Transition

Traditional AmeriCorps NCCC divides the 10-month service term into 4-6 different rounds. Each round concentrates on working with a different organization and the rounds are separated by a transition week at the base campus. Since FEMA Corps projects depend on something as unpredictable as natural disasters, it doesn't always run so smoothly for us.

The tentative plan was for us to transition in mid-June, but becasue they needed to keep us around a little longer in Oklahoma, about half the teams transitioned at the normal time in Denver, while the other half, my team included, transitioned a few weeks later in Denton, TX. We were bummed that we wouldn't be able to see a lot of our friends, but we were excited to be back in Denton to browse Recycled Bookstore, have a po' boy at Hoochie's, and drink a beergarita at Fuzzy's Tacos just one last time. Plus, what better state to spend the 4th of July in than Texas?

We got to stay at an amazing dorm at the University of North Texas, and after my roomate left mid-week to visit her family back home, I had a giant room all to myself. I realized that it was the first time in 5 months that I had had any substantial amount of time to myself. And, since they gave us a 4-day weekend, it was the first time in over 2 months that I had had over 2 days off (we only had one 2-day weekend in OK, and that was due to weather conditions). For those of you who know me, and know how I need my time to myself on a regular basis, you may be surprised that I haven't lost my mind by now. However, I haven't really had a problem with it. I think spending 4 months in Georgia with endless amounts of free time spent with people I could only communicate with on a 2-year-old level, I'm good on 'me-time' for a while. Once my roommate was gone, I found myself pacing the room, trying to figure out what to do with myself, before finally trying to go find someone to bother.

Transition week was useful. We did team debriefs where we got to learn about the other teams' experiences and got to share ours. We got to air our issues regarding the program with the people in charge, we had career workshops, and they even took us to a Rangers game!

On our free days we hung out in the square and lounged on the beach of Lake Lewisville. It was a good time. And then, too soon, it was time to pack up. It wasn't too hard to leave though, since our next stop was....

NEW YORK CITY!!

 

Well, Long Island, but still....