Life after graduation

So, for some reason today, I decided to pull up my blog.  Only to see I haven't written in a very, very long time.  So, here is what has been happening since graduation:

The summer was long.  I applied for a ton of jobs.  I got one of them, but you know how sometimes something just doesn't work and you know from minute one that it wont work?  That was that job. So, I did it for a few days and realized I couldn't.  It was the feeling that God had something else in store.

In August, I started working part time for a photographer.  I do a lot of paper work for them and posing of groups and individuals, but I love it.  It's minimal hours and good pay.  Some weeks I work more than others, sometimes its nights, sometimes early mornings.  (Is 3 am early morning, or late night?)  Whatever it is, I am enjoying it.

In late August, I started roasting coffee.  Coffee roasting is an adventure in itself.  It took me a couple weeks to be confident in roasting.  Every type of bean has a different roasting level and looks and smells differently. Each bean reacts differently.  You have to know approximate times, exact temperatures  what things should look like, smell like, and sound like. At first, I had to have my boss look at every batch.  Now, he only looks at maybe one a day depending on the day and how much I've roasted the beans.  You have to make sure the fan stays strong enough to not burn the beans in the bottom of the pot, but you cant let them blow too high!  You have to kill the heat at the right time or else they will go to dark!  Whew! It's so tiring and exhausting, but I've gotten most of it down.  I do that two days a week.  I also clean coffee beans and grind whole beans.  It's not many hours, and its tiring, but its consistent hours so its always some extra money I can count on.

Also in August, Sondra came to visit for the first time!  She only came for about half a day, but we fit a lot it! We went to the apple orchard, ate at Hamburg Inn, went to the CLASSIEST places in town (Ragstock and Silver Spider) made apple sauce, and discovered the tea store are the mall. It was a good day.

At the end of August/beginning of September, the family went up to Minneapolis/St. Paul for my cousins weekend.  We spent a morning at IKEA, a few hours at MOA, and an evening/night at a wonderful wedding/dinner/reception.

The rest of September was fairly uneventful with nothing major happening.  Iowa homecoming came and we had a ton of people over but a fun alumni party, Iowa football stunk, and I worked.

October brought the arrival of many friends!
First, Nicole and Sondra came.  We were able to go up to Wartburg for a day of fun and shenanigans and cheering Wartburg to a victory of rival Luther, see old friends, and hang out.  Plus, we got to stop at the frying pan!

We went and saw Taken 2, made stromboli, played hed bandz, and played lots of other fun board games.  It was a nice relaxing weekend with friends.

Then at the end of October, my good friend Kayla came down from La Crosse, Wisconsin!  It was, whats turning out to be, our bi-annual visit.
We went to the Newbo market in Cedar Rapids, ate at the Czech bakery, watched football, made a HUGE no sew blanket, carved pumpkins, ate pizza, played wii, and just hung out.  It was a much needed reunion.

And with that, I think that is the highlights of the last 5 months.  The job search continues.  I've had leads and lost leads.  I've had better leads and gotten close, but nothing has stuck.  I'm hoping that changes soon though, and you can be sure I'll post about it when it does.  I'm looking all over the country and would love to do social media marketing or consumer insight marketing research stuff.  But I could also see myself doing marketing for a non-profit, such as I did at my internship.  So, we shall see.  If you know of anything, holler at me :)

Thats all for now!

May Term

I have been meaning to post about May Term since the start of May Term, but I've kept so busy that I really haven't had time.  So, i have 40 minutes.  Ready, Set, Write.

