It feels something like summertime.

Hey y'all, coming to you from Texas (yet again).

So. I'm feeling a tad better about this final project than I did in my last post. I have a feeling I'm going to like it a bit more than I originally thought. We met with some of the Boys and Girls Club staff the other day, so it seems promising. Don't get me wrong, I'm still counting down the days till this chapter of my life is over but I'm going to be taking in all the final memories I have during this final project. I know once AmeriCorps is over I'm going to miss it but for now, I'm ready to move on - I've got plans! Only 65 more days till judgement, um I mean graduation day.

In other news... the following is a list of stuff to look forward to, to end my Ameri-experience off right.

First off, this is where we'll be working (and living) for the next 8 weeks...

3 miles from this place pictured below... (!)

Our first full day consisted of a 2 hour orientation followed by lunch at a restaurant on the beach provided to us by two of the staff members who ran the orientation, driving around Freeport and Lake Jackson (the town right outside of Freeport) allowing us to see what's around, and meeting with our supervisor getting more of an idea about what is expected of us during our time here. Which brings me to 'the list':

• This coming week will consist of training, and prep before the summer camp begins a week from tomorrow. There are different classes during camp that we get to choose to work in - art, gym, tech, learning, etc. Plus if you have a special talent/something you'd like to teach you can do that as well. This is real nice. It gives us a chance to do our own thing making this project more of an individual project in a way as opposed to all 12 of us working together ALL day EVERY day. (I LOVE being able to do my own thing. I could teach sign language?).
  
• Can't forget about the Summer of Service component which will give a nice break during the week to get out of the Club and getting the opportunity to be a team leader in a sense and do some random community service project for a day with teens.
  
• A LOT of time is going to be spent at the beach. (HUGE plus of the project location).
  
• With that, I've already heard to sweet sound of ocean waves 3 times since we've been here and we've only been here for 3 full days. Oh, and the water is SO warm and the sand's soft. My summer has already begun and it's only the end of May! (It's been 80+degrees here).
  
• There's talk about camping out at the beach one weekend. (!)
  
• A day trip to Houston could happen. (Since it's only about an hour away, we'll probably be able to take the vans out there and make it a team fun day).
  
• A weekend to Austin is in the planning.
  
• We have July birthdays to celebrate so there was talk of making a weekend celebration during 4th of July (since one of the birthdays actually falls on the weekend).
  
• And a possibility of participating/volunteering at a Relay for Life in June.

So again, it seems like a pretty promising final round. Fingers crossed.

But next stop, Vegas please.

I'm gonna fix my mind, with a final destination.

It's been a while since I've written any sort of journal entry using song lyrics as the title and/or to start off an entry but Sara Bareilles' "Vegas" sums up how I've been feeling these past few days.

It's been a weird transition week. On so many levels, for myself and a lot of people [in my unit]. I don't know. It seems like it's a combination of a bunch of different things: people switching teams, people leaving, and just the sole fact that we've spent a round with a different team. And from what I've been hearing, a lot of people really liked their shuffle team a bit more than their permanent teams for one reason or another. Oh well, it's over now. Tomorrow everyone's off to their 4th and final project of their AmeriCorps NCCC careers for this term. I say everyone's off (not including my team) because my team is staying an extra day for training for a special component of our project.

That special component being the Summer of Service (SOS) component. SOS is a mini AmeriCorps NCCC for boys and girls ages 14-17. It's about a month. Two days during the week through the month they do various service projects for the day, and we get the chance to be their team leaders so to speak. SOS is a component for the teams working with the Boys and Girls Club as their primary project because most of the SOS participants are members of the Club.

Contrary to what was stated in my last post, I'm not looking forward to this last project, at all. I'm not looking forward to being back with my permanent team. Don't get me wrong, they're all great people... individually. They truly are. But as a team... we suck hardcore. Oh well, it's only 9 weeks.

In other news, thinking optimistically (basically saying to myself over and over again what I pretttty much said in the previous post)... We'll be near a beach, it'll be summer, at least the SOS component gives a little break in the week to do something different with the teens in the program, and I guess working with the kids in the Boys and Girls Club will be rewarding, meaningful, and whatnot.

I know I'll make the most of it, I usually do make the most and best of things. I'm just ready to close this chapter of my life and move on to the next. I just want to skip to the end of the program to the road trip I'm going on before heading home. That's right, ROAD TRIP! (and it's a cross country road trip too). Also, you know another thing that makes it even more fantabulous? (Yes. It CAN get more fantabulous than it already is). We're ending up in Northern Virginia where I get to see a couple of my most favorite people in the world whom I haven't seen in AGES!

Only 72 more days till it's over. 72 days.

OK. Coming to you next time from Freeport, TX at the club for boys and girls.