Vicksburg, MS --> Austin, TX --> Houston, TX - A Whirlwind Full of Cortisol and Endorphins

Before you dive into this lengthy blog, I just wanted to apologize that this blog is late and that they may be continued to be pushed back due to a lack time, no Wi-Fi in our housing, and work.

Day 36 - Tuesday (18), Woke up this morning around 7 and finished some last minute packing and then loaded the vans up. We were all about ready to pile into the van when we got delayed about an hour due to some clearance paperwork issues that one of our team member had to fix. We finally started our 10 hour road trip to Austin around 9 am.

We made a total of 4 stops between Vicksburg and Austin to change drivers. We finally arrived at the church we're staying at at 8 pm. The church itself is nice. It's small but it does have a kitchen and a nice bathroom. It doesn't have showers so we have to shower at the local YMCA, which is a gym.

We started to unpack the van and set up our cots in our rooms. I started to unpack my own bags and spread out. Luckily there was a closet in our room so I could put my clothes in which all the girls are sharing. The girls are staying a one long narrow room. It's tight for space but it works. The boys' rooms are similar but smaller. So some of them are sleeping in the common area.

We picked up Little Caesar's for dinner. After dinner, a few of the girls and I washed our hair in the kitchen sink. The bathroom sink wasn't deep enough so we went into the kitchen and did it there. We didn't want to come into work looking dirty tomorrow. We want to make a good first impression to our supervisors. 

Day 37 - Wednesday (19), Slept pretty well on the cot. I think I was too tired to care. We woke up at 6:15 to get ready for our first day and left by 6:50. Commute to work was relatively easy. Ran into traffic for a very short period, but it still only took 10-15 minutes to get to the JFO.

We had a welcoming/safety meeting when we got here. Then we got a tour of the JFO. We didn't do anything today because they had to set up our computers so we sat at a table from 9 am- 5 pm doing almost nothing. I wished I hadn't left my media binder behind or I could have been doing work.

They fed us lunch, which was pizza so that was nice. I heard that when you work at a JFO, they like to feed you a lot. Not complaining there! We got off at 5 and went back to the church to change into our workout clothes and grab another change of clothes for after we take a shower. I have to admit the gym showers are nicer than the campus showers. I also just bought a gym membership so I can work out and use their other amenities too such as their basketball court. It's a great motivation tool buying a membership. If I'm going to buy a membership, then I want to get my money's worth for that membership plus more.

We worked out for about an hour and then hit the showers. We drove back to the church and are dinner which was pizza from the night before. We have such a great variety to our diets!


Day 38 - Thursday (20), I feel so grown up waking up early every morning, getting dressed, eating breakfast, grabbing my work phone and putting on my FEMA badge and driving to work every morning.

We did independent studying in the morning going over some PowerPoints and PDFs. And in the afternoon, we had a 3.5 hour training. After we got off work, we hit the gym again. I'm really liking the membership because it's really motivating me not to be lazy. We had spaghetti for dinner and the lack of sleep is definitely catching up to me so I went to bed as soon as I could.


Day 39 - Friday (21), We had training this morning at the JFO about roads and whether they were eligible for repair. The afternoon was independent studying.

We hit the gym after work to take a shower. I spent the majority of the night hanging out with friends back at the church. We did have some late night tacos. I got a deep fried avocado soft taco which was really good! We're going to go exploring in Austin tomorrow so I'm going to need my sleep. I've been lacking on sleep getting only 5-6 hours a night so tonight will be a good catch up.


Day 40 - Saturday (22), Today was probably one of the funnest days I've had in a very long time, especially thanks to these wonderful people I'm surrounded by. I've never been happier to be able to hang out with my friends and share all of these experiences and memories with them. Everyday with them, there's always something to smile or laugh about.

