3 Things You Must Do For Us: Call Your Loved Ones, Use Chapstik, Drink Water

It's official: I am living in Denver, Colorado for the next ten months, or at least based here.  It's weird to think that just a week ago the longest drive I had to worry about was to Spartanburg and back, and now I have a 23 hour car ride home. 

Before I arrived on campus today to check in, Julie (a friend of my friend Lee from home) took me to this great sandwich place for lunch called Snarfs.  We had sandwiches and talked about Americorps, but the whole time all I could think about was what the rest of today would be like.  Will I like my roommate?  Will she like me?  What is my room going to be like?  Did I pack everything I needed?  Did I pack way too much?  Am I going to make friends?  Basically, I was a wreck.  It was like going to my first day of college all over again, except if things went wrong I couldn't just drive home or to Clemson to be with my other friends!

So, when I got here and checked in I was relieved to meet my roommate, Pamela, who is wonderful. As we unpacked we talked about home and school, and I learned that she is a year younger than me, from Michigan, and not real sure what she wants to do with her life...Welcome to the club!  We also share a common love for Weezy, that's right, I'm talking about Lil Wayne.  However, I am hoping to introduce her to some of my bands that I like, but I don't know how she will feel about jam bands like Panic and P Groove.  Unfortunately, our room is pretty boring.  Neither of us brought much to decorate with, so I am definitely having mom send me some of my pictures as soon as she can.

Later on, we ate dinner with our units before our first meeting.  I am in the Fire Unit, and my team leader is Alicia.  I will only be with this particular group for the first week of training and then we will switch groups four to five more times in order to get to know all of the people in our unit. So far I have met some pretty cool people, but I don't want to get my hopes set on having them in my final group, so I am trying to keep an open mind about everyone in the Fire Unit.  I found out tonight at our meeting that a lot of the people here are fresh out of high school.  I can't imagine doing this out of high school!  I feel homesick and I am 22 years old and haven't really lived at home in four years.  I definitely respect them for making the decision to come though.

Tomorrow is our first day of actual orientation and training.  We start at 8am, but it seems to be pretty basic stuff; registering my car, setting up my direct deposit, and getting my uniform (which consist of cargo shorts/pants...flattering for someone of my short stature).  Hopefully, I get to know my first group a little better, and I feel more confident in my decision to do this despite some hesitations.