Month 8: Japan Debrief / End of School Year

Sushi Go Round
View from Landmark Tower, tallest building in Japan (Yokohama)

Sagamihara Park

Sagamihara Park

I just reread my last journal post, which was written pre-Japan and right during Fall semester midterms. I'm now post-Japan, into my second semester, and gearing up for the last week of school. So clearly some time has passed.

I can't possibly recall all of my memories from Japan, so I will settle for posting a few pictures. I didn't get to do as much sight-seeing as I would have liked due to Jill's pregnancy ailments, but the parts of the country and culture that I did get to see were beautiful. Even though there was some squabbling during the week (to put it lightly) it was wonderful to have an opportunity to visit Jill and I miss her and Cliff both very much. I am tremendously grateful that she has a US phone number now so that I can call her weekly. We also both contribute to a joint recipe blog, so if you're interested: http://www.reciperendezvous.blogspot.com/.

I will summarize the end of my Fall semester by saying that grades went very well. I didn't realize at the time how incredibly Spring loaded (no pun intended) my assitantship programs were going to be, so upon returning to FSU in January, I was in for a rude awakening...

January highlights:
-Multiple nights at the Center for Leadership and Civic Education compiling scholarship review packets until the WEE hours of the morning
-A speeding ticket at 7AM for 9 MILES OVER THE LIMIT (that is laughable in Atlanta...LAUGHABLE) when I was going to get Chick-fil-a biscuits for 40 students for an overnight program
-I'm a full-fledged challenge course facilitator (low ropes and high ropes)
-Multiple trips to the condo in Destin (so much more convenient driving from Tallahassee than it is from Atlanta!)

February ---
-Threw my shoulder out in a batting cage at FunZone when a friend made a snide remark about John Smoltz
-Volunteered for the Institute on College Student Values and met some great people in the student affairs field
-Recruited the next batch of FSU Higher Ed shining stars, including another Bulldawg :)

March --
-Visited Laura, Kathryn, Chris, et al in Denver, Colorado for Spring Break

April --
-Applied for a summer internship program to work at the University of the West Indies-Mona in Kingston, Jamaica
-Starting a directed independent study which will explore how institutional culture influences practices in collegiate sportsmanship
-Went to the Braves home opener as part of a fun weekend getaway in Atlanta
-Currently planning two graduation ceremonies; one for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, one for the Higher Ed program
-Also currently on crutches due to an ankle sprain from a softball game. I kid you not.

I get to turn in my last academic assignment for the semester this afternoon. We've got LeaderShape coming up in two weeks. I can't wait for summer.

That was the quick and dirty version of my spring semester. I hope to make more regular updates soon.

Month 3: Midterm

Florida State Football

The roommate and I at a skating rink...yeah, there's not a lot to do in Tallahassee...

I think it's time to stop counting by weeks and start counting by months. I can't believe it's been two months since my last update. I am in a completely different place than I was in the third week of school. I don't even know where to begin...

Class --

Classes are going well. We just finished up midterms. Other than the 3 hour time blocks, I've really enjoyed my classes because I understand the purpose behind everything that we do. Everything is very practical and I appreciate that immensely. My favorite class is probably Basic Principles of Higher Education. We discuss the history of higher ed (satisfying my inner historian), management and administration, mission and organizational culture, students, faculty, policy, etc. I'm really interested in the development of institutional missions and how universities market themselves.

Assistantship --

The assistantship is going very well. I have formed many wonderful relationships with my coworkers and students. I'm currently working on compiling research from other institutions on service scholarship programs, promoting program applications, and advising ABC and other various student needs. We've really been pushing civic engagement this month, and yesterday we executed a flash mob in the Union: https://admin2k.fsu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/33531339.html

Mentoring --

I am FINALLY starting to see my efforts pay off in mentoring. My athletes have been wonderful this month. They've really started opening up to me, they're making progress in their classes, and I've started looking forward to going to work. I went to a swim meet a few weeks ago to support one of my athletes and had a blast. It's also a lot of fun watching my football players on Saturdays.

FSU Challenge --

Job #3! We had Challenge Course facilitator training a few weeks ago, so within the next few months I'll be working with groups to facilitate team building, trust, leadership, cooperation, problem solving, etc.. Our course is located at the FSU Reservation (Rez) and it's beautiful. Take a look: http://fsu.campusrec.com/challenge/

Other life updates:

-Went to UGA/Bama in September. I loved reconnecting with UGA and I may or may not have shed a few tears during the Munson video. I'm going to UGA/FL this weekend and I cannot wait, although I have enjoyed FSU's success as of late as well. Supporting two teams means I get to invest myself in twice as much football.

