Boy, is it sunny in California!

Hello friends! I know I said I would get this out sooner, I wanted to get this out soon, but alas, here we are, October 15, a full 2 weeks since my safe arrival in Sac-town, and here's my first blog entry. There's a lot here, and it may not be incredibly specific or interesting, but there you have it. I hope to be better about blogging when I'm actually on a spike, but we'll see. :o)

I safely arrived in Sacramento on Monday, and we have jumped right into the fun stuff: paperwork and policies. :o) But really, the campus seems great and the people are really friendly. We're started off in temporary teams [pods] while we went through the first phase of training, officially known as CTI (Corps Training Institute). I am now with my official team, which is awesome. My team leader spent several summers working at Camp Courageous in Monticello, Iowa, which is a camp similar to Camp Sunnyside, which I spent 3 lovely summers working at. So it's really great to have that connection. My other team members seems to be friendly and excited about serving, so I think it's going to be a good year. Honestly, the transition from pod to team was a little tough for a lot of corps members, but I think I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with my team now, so I have high hopes. :o)

Today I actually had physical training (PT) orientation, so tomorrow is my first day of actually PT. I'll tell you the truth, I'm not exactly looking forward to it. Tomorrow we do our baseline test, so it's sit-ups for 2 minutes (full sit-ups, none of those pansy crunches), push-ups for 2 minutes (same story: no push-ups on your knees, these are full-out, back straight, 90 degree angle monsters), and a timed 1.5 mile run. So, yes, not exactly looking forward to all this at 5:30 am, but I'm going to try to keep a positive attitude...somehow. Let's at least hope that I come out of this whole experience with some buff arms, eh?

Let's see...I currently don't have a roommate, and no news yet about whether she's coming late, or just not coming at all. However, the dorms are set up similar to the Manors at Wartburg, if you're familiar with that -- two rooms have a common bathroom in between. So, while I don't have a roommate, my 'suite-ies' are very friendly and have included me, so I'm not feeling too lonesome yet. Plus, I have been able to make friends within my team, my pod, and just other friendly faces on the floor. Additionally, I didn't realize until I got here how much I had gotten used to and really appreciated having my own personal space and alone time. I'm actually incredibly pleased to not have a roommate, and at this point, I'm hoping my luck will hold. Quick note: For those of you who have lived with me and understand how well I function in the morning, I have warned my team and suitemates about about my inability to get up in the morning, so they’ve been helping me out. Although I would like to say that I did get up on my own for PT this morning. I just doubt that I can make that 5:30am a regular habit.

There does seem to be so much more that I could say, but I know this post is sufficiently long enough for now. Since I do have an official team, I do have an official mailing address. I sent out an email with that, but if I inadvertently left you off, please let me know. I would love to get mail from anyone and everyone! :o) Ooh, and I'll try to get some pictures...eventually.

Missing everyone bunches and I hope everyone is doing well!

Peace,
Emily