Part of my team and I went to downtown Austin with Summit 2. We stopped at the Capitol building just long enough to grab some info stuff and to look at the dome. We then proceeded to walk downtown and through 6th street. If you don't know what 6th street is, it's where all the bars and pubs are. I finally got my Starbucks after a long month and a half. I felt very much alive after chugging that coffee down. We stopped for lunch at a taco place. I got a veggie taco called 'Hippy Taco'.

We then rode the metro back to the church and I took the van to take a shower at the gym since it was really hot downtown and I got really sweaty.

After our shower, I drove some people to the bat festival. There's an estimate of 1.5 million bats underneath the Congress bridge. It was $15 to get into the festival and it wasn't worth it for us to spend that much. So my friends (Kaitlynn, Ashley, and Alex) and I found a spot to watch the bats fly out. Then I got a better idea and we climbed a garage building to get a better view of the bridge. It was an amazing view considering it was free. We snapped a few picture and waited for quite a while for the bats. We only saw a few bats and then it got too dark for us to see the the huge flock of bats emerging.

After the bat festival, majority of people went to 6th street to get a drink and I took Alex and Sean back to the church. I dropped Sean off and Alex and I we to to Target. I feel like I'm back in a city again because they have a Target and a Starbucks which I'm stoked. They also have a Champs Sports, but I need to stay far away from that store because sports clothing and shoes are really expensive once you add a couple things to the cart. I grabbed a couple things I needed at Target and we then filled the van back up with gas. I stayed up until people started coming back home.

Day 41 - Sunday (23), I woke up semi-early to take a shower at the gym, but they were closed so I drove Kaitlynn and Ashley to Target. When we got back from Target, a few people and I went grocery shopping for food. The store we went to was a little pricey especially for my meal this week, which we are making breakfast for dinner. So I probably spent half of my budget on fruits for a fruit salad.

After grocery shopping and unpacking, my team had an ISP. We went to this bike place called Mamma Jamma Ride, which is a bike ride/marathon to raise money for breast cancer. It was a really cool place and we helped them organize supplies for their race which takes place next month.

We finally got our showers in after our ISP. I was at the point where I felt extremely dirty and sticky so a shower felt really nice. We then did laundry at a laundry mat near us. That was quite an experience for me because I have never been in one let alone used one. The one we went to was quite crowded. It was pretty cheap considering I had less than $5 to wash and dry my laundry, but everything got washed and dried.

We arrived back home slightly late and had dinner. Since it was Sunday which was cleaning day, we cleaned the common areas and our own personal space. I finished some media tweets and wrapped up the night.

Day 42 - Monday (24), We had trainings all day today at work. One session in the morning and one at night. Trainings were the same topics that we had learned before back at campus but just in more detail.

Right after work, we had an ISP, so we changed our FEMA uniforms to our NCCC uniforms. The ISP we volunteered at was another bike place. Half of the team went on bikes and dropped off promotional poster and cards to businesses, while the other half organized and separated posters and boxes of business cards.

Right after we got off our ISP, we drove back to the church to grab shower stuff and went to shower at the gym. We then had dinner and I helped the cooking team clean up and wash their dishes. After dinner we had a team meeting with both teams to go over grocery shopping and some other agenda items. I wrapped up my night by finishing some of my media specialty role assignments and headed off to bed to get some sleep before hitting the gym tomorrow morning.


Day 43 - Tuesday (25), We had training again today, but we did a site visit to a road where there had been flooding previously. So we inspected the road to see whether or not it was eligible for repairs.

We spent the afternoon doing individual stuff and left at 4ish. We went to the store to get a few things. I got a travel mug for myself to carry my coffee or tea in so it's really convenient to take to work. Then we went to the gym to workout and take a shower.

After the gym, we rushed home so I could cook dinner. My partner and I cooked breakfast for dinner. We had eggs, pancakes, fruit salad, and my family recipe for breakfast potatoes. I decided to try something new to the potatoes so I added sausage to it for the people that ate meat and I also made another complete batch that was vegetarian. I think dinner went pretty well, they seemed to enjoy it, which was good!


