I am writing my last post today, from my home in Michigan. I arrived home late Friday night, and was welcomed at the airport by Chris and my family.
My last week in Denver wrapped up well. We had a lot of cleaning to do and some meetings to attend, but we also got time to celebrate and say goodbye to each other. I got to go on one last hike, go downtown one last time, and have a beach day at Boulder Reservoir. We also had a dinner banquet and a graduation ceremony. I felt sad to say goodbye to Denver, the mountains, and the friends I've made, but I know I'll see them all again someday. Plus, I was so happy to come home, and I'm excited for my next adventure... college.
Here's a video that my teammate Láni made to show our time in Brazos Bend and Oklahoma City.
And here's a slideshow created by Alisa Hills that played at our graduation, showing snippets from the whole year. I'm in it a few times.
And here's the before and after picture of my work boots that I promised at the beginning of the year. =)
Not as bad as I thought they'd be! But they've seen a lot. For people finding this blog who are thinking about NCCC, I hope my posts are helpful to you. And if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at rachel_poole123@hotmail.com . Thanks to everybody who followed my adventures and offered love and support this year. =) You guys are awesome, and made my experience so much better.
This is the first of a few wrap up posts I plan on doing. I want this blog to be helpful for anyone who's considering doing NCCC, so I thought some overview of my year as a whole would be helpful.
And here's a pretty cheesy list of things I've learned/new experiences gained/things I've gotten better at this year, in no particular order!
Technical Skills:
painting
caulking
using a nail gun and staple gun
walking on roofs
reading maps
CPR & First Aid
using a hammer and shovel (effectively)
mold suppression
framing a house
putting on snow chains
changing a flat tire
using a circular saw, reciprocating saw, chain saw and pole saw
making double sided copies
sending faxes
using a mccloud, tamper and rock bar
using a hand frame drill
using loppers
driving gators
driving 15 passenger vans
using a sledgehammer
administrative skills
Google Docs
Life Skills:
living on a budget
being a good roommate
taking quick showers
making contacts with nonprofits
setting up volunteer opportunities for myself and others
facilitating service learning
living minimally
knowing what I really need
use the restroom every time you stop the car. even if you don't think you need to. you do.
becoming a better cook
grocery shopping and cooking for 8-10 people
finding the cheapest, cutest postcards and souvenirs
free sticker hunting
hiking!
adjusting to different altitudes, attitudes, time zones and cultures
dorm life
baking bread from Lani
yoga from Erin
navigating public transportation
standing on the subway
exercising regularly
putting my hair in a bun
the cup game
packing and flying efficiently
Abstract Skills Improved/Knowledge Gained About:
communicating
listening
being honest about feelings
managing long-distance friendships and relationships
embracing diversity
peer-helping
construction
the non-profit world
disaster relief
humane societies
education
poverty
state parks
wildfires
Hanukkah
being flexible
exploring where you are, taking advantage of what's around you
introducing yourself
tea @ Celestial Seasonings factory
Habitat for Humanity
patience
tutoring
mentoring
surviving wildlife
professional meetings
Miscellaneous New Experiences/Silly Stuff:
corn hole (Oklahoma game)
rosebud thorn debriefs
parkour
Dunkin Donuts
Sonic
Braums
Ethiopian food
Senegalese food
New York pizza and Bagels
It's not to say that I wouldn't have gained any of these things without NCCC. I think this being my first year away from home played a big part. However, I got to interact with so many different people, places and organizations. Every day was an opportunity to learn, and I'm so thankful for that.
I'll finish out with a few pictures Audra took during our time in Oklahoma. I kind of slacked in that department. Thanks Audra!
Cubicle life! haha. Audra was right across from me, and we felt like the neighbors in Home Improvement when we peeked over the wall to talk to eachother. She caught me when I wasn't looking.
I didn't know she took this one. I like how you can see the water tower. :)
It's been a nice few days relaxing, and tomorrow things will pick up a bit and meetings will start. It's been so good to have time to catch up with my friends here I haven't seen in 8 weeks. And in 9 days, I'll get to catch up with loved ones I haven't seen in 7 months! That's all I have for now.
My team and I spent two whirlwind weeks in Oklahoma City, left on Thursday and arrived back in Denver on Friday. I regret not posting more while I was in OKC, but we were kept pretty busy and my laptop crashed.
