Home for the Holidays

Made it home safe and sound last night after a few days of travel. We left our home of "Trailsville Trailer Park" Wednesday morning, which was our long day of travel (12 hours). Got the Salina Kansas and were all thrilled for a nice long HOT shower for the first time in weeks. Slept really good and started our drive to Denver Thursday morning. We got the Denver at about 4:00 p.m. and were greeted with all of the other cars and our friends also unpacking their vehicles. It was so wonderful to see everyone and if felt like just days since we had left and had to say goodbye. Yesterday was full of packing, meetings, and spending a few more hours with everyone before some of us headed for the airport. My flight home went really fast and my lovely parents were waiting for me at the baggage claim. It is so wonderful to be home, along with overwhelming. It's starting to feel more like Christmas which is exciting. I love this time of year.

I am really bummed I wasn't able to blog over my first project round. We had very little cell phone service at our trailers and internet once a week when we drove the hour to Mena, AR for laundry, groceries and to be in civilization for a bit. That was our big trip for the week... we loved Walmart and all it had to offer!! No Targets for miles so that was a big problem.

I'm going to try to do a few blogs of my amazing month spent in Wickes Arkansas, Cassatot State Park. It's so hard to sum up all that happened into a few blogs, but I'll try my best to mention the major parts. Our team lived in three camper trailers located right outside of the park we worked it. The Cassatot River was right down the road and was a favorite place for us to get away, listen to our ipods/the river and just relax. We were surrounded by beauty where we lived and worked. Being secluded and in such close quarters really made for some great group bonding. We really clicked as a team and get along wonderfully. We're basically like a family and I miss them all already (it's barely been 24 hours :-))

A day in the life of Water Three (unit-water, team number-3)

6:15 a.m. ready for work and out of the trailers

7:00ish arrive where we parked and begin the mile hike to the trail with some tools

10:30 lunch on the trail (sandwiches, lots of goldfish, and a granola bar on a good day)

1:30 time to pack up and hike back to the van

3:00 done unpacking the truck/trailer and done with work for the day

The we usually took a nap/played cards/ some people would drive the hour to town

Dinner time varied a lot depending on what time the cooking began and who went into town (any where between 5 and 9 p.m.)

A few times we watched a movie on our sponsors t.v. by jamming all of us into one of the VERY spacious campers. haha We also watched a movie on a projector on a sheet that was hanging in the shop area. It was a wee bit cold, but it was Christmas Vacation so the cold was fitting to get us into the Christmas spirit.

I'll have to finish later...

Love, Nicole

MADE IT

So, we made it to our home in the woods late on Sunday night... started work at 7 Monday morning. It is beautiful out here, colder than some people expected. We live in three camper trailers right outside the state park we are working in. Yesterday and today we learned everything there is to know about a chainsaw: how to take one apart and also today we cut down trees. Jim is wonderful. Such a nice guy and his black lab Windy is sooo nice (I am in love!!) she just walks around with us in the woods and wanders, but always come back. The living is pretty cramped but it's really fun being out in the woods. One of the few bad things is that the town we always go into is about 45 minutes away. We have made the journey into town all three days so far to get food and today to get more food and come here (to the library) and the post office.

The trail we are working on has about 7 miles done and it is going to be a total of about 14 miles I think Jim said, we are hoping to knock out a couple, or at least one mile. My team is really great and we all think it is great that we are in such close quarters for the first round. It is a great way for us to bond, since we are kind of forced to. I do not get much of any service back at our camping area, but when we are in the woods during the day I get a little bit. I can't wait to start on the trail hopefully tomorrow and take in this whole experience in small town AR. My time on this computer is almost up... we are coming into town for laundry and such on Sat or Sun so I will update on the rest of the week and hopefully post some pictures then.

Missing home as always,
Can't wait to land in MN on the 18Th!!
Love, Nicole

First round starts TOMORROW!!