Day 44 - Wednesday (26), We spent all day today working on filling out practice forms correctly. Tomorrow should be our last day of training and then next week, we actually start work for real.

I finally had a little bit of free time after work so I watched a movie and made some a phone call. I then headed out for a couple hours with my friends and we got back around 10 pm.


Day 45 - Thursday (27), Today we had a lot of spare time on our hands so we just worked on our specialty roles all day and then left at 4.

We headed back to the church to grab workout and shower clothes and headed to gym. We stayed for about 2 hours and drove back home.

Back at the church, we got some so-so news. They both have their pros and cons I would say. We are moving to Houston. Nothing out of the blue though, but I had a hunch that we were probably going to move again once we arrived in Austin. FEMA likes to moves people around a lot. Especially when it's cheap. We're not 100% sure how long we're staying in Houston. Right now it's for a month, then we should be returning to Austin hopefully. But a few days ago, we were only going to be there for a few days, then it changed to two months, then to only 1 month, so who knows how long we'll actually be there. I think that it' great that we get to explore Houston and more of what Texas has to offer and I know it will be a great experience and a ton of fun, but I'm also really sad and bummed out that we have to leave Summit 2 behind because they are staying here in Austin. I have become really good friends with most of their members and hanging out with them has never brought a dull moment. I've really had a great time with them and I hope we'll still have many more to come. We will probably be texting and FaceTime a lot.

Going to a new place also creates a few challenges for us. We have to create a whole new briefing presentation and portfolio since we're going to be staying their longer than 10 days. That also means all the contacts for media, recruiting events and ISP will almost be useless because we aren't in that area. So we have to do a lot more research to do in order to find more contacts and service projects to do. But in addition to more work, I know we will have a ton of fun! It's also closer to the beach!

We leave on Monday, so that means laundry will have to be done and lots of packing. I've pretty much already spread out and unpacked so I think I may have a difficult time packing again.

In addition to that, I'm going to be spending as much of my free time I can possibly get with Summit 2 before we leave. I'll miss them a lot. It's fun to be living with them because they are so much fun and our house is almost never quiet. And it's really nice having another team to come home to and talk because we already spent 8 hours with our own team and there's not a whole lot to talk about for the moment being because we were all working together.


Day 46 - Friday (28), We did a site visit today for work. I drove my team to the site, which took a little over an hour to arrive at our destination. Our site today was a bridge that was destroyed by the floods. The view/damaged done by the flood was unbelievable. I have to keep reminding myself - water is so peaceful and relaxing, but also so powerful and deadly.

After work, I went to workout and shower at the gym. After the gym, I went out with a few friends. Since our teams only had a few days left together, we decided to spend that time together. Our team leaders had some things to attend to downtown so I drove them downtown. The boys wanted to go see a movie so we dropped them off at the movies. The girls and I along with a couple guys went mini-golfing, which was pretty fun. Since we decided not to keep track of score or anything, we decided to be silly and have fun while playing. We were probably out until 1 am so when we got back, I was pretty exhausted and fell into bed.


Day 47 - Saturday (29), Today we went to downtown Austin again. We walked around for a bit and went to visit a place called Castle Hill Graffiti. It was really cool! The place was a spot for graffiti artists to draw and express whatever they wanted. There were quite a few people drawing and it was pretty cool to watch them work.

After that, we walked down to the Alamo Draft House to see a movie. I didn't feel like seeing the movie so I went to a Starbucks nearby and just took some personal downtime to myself. I've been a little stressed lately due to us moving to Houston. Everytime we have to move, it creates a lot of work for us in addition to doing laundry and repacking everything back into our bags. I'm currently in the mode that I was when we were getting ready to leave Vicksburg. But once we leave, it settles down a bit.

After the movie, we went to see the Pride Parade. It was pretty cool to see all the people that now support gay marriage as compared to when I first went with my Dad to see the first gay couple get their marriage license back in CA in 2011. Time has really changed a lot of things.

I took a Uber home early with a couple of friends. It was pretty cool considering I've never used a Uber before. Lot nicer than riding in a bus and a cab.

