So, I have decided to write these blogs at night before I go to bed and since I don't go to internet daily the dates for the blogs will most likely not match the date above...

March 29th 2010

Got back to Boulder yesterday (Sunday morning) bright ad early from a sad but peaceful trip home for my wonderful Grandmother’s funeral. It was so hard going through all of it being so far from home and not with the family/getting to see her at the end. But, my dad made it possible for me to say goodbye to her over the phone which was SUPER hard but I am so thankful I was able to do so. My time home was spent mostly with family and a wonderful walk to Target (my fave place) with my good friend Ang. Under the circumstances it was a great trip home ad I am happy for my Grandma to be at peace ad in such a wonderful place up in Heaven.

Some amazing people o my team woke up extra early to drive to Denver to pick me up from the airport which really meant a lot to me. There is a pretty strenuous hike across the street from our house which four of us embarked on yesterday afternoon… it was so beautiful at the top ad well worth the huffing and puffing. The air here is so dang different than that of good ol MN. We were taking it all in from the top and relaxing when Ian turned around thinking he heard people walking and noticed the more than 20 deer walking less than 20 feet from us. It was such a breathtaking sight… they then starting, one by one jumping the barbed wire fence which was even more of a sight. Things like that make me want to live out here in a heartbeat. One of the fella on my team met someone during another one of his spikes who has a niece whom lives in Boulder. She and her husband threw us a BBQ last night which was so much fun and great food. They also had friends over who were all very nice and willing to help us with anything having to do with this area.

Today we worked throughout our yard to pick weeds and make it look more nice, followed by a great lunch at the house with Tetris and Top Gun. Did I mention our TL brought his Super Nintendo to the house with all versions of Mario and a few other awesome games, and then Danielle had her dad mail her another controller and some more games… one which is Tetris and Dr. Mario. Both of which are WICKED SWEET games. So we have two TVs set up next to each other; one with movies playing and one with Super Nintendo going. Pretty dreamy. In the afternoon we went out in the field and began our joyous job of removing invasive species (Mediterranean Sage) from the foothills. It was pretty boring since we don’t get to use music because we have to listen for the rattle snakes, but the surroundings are beautiful so that makes up for not having tunes. After work Megan and I ran some errands, dinner and then Max, Paul and I headed to the YMCA. Oh how amazing it felt to get to work out in a gym. I find it soothing and relaxing, a wonderful day to end to day. It opens at 5:30 in the a.m. so I’m thinking about suggesting we head in before work someday.

Overall, things are going great here these first two days back. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70’s and 80’s which means it will feel even hotter…EEK for this girl from the North. Well time for bed and a day of trying not to over heat tomorrow J

Love, Nicole

Loving Life in Boulder!!

I can't explain how amazing these first two days of round three have been. We left Monday morning ad it was really sad to say goodbye to so many people but we all couldn't wait for our VERY SHORT spike travel to Boulder ad the Ameri-Mansion. We drove right to the office and had an orientation of the organization (Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks) we are working with ad met out two supervisors (Craig and Kristen) who are amazing. After lunch we went on a beautiful hike and learned about Boulder ad the parks. There are prairie dogs everywhere!! They are soo freaking cute and I can't help but get excited every time I see one and I mean EVERY TIME... my team's going to get sick of that that's for sure :-) After the hike we went back to our wonderful new home and unpacked/showered and got ready for team dinner in down town Boulder (which is about 10 minutes from our house). Then bed time after watching some Planet Earth on one of our three t.v.'s.

Today we woke up ad were at work at 8... we learned a few more rules about the house and orientation of the offices ad getting mail and such. We worked on a water ditch (which is going to be one of our main projects this round)... we worked on clearing the brush from around it to get them ready to be filled with water. The one we worked on was built in the 1870's by horses and humans with maybe some shovels. It was really neat to learn about the water system here in Boulder since they have very little rain and get their water from up in the mountains. Which I ca see from my house might I add... no pictures yet due to camera problems but I'll get some up ASAP. Also we don't have Internet so we are at the Barnes and Noble in Boulder using theirs. So after we have a beautiful workday with a spectacular view and not a cloud in the sky we went on a hike that is just across the road from our house in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was beautiful and I can't wait to do it again.

