Just Like Before

As I stated before on my blog, this is the second time doing this. So a lot of what I'm currently going through is stuff I've done already. But there's enough things specific to the campus to keep everything interesting.

I arrived yesterday at about 12:30 to the small Eastern Iowa airport. It was only one terminal, extremely simple to navigate, and it was suddenly flooded by my entire plane unloading all the new FEMA Corps members. We collected our bags and hopped on a shuttle bus that drove us about forty minutes to Vinton, Iowa itself. Once there we checked in and immediately began inprocessing. We got fitted for our romm assignments, filled out some paperwork, and received roommates. My roommate's name is Teresa, and so far we've gotten along wonderfully. She's an awesome person to talk to. We actually met at the airport and then sat on the bus back to campus, so we'd been able to talk beforehand. I'm one of the lucky ones. The building we're staying in, Palmer, has all the girls in two-person rooms. (At least I think they all are. Haven't seen more than two names on each door.) Some of the other rooms have up to eight people, so we're pretty lucky. Not only that, but we also have the only Wi-fi on campus, and our room is directly over the computer lab, so we get a pretty decent connection here instead of going downstairs to the lounge. Oh, and we apparently have the best AC. It's still really hot here, just like in Missouri. I didn't much get to enjoy it though because we were all really busy.

After inprocessing, we had to go to what's called an All-Corps meeting, which I think is pretty self-explanatory. By that point though I had a headache because I'd only gotten about three hours of sleep and hadn't eaten for eight hours, so I was really ready to go to bed. But when I got back to my room and laid down, I was just too gross to sleep. But somehow, the girl's shower on our floor flooded! So after talking to a TL, I found out that there was a bathroom downstairs with showers in it that we could use temporarily. So Teresa and I went down there and were able to go to bed feeling refreshed.

Today was a little different. I met my temporary team, which they are only calling groups, for the first time. We met twice throughout the day, to get a more thorough tour of the campus, and then to discuss food shopping for the next few days. I also had Residence Hall Orientation, which was just an overview of what you can and can't do in the dorms, and what kind of things they have here on campus that we can use.

And now it's time for dinner. Right now they're catering food for us from Iowa City, but tomorrow night two people from the groups are going to go shopping for the next few days and then we're going to start cooking for ourselves. Can't wait for that. It's going to be interesting.

Need to work on running

We're at thirteen days now, and I know sometime within the first week we'll be doing our baseline test, which is a 1.5 mile run and how many sit-ups and push-ups we can do in a minute each. I've been running maybe...once a week? I know, I'm horrible. But I've been riding my bike too, and I think that's helping me. I just hate running thanks to an accident when I was a kid. So my knee is messed up and it really likes to protest sometimes.

But I'm going to get better! The whole point of the baseline is to see how you improve throughout the year, and I'd really like to do a lot better by the time we finish the ten months.

As for the sit-ups and push-ups...ehh. I have okay upper body strength thanks to working freight and merchandising at Kohl's, as well as carrying around my younger sister and niece for several years. I would be surprised if I did more than 20 push-ups though. And sit-ups just kind of annoy me. I mean, I can do more when someone is holding my feet down, but I don't like when people do that. Is that weird? I guess I'm weird. Those will be a lot easier to work on over the next two weeks though.

But two weeks! We're down to two weeks! Less than two weeks actually. Thirteen days seems so long yet so short at the same time. I have a good number of things that I need to get done, but I still feel like there's going to be a lot of extra time as well, and I hate not having anything to do when I'm preparing something. We'll just have to see how things go.

Flight Itinerary

St. Louis to Chicago: 8:40AM to 9:50AM. Leave from Lambert International at Terminal 1, arrive in O'Hare at Terminal 3.

1 hour, 35 minute layover

Chicago to Cedar Rapids: 11:25AM to 12:15PM. Leave from Terminal 3, arrive at Eastern Iowa Airport.

I'm anxious yet excited that I'm leaving so early in the morning. I'm not a morning person so I'm afraid I'll sleep in late, even though I'll probably end up getting up the same time I have to when I go in for work. But it'll be great because then I won't end up getting there right before dinner starts like last time.

It feels so much more real now, with the flight information in hand. I already know one or two people who will be flying with me from Chicago to Cedar Rapids, and more will probably pop up as the week goes by. Not everyone has received theirs yet, and frankly, I was afraid I wasn't going to get mine until Friday. That's just my luck with things. But I can't wait until we all have ours and we can figure out who is going to be on what flights with one another.

Got my bag!

I was actually asleep when it got here, but it's here nonetheless. It's bigger than I expected. I could probably fit inside it if I tried, although I don't think it'd be very comfortable. There's plenty of room in there I think for everything that I plan on bringing, plus I'll have my backpack with me. Need to find my TSA lock though, wherever it is, or buy a new one.

But now I can start working on packing!

Three weeks left exactly!

I Hate Waiting Games

That's all that it comes down to now is waiting. Team Leaders started at the Southern Region earlier this week, and a girl I knew from last year is there right now. I've read through her blog and looked at some of the pictures she has and I'm actually kind of jealous. Vicksburg has one hell of a nice campus. I have another friend who was on my team last year who is down there for the traditional Americorps program, and he loves it too.

BUT I'm going to Vinton, and I'm still happy with that. One, because it's also supposed to be a nice campus, and two, it's closer to home. Yet I won't be serving Missouri, unless there happens to be a disaster I suppose. And everyone I've talked to on the Facebook page has been super nice, and I can't wait to meet them. (And maybe drink with some of them.)

