The Final Conclusion

It has been two weeks and I think I'm ready for a final wrap up. This will be the last post in this blog because it is time to move forward in my life story. I read back to my beginning posts and was so surprised to see how much I loved what I was doing, it's weird for me to see the progression of my feelings for the program throughout the year. It's also really easy to see that moment when I became so very fed up with the program and it's easily seen my attempts to enjoy it again. I don't really know what more I can say about the program itself so instead for my big ol' of a wrap up I'm going to steal a bit from Jen Horan, Raven Unit Leader extraordinaire.

I Have Learned.....
I Have Learned that over 10 months you truly learn how to appreciate the little things. Second helpings of dinner, an apply for lunch, 5 minutes of silence.
I Have Learned that inspirational people are everywhere.
I Have Learned that I never want to live with 10 people ever again, you know how awful it is to share one kitchen and bathroom?
I Have Learned that a 15-P van feels like a short bus for adults.
I Have Learned that headphones may without a doubt be the best invention ever.
I Have Learned to always wear your seatbelt.
I Have Learned the reason why you call them family.
I Have Learned that there are people dedicated to making a difference and changing the world.
I Have Learned that no one understands the Big 10 unless they live the Big 10.
I Have Learned that pulling weeds sucks and I will make sure to hire a gardener whenever I own my own house.
I Have Learned that drinking and then attempting to work at 7:30 the next morning in the summer sun may kill you, or at least make you pass out on a sidewalk during lunch.
I Have Learned, most importantly, that regardless of how much I hated things and how much bullshit there was that there were things I absolutely loved about this past year. Be that people or places or experiences, and without a doubt I would not take those away for one second because where would I be at this point without them.

So to my Raven 5 family; I love you, I miss you, and no really actually I hate you and your smelly selves. To my roommates; thank you so much for the sanity you provided me every transition. To the many other wonderful people I was able to meet and become friends with; we may meet again and we may not but thank you for the moments that you gave.

In closing (I will display my incredible level of nerd); "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light"- Albus Dumbledore

The End.

So after 10 long months, days of shitty work, 9 people that may have drove me crazy on a regular basis (who weirdly I love dearly), I am officially done. My AmeriCorps year is complete, finito, over, dunzo. Have I fully processed this? According to everyone I probably haven't and won't for a few weeks but I believe I've been processing this for months.

What to say about AmeriCorps? It was sometimes hell; living, breathing hell. You have someone constantly controlling your daily life, planning your schedule, telling you when to sleep, eat, speak, work. Other times it was the most amazing experience in the world, I spent time with people I began to call my family. We fought, laughed, (some) cried. They were there to bring you up when you were down and set you on the right path. I met incredible individuals within this program, I truly believe many will do wonderful things with their lives and I do hope that I can stay a part of many of their futures in whatever way possible.

Do I understand the impact I have had? Well if you look at the "statistics" apparently it has been a lot. I know the reality, I know what I have accomplished, what this program has accomplished and I know what has been left behind.

Would I do it again? No, I would not. It was no where near the stress I dealt with for 10 months. It is also not something that I believe was truly challenging for a 23 year old college graduate.

There are things that without a doubt I would like to have changed about this year, but I also gained a lot of experiences that I never would have. I saw the East Coast, I traveled, I helped tornado victims, I built houses. At least for part of these 10 months I made an impact, but I do believe above anything else that there needs to be some changes to make this program effective and self sustaining.

All I know is I left different and with a lovely group of individuals who I call family. Good luck to you Class 17, the potential we have to change society is great see to it that you actually do this.

The Raven Unit

Raven 5 at the awards banquet

Me, Hunter, and Kiera

Me and Ella

Josh, me, and DJ

POD 6

Dennys Night

AmeriProm

More AmeriProm

Full Circle

We have officially come full circle, the AmeriCorps year will be complete in exactly 1 week. How quick time flies. The last few weeks in Habitat were great, it was such a fantastic project with really great people. We managed in our time there to help complete the second story of phase one in Millstone and the first story of phase two. It was a lot of progress to make and it was pretty impressive to see.

