I did it! I did it!!! Finally, I made it through a group and felt successful!!! Yay. This 5-night (6-day) WOW group included 5th grade students from a private school in Florida. Despite three days of soaking rain (and more outdoor showers), the kids were great--enthusiastic, eager learners, and just an all-around wonderful group. Perhaps having nearly a week to get to know them helped the cause, but at this point, I don't really care why it was good...rather, I'm just thrilled that it went well at all.
On that note, thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers over the last few weeks. I know your efforts definitely influenced my success last week, and for that I am extremely grateful. Please don't stop there, though. I have four more weeks here in DC, and although I hope I am over the hump, I'm still a bit skeptical and would very much appreciate your continued support. Again, thanks in advance.
One disappointing aspect of last week, though, was the loss of yet another Warren Hall housemate. Matt left unexpectedly in the middle of March, and this past Thursday, Marcie followed suit. Her Marketing internship was scheduled to conclude at the end of May, but for personal reasons, she had decided to leave May 4th, instead. However, on Tuesday morning, I found out that she'd gotten an offer for a film project in California (she owns her own film company, remember?), and decided to accept it. The project was slated to begin on Friday (April 24th), so she ended up having to buy another airline ticket and leave early Thursday morning. Because I was working 12-18 hour days with my group, I didn't get to spend any time with her during her last few days here, nor did I really get to say goodbye. I was quite disappointed about her quick exit, but hopefully she is happier these days.
The rest of the house is dropping like flies, it seems. Brian will be moving out right around the 7th of May, and Justin will follow only a few days later, on the 11th, or so. Amanda has hopes of leaving just as soon as she can find alternate living arrangements, which means that pretty soon, only the 4 of us WOW PAs will be left. On the other hand, though, at least 10-15 new indviduals will begin moving in on the 9th of May, which means the house will be rockin' with lots of folks pretty soon. Until then, those of us that are left plan to enjoy the solitude and quietness of a small house, heh.
Speaking of solitude, I have been living like an old lady lately. Ever since the group from Louisiana left, I have been going to sleep between 9:30 and 10 pm on a nightly basis. It's very uncharacteristic of myself, but I actually enjoy it. For the past few days, I have been waking up between 7 and 8:30 a.m. without an alarm. It's kind of nice to get 10 ish hours of sleep, wake up early, and still feel extremely well rested. I love it. ...But be sure not to disturb my sleep, because I have "gone jihad" on many a person lately for doing just that. Ask the security guards. ;-)
Oh and, summer is quickly upon us; it's been 85-92 degrees and sunny here lately. I love the sun and the warmth, but I could do for a ceiling fan, if you please. Our house is regularly kept at 80 degrees in the summertime, but we use ceiling fans, which make it much more comfortable. This stupid house doesn't even have central heating. wtf. Hopefully the maintainance people will come to install the window units soon because it's getting to be pretty uncomfortable inside.
Bah. I really ought to quit writing and get back to being productive. We have yet another group coming in today (grr!), so I should put myself together and get to lunch so I can go to the office at some point before they arrive. This 250-person, 5-bus group is a middle school from rural Massachusetts. My supervisor swears it will be the most fun group of all, but I don't believe him for a moment. Five buses!?!? Are you kidding me? Nooooo thank you. ...Not to mention that Thursday night, after this group leaves, we have a 9-bus group coming in for Science Bowl. Thankfully, we're just providing a Nightvew, but my gosh, I can't wait to be done with work this week (and it hasn't even started)!
Friday, Nick and I will be heading out on our road trip adventure to visit North Carolina State University and hopefully some sunny beach along the way. I got an amazingly priced car rental, and we are ready to gooooooooo. Can't wait to share the details...and hopefully this will ether be a definite "yay" or "nay" on the list of grad school prospects.
Wish me all the best,
Lauren
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Off to Trapeez School!
Okay, okay...I'm not really off to trapeez school, but for various reasons (that I'll explain later), I felt as though it was a fitting title for this blog.
In my last post, I was finishing up preparations for the arrival of my second WOW group, or 2 huge buses worth of 4-Hers and adult volunteers from my home in Southwest Louisiana. I was really excited about their week here in DC, because I knew I'd get to work with a bunch of people that I have known for many years, and I have been missing Louisiana very much lately. Rather than detailing out each day of our adventures, I'll say that despite the rain, I think the group had a great experience with the Wonders of Washington Program. It rained every day except their last, which, I guess, is nothing new for a bunch of Cajun folks from one of the most tropical climates in the country. Going through security with 110 individuals takes agesssssss, as does walking any distance farther than 500 feet. In the end, Colin and I both got good evaluations (he sure was a hit with the ladies, lol), and I think everything turned out fine. ...And this is why we're trapeez artists--anyone juggling that many individuals would have to have some sort of fancy skills, lol.
To be honest, though, I haven't been enjoying work very much at all, and people can tell. I'm trying not to give it off to my groups, and I hope I'm doing a decent job of that, but my co-workers and housemates can tell that there is something different about me lately. I keep dreading my groups and feel like I do a horrible time with my job. Of course, everyone says that I'm doing fine, but I just don't see it. The reality is, I've probably had the most difficult groups here so far (size and respect/energy wise), so maybe that's why things have been so tough. I figured that after working with 4-Hers from home that I might have a new take on things, but I'm not so sure. The youth and adults with that group were amazing--respectful, caring, wonderful individuals (hey--they're farm kids, lol)...and yet I'm still not enjoying it.
I don't like to sit here and report such negative things, but I figure I should be honest about how I'm doing. On Friday, I had a mid-employment meeting with my supervisor, and after having the weekend off, I do feel better...but I'm scared about how I am dreading this next group that comes in tonight. I don't want to dread work; I'm not used to disliking what I'm doing. Hopefully, as I get more experience (my fellow PA's are at least 1 or 2 groups ahead of me), I'll feel more comfortable with my skills and will be able to enjoy it more. On that note, I'd really appreciate your thoughts during these next few weeks because it's going to be crazy-busy on the work front, and I don't forsee a real break until after the beginning of May. Thanks in advance.
--
Yesterday, Christy and I spent the afternoon/evening in Baltimore. As I've mentioned in previous posts, sometimes it's just really necessary to get away from the City (DC) and away from the Center. We live and work here all the time, and it's just one huge trap (bubble?), and sometimes you really need a change of scenery. And, so Baltimore, we went. Baltimore is a great city, but very much a city. It's still huge, and I definitely wouldn't want to live there, but for the area we went, it was fine for an afternoon.
We spent most of our time in the Inner Harbor area, walking along the waterfront watching the street performers, checking out some shops, attractions, and eateries. We sat atop Federal Hill Park and watched some locals play beach vollyball, as well as tourists paddleboating in the harbor. It was there that we noticed TRAPEEZ SCHOOL! Heh. Yes, there is a such thing as trapeez school, and after a bit of watching from a distance, we decided to walk closer and actually sit to watch the trainings for a while. It was quite interesting to say the least. In the afternoon, we walked to a Sprint store (where Christy got a new phone --yay), and then asked the workers for suggestions for a seafood dinner. They recommended Mo's Fisherman's Warf, and although we settled on there for dinner, we also walked around the neighborhood of Little Italy a while, contemplating some authentic Italian food. After dinner, we went back to the car and headed home for the night. It's interesting to note, though, that Baltimore has a ton of similar sites to DC--Holocaust Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Washington Monument, Mt. Vernon (neighborhood), Calvert St., ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Cafe, Cheesecake Factory, paddleboats, etc.
--
Continuing my act at trapeez school, I have further updates concerning graduate school. One night last week, I decided to check online to see if any new status concerning my admission to Ohio State had been posted. Sure enough, it was, and I have now been officially admitted into their graduate school. Yay. In addition, I received an e-mail on Friday afternoon offering me an assistantship at NC State. The position would require 20 hours of work each week (some sort of program evaluation/assessment projects), an in turn, offer paid tuition, health insurance, and $15,000 stipend per academic year. It sounds like a sweet deal, so Nick and I are definitely gonna take a road trip down there in 2 weeks to check things out. Hopefully the trip will help with all of this decision making because I sure feel like this is going to turn out to be a crazy balancing act. Again, wish me luck with making a good decision.
--
And now, I'm going to head out to an early dinner so that I can be ready just in case my group shows up ahead of schedule. You should be proud that I found the time to blog during all of this busy-ness. Heh.