Overall, I enjoyed our time there. When we arrived, the AmeriCorps team we were replacing only had a few hours to train us before they had to leave. It was a pretty crazy transition, but I think we hit the ground running. Luckily we weren't alone; we had the help of a Coconino Rural Environmental Corps (CREC) team that arrived around the same time we did.
I was placed working in FEMA's Joint Field Office, and me and two of the CREC folks took over as the new data management team. We helped manage a database that connects homeowners with needs after the tornadoes to volunteer organizations who want to help. It involved a lot of data entry, phone calls and dispatching work orders. It was hard to be in front of a computer screen all day, but I did feel good about what we were doing. Plus, I was glad to gain some new administrative skills.
It wasn't until out last day there that I got out to see some of the wreckage. Specifically, we visited the memorial at Plaza Towers Elementary School.
It was awesome to end my year in the same place I began it: Oklahoma City. Plus, by chance I had half of my original team, Fire 1, with me! Láni, Bruce and Nadav. It felt very full circle. Now I'm back in Denver for two weeks of out-processing. It will involve a lot of debriefs, cleaning, packing, paperwork, celebrating, and saying goodbyes. I'm really looking forward to coming home, and I'm glad I have this time to transition.
That's all for now! Hopefully I'll take lots of pictures this week.
So it turns out there has been a change of plans! Yesterday around lunch time, my team and I were informed that we needed to leave Brazos Bend and head to Oklahoma City to help with tornado recovery efforts. Federal agencies are only slated to be in Oklahoma City until July 9, and we are needed to help with this transition period of federal agencies handing over relief and long term recovery efforts to local organizations. So we packed up yesterday, drove to Oklahoma today, and here I am!
It was a little sad to leave Brazos Bend, especially on such short notice. We had finished a gravel project for them the day before, but yesterday morning (not yet knowing about disaster) got a bridge project going that we couldn't stay to finish. We also didn't get to say goodbye in person to everyone we worked with, or spend time with Fire 2, a team near Austin who was going to come visit us in just a few days.
However, I am excited about this new project! It seems like it will be a whirlwind of change, travel and activity, which should help my last month of service go by very quickly. Tonight we are staying in a dorm at Oklahoma University, but tomorrow we will have to move into a gymnasium where we will set up cots. I don't know a lot about our work yet, but it seems we will work long days 6 days a week, and do mostly administrative work. Tomorrow I will begin work at the Joint Field Office.
It's funny how much can change in just 24 hours. Like my teammate Audra said, "it wouldn't be AmeriCorps without one last twist at the end!". This should be the last twist she's talking about... right? :) You never know.
I'm not sure if my next housing will have wifi, but I will post updates when I can. Bye for now!
A lot has happened since my last update. It took us a few weeks, but we finished clearing the vegetation in the potential trail area. The park likely won't know whether or not it will become a trail until long after we leave, but it was still a good feeling to reach the finish line.
Here's most of us with our supervisor at the end of our "trail". You can't tell through the trees, but the end of where we cleared was this bluff that overlooks a small river.
It took blood, sweat and tears to get there. But mostly sweat. Lots of sweat.
Since we finished clearing the trail area, we have started spreading gravel onto an existing trail that needs some TLC. It is nice to not have to wear long sleeves to work anymore (we wore those in the denser area to protect us from poison ivy and poison oak). It's also great to be out and about in the park, interacting with other volunteers. We will continue to spread gravel and hope to build a few bridges during the remainder of our time here. Only 3 more weeks before we head back to Denver! I'll have about 2 weeks there of out-processing, debriefs and goodbyes, and then I'll head home. =)
The location of our project has given me some really fun opportunities on the weekends. My aunt and uncle who live in Houston took me out to lunch recently. It was great to see them!
Another weekend, my team and I went downtown and saw a USA vs. Ireland rugby game. I had never experienced rugby before, and it was pretty cool to watch! Before the game, we got to explore Rice Village, a cute part of Houston near Rice University. Can you see the photobomber behind us? Haha.
We had a great view of Houston's skyline over the BBVA Compass Stadium.
Then this weekend I got to travel around eastern Texas visiting relatives from my dad's side of the family whom I hadn't seen since I was a toddler. It was so wonderful to see them and get to know them better!
Well, that's all for now! I'll leave you with some alligator glamour shots I got to take last week.
Most often, I just see their eyes above the water like this before they slowly, silently sink out of sight.