Well the time is here and tomorrow we leave at 8 am for Wickes Arkansas. I am so excited, yet sad I won't be seeing all of these wonderful people daily anymore. This week has been filled with a lot of briefing and spike prep. Wednesday we had off for Veteran's Day so a few of us girls went to Thai Basil, which was I think my first Thai experience. It was pretty good but I could have totally gone for some Olive Garden... MmMmM I miss that. We then went to the down town area for the afternoon to shop for various Christmas presents and such. It was another beautiful day out in Denver.

Today we took our all corps photo and then had Induction. Which was pretty exciting since we are officially done with all the trainings, and get to finally embark on our first project. Some ladies and I just finished the game of "Life" which was very fun but I lost pretty bad. I am getting really good at packing light... since we really don't have a choice. They provide us with a red duffel bag and we get one other bag, plus a bag for in the van with us. I am refraining from bringing any candy and I am already a little nervous to not have an endless supply of sweets like I do now. I am totally known for my eating of numerous bread sticks and cookies at dinner and my WONDERFUL supply of candy that I have started to just give away most of it.

Tomorrow at 7 we have our final room inspections and then at 8 there is a mini send off, then we hit the road. We have a 15 person van along with a 5 person cargo truck. It will be nice to have the truck to ride in to get away a little. We are only allowed to drive 500 max miles a day so we are staying in a Holiday Inn in Salina Kansas tomorrow night and then arriving in Wickes Sunday at about 5 pm we're hoping. Thankfully I love road trips so I have my People and US magazines, my DS, Ipod and words game books... so I am beyond set!!! We are staying in trailers that sleep 3 people comfortably right at our work site. I think the state park is called Casatot or something along those lines. Jim is our supervisor and we have heard nothing but amazing things about him from the staff here on campus. He likes to show us around and have bon fires (which I can't wait for) so I am sure this will be a wonderful experience. I can't wait for the beautiful views and amazing night sky, since the nearest city (which is small) is 45 minutes away. We don't really have a mailing address so stuff should still be mailed here at campus and then they send it out to us once a week. We will probably drive once a week to town to do laundry, shop for food and get the Internet. We were very happy to hear that most all cell phones will work, although I am not bringing my computer so this may be my last blog for a few weeks.

Sorry this is such a random blog, I am wayy tired from the long day of packing and such. I am WAY excited for this project and can't wait to come home for the holidays!!! I am very thankful I get to come home, since some people are staying here due to money. Oh so on spike travel we have to wear our "relaxed" uniform, so our shirt has to be worn but we can wear sweatpants or gym shorts... looks like I will be tucking my t-shirt into my sweatpants!! :-)

Miss you all!!

Love, Nicole

"When I asked for all things, so that I may enjoy life, I was given life, so that I might enjoy all things" I am so grateful for this wonderful experience I am going through right now in life :-)

Denver lovin

We went bowling as a Unit... my goal was to break 100... I got 100 on the dot. If only it was Wii Bowling!! :-)

Catie and I decided to take random pictures. haha

Kristy and I. The green walls were so pretty.

By the Buddha for good luck.

The ladies at Thai Basil (my first real Thai experience.. I think)

Our view from the last possible row... still good seats though.

Megan and I at the Avalanche game!!

5 sleeps till AR

I am getting really excited for Saturday, when we start our drive to Arkansas. Today we did a lot of Distaster Relief trainings with The Red Cross in case we need to get deployed from where ever we might be to head to a natural disaster around the country.

I can honestly say I am raked out for the season... I think if I have to rake anymore leaves I may turn into an actual rake!! :-) The supervisor for landscaping at the museum was very thankful which was wonderful. He said that he was planning on doing all the work we did in 2 hours himself which would have taken about a week or more. The Avalanche game was very fun, even though they lost their first home game 5-3... we were pretty mad because our original tickets were for the Friday night game which they won in a shoot out. Prior to the game we went to Casa Bonita which was an experience to say the least. The food was very horrible and overpriced, however there were cliff divers, a gun fight and a mariachi band haha it is for sure one of a kind.