*Performs trapeez dismount*
Lauren
In my last post, I was finishing up preparations for the arrival of my second WOW group, or 2 huge buses worth of 4-Hers and adult volunteers from my home in Southwest Louisiana. I was really excited about their week here in DC, because I knew I'd get to work with a bunch of people that I have known for many years, and I have been missing Louisiana very much lately. Rather than detailing out each day of our adventures, I'll say that despite the rain, I think the group had a great experience with the Wonders of Washington Program. It rained every day except their last, which, I guess, is nothing new for a bunch of Cajun folks from one of the most tropical climates in the country. Going through security with 110 individuals takes agesssssss, as does walking any distance farther than 500 feet. In the end, Colin and I both got good evaluations (he sure was a hit with the ladies, lol), and I think everything turned out fine. ...And this is why we're trapeez artists--anyone juggling that many individuals would have to have some sort of fancy skills, lol.
To be honest, though, I haven't been enjoying work very much at all, and people can tell. I'm trying not to give it off to my groups, and I hope I'm doing a decent job of that, but my co-workers and housemates can tell that there is something different about me lately. I keep dreading my groups and feel like I do a horrible time with my job. Of course, everyone says that I'm doing fine, but I just don't see it. The reality is, I've probably had the most difficult groups here so far (size and respect/energy wise), so maybe that's why things have been so tough. I figured that after working with 4-Hers from home that I might have a new take on things, but I'm not so sure. The youth and adults with that group were amazing--respectful, caring, wonderful individuals (hey--they're farm kids, lol)...and yet I'm still not enjoying it.
I don't like to sit here and report such negative things, but I figure I should be honest about how I'm doing. On Friday, I had a mid-employment meeting with my supervisor, and after having the weekend off, I do feel better...but I'm scared about how I am dreading this next group that comes in tonight. I don't want to dread work; I'm not used to disliking what I'm doing. Hopefully, as I get more experience (my fellow PA's are at least 1 or 2 groups ahead of me), I'll feel more comfortable with my skills and will be able to enjoy it more. On that note, I'd really appreciate your thoughts during these next few weeks because it's going to be crazy-busy on the work front, and I don't forsee a real break until after the beginning of May. Thanks in advance.
--
Yesterday, Christy and I spent the afternoon/evening in Baltimore. As I've mentioned in previous posts, sometimes it's just really necessary to get away from the City (DC) and away from the Center. We live and work here all the time, and it's just one huge trap (bubble?), and sometimes you really need a change of scenery. And, so Baltimore, we went. Baltimore is a great city, but very much a city. It's still huge, and I definitely wouldn't want to live there, but for the area we went, it was fine for an afternoon.
We spent most of our time in the Inner Harbor area, walking along the waterfront watching the street performers, checking out some shops, attractions, and eateries. We sat atop Federal Hill Park and watched some locals play beach vollyball, as well as tourists paddleboating in the harbor. It was there that we noticed TRAPEEZ SCHOOL! Heh. Yes, there is a such thing as trapeez school, and after a bit of watching from a distance, we decided to walk closer and actually sit to watch the trainings for a while. It was quite interesting to say the least. In the afternoon, we walked to a Sprint store (where Christy got a new phone --yay), and then asked the workers for suggestions for a seafood dinner. They recommended Mo's Fisherman's Warf, and although we settled on there for dinner, we also walked around the neighborhood of Little Italy a while, contemplating some authentic Italian food. After dinner, we went back to the car and headed home for the night. It's interesting to note, though, that Baltimore has a ton of similar sites to DC--Holocaust Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Washington Monument, Mt. Vernon (neighborhood), Calvert St., ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Cafe, Cheesecake Factory, paddleboats, etc.
--
Continuing my act at trapeez school, I have further updates concerning graduate school. One night last week, I decided to check online to see if any new status concerning my admission to Ohio State had been posted. Sure enough, it was, and I have now been officially admitted into their graduate school. Yay. In addition, I received an e-mail on Friday afternoon offering me an assistantship at NC State. The position would require 20 hours of work each week (some sort of program evaluation/assessment projects), an in turn, offer paid tuition, health insurance, and $15,000 stipend per academic year. It sounds like a sweet deal, so Nick and I are definitely gonna take a road trip down there in 2 weeks to check things out. Hopefully the trip will help with all of this decision making because I sure feel like this is going to turn out to be a crazy balancing act. Again, wish me luck with making a good decision.
--
And now, I'm going to head out to an early dinner so that I can be ready just in case my group shows up ahead of schedule. You should be proud that I found the time to blog during all of this busy-ness. Heh.
*Performs trapeez dismount*
Lauren
Monday, April 13, 2009
April Absurdities
My last post, "March Madness," was a great title and explanation for the month, that's for sure. March is always a month of madness for me, but that's why I love it so much. It is my favorite month, after all! Now, though, it is April, and that means it's time for a long-awaited blog update. Get excited! Heh.
National 4-H Conference
As I mentioned in the my last blog, National 4-H Conference began officially on March 28, but lots of awesome people started pouring into the Center on the 26th. Conference organizers, the Planning Committee, and Collegiate Facilitators came in on Thursday night to beging the get-acquainted, planning, and preparation process before the delegates arrived. Just a few highlights...
Thursday - Lots of delayed flights, a relaxed night of introductions and an overview of the week.
Friday - Excursion preparations (aka, a fun day in the City), Roundtable planning and preparations.
Saturday - More RT planning, delegate arrival, Opening Assembly, and RT Session #1.
Sunday - Fun Run at Greenbelt Park (beat the nasty weather), more RT sessions, and an exclusive private event at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (the one at Dulles Airport).
Monday - Excursion Day(!), RT session, relaxing evening for the Tators.
Tuesday - Workshops, Focus Groups, final RT session, 2nd museum night at the International Spy Museum (another new one crossed off my list).
Wednesday - USDA Assembly, Capitol Hill Day, Newseum/fun lunch with the Tators, annual pass-out-on-the-floor-at-National-4H-Headquarters event (heh), and the traditional all-nighter.
Thursday - Bye, bye, to some of the greatest people I know! :-(
Once again, I'm going to reiterate that Conference is my favorite event of the entire year, and even when I'm not able to attend, Conference will forever be a part of me and my passion for the great organization of 4-H. To all of you, old and new friends, I have very much enjoyed my time getting to know you and I hope that we can keep in touch throughout the years. You'll always hold a special place in my heart, and don't forget...we're having a reunion when the first of us gets married (lololololol), so put it on your calendar!
Cherry Blossoms
The weekend following Conference was the big Cherry Blossom Festival weekend here in DC. I hadn't got a chance to really see or photograph the blossoms during Conference, so Christy and I set out on Saturday to see what all of the hype was about. Let me just say that this was a very interesting day...none of which really related to the blossoms themselves. You all should go and read Christy's blog for a fully detailed story of the day because my summary won't do it justice. Briefly: a brisk jog UP the DOWN escalator at Federal Triangle, nearly sniped by a police officer for trying to cross the street, log roll onto wall at American History Museum for good seats to watch fail parade, scored free yet-to-be-released Suave cherry blossom body wash and 4 gift cards to facials at Macy's...a successful day, if I do say so myself. Oh, and I guess I should say that the blossoms are quite beautiful, but I'm slightly disappointed and feel as if they're just a tad bit overrated, in comparison to the numbers of people who trek out here just to see a bunch of flowered trees. Meh.
Warren Hall entertainment
Oh, Warren Hall. Life here...I tell ya. In fact, I should take that back, because words really can't describe it. I'd take a stab at it, but I feel as though my housemate, Nick, was able to explain it a little better. For that, here's an excerpt from his thoughts:
"...Now, let me explain something about Warren Hall (that lovely place I live in) that might explain MY actions a little bit more. (Bare with me on this one, it is kind of confusing, but I will do my best.) Ok, Warren Hall and the 4-H center campus is the biggest bubble ever, you get trapped here. You live/eat/work/ everything here, and you NEVER get away. You basically live in this world that is a cross between Real World and Big Brother, its madness. Now, your entire life is Center when your a PA or live in the house. You literally cannot function without one another, and I know this sounds a little crazy but its the truth. Ok, so what does this have to do with you? Well, when someone new comes into your life when you live in the house, its a big d*** deal. And you might get uber attached to that person because they are the first outside contact in months..."
Basically, Nick is right that we do live in a bubble here, and outside contact can be few and far between, depending on who you are and your access to outside individuals via way of visitors or local friends. In that bubble, though, there are some definite benefits, despite the co-dependence that tends to develop. We Warren Hall kids sure do have a great time... I mean, come on, we built a sheet-fort in the living room on Friday. We have strobe light dance parties, watch endless amounts of movies, and have developed plenty of inside jokes in the short few months that we've lived here. Sometimes, it's hard and frustrating to live with people who see you at your highest and lowest points, and annoying when the kitchen is worse than Ground Zero, but in the end, we're all going to miss each other when it's over. I've said it before in other situations, but there's just something about living with people...it results in a lifelong bond that can never be broken. (And that's my tear-jerker moment for the day, heh.)