So I was surprised when I saw this lil mama! She was the first one I had seen completely out of the water.
She surprised me further by laying down and posing in the black-eyed susans. Work it, work it girl!
My first week of work at Brazos Bend went pretty well. After enjoying Memorial Day weekend, we spent 3 days clearing vegetation from the area where we hope we will be able to put the new trail. It is a little odd to be doing this work while not knowing whether or not we will be allowed to put a trail there. However, even if we don't, having the vegetation cleared will benefit the park. The trail is right by their property line, and it is always good to have access to that. That cleared space can also serve as a fire line. We have our fingers crossed that we will get to build, though!
This is what we faced on our first day. For the first few hundred yards, all we had to do was trim the branches on both sides of the path. It was already mostly cleared here because BBSP used to be a cattle ranch, and this was one of the cattle paths. That was just 25 years ago, the park is fairly young. However, a few hundred yards down, the path disappeared and we faced young trees and dense vegetation. It will get denser and denser until we reach our end goal, about 3 miles away.
That's where the chainsaws came in! I was really glad to learn to chainsaw this week.
Clearing the vegetation is enjoyable, but it is hot, hard work. I got poison ivy and insect bites, along with many other members of my team. Taking all that into account, we were given some lighter work for Friday. I painted some signs and replaced old fire rings. It was a nice break!
A beautiful view at Elm Lake, one of the many lakes in the park.
This weekend I got my hair cut to shoulder length to combat the Texas heat, and today we are in town to grocery shop. I got some good medicine for the bug bites and poison ivy! Thanks Hanna. =) Hopefully I'll be able to post again next weekend.
I had a safe journey down to Brazos Bend State Park. It took us 3 days and 2 nights. It was a smooth ride, and very pretty, too... it was nice to see everything become green as we went farther south.
We enjoyed Texas shaped waffles at a hotel on the way down. Awesome!
When we arrived at the park on Wednesday, we were immediately greeted by friendly staff and volunteers. They've been awesome to us... showing us around the park, telling us about nearby attractions, and even hosting a welcome lunch for us, complete with brisket. =) We spent Thursday and Friday getting to know everyone, talking to our supervisors about our work, and receiving safety training. Then we had the long Memorial Day weekend to relax and explore. I'm excited to begin working tomorrow!
Speaking of work.. it turns out the trail we were going to build here has to be put off for awhile. BBSP has to wait for approval from Texas Parks and Wildlife before they can construct new trail, and they've run into a little red tape. In the meantime, we will still prepare that area for construction as much as we can, and help with other things. It sounds like we'll be doing fun, varied work! We can work in the headquarters, Nature Center, and an observatory run by the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There's plenty to be done outside, too. The park is always doing electrical work and welding, adding gravel to make trails more accessible and repairing signs. They are also hoping to build a few new bridges and a self-composting toilet with our help.
I am learning to geocache! There are almost 100 caches in the park. I've also been doing a lot of reading in the shade. =) This weekend has felt like a vacation.
We checked out the nature center, where we got to touch a baby alligator. BBSP is home to over 300 American Alligators! It also has wild hogs, white tail deer, great blue herons and a ton of other awesome wildlife.
The park is soooo beautiful. Everywhere you look, you see different shades of green. There's Spanish Moss hanging off the trees. There are a few lakes, rivers and 37 miles of trail to explore!
This is my home during our stay. It is an empty dining hall, with an industrial kitchen and plenty of room for our cots. It's quite nice, and also air-conditioned! Thank goodness. It's very hot here; it should be in the 90s every day.
That's all I have for now. I'll have more to share once we start working! =)
We finally had a successful camping trip! We stayed up there for a week, cleaning out the sediment detention structures. We filled over 1,000 sand bags with the errant soil! Camping was challenging, but really interesting. I learned all about Leave No Trace principles, public lands, the history of the area and the greenback cutthroat trout. Our supervisors were really great at teaching us new things. The weather was pretty poor, but we survived and got all of our work done.
Here's a video I made of my time with Rocky Mountain Field Institute. It begins with my work on Barr Trail, and ends with the camping trip in Bear Creek.
I got to spend the last week in Denver relaxing, attending meetings and trainings and catching up with friends. Tomorrow morning I'll start my 3 day journey to Brazos Bend State Park!
My camping trip actually got delayed because of snow in the mountains. We hiked some tools into our work site on Monday, and we were hiking through a foot of snow! It was pretty crazy, especially considering that it was a fairly mild day down in town, only a two hour drive away.