We have now almost completed our last week of hours. How great is that, I'll be home next week Thursday and I'm so very happy about it. This week has just been a normal transition week except a few extra things since we have to turn in a bunch of stuff. Tonight is also Ameri-prom or Ameri-corpse, yup zombie themed. Basically this weekend will be full of packing and going out with everyone here for a last hurrah. See all ya'll next week :]

Trusses in phase 2

Phase 1

phase 2

Me and Ella decking

Team at the CCC event

The team and Wilmington Habitat Staff

Halloween

As the year winds down

Well I'm officially almost done with my AmeriCorps year, crazy huh? I have to say as our last project working with Habitat for Humanity here in Wilmington, DE has been absolutely wonderful. The amount of things that we get to learn and work on is incredible, and the opportunity to lead volunteers has been such a great experience. I mean where else would I learn how to put up walls or what shaft liner and sheething are. I have absolutely no complaints about this project whatsoever, it has so far been a wonderful experience. The individuals we get to work with are fantastic and really it's just a great project. I really wish AmeriCorps would include more projects like this, it is not very often that you are able to learn so many new skills as well as work with other volunteers in a leadership position.

Anyway all we have left is a week and a half here at Habitat and I have to say I wish we had been here longer. The exciting thing is I'll be home in 25 days! Although I still do not have a job so I'm just stressing a bit over that. Oh well, here's some pictures!

The purple stuff is shaft liner

Phase 1

Phase 2

The team!

DJ and I with Vance Worley from the Phillies

Sheething

Habitat is amazing

So I have to say I love our project, absolutely every single bit of it. Our site supervisors and sponsor is fantastic, the work we're doing is great, the housing while a tad cramped really isn't bad. Overall I have to say I'm just really enjoying what we're doing. So far I've learned how to install breaker clips, worked on some house framing, put up tyvec and siding, and done some demo. It's just going really well. Next week we're switching up groups so it looks like I'll have a chance to work on second story house framing which I'm pretty pumped about. That's really all, anyway here's some pictures.

Caulking in Camden

Putting walls together

The team after we put together two walls

Installing breaker clips

Pulling walls out

The start of the new houses

Installing siding

We finally have a project

Our team finally has a legitimate project for fourth round, after almost 4 weeks. We started out in Massachusetts on a project that did not have enough work for us, we then got pulled back to the Point being told we would be going to Harrisburgh, PA to work with FEMA and then that fell through. Then after our team leader found us an incredible sponsor through Habitat Camden we were then told we weren't allowed to continue there due to procedural issues. So finally after an entire month our team will be heading to Wilmington, Delaware to work with Newcastle County Habitat for Humanity.

I am excited, we do get to finally have a solid project with Habitat which I know I personally and the rest of my team have wanted since day 1. The unfortunate aspect of all of this is what it took to get us here and the fact that we had found a wonderful Habitat to work for in Camden. It's been incredibly stressful and tiring having to drive an hour and a half to and from work everyday and just very disappointing knowing that we put all this work in with Habitat Camden and are not able to stay with them. I am truly hoping this project is very well planned out and goes well for our team because that never seems to happen. So I'm hoping we finish strong and have a good end to the year. 47 days. Here's some pictures.

Me painting

The team and Habitat workers at the site

The team outside Habitat Camden

Switching up the projects

So our fourth round project is about to change, we've been working with Springfield Longterm Recovery the past week and are leaving tomorrow. The project had the premise of being very good and organized but the group is just not ready to have a team here, there is just not enough work scheduled for us to do. Instead we are leaving tomorrow and have no idea what we're doing. Potentially we're going to be going to Delaware to work at a state park building a boardwalk for a week then heading to Pennsylvania, or depending on how the meeting went with the JFO in Pennsylvania we may be going there right away. Basically we have no idea, flying by the seat of our pants. Oh well, I'll update when we find out. Here's some pictures.

The team hanging out

Matt lifting large logs