Tonight there was a campus talent show which was hilarious. It ranged from people singing, stand up, an amazing whistler to one guy dancing perfectly to "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. Wednesday there is a game show about how well you know your roommate and a few roommates duos are doing it that I know which will also be a riot. It is going to so sad not seeing all these people everyday, and I should really start figuring out what I am going to want to bring home since I will only have a couple days once I get back here before my flight home. I really don't know much about AR, but it will be weird to be there with probably not much snow... then to come back to Denver for a couple days and then back to good ol MN which better be covered in snow for a white Christmas!! :-) I have a feeling it is going to be a very surreal holiday season, since I will only be there for about a week before until a week after. But, I am VERY thankful I am able to go home and be with my family and friends.

Pictures soon to come, along with if we have a mailing address at our trailers, and if we get cell phone service. Miss you all A LOT!!

Love,
Nicole

An array of pictures

Us girls with the Denver Dancers haha

The ladies at the Nuggets game (Megan, Catie, Shannon, Me, Kristy, Emily)

The crayons working in the ABC room making bats on a stick

Our color names aka 3 of the 4 units here on campus (I am in Water)

Me posing next to a fire hydrant for reasons I do not know :-)

All the ladies with our awesome steel toes getting ready to walk across the street to meet people.

Beautiful CO

It's another beautiful day here in Denver. We had our trainings for our positions and I didn't think at my PT training we would be doing any PT so I wore my mocassins... bad idea... PT was a must I guess. haha oh well. We got some ideas of what PT to do, but we most likely won't be doing any.

We find out a little more about our project in AR: the closest city is a city of about 200 which is actually 45 minutes away... that is where our shopping for food, internet access and laundry is. My team lead also wasn't overly sure about cell phone service at our trailers, but we are assuming we will have it somewhere hopefully. There are about 5 trailers he thought there and we will get 3 of them for our 13 person team. Each trailer has a shower, stove and microwave and fits 5-7. Our TL said last year the team that did this project went when it was above 100 degrees daily and they had to start their work at 6 am to beat the heat. So I am very thankful that we are going at this time of the year, plus this is our shortest project time (only 19 days of work due to Thanksgiving). Since we will be having such close quarters it will be fun to really get to know everyone and become our little family.

Tonight we have a cultural cafe thing, not sure what that entails. Tomorrow our team is going on what I heard is a beautiful hike by Boulder, then a farmers market and shopping around Boulder. Sunday morning some of us girls are volunteering at the Children's museum again raking and doing landscaping things we think. Then my friend Megan and I are going to the Avalanche game with her friend that lives out here. I am WAY excited for that. Next week is full of Spike Prep and getting ready for our first trip, along with packing and presenting our teams to the whole corp which will be interesting to learn where everyone is going plus who ended up on the same teams. I'm really excited for this project and getting to go home for the holidays!! I am starting to get a little homesick, which I think is partly due to getting bored with all of this training and the summer camp feel of things, so I am excited to leave here for a few weeks and really get to work on "Getting Things Done"!!! :-)

ARKANSAS

So, today at 4 we were supposed to find out our final teams and where we will be going. Of course the team leads had us on a scavenger hunt around the campus until we got to who we thought was our final team. Turned out to be a sike out and we were sent to our REAL final team and team leader. It was pretty nerve racking but I am glad to finally know we team and that I am headed to Wickes Arkansas next Saturday November 14th. It's 900 miles from here so we will arrive on Sunday around 4 pm and then get settled into our trailors we will be living in and start work on Monday morning. There is a team in Littlerock, which is about two hours from us so we will be meeting up with them for Thanksgiving and some other times which will be fun. I like my team sofar, my roommate and I are on the same team which they said wouldn't happen... I'm ok with it though cause we get along. There is a group of 5 of us girls that spend a lot of time together and the other four are in pairs on teams and then I am by myself. I'm ok with it though cause it gives me a chance to better get to know my team and I know I will always me friends with them.