We spent the week back on Barr Trial, continuing the same kind of work we were doing before. More steps, more tread work! It felt good to get even farther than we thought we could and really have time to perfect some sections. We also got to spend a day working with RMFI and community volunteers at the Garden of the Gods. There were some spots where users had gone off established trails and caused a lot of erosion, so we spent the day passing buckets of dirt along a fire line to fill those holes in. Moral of the story... stay on established trails! =)
We're all packed up and ready to head out tomorrow. The weather forecast is pretty good, except for snow and cold temps on Wednesday. Hopefully we won't have to delay any longer or come back early. I'm excited to start our work, and excited to tent camp for the first time.
I found out what project I should have for my next (and final!) round. I'll be heading to Brazos Bend State Park near Houston, Texas to build trail and work in the nature center. I'm really excited to take a fun road trip, get out of Colorado and continue environmental work! And be near some Texas family. =) That said, I could get swapped to a different project at the last minute like I was last time. Nothing is certain until you are in the van starting your journey there. Actually, you're not even safe then. Haha. Nothing is certain, ever. But that's okay.
I'm getting really excited to attend MSU and be back near family and friends. Happy where I am though, and thankful for all these opportunities.
Yesterday was my last day working on Barr Trail. I'm really proud of what we got done there. All in all, we built 121 new timber steps, 3 stone steps and improved 900 feet of tread.
An example of an improved section. New sturdy timbers and no more gully!
Now I have the weekend to relax and pack, but on Monday I'll head to the backcountry to begin my work in Bear Creek! It will be difficult to stay in touch during weekdays, but on the weekends I should be able to come back to Manitou. Hopefully then I'll have lots of pictures and stories. =)
It's been a good week and I've gotten to do a lot of fun things in the Colorado Springs area. Last weekend I explored Manitou Springs, the town where I technically live, and Old Colorado City, a similar town whose business district is actually a closer walk from my house. They are both really cute, and full of unique local businesses.
I have to search for the best ice cream wherever I go... I am my father's daughter. Colorado Creamery was delicious, though a little pricey. I loved their Red Velvet. Even better than Colorado Creamery was Josh & John's, whose main store is in downtown Colorado Springs but their ice cream is also served at Pike's Peak Chocolate and Ice Cream in Manitou Springs. I am addicted to their Oatmeal Cookie!
Last weekend Fire 6 and I also hiked the Manitou Incline. The Incline
is a popular, rigorous trail made up of the remains of a former incline
railway. It is very steep! In less than a mile, you gain more than
2,000 feet of elevation. It is right next to our worksite on Barr
Trail... many hikers actually will hike up the Incline and down Barr.
That is why the first 2,000 feet of Barr is our priority... it gets
twice the wear! Two other teams from my unit that have nearby projects
came to do it with us. We were all so tired and sore when we finished,
but it was fun and had great views at the top. The only downside was slipping and catching myself on a cactus on my way down. I still have a few needles in my hand! Haha. I guess it was my official Wild West initiation.
All of us before we started. You can see the trail in the background!
Work went well this week. I feel I'm really getting into the swing of things, and can do more without asking a supervisor to double check me. Nine hours a day of physical work is starting to wear on me, but I know I'm getting a lot stronger. And the trail is looking nice! We get constant encouragement from hikers and runners passing by, complimenting our work and thanking us for our time. That really means a lot.
Here's an example of a section of steps that needed replacing. They are steep and not very stable. Can you see how the soil beneath them is eroding away?
We're replacing them with nice, new 6x6 pine timbers. They're very heavy, but luckily there's a military base in CO Springs, and some Air Force cadets who needed community service hours helped carry a lot of them up.
My least favorite part of step construction is pounding in rebar. That's the metal pole on the left... it's 2 feet long and a half inch wide, and has to be pounded through 6 inch timbers. For that, I use the double jack sledge. We have a love/hate relationship. (Those tools are lying on a new step. See how pretty and level it is?)
The hard work feels worth it, especially when this is the view from my worksite. Love all those pine trees.
Now it's the weekend again. I've done a little resting, and today I went downtown Colorado Springs for the first time. It was nice, but I prefer Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs. There's just more to do and a nicer vibe.
And a French bakery with homemade eclairs. Trump card!