-My friend Christine and I took a sailing clinic last week at Lake Bradford. Now we can throw out sailing terminology such as "jib boom" and "daggerboard" and sound like we know what we're talking about. We do. Kind of.

-Sunday night potluck dinners are still a weekly occurrence. We recently had a "North vs. South" dinner that ended in a travesty (the North won). Next week is "Asian" which is fitting as I will be leaving for Japan on Tuesday...

-Intramural flag football season just ended. I played with teams that are run out of the Wesley Foundation and I absolutely loved it. Softball season just started up and I wore my "Big Johnsons" jersey to our first game in honor of the VC glory days.

-I was able to visit Lauren Cole (formerly Popienko) this weekend in Valdosta. Her new baby, Carter, is 4 months old and absolutely precious. This weekend was probably the first extended period of time that I've spent with a baby in about 10 years. It'll be good practice for when I become an aunt in May.

-Jill is pregnant. Due May 21st.

-I'm visiting Jill in Japan next week. I'll take lots of pictures.

I will *try* and update soon after I return from Japan. Working for the airline this summer is clearly still paying off :)

Weeks 11-13: School Starts + Return to the Vineyard

This update is actually a duplicate of an email I sent to my MVY coworkers. Sorry if some of the information is repeated from last update.

According to my new driver's license, I am now officially a resident of the state of Florida. My program is making me become a resident so that I get in-state tuition, which means in turn that they only have to pay in-state tuition on my behalf. Guess that's the price you pay when you're getting a tuition waiver and a job...

I have been in Tallahassee for just over 3 weeks. I started my assistantship in FSU's Center for Leadership and Civic Education on August 8th. The "Center" just moved into a HUGE brand new building. It's great. I have my own little "pod". So much more than a cubicle, so much less than an office. My 20 student cohort comes from all corners of the US. Two of us from the state of Georgia (other girl graduated from Emory in 07). We're both huge fans of the Dawgs, so we've started plotting our secret alternative football roadtrip schedule. There are a few students from New England that are trying to get me to say "Mahtha's Vineyed" correctly. The transition from UGA to FSU was pretty seamless because I felt like I had a ton of friends within my first week. That's the beauty of a cohort. We saw comedian Greg Giraldo (of Comedy Central's 'Roast' series) last Friday and he was a riot. We've also rekindled the tradition of Sunday night potluck dinners.

At work last week we hosted the "Service Leadership Seminar" or SLS. The program provides an opportunity for incoming freshmen to learn about community service and leadership. The seminar includes community service projects, workshops, speakers, interaction with current campus leaders, teambuilding, cheers, ropes courses, the True Colors leadership inventory...etc. Basically the stuff my dreams are made of. And the theme this year is "pirates". Must be fate.

We also hosted the orientation for the CLCE Service Scholars. These students are selected based on merit to be part of a prestigious group of students committed to service learning. They have some pretty phenomenal stories and I have the pleasure of mentoring one of them.

Furthermore, we've been prepping for the Social Justice Living-Learning Community (SJLLC). According to the website:

The SJLLC is designed for students of all majors who desire to understand and practice social justice. Approximately 40 first-year students are members of this supportive, inclusive community. Sharing time and space with others who have similar passions and values will encourage these students to establish lasting relationships and provide them with the opportunity to work with others. Together they will live, learn, and explore social activism, social change, and the philosophical foundations of justice.

I spent last week finding service projects for these students and preparing for their weekend retreat in Americus, GA (home of Jimmy Carter). I would have gone on the retreat had I not already committed to working at the Vineyard over Labor Day. I'm also TA-ing their colloquium course.

Lastly, I needed another part-time job with flexible hours, so I applied to mentor FSU athletes. A few 2nd year students in my program have done it and really enjoyed the experience. I'm excited about it. In October I'm also getting certified to facilitate low and high ropes challenge courses. Just seemed like something I might eventually end up doing. I also hope to be competing in the NASPA case study in October. I'm staying busy.

