"It feels like we've been here forever."

but it's only been 5 days.

Today was our first day off. And surprisingly, we needed it. It's tough adjusting to an incredibly busy and early schedule. So what to 300 some odd 18-24 year-olds do with their first day off?

Some went to San Fransisco.

Some did laundry and slept in.

Some played team sport after team sport.

Some ran errands and caught up with friends and family back home.

I went to church.

Saw Where The Wild Things Are with my Pod

Prepared for the Interfaith Youth Conference I'm presenting at next week.

and came back to play a game of Capture The Flag!

That's right, just as I pulled up, I saw 50 kids congregating in the parking lot discussing the rules. "Nikole, capture the flag, NOW! " yelled Alex as I drove up. I immediately dropped off my stuff, threw on some yoga pants and a hoodie and ran outside. It was during the middle of running around frantically in the dark trying not to get tagged that I came up with today's thought.

This isn't like college, this is like summer camp.

It's a good thing I LOVED summer camp!

I thought about spending some time catching up with friends, but it just didn't happen today (they can however, read this blog and know that I AM thinking about them). To be honest, I'm not sure how to properly explain my life here. I'm loving every minute of it. Even the parts I "complain" about. In fact, I love it so much that it makes me not want to talk about it, because just like summer camp, I know NCCC isn't for everybody.

Yeah, I wake up ridiculously early. I have physical training at 5:30 in the morning. I eat PB&J for lunch, and I'm in training sessions from 8-5pm. I have a social family style dinner, and attempt to hit the hay by 9pm to do it all again. And even when I think I'm doubting what I'm doing, someone re-affirms my being here.

Today it was a woman in church who responded "Oh good, because our community certainly needs help!" in the most earnest way possible, when I told her about what I'm doing and what NCCC is.

Today might have been a "day off" but I'm always representing AmeriCorps NCCC and I couldn't be happier about it.

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Your's in LFS