Better late than never

First off, I sincerely apologize for my inability to access this blog on my fancy, dancy phone. Despite having all the bells and whistles that I requested, each time I go into press publish on a recent blog entry, the phone refuses to actually publish. Hence, the lack of witty info regarding my past few weeks here in Denver.

Americorps NCCC Training is, in a word, amazing. It's pretty much an endless day of classes, seminars, physical training (ultimate frisbee in the snow, ultimate football in the snow, hiking in the snow) and in general making friends and getting us all geared up for heading out on spike (where we do our projects.)

In the past few weeks, I've learned a lot. From the amazing people I've met here so far, the first thing I want to do is thank my amazing family and friends for the life that I have. Some people, to put it lightly, have had a pretty rough life. Whether the situation be foster homes, drugs, addition, family issues, poverty, abuse, there are a lot of things that I've never had to deal with and am learning slowly about just how diverse 300 people can be. I've met people from every state (including Alaska and Hawaii!) and a good (but not fantastic) mix of races, religions, and cultures. Apparently many of the applicants for the program happen to fall into the "white girl" catagory.

Its a bit like a mix of freshman year orientation and camp. But imagine coming in knowing no one, and unlike college, everyone is truly there because they want to be..the desire for change and good is electric. The trick to survival for the first few days is being overly friendly--literally introducing myself to every person I see and trying to start up a conversation--then following through when I see them later. This, during the first few days, is not YET considered stalking.

There are some people that I can already tell I'll be close with, others that I hope I'll get to know solely because they are outside of my normal comfort zone. I can't wait to see what develops.