Oh, and classes--I'm taking 9 hours (3 classes) and I've chosen Program Evaluation as my minor. So far I really like my classes and professors (granted, we've only met once), but I think it's going to be a great semester.
__________
Now I'm back on the Vineyard to work Labor Day weekend with a few coworkers from the summer. It's great to be back, but we had a beast of a time getting up here:
1) After my colloquium ended on Thursday night, I caught an 8:10 flight (barely) from Tallahassee to Charlotte. My first flight was delayed, so I had to break out into a dead sprint to make my connection in Charlotte. I feel like I sprint a lot in airports, but this one definitely takes the cake.
2) We flew into DC around 11:30 pm. Kari's brother Kevin (also a UGA grad and Colgan employee) picked us up and we stayed the night at his place.
3) We woke up at 4:30, took the DC metro to the airport, and caught a 6:30 shuttle to Boston.
4) This is where the trouble begins. We get to Boston's airport and go to check in with Cape Air, the other air carrier that flies into the Vineyard. Whoever booked our reservation forgot to book us as positive space, which means that we are guaranteed a seat on a flight, and unfortunately all of the flights were booked for the remainder of the day.
5) The three of us had to take a 2 hour bus ride to Hyannis, on the Cape, with the intention of taking a ferry to the island. The bus was oversold, so it was packed with people spilling out into the aisles. Terrific.
6) We get to the transit center in Hyannis, and walk to the airport. Fortunately there was a 4:30 flight to the Vineyard with availability, so basically it took us an additional 7 hours + alternate modes of transportation to make it up here.

We'll be working until Monday when it's back to the Tallahassee grind. Next update will include FSU football!

Week 10: Welcome to Tallahassee

I will probably cease my "weekly" updates soon as I am no longer living the life of a jet-setter, but I will try and continue to post whenever I have any major news. I feel like moving to another state, starting another job, and starting a new degree all merit a journal post.

Of all things to leave on the island, I managed to get away without my camera, so we'll have to wait until I go back for Labor Day to reclaim it.

So...the big move to Tallahassee. Where to begin...

We'll start with the day before the move. I flew back from Martha's Vineyard on the 2:00 jet to DC, and for fear of not having my checked bags make an earlier connection, I scheduled myself for an 8:45 flight into Atlanta. As soon as the plane landed at Reagan International, I made the game time decision to take an earlier flight (about 5 minutes to connect between flights), and so I made it back to Atlanta by about 5:30. Unfortunately my bags did not. Dad picked me up and we drove back home to Marietta, where I grabbed a quick dinner with the fam before getting back on the road to drive to Athens, drop off my old house key, pick up a few items, and drive back to Atlanta to collect my bags which had just arrived. Made a few trips between the car and baggage claim, and made it back to Marietta around midnight. If only I had taken MARTA, I could have claimed travel by planes, trains, and automobiles...

The next day, I slept in with the intention of being on the road by early afternoon, thinking (foolishly) that I can pack in 2 hours. What a joke. Fast forward to 5:00PM, after a few panic attacks and enormous amounts of frustration, I finally get on the road in my mom's vehicle (which I have lovingly dubbed the "GRT" for Giant Redneck Truck) and begin the 5 hour drive to Tallahassee. Thank goodness for GPS. Without it I probably would have never made it to my new apartment.

I roll into my complex around 10:00PM. It's pretty dark, so I can't see much, but from what I can see, the place looks old. OLD. I was starting to second guess my decision to sign a lease until I got inside. My roommate (Megan) and I are leasing from twins that own the town home and just graduated from FSU. They were nice enough to leave the whole place completely furnished (complete with kitchenware and cooking supplies---nice!). All of the rooms are painted, we have a front and back porch, an attic, a shed, 3 linen closets, 10,000 square feet of workout space, an Olympic size swimming pool, 8 full length basketball courts, 10 racquetball courts, 2 squash courts, and a partridge in a pear tree. (For those of you that missed the humor, a few of those are a reference to my former UGA campus tour---can't let the dream die).

The complex itself is less than 10 minutes from campus. We are supposedly on the "undergraduate" side of Tallahassee, but our complex doesn't have any undergraduates because the units are for purchase, not lease. I joke around and tell people that we basically live in a retirement home because everyone is considerably older than us, but we love it! It's safe and quiet--can't ask for more than that. The neighbors are very friendly--especially "Fancy". Fancy is super sweet, but she's basically the living embodiment of Magda from "There's Something About Mary" --even down to the miniature dog, Budreau. She's great. What a character.

I am physically unable to leave boxes unpacked overnight, so I was up until the wee hours of the morning getting *completely* settled in to my room. I'll post pictures eventually. The next morning, Megan invited me to join her and cousin Katie (visiting from Atlanta) on a kayaking trip down the Wakulla River. What a great introduction to Tallahassee! The river was beautiful and full of wildlife. We saw turtles, egrets, an otter, and 3 alligators! There are also manatees in the river, but we didn't have a chance to see any on this trip. When I retold the story to Mama G, she totally freaked out when I got to the part about the alligators. Further research indicates that the Wakulla River has been the site of a handful of alligator attacks, so I will probably refrain from kayaking with my feet dangling over the edge of my vessel next time...