I am PT coordinator which will be fun, but I don't know how much work I will get to do since my team leader said that due to the strenuous work we will be doing during the day PT prolly won't be feasible. Which is pretty intimidating and exciting all at once. I can't wait to get "ripped" hopefully. That's what they say atleast.

This week was again filled with trainings. We had a day filled with CPR/AED/First Aid training. Which was not overly entertaining at all but I had my fill of suckers to keep me awake :-) But It is pretty cool to have all of those certificates to keep my team safe!! Even though hopefully nothing will happen. Well there is so much chaos with all the team selections and where we are all going so I will have to finish tomorrow. Miss everyone lots!!

~Nicole

Crayola Crayons...

The three crayons :-) (made with love and cost about 7 bucks a piece)

My humble abode... not to mention the beds are on wheels so I never know where I will wake up haha

Trick or Treat Street at the Denver Childrens Museum

Doing some exploring at the museum during clean up

Thank you Maple Grove gym class for the wonderful belaying skills

Megan and I got to get up wayyy early to get a 10 minute refresher of having people's lives in our hands

Go Nuggets!!

We just got home from shopping and the Nuggets basketball game. It was a pretty good game and was kept close by the Grizzlys... but we pulled off another win (3-0) haha it's just begining. My friend Megan and I are going to the Avalanche game on Friday so we wanted to pick up a shirt and luckily both teams play at the Pepsi Center so it worked out great. We walked around down town Denver for a bit and then ate some pizza at Old Chicago and watched all of our football teams. I also made 5 bucks off the Vikings win because I bet a packer fan, he better pay up :-)

Friday our whole campus went indoor rock climbing which was a lot of fun. A group of us who have had belaying experience had to be ready to leave by 7:30 for a refresher course (thankyou high school gym class). I would much rather belay than climb so I did that from the time we got to the gym until one... my hands are still cut up from the rope burn. When we were leaving there was people that are real rock climbers there who are INSANE. They own the wall and are so graceful. I can't imagine ever rock climbing on something that doesn't have a mat, doesn't have foot and finger grips and well is on a mountain!! haha It's just not for me I guess.

Volunteering at the Childrens Museum was really fun last night, there were so many cute little kids. Since we were crayons they didn't want to split us up, good thinking on our part, so the three of us were in the crafts area. We helped the little kids make bats on popsicle sticks with pom poms on them. I sure made my fair share too. I just felt really old because I was tired by about 8... but the night was young ;-) Our costumes were a hit and we came in second in a group costume category.

So, if I haven't mentioned it yet, Dateline is doing a special on Americorps NCCC and has chosen the Denver campus and my unit (water) to follow. We are split into 4 units and then each unit has about 5 teams of maybe 11 or 12 people. It is kind of annoying though because they usually do it kind of randomly but this year they have to make sure that the "Dateline Team" has good diversity and interesting people. They followed one core member and one team lead from their homes so they are what the special will be focused on. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to deal with it, you can tell the people that are trying to be more outgoing or whatever just to be on that team. It's kinda lame... but oh well we find out on Thursday and I just wish we knew now. It will be really sad not seeing everyone for a long time and only for a transition week inbetween projects. But, there is a group of 5 or so of us girls that are already planning a country wide road trip after we graduate to see where we are all from. I am wayyy excited to see all these places I have yet to travel to. Today there was also talk of a backpacking trip around Europe in a couple years. Hopefully this will all happen, I think it will, depending on our jobs and stuff (and my dog of course :-)).

Tomorrow is the start of our second to last week of training, can't wait for CTI (corps training institute) to be over and to learn our final teams and where we are going. I will post some pictures from Halloween and such tomorrow!! Happy Monday!!

