Rocktober Happenings

I really like the month of October. September is always spent adjusting to something new, the weather is getting colder. But by October, the weather is full (in New York) of that nice autumn air, the leaves are changing, but more importantly I always associate October with feeling comfortable. By that time I am usually used to my schedule and find myself in a nice routine. This October seems to be more or less falling into that same pattern. Though the leaves are still green and it's still jeans and t-shirt weather, I am starting to feel more comfortable at my job and with my surroundings in general.

Chicora keeps me on my toes. It reminds me of college in the way that there is always something I could be doing. There is no time to be bored, because there are many projects that I am constantly working on. Every day I am in charge of the mentoring program. The Lunch Buddy program is the most popular, and my personal favorite thing that I do. For the Lunch Buddy Program, I recruit mentors to come into the school to sit and eat lunch with a student, then go out and play with them at recess. I admit that when I first heard about this program, I was kind of reluctant. I was skeptical about the difference eating lunch with a student would be. I was worried that students might not really want to eat lunch with an adult rather than their class. Boy was I wrong. I can't go one day without walking down the hallway and having a student come up to me and say "Miss. Erin, I want a mentor SO BAD." And Nothing makes me feel so good as to when I tell a student that he or she has a mentor and their entire face lights up. It's a similar feeling to when you watch someone you love get excited about a present that you put a lot of time and effort into. A lot of these kids just need someone to listen to them. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it really makes all the difference in the world. I realize that I really like my job because I care so much about these students and I want them to succeed so bad! I would by lying if I said that there weren't some mornings where getting out of bed is the hardest thing in the world, or some afternoons when I come home so worn out that I am tempted to say that I am fed up. But all and all I can honestly say that I enjoy my job and really feel like I make a positive difference.

I have also been really enjoying our little group of VISTAS in Charleston. We all are emotionally supportive of each other and we also have fun together. Most of us moved to Charleston from far away, so it's really great to have such a tight knit group. I like how we all bring different things to the table.

Last week I got the unique opportunity to work at McDonalds. They have a promotion called "McTeachers Night" where if the faculty and staff work at McDonalds for three hours, the school gets 20% of the proceeds. So, I put on my hat and got to work! It was actually a lot of fun. They had some of us flippin burgers, some making fries, some working the front register. They had me on the drive thru. It was quite an experience, I definitely have a new respect for McDonalds employee.

Charlotte, Camping

Sorry I've neglected you for a few weeks! I've been super busy with work and being social too! Last weekend I visited my friend Shannon from Siena in Charlotte. She is going to Charlotte School of Law and also just recently moved there. She has an awesome apartment on the outside of the city with a roommate who furnished the entire place, pays rent, but never sleeps there. Talk about a deal! Charlotte is a cool city, though it's smaller than I thought it would be. It seemed really clean to me and reminded me of Stamford, CT in the way that it has a lot of 'young professionals' working and socializing there. We hung out with some of her friends from law school and everyone was really nice. The second day we kind of bummed around her apartment and ended up checking out a raw oyster bar down the road from where she lives. We had some delicious sea food! All in all it was a great trip, and it's so easy to get to from Charleston that I will definitely go back!

There was little time to relax in between leaving Charlotte and my next adventure. I spent that Sunday night watching the Steelers beat the Chargers and packing for the woods! Americorps sponsored a retreat for the Americorps VISTA people from all of South Carolina, which only consists of 22 Charleston people and about the same number of people from the Spartenberg area. So, at 7:45 Monday morning, me and twelve of my fellow VISTAS drove the 4.5 hours up to YMCA camp Greenville on the NC/SC border. The ride wasn't too bad- we rented two big vans so I slept most of the way. The camp- well it was interesting. We slept in cabins with bunk beds. The weather was actually COLD- a feeling I had almost forgotten! haha. The retreat was not too bad, although I would have enjoyed having some more down time. There were three speakers who I thought were actually pretty effective. One was on how to hold an effective meeting, one was on Marketing and the last was on Fundraising. It was cool to network with other VISTAs as well. Throughout the three days we did some team building exercises and did a ropes course. My favorite part of the trip was the last day. My friends Will, Michelle, Ashley, Jen and I went off the beaten trail and hiked through the woods. We had heard from a camp employee that there was an Awesome water fall, and we found it! To me, the hike felt like 5 miles, but the others said it was probably only about one! It was tough though!! So worth it once we actually got to the water fall. It was absolutely breath taking! It was cool to see the leaves turn too, it finally felt like autumn. I forgot how much I love the leaves and the autumn air- and that feeling of "new beginnings" that is often associated with autumn. It was refreshing to breath in that autumn air but I was happy to get leave on Wednesday. And work was happy to have me back!

The first picture is the crew in a cave taking a breather on the way to the waterfall. Underneath that is a picture of the pretty leaves. The water fall itself is to the right and right next to this is "pretty place". I thought it looked cool with the cross and you could see for miles!