I hate thinking about how in a little over a month I'm going to be on a plane. I honestly can't stand planes. They scare me, but I don't really have much of an option otherwise. The main thing that worries me is that I know I'm going to have a layover, and I'm afraid I'm not going to make my second flight. I normally don't worry so much unless it's something completely out of my control, and planes are just not in my control. And what if my stuff doesn't make it onto the second plane? As you can see, I'm horribly paranoid about all of this and it's still a month away.

I should more be focusing on packing. I'm a packer and a planner by nature. Now that's something I can control. I'm super weird and I love planning trips. If it wasn't because it's a dying industry, I would have gone into being a travel agent. So now I have a mental list of things that I need to write down before I forget about things I need to remember to bring. We're not going to get paid from two to three weeks after we arrive at campus, so I plan on buying some stuff here so that I'll have plenty of money to survive off of during that gap in paychecks. Most of it will probably be small stuff that I'll be able to pack easier.

Also, there was an update today about the program, which can be found here. So far we're going to be going through CTI for the first month, followed by another two weeks in Anniston, AL for FEMA training at the Center for Disaster Preparedness. I'm most excited for that, partially because I've already done CTI, and because there's also going to be week long position-specific training. I have no idea which position I would want, because there's pretty much no information about them other than their names. So I'm hoping that they'll give us more information on those soon.

49 Days!

If I'm doing my math right, and since it's technically almost midnight here I guess I could count it as 48. Still, that's a little over a month and a half. I have quite a bit of time, yet still not enough. On my current crappy budget, it's taking awhile to buy things I'll need before I leave. It's actually funny to think that I'll be getting paid maybe a little better in Americorps than I currently am, but the job market sucks here, so I'm lucky to have what I do. Next weekend I'll get a better paycheck and buy more then. Until then I'll just make a list of what I plan on buying here, and what I'm going to wait to buy in Iowa. I've heard the main store up there, Alco, can be pricey, so I'll have to limit that stuff I guess. It's weird that it's a Midwest store and I've never even heard of it until now. Guess the St. Louis area just has way too many damn Walmarts.

I've met a lot of cool people too on the Facebook page, and I'm excited I've had the opportunity to talk to them. Maybe I'll end up on a team with a couple of them? And the TLs are going to be arriving this month, maybe next week? My mind right now is all over the place as I think more and more about this opportunity. I've done it all once, but FEMACorps is still going to be completely different, so all of it feels like the first time again. (And I hope whatever flight I get has a layover  at O'Hare just so I can say I was in Chicago again.)

I also, finally, told my mom last week that I was leaving. I'd actually kept the whole thing quiet besides a few people, just because I wasn't sure how they were going to react to me doing this again. But everyone has been supportive, and my mom just kind of laughed it off when I nervously told her I was leaving again. She knows that once I set my mind to something, I kind of can't be talked out of it. Stubborn runs in my family, with a capital S.

And now I'm going to leave you with a list. These are goals I want to accomplish while I'm in FEMACorps, and I'm hoping to cross off a good deal of them, if I can.

1.- Save money. $1000 would be great, but considering our budget, that's pushing it. I'm just going to try and save as much as I can. Right now I'm aiming for $500.
2.- Be more open. I'm horribly shy when I first meet people in real life. I'm hoping the Facebook group will help with that.
3.- Lose weight. It'd be real nice to fit into my size sevens again.
4.- Return to vegetarianism. I did it last year, and I loved it, but my current living situations doesn't allow it. I try my best, but when I don't make the food or buy the groceries, my options are almost slim to none.
5.- Quit smoking. I've tried here, but I'm constantly surrounded by people who smoke. I plan on not bringing any cigarettes with me, and just quitting cold turkey the moment I step on the plane.
6.- Visit a big city I've never been to. That discounts Chicago, St. Louis, KC, and Omaha, although I'd happily go back to any of them.
7.- Improve my mile run. I can't run worth a damn. Never been able to. I have short legs and a weak knee thanks to a childhood accident, so running really sucks for me.
8.- Not get injured! I was probably the first person last year to get injured on a job site. The first weekend we were there actually.
9.- Gain a more positive outlook on life. Things suck, a lot, but I want to be able to shrug that off and move on without letting it drag down my determination.
10.- Grow close as a team. The best and worst part about the whole experience is learning to live and work with ten other people for ten months. And I want to be able to leave knowing that we went through it all and still love each other.

Sent in my forms

I finally sent in the forms that came with the Welcome Packet on Monday. I should have done it awhile ago, but work got crazy and I didn't have the time. Now that it's done and over with I can breathe easy. At least until I have to start packing. I'm making a list of things right now, but it's not finished. When it is I'll probably post it.

I'm really nervous about flying up there by myself too. I chose the flying option because it was just easier to me. I was going to have someone drive me up there, but it's just not feasible, so in the air I go! I've only flown once by myself before, from Baltimore back to St. Louis, and it wasn't bad, but I was a mess of emotions at the time and some guy sitting in the row with me wanted to chat and I really wasn't in the mood.

I really just want it to be August already. I keep saying that, but it's true. My current living situation is far from ideal, and while I love my job right now, I don't like the hours. Last week was an exception, but I normally only get seven to nine a week.

And I just realized June is over half over. Which means we're down to two and a half months. Team Leaders will be arriving on campus next month too. I feel like I'm nowhere near ready when in all honesty I still have quite a bit of time. Maybe I'll go buy a couple of things today and start setting aside stuff that I'm bringing. I wish I had the duffel bag so I knew how much space I have.