Easter
This was my second holiday away from home (first being Thanksgiving, when I lived in Idaho), and I think I've decided that holidays are not holidays without family and friends. Granted, I was welcomed into a very loving home for Thanksgiving, which I very much appreciated, but I'm just used to being off for that entire week, and it was totally weird for me to be working on such a holiday. This time around, for Easter, it didn't feel like a holiday yet again. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one home (there were four-ish of us), but with our disgusting kitchen, we really didn't want to attempt any sort of home cooked family dinner. Instead, we lazy-ed around and went out to dinner at Chili's last night. In the afternoon, I braved the meto alone in an attempt to find and attend Mass at the Basilica. Thanks to some very very sweet girl, I found it, made a new friend, and was invited to dinner with her Brazilian family (I declined, due to plans with the housemates). I'll probably never see that girl again, but thank goodness for her and her generosity or else I may never have found the church, lol. Again, I am resolved to believe that random, one-time-only friendships can be some of the most rewarding of all. (Think, Rosetta Stone kiosque guy in March 2007.)
Upcoming WOW groups
It's been a while since my first WOW group (even though I did Conference and had a Nightview somewhere in between), but my second of many groups arrives today. The exciting part about this group is that they are Vermilion and Calcasieu 4-H Jr. Leaders (from home)! My mom and brother (he came to Conference too, which was great!) and everyone that is nostalgic for me and 4-H back home will be arriving in only a few hours! They'll be here through Thursday, and Colin and I will be tired puppies because we have a Nightview group that night, too. Next week, I'll be working with another group for 5 days, and the following week, we have a huge group (5 buses) for four days, and then an even huger group (9 buses) for a Nightview tour. In other words, these next few weeks are going to be crazy busy and you'll be lucky to hear much out of me before May rolls around...
Graduate School Update
As always, I must include the grad school update. I've been placed on the waiting list for admission into the Clinton School of Public Service and am still waiting to hear back from Ohio State. That means, I'm still admitted only admitted into LSU and NC State. For that reason, I'm hoping to rent a car and take a road trip (with my housemate, Nick) to Raleigh on the first weekend in May. I can't really rule out the school until I see it, so it's probably a good idea to head out there sometime.
In any case, this blog is forever long and it's about lunch time now. I really need to start putting myself together, since the group will be here in only a few hours. Sorry I don't have time to blog more often, but I hope you'll all forgive me. :)
Peace out.
Lauren
National 4-H Conference
As I mentioned in the my last blog, National 4-H Conference began officially on March 28, but lots of awesome people started pouring into the Center on the 26th. Conference organizers, the Planning Committee, and Collegiate Facilitators came in on Thursday night to beging the get-acquainted, planning, and preparation process before the delegates arrived. Just a few highlights...
Thursday - Lots of delayed flights, a relaxed night of introductions and an overview of the week.
Friday - Excursion preparations (aka, a fun day in the City), Roundtable planning and preparations.
Saturday - More RT planning, delegate arrival, Opening Assembly, and RT Session #1.
Sunday - Fun Run at Greenbelt Park (beat the nasty weather), more RT sessions, and an exclusive private event at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (the one at Dulles Airport).
Monday - Excursion Day(!), RT session, relaxing evening for the Tators.
Tuesday - Workshops, Focus Groups, final RT session, 2nd museum night at the International Spy Museum (another new one crossed off my list).
Wednesday - USDA Assembly, Capitol Hill Day, Newseum/fun lunch with the Tators, annual pass-out-on-the-floor-at-National-4H-Headquarters event (heh), and the traditional all-nighter.
Thursday - Bye, bye, to some of the greatest people I know! :-(
Once again, I'm going to reiterate that Conference is my favorite event of the entire year, and even when I'm not able to attend, Conference will forever be a part of me and my passion for the great organization of 4-H. To all of you, old and new friends, I have very much enjoyed my time getting to know you and I hope that we can keep in touch throughout the years. You'll always hold a special place in my heart, and don't forget...we're having a reunion when the first of us gets married (lololololol), so put it on your calendar!
Cherry Blossoms
The weekend following Conference was the big Cherry Blossom Festival weekend here in DC. I hadn't got a chance to really see or photograph the blossoms during Conference, so Christy and I set out on Saturday to see what all of the hype was about. Let me just say that this was a very interesting day...none of which really related to the blossoms themselves. You all should go and read Christy's blog for a fully detailed story of the day because my summary won't do it justice. Briefly: a brisk jog UP the DOWN escalator at Federal Triangle, nearly sniped by a police officer for trying to cross the street, log roll onto wall at American History Museum for good seats to watch fail parade, scored free yet-to-be-released Suave cherry blossom body wash and 4 gift cards to facials at Macy's...a successful day, if I do say so myself. Oh, and I guess I should say that the blossoms are quite beautiful, but I'm slightly disappointed and feel as if they're just a tad bit overrated, in comparison to the numbers of people who trek out here just to see a bunch of flowered trees. Meh.
Warren Hall entertainment
Oh, Warren Hall. Life here...I tell ya. In fact, I should take that back, because words really can't describe it. I'd take a stab at it, but I feel as though my housemate, Nick, was able to explain it a little better. For that, here's an excerpt from his thoughts:
"...Now, let me explain something about Warren Hall (that lovely place I live in) that might explain MY actions a little bit more. (Bare with me on this one, it is kind of confusing, but I will do my best.) Ok, Warren Hall and the 4-H center campus is the biggest bubble ever, you get trapped here. You live/eat/work/ everything here, and you NEVER get away. You basically live in this world that is a cross between Real World and Big Brother, its madness. Now, your entire life is Center when your a PA or live in the house. You literally cannot function without one another, and I know this sounds a little crazy but its the truth. Ok, so what does this have to do with you? Well, when someone new comes into your life when you live in the house, its a big d*** deal. And you might get uber attached to that person because they are the first outside contact in months..."
Basically, Nick is right that we do live in a bubble here, and outside contact can be few and far between, depending on who you are and your access to outside individuals via way of visitors or local friends. In that bubble, though, there are some definite benefits, despite the co-dependence that tends to develop. We Warren Hall kids sure do have a great time... I mean, come on, we built a sheet-fort in the living room on Friday. We have strobe light dance parties, watch endless amounts of movies, and have developed plenty of inside jokes in the short few months that we've lived here. Sometimes, it's hard and frustrating to live with people who see you at your highest and lowest points, and annoying when the kitchen is worse than Ground Zero, but in the end, we're all going to miss each other when it's over. I've said it before in other situations, but there's just something about living with people...it results in a lifelong bond that can never be broken. (And that's my tear-jerker moment for the day, heh.)
Easter
This was my second holiday away from home (first being Thanksgiving, when I lived in Idaho), and I think I've decided that holidays are not holidays without family and friends. Granted, I was welcomed into a very loving home for Thanksgiving, which I very much appreciated, but I'm just used to being off for that entire week, and it was totally weird for me to be working on such a holiday. This time around, for Easter, it didn't feel like a holiday yet again. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one home (there were four-ish of us), but with our disgusting kitchen, we really didn't want to attempt any sort of home cooked family dinner. Instead, we lazy-ed around and went out to dinner at Chili's last night. In the afternoon, I braved the meto alone in an attempt to find and attend Mass at the Basilica. Thanks to some very very sweet girl, I found it, made a new friend, and was invited to dinner with her Brazilian family (I declined, due to plans with the housemates). I'll probably never see that girl again, but thank goodness for her and her generosity or else I may never have found the church, lol. Again, I am resolved to believe that random, one-time-only friendships can be some of the most rewarding of all. (Think, Rosetta Stone kiosque guy in March 2007.)
Upcoming WOW groups
It's been a while since my first WOW group (even though I did Conference and had a Nightview somewhere in between), but my second of many groups arrives today. The exciting part about this group is that they are Vermilion and Calcasieu 4-H Jr. Leaders (from home)! My mom and brother (he came to Conference too, which was great!) and everyone that is nostalgic for me and 4-H back home will be arriving in only a few hours! They'll be here through Thursday, and Colin and I will be tired puppies because we have a Nightview group that night, too. Next week, I'll be working with another group for 5 days, and the following week, we have a huge group (5 buses) for four days, and then an even huger group (9 buses) for a Nightview tour. In other words, these next few weeks are going to be crazy busy and you'll be lucky to hear much out of me before May rolls around...
Graduate School Update
As always, I must include the grad school update. I've been placed on the waiting list for admission into the Clinton School of Public Service and am still waiting to hear back from Ohio State. That means, I'm still admitted only admitted into LSU and NC State. For that reason, I'm hoping to rent a car and take a road trip (with my housemate, Nick) to Raleigh on the first weekend in May. I can't really rule out the school until I see it, so it's probably a good idea to head out there sometime.
