Update on the first week!

Sorry for the lack of posts since I actually arrived. My laptop won't hook up to the wireless at the moment and the computer lab is ALWAYS full.

Once we arrived in Chicago the airport was full of 18-24 year olds waiting for their departure to Iowa. We departed on a plane that most deemed small until I told them about my 9 passenger plane to Boston. Upon Arrival we were greeted by NCCC Team Leaders who checked us in and boarded us onto the coach bus to Vinton, IA.

As soon as we arrived we were thrown into check in, travel reimbursement, room key pick up, and uniform sizing. The day was jam packed until 10ish when we finally could go to sleep. (Early for me I know)

My roommate is Becky from Florida and we get a long great. Unfortunately for us since we are roommates the chances of us being placed on a team together are unlikely.

The next few days were rather boring. Waking up at 5:30 every day to sit through meetings that we would get spoken to if we feel asleep. The first week will be boring but the fun stuff starts on Monday when we are told our teams.

At the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School (IBSSS) there are actually students who do live on campus in a different area than the NCCC members therefore we do occasionally see them on campus. On the third floor of the Old Main building is the IBSSS Museum. IBSSS has been around since the 1800s and has a very long history. Mary Ingalls (Laura Ingalls sister) was a former student. When we toured the museum we learned a few letters in braille which I found interesting but realized just how complicated it can get when introducing math and foreign languages.

Thursday night a couple of girls and I went into the town of Vinton to explore. Right off the bat we found a stray dog and stood by it until the owner pulled up in her mini van to take him home.

After that we walked into various shops which all had signs in their windows "Welcome to Vinton AmeriCorps NCCC!" This felt great that the entire community was excited and enthused of our arrival.

We found ourselves at Peony's Chinese which is the only restaurant so far that we found in Vinton. It was very inexpensive with a total bill of $27 for the four of us.

We ran into fellow NCCC members there and stopped off at a local bar/restaurant Ron-Da-Voo where the guys grabbed a drink.

Today (Friday) after our introduction to CTI (Corps Training Institute) my group and I ventured to Cedar Rapids where we were shown damage of the flooding from 2008. Afterwards we headed to Target to get some odds and ends that we might need and picked up the remaining items for dinner.

Tonight is the first meal we will cook as it has been catered by the cafeteria since our arrival.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in and do not have our first meeting until 10am! This is the result of some Corps members taking a pack test at 5:30am for firefighting teams.

That is all for now

XoXo

-Katy-