Hope you're all doing well. Heard the weather in Michigan is terrible right now! Hopefully spring will turn up soon. And hopefully it will get consistently warmer here, too! Only one more week until I'm living in a tent. Bye for now!
It's been a long time since I've posted and a lot has happened. Sorry about that! Here's a long update with lots of pictures to make up for it.
My time in Center finished up well. The last week I was there, my students had state standardized testing, which I hope I helped prepare them for! I gave them and the staff I worked with my email so we can all stay in touch. Though it felt sad to leave, I feel I had good closure with my students and the community. The superintendent threw us a going away party on our last weekend in town.
Also, I celebrated my 19th birthday!
My team helped make that day really special... I woke up to a decorated house!
That weekend, we went to Calvillos, an amazing Mexican buffet in Alamosa. It was the best food ever, I was sung to in Spanish and got a free pinata!
I was also overwhelmed by love and well wishes from family and friends through the mail. Thank you so much, guys.
We journeyed back to Denver and had a blur of a transition week. It was really busy! On top of the normal transition week trainings and activities, we had to change over from our primary teams to our new shuffle round teams. Round 3 is a shuffle round where all corps members are moved around to different teams within their unit. That way, we all get to know different people outside of our primary teams and also have a better chance of getting a project we're passionate about. For shuffle round, corps members get to submit individual project rankings for the "lottery" instead of having to average their rankings with the rankings of their teammates. Usually, after Round 3 shuffle, teams go back to normal for Round 4. However, Fire Unit has lost so many people that Round 4 may be a shuffle round also.
It was sad to say goodbye to Fire 1. I have traveled, lived and worked with them since November, and they've become really special to me. I know we'll stay in touch, though, and there's still a small chance that we could be back together for Round 4. We went to Ben & Jerry's to celebrate all of our accomplishments together, and have a happy "bye for now".
I know I told some of you that for Round 3 I'd be with Fire 3 working with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte in Colorado Springs, helping restore areas burned in last year's wildfires. However, there was a change at the last minute, and I got moved to Fire 6. More on that later!
Besides switching from Fire 1 to Fire 3 to Fire 6, transition week also involved a service day at the Food Bank of the Rockies and a special day called Life After AmeriCorps (LAA). It was all about helping us decide and plan what we'd like to do next year. Even though I already have my plans to attend MSU, LAA day was really helpful and interesting. There were a lot of different presentations we could go to; I chose one on financial literacy, one on the Peace Corps and one on resumes and interviewing. Then there was an opportunity fair afterwards, where a lot of different nonprofits and government organizations had tables set up.
At the end of transition week (Easter weekend), Chris came to visit me in Denver. It was so wonderful to spend time with him and show him all of my favorite people and places out here. We explored downtown, I showed him campus and my friends there, and we even got to meet up with Aunt Niecer and Uncle Michael! It was the best weekend I've had in a long time.
State capitol.
Rockies!
Speaking of Rockies... right after Chris' brief visit, I left for my Round 3 project. Since Monday, I've been in Colorado Springs with Fire 6, working with Rocky Mountain Field Institute. They're a nonprofit "dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of public lands in the
Southern Rockies through volunteer-based trail and restoration projects,
environmental education and restoration research." Awesome, right?? With them, we will be doing two different projects. For these first three weeks (April 1 - April 19), we will be working on improving Barr Trail, the most popular trial leading up to Pike's Peak. Pike's Peak is very famous. It is over 14,000 feet high, and the woman who wrote "America the Beautiful" wrote it on her way up to Pikes, inspired by the awesome views! Since Barr Trail is so popular, it is in danger of being "loved to death". All of the people walking up and down it cause erosion. The trail needs to be maintained so it can be enjoyed by everyone for many years to come. Maintaining it has mostly involved replacing worn out timber steps, and working the soil of the trail so it slopes down instead of inward. That way, water can run off of the trail into vegetation instead of down the trail, wearing down its infrastructure. It has been a blast so far; I am learning how to use a ton of different tools, I am outside all day on the side of a gorgeous mountain, and our supervisors are very passionate about their work and teaching us new things. I love it!
While we're working on Barr Trail, we're living in a small house in Manitou Springs, a cute little tourist town next to Colorado Springs. However, after our work on Barr Trial ends, we'll move on to working in the Bear Creek Watershed! From April 22 - May 10, we'll be backcountry camping near Bear Creek, working to protect a threated species of fish: the greenback cutthroat trout. They are Colorado's state fish, and the population in Bear Creek is the only known natural population left anywhere! We will be protecting them by cleaning out sediment detention structures that are meant to keep soil out of the trout's fragile habitat.