In any case, this blog is forever long and it's about lunch time now. I really need to start putting myself together, since the group will be here in only a few hours. Sorry I don't have time to blog more often, but I hope you'll all forgive me. :)
Peace out.
Lauren
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
March Madness
Ahhhhhhhhhh. I haven’t written in almost 3 weeks!! Shame on me! Bah. Honestly though, things have been insane, and it’s going to take forever for me to write about it all. The problem with that, though, is that it’s 10:45 p.m. at night, and for reasons I’ll explain later, I really should be trying to get a good night’s rest. Guess that’s not gonna happen…
To simplify the process, I think I’m just going to make headings for “important” topics.
First Group
March 8-12, Nick and I had our first group, 8th grade private school students from Alabama. The week was extremely challenging for us, but we got through it and made it to the light at the end of the tunnel. I’d write more, but this IS the internet, and I’d rather stay away from specific details. Feel free to ask on a more personal level if you’re interested in the gory details. Heh. I will say, however, was that I got to experience a few DC things for the first time—the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Newseum. It was super cool to visit the awesomeness of the Newseum on my birthday; what a great way to end the week.
Dawn’s Visit
Amidst the craziness of my first group, my bestest Sunshine stopped in to visit for a few days. Dawn was invited to represent Louisiana at Ag Day on the Hill (details coming soon), and since it was her Spring Break that week, she asked if she could stay with me for a few days, aka March 9-12. …She does “have a boyfriend in DC” after all…lololol. (This is a joke based on the fact that Dawn visits DC a million times a year…she’s already been here twice since the end of January, with at least another visit to come in the near future.) While she was here, Dawn and I each visited new places for us, and together (with Nick) we went on the National Treasure Tour at Mt. Vernon, which is quite possibly the coolest behind the scenes tour ever. (Granted, it's the only behind-the-scenes tour I've ever done, but let me live in my fantasy world, mkay?) Anyways, it was nice to have Dawn around while my group was here. She kept Nick and I grounded and really helped out at some of the sites. It was also super special that she happened to be here right up until my birthday… :-D Gotta love special friendness. Lol.
Ag Day on the Hill
Back to Ag Day, young adults from nearly every state in the nation were invited to attend Ag Day on the Hill, a day of promoting agriculture and youth development. Most of the young adults were members of 4-H and or FFA, and the event was also sponsored by some other organization. I was pretty excited about this event, because even though I wasn’t chosen to represent Louisiana (see previous paragraph), many of my friends from other states came out for the event on March 11-12. It was super awesome and fun to get to hang out with Gillette (MT), Wendee (DE), Emily (NJ), Jeff (ID), and Benjamin (OH/MI). Because our schedules were so jammed, we didn’t have a whole lot of hang out time, but we appreciated what we had. We definitely don’t take time for granted when we’re only able to see each other once (sometimes more) a year. A small tribute: “Lean on me, when you’re not strong…”
My 22nd Birthday
As many of you know, my birthday was on March 12th, only the bestest day of the year. Unfortunately, I was working and then exhausted from work, so I didn’t get to enjoy it very much. I also missed home quite a bit, and was sad about not being able to celebrate with Kim, my birthday twin, for the first time in four years. Bah. It was nice, though, to see all of my 4-H friendsies (Dawn, Jeff, Benjamin, Gillette, Wendee, Emily, etc.) on my day. My housemates were great too. Colin and Christy stole the rest of a cake from their group and added mine and Brian’s names to it so that we had an official birthday cake. Oh yeah, it was Brian (housemate)’s birthday too…only he was born in the wrong year (1986), hehe. There were some fun times, but I’ve definitely had better. …I mean, hello, no birthday is complete without MooKim festivities, and Rascal Flatts, lol!
Jeff’s Visit
Adding to the greatness (and busy-ness) of the week, Jeff, my great 4-H friend from Idaho, stayed in Warren Hall following Ag Day through Sunday, March 15th. Jeff was a Program Assistant for Citizenship Washington Focus (the sister program to Wonders of Washington) last summer, so he used to live here and knows the ropes pretty well. Anyway, Jeff and I were pretty close, since we met in 2007 as Collegiate Facilitators at National 4-H Conference and continued to talk over the years and hung out quite a bit while I lived in Idaho last Fall. The PAs took the afternoon off on Friday (3/13), as we’d all had a tough, tiring week. Saturday, Jeff and I went into the city and ended up spending nearly 4 hours in the Museum of American History. Then we ate dinner at an interesting restaurant and unsuccessfully attempted to score tickets to a Capitals game. When that didn’t work, we gave up and went back to the Center for the night. Sunday, Jeff, Nick, Christy, and I went to the St. Patrick’s Day parade downtown. It was cold and rainy, so not many people were out, but we still had a good time. We had to leave early though so that Jeff could get to the airport in time for his flight home. It was a good weekend overall…thanks for visiting, Jeffe.
Office Work
As for work, I’ve been doing projects in the office since my group left. I won’t have another group until Vermilion 4-H arrives on April 13th. To be honest, I’m perfectly fine with this because I really do prefer working in the office anyway. The groups stress me out too much, and I can feel so much more accomplished by doing projects instead. Thus far, I’ve made a ton of nametags for groups coming to the Center, completed a draft of a WOW Destination Directory for the planners to use when designing itineraries, and now I’m starting some event planning for the 2010 Board of Trustees meeting. Never know what they’ll come up with next…
Nathan’s Visit
Last weekend, March 19-22, Nathan came to visit from Seattle. I met Nathan last summer when Kim and I moved our stuff up to Boise; he’s been friends with Joey (Kim’s fiancé) since like middle school. Somewhere between moving in July and my return in September, Nathan decided to up and move to Seattle (what a loser!). Anyways, we’ve kept in touch quite a bit, and since he’d never been to DC before, he took the opportunity to visit when there was a free place to stay and certified tour guide to take him around. Sounds like a good deal if you ask me. I took most of Friday off of work and we spent the day walking to all the awesome monuments in downtown DC. We had a late lunch/dinner at the Reagan Building and then returned to the Center to hang out and watch movies with my housemates for the evening. Saturday, we started our day with (free “comp” tickets to) Arlington Memorial Cemetery, and then metroed to lunch at the Old Post Office Pavilion. We went up to the top of the tower there (my first time) and took some pictures of the amazing view. I’d hoped to take Nathan out to the Capitol Visitor’s Center but with timing and my inexperience as a tour guide, the timing didn’t work out. Instead, we spent a while at the National Archives seeing the Charters of Freedom (which is what he really wanted to see, anyway). Then we walked over to the Capitol, sat around the reflecting pool for a while, walked up the steps, took some pictures, and then metroed back to the Center for another night of family movie watching. Sunday was relaxing but fun; it was gorgeous out, so we had a Warren Hall family soccer game, and then sat on the porch forever hanging out and watching our circus of a family do crazy things. Marcie and quite a few others did some tricks with her yoga ball, she and Justin did an egg toss, and then Amanda sprayed everyone with the hose. Good times. When it was time for Nathan to go, Justin dropped us off at the Bethesda metro stop and I rode with him out to DCA then metroed home alone (for the first time!!). Looking back, it’s hard to do DC in such a short period of time, but I think we did a decent job, and I hope he had a good weekend nonetheless.
Random stuff now…
Tour Guide Licenses
Our tour guide licenses (finally) came last Friday!!! I’m official now!! Yay. …Can’t wait to start getting the discounts, lol.
Graduate School Update
I’ve now been admitted into North Carolina State and Louisiana State University. Still no idea where I’m actually going to go, and waiting to hear back from Ohio State and the Clinton School. Unfortunately, I may have to make some decisions in the next few weeks. That won’t sit well with me, so be prepared for a freak out session?
Conference Starting
Tomorrow, awesome people start pouring into the Center, as the Collegiate Facilitators and Planning Committee members arrive to gear up for National 4-H Conference which officially begins on Saturday. I can’t wait to see all of my 4-H friends again!! There are going to be 4 of us from Louisiana, and many of the Ag Day folks are coming back. Woot. It’s going to be a crazy, awesome, sleepless, amazing, hard, tough, and great week, and boy, I cannot wait. …Conference is my favorite event of the entire year!
Christy’s Blog
And once again I’d like to encourage you all to read my housemate, Christy’s blog. She writes when I don’t, and doesn’t, when I do…? Heh, not really, but she has included details about some of our doings that I didn’t, so I say it’s worth the effort. Keep up with her when I’m too busy or lazy to write here. And anyways, it’s always interesting to get different perspectives on the same thing. I think so anyway. So, here’s her blog, again.