The next day was my official first day of my new assistantship. I am working in FSU's Center for Leadership and Civic Education, which is basically the FSU equivalent of UGA's Center for Leadership and Service (or Student Leadership Center depending on when you graduated). I have a programming assistantship, so I will be working directly with the Leadership Program Coordinator, Carrie Tucker (my awesome supervisor) to oversee programs like Leadershape, the Social Justice Learning Community, Lead-ins at the Rez, etc. I was only on campus for a few hours, mostly filling out paperwork, but Carrie was nice enough to take me around to get set up with my student ID card, bank account, building keys, and show me the brand new Student Success Building, where our Center and the Career Center will be moving on Monday. The new building is beautiful--I feel spoiled that my assistantship has landed me there! Carrie and I spent some time discussing what I wanted to accomplish this year, and I was thrilled when she asked me to serve as the coordinator for LeaderShape. I am really excited about working with the other programs as well, especially since I have no prior experience with any of them, but obviously LeaderShape has a special place in my heart :)

I used the rest of my free afternoon to do some minor exploration of campus by way of running. From the doorstep of my town home to campus is about a 20 minute run, which is great. I was feeling pretty ambitious, so I thought I'd go for an hour run on campus, however I did not take into account that 95 degree weather plus Florida humidity is not the same as 70 degree weather and an island breeze. Big whoops.

The Higher Ed program had a social at Po Boy's in downtown Tallahassee that night, so it was a great opportunity to reconnect with people in my cohort and meet new students. I love the people in my cohort. I am so lucky to be able to move to a brand new city and feel like I already have a ton of friends. We went over to a fellow student's apartment (she's a GA for housing, so we were actually in a residence hall---nice!) to watch the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics before calling it a night.

Which brings me to today. Nothing too exciting happened other than I was able to locate a fantastic park about 8 miles away from my complex that has tons of running trails. Basically my initial take on Tallahassee is that it is the environmentalist's dream: dozens of parks, tons of green space. It's great. The "downtown" area has got a small-town feel just like Athens. Everything is convenient. As I am living so close to campus, it'll be a very easy bike ride. And I love living in a city that is so conscientious of it's wildlife.

Despite the cold feet prior to the move, I'm so glad to be here and I'm expecting a great year. I apologize for the lack of pictures. As soon as I get my camera back...

Week 9: Wrapping up on the Vineyard

Typical MVY airport sunset

The Team (minus Katie Ryan and Michael)

"So no one told you life was gonna be this way..." Chef Kevin and our live lobsters

Ladies of Team US Airways MVY

Once again, I have become negligent in my weekly updates. My last week on the island was very relaxed. The girls had planned a trip to the Grand Canyon/Las Vegas, but due to 4 (4???) flight cancellations the day prior to our departure, we had to postpone (cancel, rather) the trip so that we could stay and help out the office. Our help was definitely needed. With our free days off, Kari, Emily, and I made a few trips to the beach, window shopped in Edgartown, went out in Oak Bluffs with other airport employees, and biked around the island one more time. I realized that it had been since early June that I actually spent one of my days off work on the island instead of flying, so it was nice to have a few days to enjoy it. We had a little shindig at the house to celebrate a few birthdays and unofficially close out the summer. Over the past few weeks, Team US Airways (us) has become really close with several other airport employees, particularly those that work for Cape Air, TSA (security), and General Aviation. Working for the airline industry has so many ups and downs, and the employees at our airport definitely watch each other's backs. I love it. I sincerely enjoyed spending time with them and I feel like I'm leaving the island with some great new friendships. Kevin Ewalt also came up to visit (after taking planes, trains, and automobiles to get here) and it was so nice to have a friend from home up on the island. We cooked lobster on my last night on the island. It was awesome.

The friendships that I built with my immediate coworkers (US Airways) mean so much to me. It was really hard for me to leave the island. I have been very fortunate to have had an opportunity to work such an amazing summer job with people who have been great influences on me. I can't wait to go back next summer.

And thus ends the first chapter of Kellie's post graduation adventures.

Next phase: Life in Tallahassee--coming soon...