My team is amazing and our project is going to be so amazing I can't even describe. The scenery every where I look is so beautiful and our housing is so wonderful. The only bad thing is going to be the "great" suntans we get from our t-shirts and shorts... ooooeee it's already starting :-) The house is even more than we expected: an amazing kitchen, huge living area with two areas of couches, 5 bedrooms and 3 baths with a creepy basement. There are two little upstairs areas which explains the two sets of stairwells. I live on the side with three bedrooms and a bathroom ad I share a room with Kelly who is on my original team too. Last night I didn't sleep overly well because I kept waking up and creeping myself out since it is such a large house... just getting used to all of the new noises. For dinner Kell and I made tator tot hot dish ad scotchies which were a hit for sure. I served the scotchies before they were hard, so they were still really gewy which is my fave, but all I could think about was when my mom would make them and not let me have one until they got hard. Sorry mama haha

There is so much room in this house for alone time which will be great to just sit and read or listen to music. Also there is a small creek on our massive amount of land that seems really nice to read and relax by... not to mention the foothills right across the street. The organization we are working for buys out houses of people who are unable to pay for their homes, or they allow the homeowner to pay little rent so they are able to stay and farm. So our house is one of their homes they bought and have kept up for us. They just put in a new water system, windows and got new pots/pans/silverware. It's amazing, if I haven't said it enough already. They already know our names and have really showed how much they appreciate us and it's only day two. We got these sweet sunglasses that are also safety goggles which are so cool and way better than the Americorps ones that are all scratched up. Well it's about time for us to head back to our humble abode but I will hopefully post pictures very soon and be able to write again this week.

Much love and missing everyone from home A LOT lately,
Nicole (misses home) Burg

p.s. SO EXCITED about momma mona and papa john's new purchase... a beautiful boat!!!! Can't wait to see it is real life!!!

Trasition week... Denver time

MADE IT... yup we made it back to Denver Saturday afternoonish along with all of the other teams. It is so wonderful to be back but has been a very busy transition week so far. Monday and Tuesday we were with our original teams doing debriefs and returning tools and such, then last night we switched to our shuffle round teams. I am now Water One (originally Water Three) for this round (third) in Boulder. We have been learning a few not overly good things about the "Ameri-Masion" but we will just have to wait and see. We do not have Internet or laundry in our house but that shouldn't be too bad since we are so close to Boulder which will have plenty of both I am sure.

These last few weeks I have been really stressing about what I am going to do after this amazing experience is over, since it is already more than half over. I really hate being away from my family not knowing what is going to happen at any time... however, I really feel like this is my time when I should explore and live somewhere besides good ol MN. Today we had our first corp wide "Life After Americorps Day". We had seminars we could attend throughout the day... I went to a nonprofit one and also one on financial planning which was very overwhelming but informative. After the seminars we were able to choose between about 8 different organizations we wanted to take a van to and learn more about. I decided to go to Project C.U.R.E. Which is a nonprofit that get donations of medical equipment and sends it to hospitals all over the World. It is a very awesome thing they are doing but sadly they only employ about 20 people, and have 10,000 volunteers... looks like a good thing to volunteer with. I really don't know where I will be a year from now and as exciting as that is it scares the crap out of me. I have semi looked at jobs around Denver but will also look into MN jobs.

Some parts of me just want to find an amazing job and go where ever that might be, as unrealistic as that sounds. I know in the long run I want to raise a family back in Minnesota and hopefully live there for the long haul... depending on jobs and such. Raising a family is NOT something I want to think about right now but I feel that I have to since being in the "big kid world" and having to decide where I want to reside come August and after my big brothers wedding :-) It's so crazy to think all that's left is me in my family to get married... but don't get me wrong I am in NOW WAY in a rush AT ALL. Stressing the NO WAY anytime soon.

I am loving being back in Denver and am SO PUMPED to be in the beautiful city of Boulder for two whole months!! Time to read and hit the hay... miss everyone from home lots and lots!!

Love mucho,
Nicole Marie Burg

Spike Travel Tomorrow

Today is our last day of work and they are having us stay back to clean the gym/bathrooms/kitchen that we live in. It is a pretty well needed cleaning session and I am very glad we get a whole day devoted to it. I got to mop the gym floor, did some majorly needed boot cleaning from all of the mud caked on it and now I am sitting in the Fuller Center office answering the phone for the lady who is usually here. Just sitting here makes me really hungry which is NOT a good thing :-) At the ISP we did on Saturday at the food bank one of the ladies told us about "Chicago" the musical which she is in at a local theater... she told us when her performances are but we will be gone for them all. We are very lucky because their dress rehearsal is tonight and her director said that we could come for free. It is going to be a great last night here in Orange, Texas.

Tomorrow we start another three days of spike travel, which I do not really mind. The day goes by pretty fast since we have to stop every two hours. I also really like to sleep in hotels so I am looking forward to that part of the trip too.

Well, I am in need of some food and water and am going to see if someone else wants to sit here for a bit. Can't wait to leave tomorrow bright and early, but will miss the weather and interns.

Love, Hungry hungry Nicole