(Real) March Madness
Since it's the title, I guess I should also note that I'm participating in basketball brackets through work...and I suck. To my credit, though, I picked schools based on where I know people, not on actual ability. I did pretty well in the first set of games, but it all went downhill from there. Not that I care much, but I just thought I'd mention it to tie everything back together.
And now, I MUST sleep...because sleep just does nottttttt happen during Conference. Ugh. Expect another update once things settle down...if things ever settle down around here.
Adios mu cha cha,
Lauren
To simplify the process, I think I’m just going to make headings for “important” topics.
First Group
March 8-12, Nick and I had our first group, 8th grade private school students from Alabama. The week was extremely challenging for us, but we got through it and made it to the light at the end of the tunnel. I’d write more, but this IS the internet, and I’d rather stay away from specific details. Feel free to ask on a more personal level if you’re interested in the gory details. Heh. I will say, however, was that I got to experience a few DC things for the first time—the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Newseum. It was super cool to visit the awesomeness of the Newseum on my birthday; what a great way to end the week.
Dawn’s Visit
Amidst the craziness of my first group, my bestest Sunshine stopped in to visit for a few days. Dawn was invited to represent Louisiana at Ag Day on the Hill (details coming soon), and since it was her Spring Break that week, she asked if she could stay with me for a few days, aka March 9-12. …She does “have a boyfriend in DC” after all…lololol. (This is a joke based on the fact that Dawn visits DC a million times a year…she’s already been here twice since the end of January, with at least another visit to come in the near future.) While she was here, Dawn and I each visited new places for us, and together (with Nick) we went on the National Treasure Tour at Mt. Vernon, which is quite possibly the coolest behind the scenes tour ever. (Granted, it's the only behind-the-scenes tour I've ever done, but let me live in my fantasy world, mkay?) Anyways, it was nice to have Dawn around while my group was here. She kept Nick and I grounded and really helped out at some of the sites. It was also super special that she happened to be here right up until my birthday… :-D Gotta love special friendness. Lol.
Ag Day on the Hill
Back to Ag Day, young adults from nearly every state in the nation were invited to attend Ag Day on the Hill, a day of promoting agriculture and youth development. Most of the young adults were members of 4-H and or FFA, and the event was also sponsored by some other organization. I was pretty excited about this event, because even though I wasn’t chosen to represent Louisiana (see previous paragraph), many of my friends from other states came out for the event on March 11-12. It was super awesome and fun to get to hang out with Gillette (MT), Wendee (DE), Emily (NJ), Jeff (ID), and Benjamin (OH/MI). Because our schedules were so jammed, we didn’t have a whole lot of hang out time, but we appreciated what we had. We definitely don’t take time for granted when we’re only able to see each other once (sometimes more) a year. A small tribute: “Lean on me, when you’re not strong…”
My 22nd Birthday
As many of you know, my birthday was on March 12th, only the bestest day of the year. Unfortunately, I was working and then exhausted from work, so I didn’t get to enjoy it very much. I also missed home quite a bit, and was sad about not being able to celebrate with Kim, my birthday twin, for the first time in four years. Bah. It was nice, though, to see all of my 4-H friendsies (Dawn, Jeff, Benjamin, Gillette, Wendee, Emily, etc.) on my day. My housemates were great too. Colin and Christy stole the rest of a cake from their group and added mine and Brian’s names to it so that we had an official birthday cake. Oh yeah, it was Brian (housemate)’s birthday too…only he was born in the wrong year (1986), hehe. There were some fun times, but I’ve definitely had better. …I mean, hello, no birthday is complete without MooKim festivities, and Rascal Flatts, lol!
Jeff’s Visit
Adding to the greatness (and busy-ness) of the week, Jeff, my great 4-H friend from Idaho, stayed in Warren Hall following Ag Day through Sunday, March 15th. Jeff was a Program Assistant for Citizenship Washington Focus (the sister program to Wonders of Washington) last summer, so he used to live here and knows the ropes pretty well. Anyway, Jeff and I were pretty close, since we met in 2007 as Collegiate Facilitators at National 4-H Conference and continued to talk over the years and hung out quite a bit while I lived in Idaho last Fall. The PAs took the afternoon off on Friday (3/13), as we’d all had a tough, tiring week. Saturday, Jeff and I went into the city and ended up spending nearly 4 hours in the Museum of American History. Then we ate dinner at an interesting restaurant and unsuccessfully attempted to score tickets to a Capitals game. When that didn’t work, we gave up and went back to the Center for the night. Sunday, Jeff, Nick, Christy, and I went to the St. Patrick’s Day parade downtown. It was cold and rainy, so not many people were out, but we still had a good time. We had to leave early though so that Jeff could get to the airport in time for his flight home. It was a good weekend overall…thanks for visiting, Jeffe.
Office Work
As for work, I’ve been doing projects in the office since my group left. I won’t have another group until Vermilion 4-H arrives on April 13th. To be honest, I’m perfectly fine with this because I really do prefer working in the office anyway. The groups stress me out too much, and I can feel so much more accomplished by doing projects instead. Thus far, I’ve made a ton of nametags for groups coming to the Center, completed a draft of a WOW Destination Directory for the planners to use when designing itineraries, and now I’m starting some event planning for the 2010 Board of Trustees meeting. Never know what they’ll come up with next…
Nathan’s Visit
Last weekend, March 19-22, Nathan came to visit from Seattle. I met Nathan last summer when Kim and I moved our stuff up to Boise; he’s been friends with Joey (Kim’s fiancé) since like middle school. Somewhere between moving in July and my return in September, Nathan decided to up and move to Seattle (what a loser!). Anyways, we’ve kept in touch quite a bit, and since he’d never been to DC before, he took the opportunity to visit when there was a free place to stay and certified tour guide to take him around. Sounds like a good deal if you ask me. I took most of Friday off of work and we spent the day walking to all the awesome monuments in downtown DC. We had a late lunch/dinner at the Reagan Building and then returned to the Center to hang out and watch movies with my housemates for the evening. Saturday, we started our day with (free “comp” tickets to) Arlington Memorial Cemetery, and then metroed to lunch at the Old Post Office Pavilion. We went up to the top of the tower there (my first time) and took some pictures of the amazing view. I’d hoped to take Nathan out to the Capitol Visitor’s Center but with timing and my inexperience as a tour guide, the timing didn’t work out. Instead, we spent a while at the National Archives seeing the Charters of Freedom (which is what he really wanted to see, anyway). Then we walked over to the Capitol, sat around the reflecting pool for a while, walked up the steps, took some pictures, and then metroed back to the Center for another night of family movie watching. Sunday was relaxing but fun; it was gorgeous out, so we had a Warren Hall family soccer game, and then sat on the porch forever hanging out and watching our circus of a family do crazy things. Marcie and quite a few others did some tricks with her yoga ball, she and Justin did an egg toss, and then Amanda sprayed everyone with the hose. Good times. When it was time for Nathan to go, Justin dropped us off at the Bethesda metro stop and I rode with him out to DCA then metroed home alone (for the first time!!). Looking back, it’s hard to do DC in such a short period of time, but I think we did a decent job, and I hope he had a good weekend nonetheless.
Random stuff now…
Tour Guide Licenses
Our tour guide licenses (finally) came last Friday!!! I’m official now!! Yay. …Can’t wait to start getting the discounts, lol.
Graduate School Update
I’ve now been admitted into North Carolina State and Louisiana State University. Still no idea where I’m actually going to go, and waiting to hear back from Ohio State and the Clinton School. Unfortunately, I may have to make some decisions in the next few weeks. That won’t sit well with me, so be prepared for a freak out session?
Conference Starting
Tomorrow, awesome people start pouring into the Center, as the Collegiate Facilitators and Planning Committee members arrive to gear up for National 4-H Conference which officially begins on Saturday. I can’t wait to see all of my 4-H friends again!! There are going to be 4 of us from Louisiana, and many of the Ag Day folks are coming back. Woot. It’s going to be a crazy, awesome, sleepless, amazing, hard, tough, and great week, and boy, I cannot wait. …Conference is my favorite event of the entire year!
Christy’s Blog
And once again I’d like to encourage you all to read my housemate, Christy’s blog. She writes when I don’t, and doesn’t, when I do…? Heh, not really, but she has included details about some of our doings that I didn’t, so I say it’s worth the effort. Keep up with her when I’m too busy or lazy to write here. And anyways, it’s always interesting to get different perspectives on the same thing. I think so anyway. So, here’s her blog, again.
(Real) March Madness
Since it's the title, I guess I should also note that I'm participating in basketball brackets through work...and I suck. To my credit, though, I picked schools based on where I know people, not on actual ability. I did pretty well in the first set of games, but it all went downhill from there. Not that I care much, but I just thought I'd mention it to tie everything back together.