Love,
Coley

More pictures :-)

View of my dorm with the moutains in the background

View of the mountains from the tower

The view of down town Denver from the tower on campus



My friend I walked (Sinbad/Buddy)

Catie Megan and I at
Rocky Mountain National Park

Working hard on the track for the middle school

One of the cutest little puppies at the Humane Society

Tredging through the snow to go home

Waiting for the bus during on our snow day

Working hard on the track again

Halloween

Denver is still getting dumped snow on which started yesterday morningish. So yesterday we had a safety training in the morning and then after lunch break we were free for the rest of the day and today on a "Snow Day". It was pretty much great. A bunch of us went outside and played in the snow and then made the bus trip to Wal-Mart (yepp the bus didn't go by Target) to get fabric, and paint stuff to mak our costumes.

Last night we had a slumber party by moving two mattresses onto the floor of another room. It was like when I was little, we watched some Friends and went to sleep. This afternoon till now we are working on our crayons. They look really awesome.. like way good!! I'll post pictures after our campus Halloween party tomorrow. Since I am VERY into eating I am sitting waiting for my friends to finish their painting so we can get dinner. Hopefully it's really good (most likely pasta and mashed potatoes and gravy). Tomorrow we're going rock climbing indoors so that should be fun. I'm really excited for the sports games this next week we're going to. I think we're going to go into town early on Sunday and check out the shops.

Yesterday at dinner I was in awe of the ten people at my table never have been to MN. Plus most of them only knew the region where we are... not the actual location. I suppose Minnesotans are just more smart eh?! haha Plus I am kind of frequently made fun of my accent, which I am very proud of (I may have talked about that before). We'll time for dinner time and some Catch Phrase/finishing our costumes after we eat something really good... fingers crossed!!

~Nicole

"Getting Things Done"

One of the sayings at the end of our pledge thing is "Get things Done", which I think is kinda funny. Anyways the Humane Society was a lot of fun but we were only able to get two hours because they didn't have a lot for us to do. We just walked some of the bigger dogs for about two hours. Mine was a cute boxer/lab mix named Sinbad... I decided it was easier to call him buddy. He was mine for those couple hours. Made me really realize I am going to HAVE to adopt an animal from the shelter of wherever I end up, most likely back in MN with mom and dad and DOG!! (just giving you ten months to allow me to get one parents :-))

The soup kitchen Monday was a lot of fun and really eye opening. We were there for nine hours, preparing the food, serving it and then cleaning up. They said they feed about 500 people every Monday which was amazing. The line was never ending from 1-5 when we were open. It was so sad to see the wide range of ages and people that were in need of the food and are homeless. Makes me that much more thank full for all that I have and this amazing opportunity I am being given right now to help others. The rest of this week if full of trainings (safety in general and tool safety) should be a grand time of trying to pay attention. haha

A couple of my good girl friends here and I are going to be crayola crayons for the campus Halloween party Friday and then we are volunteering at the Children's museum on Saturday evening so that should be a lot of fun. We're going to attempt to make the bus ride to Walmart tomorrow for some fabric and such. It is SO inconvenient not having a car here... like wow... we end up paying more for public transportation than what we are going to. We are doing some fun stuff on our days off and evenings. The other night we went to that Law Abiding Citizen movie... which was pretty gory for my liking. We just bought tickets for a Nuggets and an Avalanche games that are coming up next week so I am really pumped for that. We are supposed to get a lot of snow tonight and through the next couple days which I am wayyy excited about. Hope all is great with everyone back home!! Miss my friends and family from good ol MN and elsewhere.

Love,
Nicole

A few pictures of my adventure so far

Rocky Mountain National Park
My friend Megan and I


A well achieved ladies night down town Denver

My beautiful view from campus

Megan Kristy and I at the "One Mile Above Sea Level" mark

Red Rocks Ampitheater

A bunny statue I found in Boulder

Rocky Mountain National Park

The Columbine Memorial

Red Rocks Ampitheater (They say this is one of the best places in the World to see a concert)

