experience, for sure. We are going to be setting up warehouses for all of the donations they are getting. We also may be doing some cleanup and removal.

We have so many concerns, however. How am I going to react to the people's stories? What if I find a body while doing cleanup? Am I emotionally stable enough for this?

We went into the town to register as volunteers today. We did a quick tour of part of the destruction. There is one area that we passed that you KNOW there were buildings and homes some point. But not...its nothing. None of those homes are standing. It's just a pile of rubble. I couldn't believe it. A few of us cried. And I mean I cried for a while.

Seeing something like this makes you think about everything in your life. I can't even put myself in their situation. They lost everything and people that they cared about. I realized that a lot of us take a lot of things for granted. Maybe we should start living our lives differently.

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Hey Blog...Long time no write!

Ahhhh! It's been craaaazy. And I just keep forgetting to update. My bad. So we ended our first round. It was...alright. I enjoyed the work a lot, buuut our sponsor (who shall not be named at this time) was a jerk! It was really hard for all of us to work with him. Now about our project.

We worked at 3 different girl scout camps (technically 4). Camp Todd for 2/3 weeks and Camp Grove Point for 3ish weeks. We also visited Camp Sandy Pines and Camp Country Center (I think) for a day or two.  It was hard work, but we could definitely see a difference. Some of the projects we did; painting (and lots of it), roofing (shingling and repairing), cleaning, stocking the cabins, repairing cabins, spraying insecticide (and getting slight chemical burn on my face...yay!), put up tents, brush/invasive species removal, cleared trails, built an adventure trail and all of the exercise stations to go along with it, and much more! We also got to kayaking fairly often. Even though we didn't have the best sponsor, we had a great time.

Other major events from Round 1: Physical therapy for my back, Jared leaving to go to the military, Bethany's concussion, saving a stink bug from the paint, having Ranger Ed come into the picture, gaining Terrell back (and now losing him...again) and sooo much more.

Now I'm in West Milford, NJ for our second project. We are at Camp Vacamas, which is a camp for underprivileged youth. The sponsors and everyone else we work with are amazing and truly inspiring. We are pretty much doing the same work here as we did at the Girl Scout camps.  But this time...it seems a lot easier. The scenery is gorgeous. We are up in the mountains and pretty close to NYC. The weather is absolutely wonderful too.

I couldn't be happier with life right now. I think this is one of the best experiences of my life and I'm so glad I decided to do it. I'll try to post more often...but I make no promises!

And the winner is.....?

Soooo....I know it's been a loooong time since I last posted. My bad....again.
Where to begin?? Well....we've been super busy with everything and I just kept forgetting about this blog of mine.  We've had CPR/first aid, disaster relief, child friendly spaces, and shelter training.

We've also gone on a "mini spike".  My team went to Dover/Townsend, DE to DNERR...Delaware Natural? Estuary Research Reserve.  We raked rocks back onto the road, trimmed bushes/trees, painted tables, and pulled invasive species (the Multi-flora Rose). HOWEVER....while most of the team was pulling weeds...I mean invasive species, my teammate Evan and I had the opportunity to help one of the staff members put up Bat houses. It was pretty awesome (cold and windy...but awesome). After lunch Evan and I went back out with Charlie to move tree limbs and big branches. We got to ride the big green tractor! Everyone was pretttty much jealous. It was definitely a lot of fun though!

Today was our induction ceremony. We are officially Americorps members/corpsmen. I'm really excited to go on our first round project! You may be wondering where we are going. Wellll I'm about to tell you!!

For our first round project, my team is going to be staying in the area kinda. We are going to be working at 3 different girl scout camps renovating/painting lodges and cabins, restoring trails/courses, and various other projects. We will be sleeping there. And i'm stoooooked. I really enjoy my team. Maybe not after 6 weeks with them though! Juuust kidding.

My time on the computer is almost up...but I promise to update more soon. No...don't laugh. I'm being serious.

Peace out girl scout.

Long time comin! Sorry for the delay!

I'm so horrible with keeping this up! I'm sorry! (It's my first blog...don't kill me.)
So I have A LOT to update on. Well kinda. It's really been the same stuff around here.
You know...training....like disaster relief, talking about our benefits, all that good stuff. It's actually prettttty boring. We sit in the theater and listen to them talk for like....6 hours. UGH!
We did have our first "project". Just a day project, but it was pretty cool. My pod (or temporary team), was supposed to paint city hall or something, but we ended up cleaning part of the beaches on the bay. It was awesome! I posted some pics on my facebook, so definitely check that out! I haven't been able to upload pictures here yet, but I will certainly try.

We now have our permanent teams! I'm still part of the Moose Unit! Holla! I'm pretty happy about my team.  Everyone seems pretty awesome (so far). I really enjoy my team leader, Jamie fo sho. It was actually pretty neat how we found out.  they took us to a giant field and gave us all a slip of paper with someone's name and a password. You had to find this person and also find your slip of paper. ( There were like..uhh...over 200 people doing this. Talk about CRAZY!!) Once you got your paper/password, you were told to find the van with the password you had. We all got into the van and found out our teams. It was pretty exciting. But I'm officially part of the Moose 3 team!

I still enjoy my housemates, and I've become pretty good friends with a few of the guys from across the street (Nolan, Brandon, and Nick aka foreverrrrr), and also a few girls on my street (Haley and Stephanie). Which is awesome. I made some apple pie for the house/neighbors. It was a hit (well at least they told me so). And tonight Haley is making a cake for our pod...I miss them :(  (My pod was my temporary team with team leader Allen). But I'm still happy about my team. And I can always see my friends whenever, since we live right next to each other!

Coming up...we have CPR, first aid, Shelter simulation, driving tests, etc etc.

OH! I'm actually going to be in DC friday night/saturday for an Independent service project. However, I won't be able to hang out with anyone.

I'm SUPER sorry for the delay (for everyone who has complained..ehemmm). I promise to update sooner and more frequent(ly?) I'm not sure what's going to happen from here, but I'm so excited to find out!

1 day down...lots more to go.

I'm finally in bed. I had a great first day! We did inprocessing and found out where we would be staying. Im staying in the village, which has actual houses and no dorms. I really like all of my housemates so far. There are 4 vegetarians and 3 non. So meals should be quite interesting here (especially since im such a picky eater). Everyone I've met so far have been awesome. I've become friends with a few girls from a different house down the street.
We got our uniforms (which we start wearing on Wednesday), sleeping bag, and red spike bag. It was hard saying bye to my mom today. I will definitely miss her. And my dad. And my brother. And my friends. But this is definitely going to be one of the best experiences of my life.

Pics to come later!

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2:52am and I'm still awake

So I'm laying in bed at the hotel in Maryland, desperately wanting to sleep, but not able to. Maybe it's because I'm excited? Or nervous? At least this is better than the day my family took me to college. I was so nervous I was throwing up! (So far so good).

I had a great last night with my family (minus my dad. I love you dad. Wish you couldve been there). I'm very close to my family, so it will be hard leaving them, but I know that in just a few hours I will be meeting my new Ameri-family. (It's going to be hard to top how awesome my family in VA..and arkansas and new hampshire and florida are).

We had some time to kill before the superbowl so we drove over to campus. There isn't much in Perryville/Perry Point, but it sure is gorgeous. It's quiet and small (much different than back home). Campus is right on the Chesapeake Bay. It's going to be awesome waking up to that for a month.

In 7 hours I will be starting a new chapter in my life. I'm so ready.

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