I learned that night that we are in fact leaving for Houston today (Sunday), instead of Monday. Doesn't affect us much because we were planning on doing laundry and everything else today anyways. We are staying in an Extended Stay America (ESA). It will definitely be nicer than the church with a real bed, Wi-Fi (I hope), and other amenities. The only thing I'm nervous about is bed bugs. I think they are really common for ESA to have them so we are checking every single mattress for bed bugs before we even put anything on them.

I stayed up til about 2 am waiting for the last bit of people to come back from downtown Austin and finally went to bed at 2:40.

**Houston blogs will be next week hopefully. Thank you for your patience throughout these last couple weeks.

Having a little bit of fun at the Texas Capital

My really good tasting 'Hippy Taco'

View # 1 from the Congress Bridge in which the bats fly out under.

We discovered that we were on the wrong side of the bridge, so we moved to the other side, then climbed up.

Never a dull moment with these three! 

(Alex, Ashley, Kaitlynn)

Bat Festival!

(Ashley and Kaitlynn)

Out drinking tonight with our 15 passenger van :)

Site Visit at the Bridge

Castle Hill Graffiti Park

View from the top

Did a little "graffiti" myself! 

Summit 12

Spending some quality time with Summit 2 before leaving

A Week Full of Caffeine and Sugar and Minimal Sleep

Day 28 - Monday (10), We had another 8.5 hour class of FEMA Academy today, specifically in Public Assistance (PA). We had PT in the afternoon today because the breakfast schedule got in the way. So we played basketball after dinner and I was psyched about that. The first game I played with my team, I did ok. My shots weren't falling in and I couldn't convert some shots so I wasn't too happy about that. Then I played 2 on 2 with some other guys and I think I impressed them a little bit! :) Yay considering I haven't touched a basketball since I left home. Doing well in anything always give me a self-confidence boost so I felt pretty good about today and it was good to get a ball back in my hands.

Day 29 - Tuesday (11), Woke up at 5:30 due to some really amazing roars of thunder and an amazing light show. It was really cool for the part that I saw in my window before I fell back asleep again.

It was lightly raining when I woke up for breakfast and it was mainly dark for majority of the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. Thunder and lighting looks really cool here.

We had another day of FEMA Academy. One of our instructors brought us Shipley's Doughnuts! I also drank some caffeine and ingested more sugar than I care to admit to help keep me awake during training. It worked, but I cannot wait to get to Austin and get me my Starbucks coffee! And go to Target! I think Austin will be more convenient for me when it comes to shopping.

We are really starting to get things in gear for Austin next week. It's getting a little chaotic with all our deadlines coming up. Of course, we all still have to pack but probably not until next Monday, but we're getting all our paperwork and forms ready. That's how I spent majority of my night filling out and submitting my media paperwork. Still got a paper to write for my media role, but also helping my team out by designing our presentation on our spike project for a briefing in front of our Unit Leader.

Day 30 - Wednesday (12), We finished session #1 of FEMA Academy today. Tomorrow is part two. The academy took up majority of the day and for the rest of the day, I hung out with friends and worked on more paperwork. Stayed up way too late once again.

We had a team meeting about our trip to Austin in which I'm really excited about. There are so many great opportunity and things to do in Austin. Besides getting my Starbucks, which is very high at #1 spot in my to do list, I really want to explore the city and possibly attend a football game. We are currently still in preparation mode for Austin next week.

Day 31 - Thursday (13) - Today was the same as yesterday. We had FEMA Academy from 8-4:30. I spent the majority of my night working on my team's briefing presentation for Austin. And then I drove a few people of Wal-Mart and Dairy Queen and then resumed working on the presentation.

There's a basketball tournament this weekend so I signed up! I'm the only girl on the team so hopefully I can live up to expectations! I did slightly tweak my knee earlier this week so I'm going to be taking it easy for a couple days and stretching it out.

