My AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Quest : Pine 5 FRESH!!!!!

What's up yaw!!! In case you guys didn't know I have safely arrived and settled in Vinton, Iowa! The travel day was kind of chaotic but that is to be expected when about 200 people arrive to the same place on the same day. I probably talked to at least 30 different people, not that I could tell you even one of their names.. oops...

The campus is nice, surrounded by fields and fields of corn, there's four main buildings not too big but I still get lost... and my team mates for some reason follow me.. well they did...they've learned the hard way to not. Pine 5 is my team! I love my team! We have 9 corps members and one team leader, we are all lay back and get a long perfectly! All we do is laugh and laugh together and I love it! We are from all different states California, Georgia, New York, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, and Michigan, so sometimes I do get confused by some slang... but so do they!

I have six other roommates and they are some awesome ladies!!! One of them is from Texas and the other night she was telling us about rodeos and all the events she has done. It seems like at the end of the day we are together and laughing!

Vinton, Iowa is probably one of the smallest towns I have ever been in. It takes about 10 minutes, if we are slow, walking into "downtown" from the campus. Plus everything is closed at 5, and the majority of the time I am done with my training at 5 and then we have dinner, so I haven't been in any stores except the frozen yogurt place (Froyo is apparently another word for frozen yogurt... I tell them they are wrong and they usually laugh). They did how ever have a farmers market in town yesterday and a few of my teammates walked to it (we got lost for a good hour, which I have no idea how we did that, this towns radius is 4x4 miles) and got a few things including same fancy jams!! The residents seem very friendly, but its kind of crazy how they know that you from AmeriCorps. Another fantastic store here is right across the street! WALDO'S!!! though its real name is Alco, but I can never remember that name so I decided to call it Waldo because on the first day people kept on asking where's Alco? and now quite a few of my friends call it now!

My training right now is basically all about what we are going to get trained for the next three weeks and ect. So policies, rules, history of AmeriCorps, technology, our uniforms, and many more.

I apologize for the wait and this entry it's not my best that's for sure, but its hard to find time to write and remember what has been happening here in small town Vinton, Iowa! Tomorrow we will be trying out our new van as we adventure into Cedar Rapids!! P 5 is very excited for a slight change of routine. Well this all for now since my team leader Libby just texted me about a game in one of the lounges!! So here it is, my life in a nutshell! Thank you all and I look forward to any comments, mail, messages, or calls from you!! Love you!

trying to pack