First few weeks!

Well alright. So I officially arrived here to the gorgeous Denver, Colorado ten days ago, and it could easily have been ten weeks ago. You know how it goes; it's just like freshman year of college again. We're all jam-packed into dorms (dorm, actually. Singular.) and all up in each others' business more than usual in attempts to "weed out the crazies," as my roommate Heather so eloquently puts it. It's remarkable how quickly we can rest on our assessments of one another, really. I mean it's not to say that people surprise us (as they always do) or that people don't change, but I can confidently say I have a good grasp on the majority of the people in my unit at the moment. And that's comforting. :) But let's back up.

I am part of an Americorps branch that usually employs about 1,100 people a year. (300,000 applied this year...abooyah. :)) At this Denver campus, I am amongst roughly 250 fellow Corps Members who are here to spend the next ten months working on service projects across the states of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. We 250 Corps Members are divided into four units. I'm in the Sun Unit...obviously the best one. :) (We like to say, "Do work, Sun!") This first month is purely dedicated to training and team building, so we're basically spending every day with our unit and separated into teams that keep changing. After this month we'll be neatly divided into five permanent teams, but until then we've been moving around to get to know everyone else. Like I said, basically college all over again. To those who know me, you know that I thrive in environments where get-to-know-you games are plentiful...I'm basically a perpetual camp counselor. Haha I really can't turn it off! But at the same time, I am currently finding myself thrilled to not be away from home for the first time like a lot of the people I'm surrounded by at the moment. Unlike my first year at Coe, I'm not energetically seeking out new friends around every corner; while I'm pleased to meet every new face and hear every new story, I'm feeling quite content with the friend group I've settled comfortably into already. Does curiosity eventually just die off completely? Or am I just more relaxed? I've been wondering this from time to time.

But Denver is about the most breathtaking city I've been to. I love the downtown skyline, which is complemented expertly by the mountain range to the west of it. Our dining hall looks out onto the mountains, and I look forward to the sunsets out there every night. :) This is one of those places that makes me feel useful in my current job. The beauty here is the kind of stuff I want to help preserve. Who wouldn't want to volunteer to make America a better place once they've seen this place?? :)

As fun as it is to make new friends, explore the area for our favorite bars, and get lost downtown until we know it like the backs of our hands, my fellow CMs and I are itching to get to the grunt of our jobs here. We had our first campus-wide service project yesterday and IT WAS REMARKABLE. You know how whenever you volunteer in groups there are always the people who won't help at all, then the people who will help but will complain the whole time, then the people who will help but distract everyone else's focus, and THEN the small percentage of people who are consistently mindful of WHY they're there and WHAT their objective is? Well guess what? People who apply for Americorps are ALL the foruth type of people. We're ALL here to help and "get things done." ("Get things done" is the Americorps motto of sorts, and sounds utterly wimpy and ambiguous, if you ask me. Lol.) So it's just insane for me to be surrounded by ALL all-stars of volunteerism. Can you imagine how much 250 of us got done in six hours of work???? A lot. Apparently Americorps is constantly surprising non-profits with how freaking productive we are. It's something I'm really proud to say I'm a part of. :) And yesterday was great--we crowbarred and sledgehammered the crap out of old gardens to make room for new ones, wheelbarrowed pile after pile of dirt to add layers to a track that the Elementary School will enjoy by the end of the month, and mentored hundreds of 8th graders all the while. It was so awesome. I can't wait to get to my first project site.

Well I'm going to wrap this up for now...but welcome back to my blog! I'll keep you posted with new happenings here in gorgeous Colorado, and I'd love to get life updates from all of you too! :)

kt