I stayed up way to late tonight considering we have PT in the morning because we didn't want to do it in the afternoon. I'm going to take that opportunity to stretch out my knee muscles and work on upper body and core muscles. I didn't realize how much I like going to the gym until I got here so I'm considering about getting a membership at our gym by my house.

Day 32 - Friday (14), We spent the day doing online classes for FEMA. That took me about 8 hours to finish 4 courses. Our instructor was really nice today and bought the whole class and the class next door pizza! When we tell people we live on $4.75 a day, they are just utterly shock on how we manage to survive. I thought the food budget was going to be challenging, but when we combine our money together for the week, we actually are able to purchase a lot more food than you think. Majority of the time we'll fill up at least 2 grocery carts full of food.

We went to dinner after classes ended. The food quality has been improving drastically because I think the operations staff put in a complaint and had a talk with them. So far, we had not had any undercook rice yet! And the seasoning has also improved slightly.

A few friends and I went to grab some fro yo after dinner and I spent the rest of the night working on our debriefing presentation in my friends, Kaitlynn and Ashley's room. I think I spent more time laughing/crying and having fun than I did work. They are really funny so I really enjoy hanging out with the two and I can't wait to go to Texas together!

Day 33 - Saturday (15), Today was a relatively easy day. We had some excel and outlook classes. We need excel to make charts and sort data for our project and outlook is the main email communication.

We got off about 4 pm, and took some boys to buy Xbox games and spent a good hour playing Risk with a couple other friends. Then a spent about a half hour just chatting with some friends. It was a pretty good day, but like always, there's always a few bumps in the road.

I also spent part of today working on our presentation. We're not done yet so that scares me and I still have to prepare my portion of the speech. So I'm a little stressed at this point and it is a professional presentation so I want to do really good. Plus we still have so much things on our to do list before we leave on Tuesday. For me that includes washing laundry/bedding and packing. I'm really worried that I will have space issues and not be able to fit everything in. I don't intend to leave a lot behind.

Day 34 - Sunday (16), Today started off a little slow. Slept in until 10, went to lunch, played some basketball in the gym.

After basketball ended, it was work, work, work. It was crunch time. I worked for an hour on my speech for tomorrow's briefing and the presentation. We had a team meeting for about 2 hours to prepare the team for tomorrow's briefing. We get to go first because we're Summit 1 and then Summit 2, Summit 3, and so on. I'm really nervous and I don't want to mess up. It's a really professional presentation and we want to make a good impression on our unit leader and our region director.

After the meeting, I stayed behind for another two hours finishing the presentation and making it look professional and clean. I then spent about an hour packing my red spike bag that I'm going to take with me and the black box that I'm leaving behind. I still have to pack my Nike duffel tomorrow but it's 2 am and I need to sleep. We have to get up at 6:15 tomorrow for PT. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, but hopefully it will be an easy day after our presentation.

Day 35 - Monday (17), We started the day off early, but right. We played ultimate frisbee for PT this morning. I'm really starting to like playing ultimate more often, but I find it slightly challenging for me to defend or catch sometimes due to my height. I can't always jump and catch or knock it out of someone's hands. I took a quick shower after PT and starting prepping for our briefing.

I got 4 hours of sleep last night so I was purely running on adrenaline and coffee this morning. We presented our briefing to our Unit Leader and a couple other people. We did really well and I was pleasantly surprised at how well our team pulled it together. 

After the briefing, I literally spent the rest of the day packing. I repacked, unpacked, then repacked about 10 times trying to rearrange the clothes so they would fit better and I could fit more clothes into each bag. I finally finished getting everything into the bags about 6 pm. I still have some last minute things to pack such as toothbrush, toothpaste, and etc.

It's getting really late and I need to wake up early tomorrow and be functional when I drive. This is the last blog from Vicksburg for a while and the rest will be from Austin, Texas.

I also apologize for the lack of pictures in this blog due to that this was a busy work and preparation week. I will definitely have more for you next week! Thank you for all your support!