Rocky Mountain National Park

The first week or so

So, I decided since I now have my computer I should start a blog to keep track of everything I have done and also to keep my family and friends back home up to date on all that is going on out here in Denver. I also figured I could post some pictures on here. I am here and loving it to the max. The area is beautiful and the people are so nice (for the most part) we are all here for the same reason, so we're all alike in that sense. Since we have gotten here it has been A LOT of training and paper work. We usually have training in the classroom from 8-5 five or six days a week. They have told us that "Ameri-time" is a lot slower than real time... it is SO true. After only a few days we had all felt like we had been here for weeks and known each other for years. I think that's a good thing that we were all able to get so comfortable with the situation. I honestly feel like I have known some of these people for years and can already tell we will be friends for a really long time which is great.

I live in a dorm room with a roommate, so it's just like freshman year all over again. We got issued our uniforms I think it was the third day we were here so now that's all we get to wear besides after 5 and on the weekend when we are not working. Kinda helps with the figureing out when to wear... its either khaki shorts/black pants/khaki pants and then either a long sleeve or short sleeve shirt with a sweatshirt or vest to spice it up a bit. They are really strict with everything, but we're used to it now. Belts are a must and shirts tucked in at all times; scarves/mittens/socks are either black white or grey. So I don't get to wear my pretty mittens besides on the weeks. Closed toe and closed heeled shoes are also required, but so far we have only been forced to wear our steel toe boots once so those haven't been too bad. But I can now admit I overpacked!! But, everyone was very impressed I was able to stuff one suitcase full to the weight of 90 pounds... oops!! :-)

We have to do a "baseline" which is running 1.5 miles and 2 minutes of situps and pushups. We had a trial go at the run on Thursday and I didn't have to walk much which was amazing since I don't remember the last time I ran that far, I am a walk-aholic :-) Yesterday we had our first service project at a local middle school. The school didn't have a running track so our whole campus went there and built one with the eighth graders. It was alot of manual labor and I am still feeling it (added on to the soreness from the run). I can't wait till I am used to the work and it no longer affects me. It was such a great feeling at the end of the day when we finished, they were all so appreciative and thankful for our day long hard work. I can't believe we are going to be able to experience that feeling pretty much daily for this whole year. It's going to be amazing. Today we raked the yards of 6 elderly people's homes, which was also very rewarding... but I think I am raked out for ateast a couple days now. We have tomorrow and Monday off so some of us are getting our 80 Independent Service Project hours out of the way at the humane society tomorrow and soup kitchen Monday.

We have been able to do some site seeing and everything is breathtaking. Last week we drove two hours to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike which was so amazing and we wished we could stay there all day. We have also gone to Red Rocks Ampitheater which is up in the mountains and so pretty, they say you have to see atleast one concert there because there is nothing that compares. We saw the Columbine Memorial which was very sad and surreal to actually be there. Last Sunday was our first day off so a group of us took a bus to Boulder to check out the town. It is such a cool place and the college is beautiful. Possible place to live?!? Along with the whole state of CO. But, don't worry mom and dad I am sure I will end up in MN forever. Speaking of MN, when introducing my self as "Nicole from Minnesota" everyone says that they can tell that's where I am from. My accent if pretty obvious I guess which is completely okay with me. It's so crazy how people are from all over the country... after a couple days I felt like everyone knew what I was talking about when I mentioned things from home but nope... wearing shorts when it's 50 is weird for someone from California. haha Not this girl, I wear my cargo shorts whenever possible.

We find out our permanent teams for the year on November 4th and then the 6th we learn where we are going and what we will be doing there. The 14th is when we start our drive to our first project. The driving won't be bad since we are only allowed to drive 8 hours a day and have to stop every 2 hours to switch drivers (which will get old I'm sure, minus the permanent bathroom opportunity every two hours :-)). The van is a 15 passenger big guy which can get cozy for us tall people. I am so excited to be here and really know this is where I am supposed to be at this time in my life. I miss everyone from home and am already looking forward to December 19th to fly home. Time for a walk and dinner!!

Hope everyone is doing wonderful!!

Love, Nicole