I am both excited and nervous about backcountry camping. It will
be a brand new experience, and I won't have access to electricity,
plumbing or running water! I know I will learn a ton, though, and it
will be an awesome challenge.
My shuffle team... Fire 6! From left: me, Nick, C.A. (my team leader), Rishar, Katie, Dan, Daniel and Erika
The day we met the staff of Rocky Mountain Field Institute, they took us to see Garden of the Gods! It is less than two miles from where I'm living, and RMFI does work there sometimes. It is so beautiful!
The kissing camels at Garden of the Gods. Can you see them? =)
The cute little house we'll be living in these next three weeks. I love the tulips on the front porch rail!
Now that I'm on a new team, my go-to Denver address has changed slightly. It's basically the same, but now please put Fire 6 instead of Fire 1! They'll forward me letters, but not packages. (Packages will wait for me in Denver.) It's still good to use this one though, because I move around a lot. I'll write the whole thing out here.
Rachel Poole - AmeriCorps NCCC, Class 19A, Fire 6
3001 S. Federal Blvd.
Walsh Hall Rm. 136
Denver, CO. 80236
Here is a link to a map of where all the teams from my region will be Round 3. http://batchgeo.com/map/ba017a553087bbbd1dbc8fbe918933c6 Also, here is a video that Lani made from Fire 1's time in Habitat for Humanity! I know that was a long time ago, but it's still pretty awesome. =)
I hope you all had a Happy Easter! I will stay in touch.
This Sunday I was lucky enough to explore some awesome parts of the San Luis Valley with my team. It was a very physically tiring but spiritually refreshing day. Center can feel a little isolated sometimes, so it was great to get out and see the fun, beautiful things that surround it.
First, we stopped at a UFO watchtower in the middle of nowhere. It was so quirky and cute!
The dome-shaped building is a gift shop, which unfortunately wasn't open. The metal deck above it is the watchtower... open 24 hours a day! The objects strewn in front of it make up "the garden". It is full of little tokens different people have left. My team and I added a few silly things we had on us. For me it was a bandaid, because I am always prepared. =)
His UFO broke down. Luckily, he had a chariot.
Not Responsible for Accidents OR Abductions!
I had to get my picture taken here because I am a Poole, and that is what Pooles do.
We drove away from our new alien friends and headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park for a barefoot, sandy hike. It is such a beautiful place!
our view driving up
geeking out! photo cred: Láni
Celebrating our victory after reaching the top of a respectably tall peak. photo cred: Erin
Kyle climbed even higher than we did and took Instagram photos of us that made us look deep.
Dirty, happy team picture.
After the dunes, we went to the nearby Zapata Falls. It was a winding drive up a mountain and a short half mile hike to one of the most unique sights I've ever seen...
a frozen waterfall! It was so blue, and felt like glass. There was just a tiny trickle of water still flowing behind the ice.
From where we were on the mountain, there was a great view of the other mountains and dunes. Doesn't it look unreal?
There was also a great view of the San Luis Valley. I wish I knew how to use the panoramic feature on my camera so I could have captured the whole thing, with the mountains on both ends. (I'll have to learn and go back!) It's such a strange, beautiful place. Interspersed with tiny towns like Center, surrounded by snow-covered mountain ranges and desert sand dunes. Where am I?
School has been going great. I've gotten to teach a few lessons independently, which feels so cool. Also, the student whom I was helping complete his science fair project got everything done on time!
This is his cardboard AC Generator. We weren't able to make it generate light, but it did generate heat!
I only have one more day of school this week, because Friday through Monday is my "spring break". Unfortunately, I won't be coming home to Michigan because getting anywhere from Center is quite challenging and expensive. I'll be resting in our (Center) house a lot and hopefully exploring the area a little bit more.
Only a few more weeks here... time is going by so fast! Today I turned in my rankings of the Round 3 project choices. I'm really hoping to do environmental work, tent camp and live in a state I've never been to before. I'll post here as soon as I find out what I get, but it might be awhile! Round 3 will also be interesting because it is a shuffle round where I won't be with my usual team. I'm going to miss them a lot, but it will be fun to become closer with people I don't know as well.
