snowman and service projects,,,

So it snowed for the first time since we've been here the other day... SO exciting. After much convincing, managed to round up a group of people to have a snowball fight, which was EPIC!! Had an enormous snowball fight with about 10-12 of us I think, and then started building the best snowman ever, who we named Jack Daniels.. not so sure why.. Then we dressed him in extra AmeriCorps uniforms (4x or something, cuz JD is kinda round lol). Took lots of pics, rolled down the snow-covered hills, made snow angels... it was really nice to see snow again, its been so long since I could do something like that. I almost forgot how much fun it was. JD may melt soon, but his legacy will live on forever! lol

We actually got to do some service work recently too, which was awesome. Since it is why we're here and all... The first project we did was all 250+ of us working at a local elementary and middle school. The main part of the project was building a track for the school, hauling hundreds upon hundreds of wheel barrels and buckets of gravel and dirt and spreading it out over the track, raking, shoveling, etc. Then we also redid the track at the elementary school, planted flowers and trees, etc. It was really cool too cuz the 8th graders worked alongside us for most of the day. So tired and sore, but it was way worth it. We were able to save the school $750,000 with the work that we did there, which was payback enough, just knowing that we really helped them out. On top of that though, we all went into the cafeteria afterwards to say goodbye to the 8th graders that helped us and got a standing ovation!! It was so cute and really touching, especially coming from the students.

Then the next day, on Saturday, we did another service project, our first ISP (independent service project) with our team, which I ended up organizing... We were working at this place called People House, a spiritual center/counseling center for people without insurance. Me, Claire, and Raz painted one of the counseling rooms all day, while other people painted other rooms, cleaned, did yard work, moved furniture, hung drywall, etc. It was awesome how much we were able to get done. It felt really good to get out there and do some service, after all that IS why we're all here...

Then when we got back Jamie, Mary, Katie, Chris and I went to a hookah bar called Gypsy House. Super chill place. The entire basement is filled with couches and pillows, the atmosphere was awesome. Got two hookahs, one strawberry/banana and one peach/vanilla, both of which were really good, plus some Gypsy House Special tea... Stayed til they closed and kicked us out, then headed to taco bell and a local park at like midnight and hung out on the playground. Really awesomely random night and really cool people = perfect saturday night...

thats all for now, will try to update again soon. thanks for looking.

night out with the team and boulder, co

Saturday night a bunch of us decided to go check out the downtown nightlife in Denver.. What started out as a group of like 15 of us ended up being more like 60 people trying to squish onto one bus. Just the beginning of a crazy night ahead. We were heading for the brewery but a bunch of us broke off and stopped at some random bar that had $3 drink specials. Ended up being an awesome bar, with a dance floor and some really good music. Danced our butts off for like 3 hours until we were completely beat, then 5 of us decided to head back to campus, so we hopped on the light rail to the englewood station, closest station to campus.

We ran into another group on the train who said they knew a better way back with a bus that dropped up off right in front of campus, so we stupidly followed them and got really lost. Ended up waiting at a station far away from campus for a bus that never came, just to wait another half hour to get back on the same train we just got off of to head back to the station we were bound for originally. Thats what we get for listening to other people... NEVER AGAIN! So, we get back to the englewood station and call a cab to get back to campus cuz its hella cold outside and none of us are dressed for it. The cab company said 45 minutes minimum and they couldn't guarantee how many cabs could get there when, and we needed 4. Needless to say, we didn't wait. So we start walking what we were told was a mile walk back to campus (uphill) that ends up being 2.4miles... yeah got back to the dorms at 230am after leaving the bar over 2 hours earlier!!! insanity!!!

Woke up at 8am the next morning to a text from this girl annie about heading out to boulder to go hiking soon... wasn't gonna happen. Woke up with sore legs from hiking, dancing for 3 hrs, and walking for almost 2 the night before... not up for hiking. No matter how bad i wanted to. So a bunch of us decided to head to boulder anyway and just save the hiking for next weekend. It actually worked out really well. spent some time walking around the outdoor mall at Pearl Street, then got coffee and chilled at central park for a bit by a stream, really peaceful. Then afterwards 4 of us headed out and took a scenic byway through the Rockies, took a bunch of pictures, and stopped in this really cool little hippie town, dont remember the name of it but it was awesome. Grabbed some food and headed back to campus.. altogether an amazing day. Really great to get outside for a while and not feel like we are trapped on campus. Definitely need to go back to boulder again! It was SO pretty!

Then today we had driver training all day pretty much, which was kind of boring expect that they planned out some cool stops along the way. We stopped at Lookout Point (gorgeous), and saw where buffalo bill is buried, dressed up like cowboys and took a pic after the nice old lady at the counter let us in for free "its free if i don't see you go in" is what she said! lol love her! so great! Then went to the Columbine Memorial, sad but interesting place... thats all for today.. going to check out the book club.

i'll update soon. thanks for reading if you did. hope i didn't bore you too badly! ttys!

week 1

Our first week here in Denver is coming to a close... been a really busy but fun week. Got here on wednesday at like 11, and spent most of the day meeting new people and settling into my room. (which is kinda strange).. the beds pull out of this weird storage unit thing... odd but it works. I've met a bunch of really cool girls that are in my unit (the fire unit). which is awesome. Everyone here has been super nice. And the first night we were here was this girl Katherine's birthday, so we went to this shady mexican restaurant/bar across the street to celebrate.

The campus here is amazing.. with a great view of the Rockies from almost anywhere on campus. And the campus was built in the 1800s, so its all beautiful old buildings, with lots of open space and grass, everything that my college campus wasn't. Its been nice to be able to just hang out in the grass and watch the leaves fall and just hang out. So peaceful!!

Thursday was full of lots of lectures/meetings about policies, procedures, the AmeriCorps NCCC mission, and stuff like that. And then we were issued out oh-so stylin uniforms. Definitely not a fashion statement OR designed for females.. so all of our pants are huge and the crotch hangs down between our knees almost. The t-shirts and hoodie are pretty cool though. I guess it could be a lot worse.. its just taking getting used to. And most of us are switching to boxer briefs because the stupid pants are making our legs chafe. They are slowly taking away all of our femininity. lol.

Wednesday was meetings and paperwork all day.. getting our reimbursement for luggage, getting out ID pics taken, setting up banking, etc. Thursday we had a meeting in the morning followed by physicals, which were kind of amusing.. pregnancy tests, drug tests, vision, hearing, and a physical. Too bad I had to take the drug test twice after apparantly not giving him enough pee to test and having to start all over. I ended up chugging three bottles of water to get the test done and not hold up my team, just to have someone else do the same thing after me.

Today was the best day so far for sure.. we went to Red Rocks Park/Ampitheatre... which was actually built by the CCC (Civilian Community Corps) in the 1930s.. the program that the NCCC is modeled after. It was really awesome, its a HUGE ampitheatre build into the side of a mountain. Then we went on a hike up the mountain and took a Fire unit pic of all like 50 something of us. I don't have my camera right now so I don't have pics at the moment, but I'm getting some that other ppl in my group took so I'll post them soon...

I'll try to keep up with this so I don't write a book every day! post again soon!