Week 8: ATL/Saint Simon's Island

SSI High Ropes Course

Beach Challenge

AHA Softball Showdown

I have become negligent in my weekly updates. I took the 20th-26th off work in order to chaperon American Heritage Academy's Cross Country's annual training trip to Epworth by the Sea on Saint Simon's Island, GA. I was able to fly into Atlanta the night of the 19th (after rerouting myself about 3 times due to booked flights) and spent the next day with the Gerbers clan. Jill and Cliff left for Japan on the 25th, so Sunday was my last day on the continental US with my sister and brother-in-law for the next three years.

I left the morning of the 21st for the running camp. A little background on AHA:

AHA is a very small private school (k-12) in Canton, GA. My former softball coach at Lassiter, Coach Rein, transferred from LHS to AHA about 6 years ago in order to take over their athletic program and become their head basketball and cross country coach. The XC team contains both middle and high school students, and the camp is limited to the first 15 students that register, so I was helping coach students as young as 12 and as old as 17.

I've participated in AHAXC programs since my senior year of high school, and I've helped chaperon this trip for the past three summers. I absolutely love the students at AHA and the camp is a blast. It's been really fun to watch some of these students grow up and start college. The structure of the camp is very different than my LHSXC training trips from back in the dark ages when I was in high school. Rather than focusing our week on logging an insane amount of mileage, AHAXC uses the camp to encourage teambuilding. We ran once or twice a day, and spent our free time playing ultimate frisbee, kickball, going to the beach, etc. We also spent a day doing a low/high ropes course. Overall, it was really nice to replace a week's worth of airport labor with a week devoted to running.

Week 7: Back on the Vineyard/NYC Round II

I'm posting back-to-back entries because I was delayed in updating about my trip to London due in part to the mass amounts chaos and tomfoolery that took place while at Heathrow. So now I'm back on track, and sadly this week was far more tame and not nearly as interesting as last week, but I couldn't deny my devoted readers (ha!) an update.

I flew Mama and Papa G up for the weekend for a short vacation on the island as part of their Mother's Day/Father's Day/birthday gifts (all 4 of these holidays fall within a 4 week period). I was thrilled to have them up to the Vineyard, however, I missed half of their trip because I was stranded on the other side of the Atlantic. The one day that we did have together was spent driving from one end of the island to the other, showing my parents all of the great sights and amenities that the Vineyard offers vacationers. We had great weather, so we spent most of the day outside on the beach and walking along the harbor. We grabbed lunch in Aquinnah on top of the cliffs, ice cream in Oak Bluffs, and dinner at the Newes in Edgartown (my favorite restaurant). I enjoyed showing off the famed Gingerbread houses in OB, and we stopped into Murray's Toggery Shop in Edgartown to buy my Nantucket Reds, only to find out that I've since moved up a pant size since the last time I was in the store (great), and the correct size had to be shipped from Nantucket. If you don't know what Nantucket Reds are, either ask Kevin Ewalt or direct yourself to this site: http://www.nantucketreds.com/.

Mom and Dad left the following Monday, I worked 12 hours on Tuesday, and Wednesday (yesterday), I was off again to NYC to catch a live taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I called up Brendan Wright (who is working in NYC this summer and staying in the NYU dorms) earlier in the week to see if he'd be interested in joining me, and the two of us spent yesterday afternoon at 30 Rockafeller Center being entertained by Conan, Seth Green, Russell Brand (the English rocker from Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and Eugene Merman (a comedian from Flight of the Conchords). The show was hilarious. The episode aired last night and will be posted on http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/video/episodes.shtml by tomorrow. Russell Brand was a riot. We laughed during the entire interview. I would seriously fly into New York three times a week to watch the show if NBC would let me request tickets more than once every six months.

Brendan and I killed a few hours shopping on 5th, grabbed dinner at Goodburger (yum), and spent the rest of the evening recooping from our exhausting day in front of the TV (it was the season premiere of Project Runway Season 5 so naturally I had to watch it), and yes, we also watched Conan. This morning we woke up at 5:30, rented a ZipCar (which, I might add, is the greatest concept ever: http://www.zipcar.com/) to drive to LaGuardia, and now I'm back on the Vineyard for another full day of work. My life is fun.

I leave Sunday to return to Georgia to join my former Lassiter HS softball coach as we chaperone American Heritage Academy's annual week long cross country camp on St. Simons Island. Upon my return I'll have about one more week left of work at the airport. I can't believe summer is almost over. I start my assistantship at FSU on August 8th, so keep your fingers crossed that the US Airways operation at the Tallahassee Airport agrees to hire me because after a summer of nonstop travel the thought of losing my flight benefits is pretty disheartening...