And now, I MUST sleep...because sleep just does nottttttt happen during Conference. Ugh. Expect another update once things settle down...if things ever settle down around here.
Adios mu cha cha,
Lauren
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Starting Now
Good news--I passed my tour guide exam!!! Yup, you got it, myself and the other three PAs all passed our DC tour guide test. Yay!! We haven't gotten our official cards yet, but it'll be great when they come in, so we can start using our licenses to get discounts at tourist destinations lol.
Backing up a bit, this past week was our first week of "real work." Christy and Colin had their first group--middle school students from a school for "learning differences" in Georgia. Despite the challenges for working with this group of children, I truly admire the idea of creating a school for children with learning differences.
As for the PA experience, Christy and Colin did a wonderful job, even with all of their opportunities for on-the-spot problem-solving situations. Their week started out with the group's delayed arrival due to a strong snow storm that swept the East coast. Because of this, the group had to eat lunch at Union Station (they took a train here) before coming to the Center, and then two workshops were given the first night, since the Zoo was closed, and it was definitely not a good idea to do Nightview with snow-covered roads. On another day, Mt. Vernon claimed they didn't have the group's reservation, and Hard Rock Cafe mischarged the Center beforehand. Through it all, though, I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time, which is all that matters, really.
So...snow. Yup, that's right...I HAD MY FIRST SNOW DAY EVER!!! I don't even know where to start about this one. Monday morning, most people at Center decided to work from home, so the PAs got a hold of our supervisor, and she said to take the day off. Can anyone say, "SAWEET??" Cuz, yeah, that's exactly what it was. On my first ever snow day, there were many other firsts...snow angel, snow man, sledding (!), and snowball fights. I have a ton of pictures posted on Facebook, so you should totally check them out. It was just such a glorious day...probably one of the best of my life!
Nick and I didn't have a group this week, so we were in the office doing projects all week. The National 4-H Council Board of Trustees had a meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, and since I'm working with the President's team (the one who organizes the board meetings), I was pretty busy toward the beginning of the week. The Board inducted three new youth trustees, and they wanted to offer an orientation to these new members, so they asked me to design the orientation program. Victoria, one of my long time great friends from home, has been a Youth Trustee on the board for over a year, so she was invited to facilitate the orientation.
It was really cool to use my experience in designing workshops or training sessions to design this orientation, and even cooler to know that one of my best friends would be the one leading it all. This really helped my motivation and understanding in the whole concept for the orientation, and although it didn't look exactly like my original plan, in the end, I think it all worked out well. I think they'll probably continue offering a youth orienation in the future...awesome to know I helped with implementing this new idea. And, it was great to see my dearest Victoria, even if it was only for one day, heh. Plus, she'll be back again in three weeks...
So, yeah, that's the sort of stuff I'll be doing when I am working for the President's team (weeks when I don't have a WOW tour group). I'm sure they'll come up with some interesting projects. In fact, the President/CEO's assistant said that I may have an opportunity to work on some of their new international projects that relate to expanding youth programming (in the form of 4-H) in Africa. It all sounds pretty cool to me, so we'll have to see what happens.
Alas, Nick and my first group arrives tomorrow evening. It'll be a quick turnaround--they arrive, settle in, eat, and leave for Nightview in only an hour's time. Crazy, but we'll manage. The 8th graders from Alabama will be here through Thursday morning; with Dawn arriving on Monday, and more 4-H gang on Wednesday, I feel like this is going to be a crazy week. Currently, I'm trying not to think about how scared I am for my first group, but I keep reminding myself that Nick will be there for support, and I will get throgh it. I bet it will even be better than I expect, because things generally work that way when I am stressed.
Oh, I guess I should also mention that I received a letter this week from the University of Georgia. Apparently, I was not accepted into their graduate program. I was a bit disappointed, and especially frustrated to believe deep down that the reason I didn't get in is because of my GRE scores. I know I could do well in any program, but if my GRE scores keep me from being able to demonstrate my abilities, then oh well. I also realize that my previous life experiences (i.e. Idaho, DC, etc.) have evolved into culminations of events that lead up to the opportunity, or were long in the making. UGA was rather random, I don't have much stake in Georgia, and so therefore, it's probabably not where I'm meant to be.
I expect to hear more from other schools sometime around the beginning of April. Rest assured, however, I'll keep you all updated with things as they go along. And, expect another update...just as soon as I get through this week and the awesomeness of great people visiting during the best week of the entire year! Tehehe...
...Party time?
-Lauren
Backing up a bit, this past week was our first week of "real work." Christy and Colin had their first group--middle school students from a school for "learning differences" in Georgia. Despite the challenges for working with this group of children, I truly admire the idea of creating a school for children with learning differences.
As for the PA experience, Christy and Colin did a wonderful job, even with all of their opportunities for on-the-spot problem-solving situations. Their week started out with the group's delayed arrival due to a strong snow storm that swept the East coast. Because of this, the group had to eat lunch at Union Station (they took a train here) before coming to the Center, and then two workshops were given the first night, since the Zoo was closed, and it was definitely not a good idea to do Nightview with snow-covered roads. On another day, Mt. Vernon claimed they didn't have the group's reservation, and Hard Rock Cafe mischarged the Center beforehand. Through it all, though, I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time, which is all that matters, really.
So...snow. Yup, that's right...I HAD MY FIRST SNOW DAY EVER!!! I don't even know where to start about this one. Monday morning, most people at Center decided to work from home, so the PAs got a hold of our supervisor, and she said to take the day off. Can anyone say, "SAWEET??" Cuz, yeah, that's exactly what it was. On my first ever snow day, there were many other firsts...snow angel, snow man, sledding (!), and snowball fights. I have a ton of pictures posted on Facebook, so you should totally check them out. It was just such a glorious day...probably one of the best of my life!
Nick and I didn't have a group this week, so we were in the office doing projects all week. The National 4-H Council Board of Trustees had a meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, and since I'm working with the President's team (the one who organizes the board meetings), I was pretty busy toward the beginning of the week. The Board inducted three new youth trustees, and they wanted to offer an orientation to these new members, so they asked me to design the orientation program. Victoria, one of my long time great friends from home, has been a Youth Trustee on the board for over a year, so she was invited to facilitate the orientation.
It was really cool to use my experience in designing workshops or training sessions to design this orientation, and even cooler to know that one of my best friends would be the one leading it all. This really helped my motivation and understanding in the whole concept for the orientation, and although it didn't look exactly like my original plan, in the end, I think it all worked out well. I think they'll probably continue offering a youth orienation in the future...awesome to know I helped with implementing this new idea. And, it was great to see my dearest Victoria, even if it was only for one day, heh. Plus, she'll be back again in three weeks...
So, yeah, that's the sort of stuff I'll be doing when I am working for the President's team (weeks when I don't have a WOW tour group). I'm sure they'll come up with some interesting projects. In fact, the President/CEO's assistant said that I may have an opportunity to work on some of their new international projects that relate to expanding youth programming (in the form of 4-H) in Africa. It all sounds pretty cool to me, so we'll have to see what happens.
Alas, Nick and my first group arrives tomorrow evening. It'll be a quick turnaround--they arrive, settle in, eat, and leave for Nightview in only an hour's time. Crazy, but we'll manage. The 8th graders from Alabama will be here through Thursday morning; with Dawn arriving on Monday, and more 4-H gang on Wednesday, I feel like this is going to be a crazy week. Currently, I'm trying not to think about how scared I am for my first group, but I keep reminding myself that Nick will be there for support, and I will get throgh it. I bet it will even be better than I expect, because things generally work that way when I am stressed.
Oh, I guess I should also mention that I received a letter this week from the University of Georgia. Apparently, I was not accepted into their graduate program. I was a bit disappointed, and especially frustrated to believe deep down that the reason I didn't get in is because of my GRE scores. I know I could do well in any program, but if my GRE scores keep me from being able to demonstrate my abilities, then oh well. I also realize that my previous life experiences (i.e. Idaho, DC, etc.) have evolved into culminations of events that lead up to the opportunity, or were long in the making. UGA was rather random, I don't have much stake in Georgia, and so therefore, it's probabably not where I'm meant to be.
I expect to hear more from other schools sometime around the beginning of April. Rest assured, however, I'll keep you all updated with things as they go along. And, expect another update...just as soon as I get through this week and the awesomeness of great people visiting during the best week of the entire year! Tehehe...
...Party time?
-Lauren
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Spring Training
Hi, folks!
Apparently I've been living here in the DC area for more than two weeks now, and I've yet to decribe my work situation. I figure I should probably tackle that topic sooner or later, considering that the whole reason I'm up here is for work, lol. And, because I'm such a procrastinator (avoiding some work prep. stuff) these days, I'm going to take this time to write about my job thus far.
