The End.

Well.  This is it.  Last day in AmeriCorps NCCC.  It has been such a fantastic year, but I'm also so ready for it to be over.  Had a nice week off, really just sat around most of the time relaxing.  Some of the people on my team and I were able to go to a water park, which was nice and relaxing, some of us went to an open mic to see my teammate David perform, that was really good. 

Kelsey, Brandon, Greg and I out downtown

This week has been dragging on, everyone came back and we had our transition week to finish everything up business wise.  Yesterday was fun, we had our "AmeriLympics" which was essentially a field day!  We did trivia, frisbee golf toss, classic relay races, name that tune, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and feats of strength.  Our team, although not the best at everything, should have won for team spirit.  It was nice to come together and have fun.  as a team we won the name that tune and frisbee golf toss (we had 50 throws in 10 minutes while 2nd place only had 34...we were awesome...) So that was a fun day.  Then at night they had a banquet for us off campus at a really cool venue called Mile High Station.  We had some delicious dinner and sat through some awards, but it was extra fun cause we got to dress all fancy.  I stole a bunch of pictures below from Mary and Kiera cause they are just so darn good!!


My team Fire 6 at AmeriLympics



Waiting in line for Classic Relay Races



Ya, I'm crab walking, jealous!? (My body hurts real bad from this)

 

Emma and I being cowgirls



Love this picture of Emma, Mary and I at the banquet

<3 Fire 6 (I have the blue fingernail polish on)

Fire 6 at the banquet

Not the whole team, but such a good picture! Everyone looking all snazzy

Mary and I as Woody and Jesse

Love Love Love this picture :-D

So today we have been busy running around tying up loose ends and finalizing everything.  Mom got in a couple hours ago but is doing her own thing getting the car/relaxing at the hotel, and we'll do dinner tonight.  Then tomorrow is graduation where we have to wake up at 5:30AM!!!! gah it's going to be painful to wake up that early.  Then we are busy bodies till graduation at 10am and then everyones being booted off campus at 12noon.  Mom and I are going to go to the county fair after graduation tomorrow.  And in the 2 days we're here we plan on going to Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks and just wander around 16th St mall!  Then we'll be home midnight Monday and I'll be home through the next Monday and then again the 16-19 of August! 

Can't believe this is all ending. Everyone's so busy packing, but me being me I've been done packing 2 days ago and cleaned this morning...so I just get to relax waiting for our last meeting then off to dinner!!  I am going to be very said to say goodbye to some people, and can't wait to not have to deal with some peoples crap anymore!  I am so ready for my next journey.  It's exciting but I don't think I've fully realized that this time next month I will  be calling South Carolina home.  Just the simple fact that I'm perfectly ok with moving to SC shows how much I've grown this year and will continue to as I'm on my own in the South for a year!!  I hope my next journey after that is exciting as well.  This year has shown me that the possibilities are endless, especially at this age when I can really do anything I want/go wherever I want.  I can always come back to Maine if things don't work out.  But until then I want to explore new options and new places.  GAH I am just so darn happy with life right now and it was a long journey to reach this happiness...rough long journey but I am perfectly happy with where I am right now.  Ecstatic to come home in 4 days and so ready to move on!!! Will update how Mom and I's vacation goes! (It will be amazing I already know it!)

Leaving Tuscaloosa

Well, I've been awful with this blog.  But for good reason.  We were so busy this month! But we met such amazing people and can't even explain how amazing the people of Tuscaloosa is. 

In other news as I'm sure you've all heard that I found out Friday that I recieved a position as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Spartanburg, SC!  I've been looking into the organization for a while and figure this is a great way to be able to get a foot in the door!  AmeriCorps VISTA is different from what I'm doing now in that I won't be traveling, and I won't be in a group of people.  I will work for one year with that one organization with the same benefits that I have now.  I got this position after another girl who they accepted before dropped out.  They originally chose her over me because she lived in SC already, but I was their first call!!  So the past weekend has been crazy cause everything has been last minute and I had to get them answers to difficult questions about relocating within hours and I had a huge breakdown.  Originally they wanted me to go to a training in Atlanta from August 8-11 and then be in Spartanburg for August 15 for a training and begin on the 16th.  That was way too soon for me, I was realizing I would be home for 4 days before I had to pack up and drive all the way to Atlanta and be in Spartanburg for good.  Then they told me that that training was full and I had to go to the training in Ft. Lauderdale from the 16-19 which worked out better and gave me more time at home! Then today as we were traveling from Tuscaloosa to Little Rock I got a call that I was accepted into the training in Georgia and they needed to know in an hour how I wanted to get there! So I had a huge freakout again, but in the van with 4 of my teammates directly witnessing it all...So thanks to my lovely mother we slowly but surely came up with a plan that I think is going to work out perfectly.  I am going to get home at midnight August 1 (technically 2nd) fly either August 7 or 8 to Atlanta for training the 8th-11th, then fly/train to Spartanburg for a training on the 15th.  THEN I am paying for myself to come back home to really get myself together and have 4 extra days at home.  They were nice enough to give me an extension of my start day and I'll leave Maine again driving leaving the 20th to start the 22nd.  I figured this all out today...rough day.

So basically what I think I'll be doing with BBBS is to help find mentors for the children (Bigs) and interview them to get an idea of what kind of child they would be a good match with.  Along with that I would be giving presentations about the organization.  I am extremely excited for this new adventure!  And I already have a roomate and a townhouse about 10 mins from downtown Spartanburg.  I am lucky that Spartanburg has a really good community of VISTAs and helped me find my roomate who is also going to be a VISTA.  Lucky. 

So Tuscaloosa was absolutely amazing.  I can't believe how far they've come in almost 3 months and am very proud to be able to say I helped.  I am definitely hoping to be able to go back and help out more later on, I'll only be a 6 hour drive away!  So the work we ended up doing altogether was debris removal (hot yet rewarding), working at relief centers (a lot of organizing and hanging clothes but got to meet a lot of the people affected by the tornado) and assessments of the houses in the whole city which was cool to be able to see the path of the tornado and the difference it makes having trees in your yard or not.

I was very sad to be leaving, we got so many compliments as to how much we really made an impact on their community and that was so great to hear how much of a difference we made.  I feel so good about our work there even if it was only for one month.

So now we are on our way back to Denver where we get a week off to do...well...nothing! pretty excited about that! Don't have any plans yet, just going to let them come to me!  And the next week we round everything up and graduate on the 29th. My mom is coming for the graduation and we're going to stay in Denver and extra 2 days.  I'm very excited to be able to show her around Denver!

I'm exhausted...don't know what else to write about right now but maybe I'll try later while I'm in Denver!