Phase 3 Project

Ok, I know you all are anxiously waiting to hear where the next place Americorps is taking me. Our next Project is working with Recovery School district in New Orleans, LA. We will be living in downtown New Orleans on Magazine Street in a building with other volunteers. We are sleeping 6 to a room with bunk beds; I can’t tell you how excited I am to have a bed again…no more floor! Our project sounds really great. We are going to be helping the relief efforts with schools. We will be delivering supplies to schools, painting murals, building playgrounds with Kaboom, creating greenspace for the schools and much more. Basically we are going to be involved in improving the conditions of the schools and making them better places for kids to get an education! I have not read the project description quite yet so that is about the extent of the details I have to offer.

It sounds like a really great project. Everyone is really looking forward to it. We are driving back down to the gulf, leaving April 14 so our work will start shortly after that!

I am going to Alaska for my Spring break (leaving on April 4), so I will write when I return and share all my stories of Alaska and of course the wonderful road trip stories.

Goodbye Portland

Ok so I have been so kindly informed by my dear friend Jenn that I have not been writing nearly as often as I should in this blog. I must apologize for that by only saying that there really is very little to write about. Blackberry removal is boring and there is often very little to say about it. However, it’s donzo! We are done with our second phase project and now preparing for our third! I’m sure you are all wondering what that is…however, you have to read this thing in order, so first you have to read the reflections on my last days in Portland.

Portland is a lovely city. It’s not a tourist city (just ask Katy and Adrienne who visited last week, they found little to do). It’s a nice place to live, there is great tap water, a wonderful recycling program, pretty good public transportation, it’s clean, and just about everyone is ready and waiting to pass on a friendly smile. With that being said, I still don’t think that Portland all that much. It’s just not a city that interest me, but I can appreciate it and understand why so many people move out here. As for our project…I am glad to see it ending, removing blackberry roots has simply gotten old. It is hard to keep yourself excited about the work you are doing when you are just digging up roots and throwing them to on the ground next to you for eight hours each day. Now don’t get me wrong, we had fun some days playing games and coming up with ridiculous scenarios. We also did not always pull blackberry, some days we removed English Ivy, some days we planted, we laid plants, we spread mulch, and we even built a trail. It was nice when things were mixed up, but still I think the work wore on all of us. It’s most definitely time for this project to come to and end. I know more about plants now and I will never be able to look at a blackberry bush or ivy and think anything but negative thoughts…but that’s ok. They are bad, bad plants that choke natural, native plants and trees. JUST SAY NO TO BLACKBERRY PIE! … and Jam.

A little update, last entry I wrote about life after Americorps, I have gotten accepted into two universities so far and am waiting to hear from the rest…interviews were no fun, traveling to the East coast for two days is exhausting, but it will all be worth it in the end.

As a response to the mother’s question on the last entry: I will never be 100% independent of my parents...that’s the horror in having children I think

Life after americorps

So I was thinking that I hadn't written a blog in awhile, part of the reason is because there is very little to share. Things are still the same, we are still murdering blackberries each day and sometimes pulling out English Ivy (which is a nice change of pace). Today we worked with middle school kids and supervised their blackberry removal...we work with volunteers normally once a week.

So, seeing as I have very little to share about my Americorps experiences, I figure I will tell you all about my life after Americorps. I recently went on an interview at Spalding University for PsyD program, tomorrow I have a phone interview with Towson, and next Tuesday I have an interview at Western Carolina. So, this is good news that I have had the opportunity to interview with these schools, its very overwhelming to figure out travel and to interview with schools. It is becoming very clear that I am growing up and have serious life ahead of me...grad school will not be a walk in the park, no more fooling around and traveling the United States...it will be time to get serious.

That's my story. I am getting very excited because katy and Adrienne are coming to visit very soon! I am looking forward to experiencing Portland with them (I have not done much touristy things yet), introducing them to the team, showing them where I live, and of course spending time with some of my favorite people!

I hope all is well with my readers! Questions? post them in the comments, I will do a blog of answers!