Starting from the beginning, I'm working as a Program Assistant for Wonders of Washington, which is a program run through National 4-H Council. PAs serve as tour guides, workshop facilitators, and Council interns throughout the Spring semester (February to May, or June). Keeping these three roles in mind, I'll break each of them down individually for you.
Our most time-consuming role as a PA is serving as a tour guide to groups visiting the city of DC. These groups could be 4-H groups, school group, scout groups, etc. Depending on the length of a group's stay, PAs use their knowledge as a licensed DC tour guide to lead the group to various popular attractions throughout the District and nearby Virgina. Nearly every "hot spot" is available for inclusion in a group's visit, so you say it, I've seen it...multiple times.
In order to gain the proper skills to serve in this role, all PAs must take (and pass, lol) the DC tour guide licensure exam, which equates to becoming a Certified Class B Tour Guide. To prepare for the test, we were given a study guide at the beginning of January with over 300 possible questions. Just a week after arriving (Feb. 17th), we took our test, and hope to find out the results soon. We have also been visiting many popular sites in the area, and running through the routes during the last two weeks of training.
Some groups request workshops as a part of their WOW experience; these workshops range in topic from how a bill becomes a law, to citizenship, leadership, and teambuilding. For this reason, each of the PAs were assigned to present a mock workshop to the group. We are all very experienced with facilitating workshops, so this was pretty much a piece of cake for us, especially since the workshop plans/outlines already exist, so all we have to do is review and execute them. Easy as pie.
And finally, our last (major) role as PAs is interning within a department at National 4-H Council. Nick has been assigned to work with the "Center team," which basically, includes doing work with our WOW supervisors and the departement in which the program is organized. Christy will be working with the Resource Development Department, perhaps working on curriculum development and other similar projects. Colin was assigned to 4-H Supply, which, for you 4-Hers out there, is the product development/marketing component of Council. This translates to...the 4-H Supply store, the one that designs and distributes 4-H brand paraphernalia across the country and world. And lastly, my assignment is with the CEO/President's office. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I figure that out; it's sure to be an interesting adventure. :)
As we go into our third week of training here at the Center, we'll be focusing on practicing our commentary (talking/stories) for the Nightview tour, mastering the designated routes to major destinations, and meeting with our internship departments. We will also begin to prepare and plan for our first groups; Christy and Colin's first group comes in the first week of March, and Nick and I's group comes in the following week. Of course, we'll all be on pins and needles (okay, a little dramatic there, but still) until we find out the results of our exam, but hopefully it'll come in soon.
And, just in case anyone is interested in another viewpoint of a PA's experiences, feel free to check out Christy's blog. She has written a much more detailed description about our first two weeks of training, including funny stories and good times that we all have together. Don't worry, she has given me permission to share it with you all, so go ahead...check it out!
Now, I suppose I should get started on reviewing my Nightview commentary...
A plus tard,
Lauren
Apparently I've been living here in the DC area for more than two weeks now, and I've yet to decribe my work situation. I figure I should probably tackle that topic sooner or later, considering that the whole reason I'm up here is for work, lol. And, because I'm such a procrastinator (avoiding some work prep. stuff) these days, I'm going to take this time to write about my job thus far.
Starting from the beginning, I'm working as a Program Assistant for Wonders of Washington, which is a program run through National 4-H Council. PAs serve as tour guides, workshop facilitators, and Council interns throughout the Spring semester (February to May, or June). Keeping these three roles in mind, I'll break each of them down individually for you.
Our most time-consuming role as a PA is serving as a tour guide to groups visiting the city of DC. These groups could be 4-H groups, school group, scout groups, etc. Depending on the length of a group's stay, PAs use their knowledge as a licensed DC tour guide to lead the group to various popular attractions throughout the District and nearby Virgina. Nearly every "hot spot" is available for inclusion in a group's visit, so you say it, I've seen it...multiple times.
In order to gain the proper skills to serve in this role, all PAs must take (and pass, lol) the DC tour guide licensure exam, which equates to becoming a Certified Class B Tour Guide. To prepare for the test, we were given a study guide at the beginning of January with over 300 possible questions. Just a week after arriving (Feb. 17th), we took our test, and hope to find out the results soon. We have also been visiting many popular sites in the area, and running through the routes during the last two weeks of training.
Some groups request workshops as a part of their WOW experience; these workshops range in topic from how a bill becomes a law, to citizenship, leadership, and teambuilding. For this reason, each of the PAs were assigned to present a mock workshop to the group. We are all very experienced with facilitating workshops, so this was pretty much a piece of cake for us, especially since the workshop plans/outlines already exist, so all we have to do is review and execute them. Easy as pie.
And finally, our last (major) role as PAs is interning within a department at National 4-H Council. Nick has been assigned to work with the "Center team," which basically, includes doing work with our WOW supervisors and the departement in which the program is organized. Christy will be working with the Resource Development Department, perhaps working on curriculum development and other similar projects. Colin was assigned to 4-H Supply, which, for you 4-Hers out there, is the product development/marketing component of Council. This translates to...the 4-H Supply store, the one that designs and distributes 4-H brand paraphernalia across the country and world. And lastly, my assignment is with the CEO/President's office. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I figure that out; it's sure to be an interesting adventure. :)
As we go into our third week of training here at the Center, we'll be focusing on practicing our commentary (talking/stories) for the Nightview tour, mastering the designated routes to major destinations, and meeting with our internship departments. We will also begin to prepare and plan for our first groups; Christy and Colin's first group comes in the first week of March, and Nick and I's group comes in the following week. Of course, we'll all be on pins and needles (okay, a little dramatic there, but still) until we find out the results of our exam, but hopefully it'll come in soon.
And, just in case anyone is interested in another viewpoint of a PA's experiences, feel free to check out Christy's blog. She has written a much more detailed description about our first two weeks of training, including funny stories and good times that we all have together. Don't worry, she has given me permission to share it with you all, so go ahead...check it out!
Now, I suppose I should get started on reviewing my Nightview commentary...
A plus tard,
Lauren
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Ma Famille d'Hall Warren
Has it been eight days already? Wow, I've been here for over a week already...only fourteen more to go? Nooooooo, I like it too much here!! Heh.
Um, so, it has been a crazy week, even though I don't feel like I've gotten a whole lot accomplished. Before I get into the work stuff though, I should probably describe my living situation, or, as we have affectionately began to call ourselves--the (Warren Hall) family.
Alrighty, let's start with describing the house. I live in Warren Hall, which is located right smack in the middle of the National 4-H Youth Conference Center (www.4hcenter.org). For many individuals visiting the center, Warren Hall is kind of that mysterious building that no one really knows about, even though it's right in the middle of everything. We (family members) think this is kind of funny. Warren Hall is a 3-story house with a basement; people used to live in the basement but after many occasions of flooding, it has now evolved into a laundry/computer room, and storage of all things unimportant. On the first floor, there are three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living/dining room, and tiny kitchen. The second floor contains four bedrooms and one bathroom (2 toilets, 2 showers, 3 sinks), as well as a few storage closets for linens and other supplies. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom on the third floor. (This makes for a total of 9 bedrooms, potentially sleeping 20 or more people.) We also have this really amazing balcony on the second floor, which has been dubbed as the "Meranda;" it's probably my favorite place in the whole house, and we definitely spend a lot of time there.
As for the family members (housemates), there are nine of us currently living in the house, but we expect to get nine more in the middle of May, as most of the current housemates start to move out. On the first floor: Justin, our Resident Assistant (RA), is a Master's of Social Work student at nearby Howard University and does a lot of work with refugees here in DC, as well as in East African countires. He is originally from Indiana, and has also been a Program Assistant (PA) in previous years, so sometimes he picks up a few Wonders of Washington (WOW) groups from time to time. He shares a suite with Brian, a fellow Howard University student from Illinios, who is currently interning with the U. S. Department of Treasury. Also, Brian and I share a birthday...can anyone say "partayyyyy?" :-p Matthew, Colin, and Nick share the third, first-floor bedroom. Matthew is a recent graduate from the University of Georgia, and living in here for an internship with some important office in downtown DC. Colin and Nick are my fellow PA's. Colin, originally from Virgina, is a former Americorps member who did assignments across the nation--a few of which in Arkansas and South Louisiana (BTR/Houma!). He's currently taking courses for a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management with LSU Shreveport. Nick, from Maine, is the baby of our family (only by age--he's 18), graduated high school in June 2008 and just returned home from a semester in France--as an English teacher and student of French. ...We try to burst out in random Frenchness from time to time, heh.
The second and third floors of our home are much less populated, to say the least. Myself and Christy, from Ohio, live on the second floor. Christy graduated from Ohio State in June 2008, and has done a lot of work with the state's 4-H Operation Military Kids program. It's kind of fun that I know a lot of Ohio people that she references from time to time. :) We each have our own room, which is super nice, and there are even two extra rooms on our floor. Ah, the life.
