We made it! End of CTI, Johnson flood, and Memphis



Rachel, Sam, Margaret, and I before Induction sporting the AmeriTux



Reporting live from Memphis, TN!  This week brought the end of CTI.  We are officially trained and ready to take on America.  Monday brought us to Induction Day.  This ceremony was so nice.  We got to listen to many speakers and recite the pledge to become official members of AmeriCorps.  It was a long 4 weeks, but I am so glad I made it.



Sunset over the Mississippi River.



Tuesday was a bitter sweet day.  We had a few things to do around campus, but mainly it was used to say bye to the friends who have quickly become family in 4 short weeks.  I have made some of the best friends here that aren't on River 10 with me.  These people were the hardest to say bye to.  I am extremely thankful that Sam, one of my best friends here, is on my team.  However, the third musketeer, Rachel, is on a different River team.  The three of us spent Tuesday hanging out and going to one of Vicksburg's finest eating establishments, Whataburger, for dinner. (totally kidding about finest, it's fast food)  Once that beautiful moment was over, I went with my old River 10 team from week one to watch the sunset on the Mississippi River.  This was the first full circle moment for me while being in Mississippi.  This was my first team as I got to campus and they were the people I got to spend my last night in Vicksburg for 6 weeks with.  It was so nice to talk about the 4 weeks of CTI with the ten people I started it with.  Once I got back to campus it was time to pack.  My little red bag had to fit EVERY piece of uniform, PT clothes, and leisure clothes.  This was a struggle.  While hanging with my friends we heard a gush of water from the hall.  Then we saw water trickling into our dorm room.  What do you know, a pipe burst in Johnson Hall, my new dorm.  Needless to say, my last night which was supposed to be saying bye to friends, was spent with a shop vac, mops, brooms, and towels trying to clean the mess.  Have no fear, I survived the Johnson Hall Flood of 2012.



Me and Sam.



Wednesday morning brought on Christmas morning feelings.  River 10 was heading to Memphis!  We piled into Scooter our 15p van for our 5 hour drive.  Before we parted our ways, we said our last tearful goodbye's to some close friends who we all have decided to write, call, and skype.  Once that emotional morning was over it was Memphis bound!  We got to our site for work around 2pm.  We sang, laughed, slept, and cruised at a speed of 65 mph the whole way.  Our site sponsor is VECA, Vollinteen Evergreen Community Association.  VECA was created to improve communication and strenghten resident relations within biracial neighborhoods. Our sponsor, Michael, is awesome.  He is a recent graduate from Rhodes College in Memphis and is pumped to be working with us.  For them, we are going to be improving their Green Line which is a natural trail outside.  We are also helping to repair affordable housing and the office/Welcome center of VECA.  They have us also in charge of an Art Walk festival.  We are going to be planning the event and picking spots for all vendors and booths.  There are also 3 co-sponsors of this SPIKE.  One co-sponsor is the First Congregational Church, which is actually connected to our hostel.  We will be doing maintenance of the outside and inside of the church.  Another sponsor is Memphis Heritage Inc.  For this sponsor we will be helping them for 3 days by doing prep work for their big yard sale fundraiser.  The contact woman, is the best.  She told us to call her our Memphis Mom.  She wants to get us tickets to baseball games, the Civil Rights Museum and anything in Memphis.  Our last sponsor is one I am particularly the most excited about.  They are called the Memphis Center for Independent Living.  For this project we are working with the center to improve their outdoor garden and patio.  We also may be building handicap ramps.  I am most excited because 51% of the staff at MCIL are individuals with disabilities.  Today on our tour we met all of the staff and I am so excited.  We get to interact with these individuals and I was crawling out of my skin with excitement.  I felt right in my element in this building.  I really am so excited to be living in this unbelievable hostel and getting to know David, Terrel, Chris, Lannise, Jamie, Sam, Johnny, John, Andrea, and our fearless Team Leader Beste, aka River 10, a lot more.  We are bonding really well and our home here in Memphis is awesome.  Me and my teammate John are in charge of PT for our team so we are running them to the ground.  I also am Assistant Team Leader this round so I have much more responsibility.  I am excited about that.  An AmeriCorps requirement is that along with our 1,700 hours of community service by graduation, we need to do 80 additional Individual Service Project hours.  But, we lucked out.  Our hostel has about 3 or 4 places we can do ISP hours at, and we did 2 hours tonight already.  I can feel this is going to be a good SPIKE!



ISP bike shop work.



So that's it from Memphis.  I am really happy that I am here with my team in this unbelievable city.  Also there are 3 Dunkin' Donuts here that my teammate Jamie and I are excited about.  I will be doing a lot of walking around the city on our days off (Sunday and Monday) to get acclimated with the place. 

More to come when we really start getting our hands dirty as we walk in Memphis everyday!