Two marketing interns for National 4-H Council live on the third floor. They each have their own room (freakin' awesome ones, at that) and share a bathroom. Amanda's from Baltimore, Maryland, but spent 10 months working as a journalist in Nigeria after graduating college. She's in New York this weekend--sounds fun!? Marcie, or Mama Marcie, as we like to call her, is a former 4-Her from California who co-owns (?) her own film/production company. Marcie's a silly girl who seems to love life and is teaching me piano!! Woot. (Now I just need to remember to practice every day, hehe.)
Now that I've described everyone, do you happen to notice a common theme? Though we all come from different places, I've noticed that we each have our own stories of adventure, life in diverse places, and a desire to serve others. Coming from South Louisiana, it's not always easy to find people with these sorts of interests and experiences, and I am just so in love with this opportunity to live with people who are just like me (in that regard). These people just insire me so much--I live with a feeling that I truly can do whatever it is that I want to do in life, and I don't feel like such the oddball anymore. It's really a unique situation, and we all seem to really love our family members. It's pretty rare to find this many people who can live in one house together and get along with each other--not to mention care for one another in such a way that we know where everyone is at most times, and even take care to wait for them at meals and things like that. I do realize this is only the end of week one, and things could change, but at least for now, I am thriving in the Warren Hall family. There's so much love!
When living with eight other people, I'm sure you could imagine the silliness that often ensues. Because we live at a youth conference center, the rules are very strict about alcohol and that sort of thing (it's not allowed in the house at all--and I'm perfectly fine with that), but it really doesn't matter, because no one needs a "substance" to have fun...we have plenty of fun on a daily basis. The "Meranda" has made for some great times in studying for our DC tour guide exam, as well as brief dance parties and coreography sessions. LoL We have also watched plenty of movies, including National Treasure (gotta study for the exam! lol.), which we got from our blockbuster mail-in account. We spend hours in the cafeteria joking around and having intense discussions. Yesterday, we spent seveal hours playing monopoly in the middle of 500 guests' dinnertime. Good times. I mentioned that Marcie's teaching me piano (slowly), and Colin plays the guitar a lot. Last weekend, Marcie called a post office in Hawaii in hopes of solving our debate about which day is the busiest postal day. (It was late in the day, so only Alaska and Hawaii's offices were open. She refused to call Alaska because she wanted to say, "ALOHA!" lolol.) There's always something going on, but we also have plenty of space to take time for ourselves, which will be important as time goes on.
I could go on forever about the house, and I haven't even begun to describe my first week at work. However, I think this post is long enough for now. Perhaps I'll write another entry tomorrow about all things work-related. For now, I think I'm going to stop here, and drag Nick with me to the office (such a far commute--the next building over) to find some scotch tape so that I can decorate my room. Did I mention I love my view??? It's so great!! Speaking of which, I'm in the process of taking pictures of the house and DC stuff; I'm going to start posting them on Facebook soon, so check it out!
More to come soon.
Lauren
Um, so, it has been a crazy week, even though I don't feel like I've gotten a whole lot accomplished. Before I get into the work stuff though, I should probably describe my living situation, or, as we have affectionately began to call ourselves--the (Warren Hall) family.
Alrighty, let's start with describing the house. I live in Warren Hall, which is located right smack in the middle of the National 4-H Youth Conference Center (www.4hcenter.org). For many individuals visiting the center, Warren Hall is kind of that mysterious building that no one really knows about, even though it's right in the middle of everything. We (family members) think this is kind of funny. Warren Hall is a 3-story house with a basement; people used to live in the basement but after many occasions of flooding, it has now evolved into a laundry/computer room, and storage of all things unimportant. On the first floor, there are three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living/dining room, and tiny kitchen. The second floor contains four bedrooms and one bathroom (2 toilets, 2 showers, 3 sinks), as well as a few storage closets for linens and other supplies. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom on the third floor. (This makes for a total of 9 bedrooms, potentially sleeping 20 or more people.) We also have this really amazing balcony on the second floor, which has been dubbed as the "Meranda;" it's probably my favorite place in the whole house, and we definitely spend a lot of time there.
As for the family members (housemates), there are nine of us currently living in the house, but we expect to get nine more in the middle of May, as most of the current housemates start to move out. On the first floor: Justin, our Resident Assistant (RA), is a Master's of Social Work student at nearby Howard University and does a lot of work with refugees here in DC, as well as in East African countires. He is originally from Indiana, and has also been a Program Assistant (PA) in previous years, so sometimes he picks up a few Wonders of Washington (WOW) groups from time to time. He shares a suite with Brian, a fellow Howard University student from Illinios, who is currently interning with the U. S. Department of Treasury. Also, Brian and I share a birthday...can anyone say "partayyyyy?" :-p Matthew, Colin, and Nick share the third, first-floor bedroom. Matthew is a recent graduate from the University of Georgia, and living in here for an internship with some important office in downtown DC. Colin and Nick are my fellow PA's. Colin, originally from Virgina, is a former Americorps member who did assignments across the nation--a few of which in Arkansas and South Louisiana (BTR/Houma!). He's currently taking courses for a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management with LSU Shreveport. Nick, from Maine, is the baby of our family (only by age--he's 18), graduated high school in June 2008 and just returned home from a semester in France--as an English teacher and student of French. ...We try to burst out in random Frenchness from time to time, heh.
The second and third floors of our home are much less populated, to say the least. Myself and Christy, from Ohio, live on the second floor. Christy graduated from Ohio State in June 2008, and has done a lot of work with the state's 4-H Operation Military Kids program. It's kind of fun that I know a lot of Ohio people that she references from time to time. :) We each have our own room, which is super nice, and there are even two extra rooms on our floor. Ah, the life.
Two marketing interns for National 4-H Council live on the third floor. They each have their own room (freakin' awesome ones, at that) and share a bathroom. Amanda's from Baltimore, Maryland, but spent 10 months working as a journalist in Nigeria after graduating college. She's in New York this weekend--sounds fun!? Marcie, or Mama Marcie, as we like to call her, is a former 4-Her from California who co-owns (?) her own film/production company. Marcie's a silly girl who seems to love life and is teaching me piano!! Woot. (Now I just need to remember to practice every day, hehe.)
Now that I've described everyone, do you happen to notice a common theme? Though we all come from different places, I've noticed that we each have our own stories of adventure, life in diverse places, and a desire to serve others. Coming from South Louisiana, it's not always easy to find people with these sorts of interests and experiences, and I am just so in love with this opportunity to live with people who are just like me (in that regard). These people just insire me so much--I live with a feeling that I truly can do whatever it is that I want to do in life, and I don't feel like such the oddball anymore. It's really a unique situation, and we all seem to really love our family members. It's pretty rare to find this many people who can live in one house together and get along with each other--not to mention care for one another in such a way that we know where everyone is at most times, and even take care to wait for them at meals and things like that. I do realize this is only the end of week one, and things could change, but at least for now, I am thriving in the Warren Hall family. There's so much love!
When living with eight other people, I'm sure you could imagine the silliness that often ensues. Because we live at a youth conference center, the rules are very strict about alcohol and that sort of thing (it's not allowed in the house at all--and I'm perfectly fine with that), but it really doesn't matter, because no one needs a "substance" to have fun...we have plenty of fun on a daily basis. The "Meranda" has made for some great times in studying for our DC tour guide exam, as well as brief dance parties and coreography sessions. LoL We have also watched plenty of movies, including National Treasure (gotta study for the exam! lol.), which we got from our blockbuster mail-in account. We spend hours in the cafeteria joking around and having intense discussions. Yesterday, we spent seveal hours playing monopoly in the middle of 500 guests' dinnertime. Good times. I mentioned that Marcie's teaching me piano (slowly), and Colin plays the guitar a lot. Last weekend, Marcie called a post office in Hawaii in hopes of solving our debate about which day is the busiest postal day. (It was late in the day, so only Alaska and Hawaii's offices were open. She refused to call Alaska because she wanted to say, "ALOHA!" lolol.) There's always something going on, but we also have plenty of space to take time for ourselves, which will be important as time goes on.
I could go on forever about the house, and I haven't even begun to describe my first week at work. However, I think this post is long enough for now. Perhaps I'll write another entry tomorrow about all things work-related. For now, I think I'm going to stop here, and drag Nick with me to the office (such a far commute--the next building over) to find some scotch tape so that I can decorate my room. Did I mention I love my view??? It's so great!! Speaking of which, I'm in the process of taking pictures of the house and DC stuff; I'm going to start posting them on Facebook soon, so check it out!
More to come soon.
Lauren
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