For May Term this year, I am taking a Trends in Business course.  We are looking at the Faith At Work/ Spirituality in the Workplace movement, and Social Entrepreneurship.  This course is a travel course as well.  During week one, we were in the classroom reading articles, books, and listening to speakers.  First, we brought in a Stakeholder from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He spoke about the importance of food storage, gave a background on TCJCLDS, and also talked a little bit about how he integrates both home life, work life, and spirituality.  Everyone in our class is a Christian (that's what we get for going to an ELCA school I guess) so it was interesting to see a different side of religion.  Next, we brought in an em-om from the Islamic tradition.  He spoke about the importance of Zakat (basically a social tax) and triggered the discussion of if the United States could ever have a national social tax to help charities and the poor.
On Saturday morning, May 5, we met at our professors house at 5:45 am and left for an 18 hour drive to Princeton, NJ, at 6:30.  We stopped in the south side of Chicago (Garfield Park) for lunch at Inspiration Kitchens.  Inspiration Kitchens provides cooking and food service training for homeless people and drug addicts to get back on their feet.  We had a delicious lunch and spent some time talking (2 hours) before crawling back into the van.  A couple stops later, we made it to Newton Falls, Ohio, (Zip Code 44444) around 10:30 at night.  It was on the far boarder of Ohio, and the sketchiest hotel I've been in.  Our doors didn;t have chain locks, there was a crack in the door frame so light came in, our phone rang all night and was just static on the other end, there was a strip club next door, 2 types of cereal for breakfast (that's all), and a "resturant" in front that looked pretty sketchy too.. We quickly left in the morning for a 7 hour drive.  On the way to NJ, we took a Southern Route through PA and stopped off in Hershey, PA because no one had ever been there before.  Upon arriving in NJ, we went to Conte's pizza for dinner (where all the college students go), before going to the hotel to rest.
Monday morning, we went to Princetons Center for the study of religion for class for a few hours.  After class, we had lunch in their pay as you go and pay for what you eat cafeteria, took a campus tour, then got some time in town to hang out.  Holly and I got cup cakes from a place that won cup cake wars and walked through some shops.  For dinner, we met at Hoagie Haven (a hoagie is like a sub sandwich.. i dont see the appeal of it, but okay) then headed back to the hotel.  Everyone did some reading for class, and headed to bed.
Tuesday, we had class again.  It went a lot longer than expected, but we had a good discussion on the Tyson Food Shelbyville Plant case, talked to the guy from corporate Tyson who was focused on in the (inaccurate) case study.  Upon finishing a 4 hour class, 6 of us jumped a series of trains to Philly.  It took an excessively long time due to class ruining my train schedule (it was all scheduled out, which apparently means i'm high maintenance and a rock star (a bad thing) who needs everything organized and to happen according to plan.  I was then told to chill out because every one hates a rock star.).  We got to philly 3 hours later to find all the museums closed and rain.  Although i still enjoyed looking around, some people were complaining alot and hated the city.  We walked to the liberty bell after stopping for food (which also made us miss the museums), and then took a lot of pictures.  We stayed about an hour then took an hour train ride home.  Tuesday night, I did some homework, talked to some people online, uploaded pictures, and crashed.

This morning, Wednesday, we got to sleep in!  We had breakfast, and then people are doing homework and just relaxing for a little bit.  In about 45 minutes, we are headed to Trenton, NJ, to visit TerraCycle Inc.  Afterwards, I think some people may head into NYC (a 40 dollar, 100 minute train ride) and some of us will hang out in Princeton, I think.  I am not completely sure though.  We were planning on going into NYC tomorrow, Thursday, on our own then back Friday, but would only have 1 hour there if we wanted to be back for dinner at a professors multi million dollar house.  So, we will see what happens. But regardless, we get Friday in NYC so I suppose I can see as much as I can while there and will just have to make it back sometime!

Well, that catches you all up.

There are 2 facebook albums happening.  One is my pictures.  The other is of Sir Victor Knight.  Sir Victor knight is this stress ball type knight that the school sends with travel groups for may term.  HE is documenting his adventures through an album on my wall :)  enjoy.

Research Conference

Last fall, I took my senior capstone class, Senior Seminar in Business, in which we are asked to write a 5,000 word analytical paper on any topic of our choice. At first, it sounds like a very daunting task and something that would take countless hours, stress, tears, and sleepless nights.  And that is just what it was.  We were told 5,000 words was going to be about 20 pages, and we needed a minimum of 8 sources.  I had been thinking since last year about what I would write my paper on knowing the time was coming when I would be tasked with writing the paper. I decided, after working a few months at my internship this summer, that I would write my paper on something surrounding Fair Trade.  After choosing this, I had many ideas of where I could go with this topic and began to come up with some research questions.  I had MUCH back and forth with my professor and the librarians about appropriate topics that I could find research on and write my paper on.  I finally settled on looking into the relationship between the producers and the consumers of fair trade products, and more specifically, how the producers influence the market for, and consumers of fair trade products.

I began to research and write my paper and spent countless hours researching and writing and stressing.  But, I finished and turned it in right before leaving for thanksgiving break.  I had written a 25 page, 7,300 words paper with over 25 sources.  I almost immediate forgot about the paper and moved on.  Eventually, around finals week, I got my paper back and got a 95% on it.  I was proud of my self, but focused on the next adventures in life. 

Early in January, I received an email from my professor who was asking if I would like to apply for a conference in which I submitted my research paper.  I decided to do it, and started reworking on my paper, that I thought I wouldn’t have to look at again.  I got it fixed up and submitted it to the Sam Houston General Business Conference in Huntsville, Texas.  A few weeks later, I found out that my paper was accepted.  I began making preparations to travel to Texas with two other students and a professor in order to present this research.  I had to make a presentation also format my paper for the conference proceedings; we had to submit requests for money, and make travel arrangements.  Come to find out, we also had to make a poser for RICE day at Wartburg.  Through all the work, I learned a lot about myself and also was getting excited and nervous to present the research. 

On the way to the conference, we found out there would be about 150 people at the conference and were also talking about how things would run and what else we would do.  Upon arriving in Huntsville after 3 flights and an hour and a half car ride, we checked into the hotel, and found some food at a GREAT Mexican restaurant.  We used our noses to lead us to a good pick J. 

Friday, we arrived at the conference to find out there were only 40 people there.  I sat through Ben’s presentation group (4 presentations, about 10 people in the room), the keynote (an economist from Egypt), Kayla’s presentation (4 presentations, 7 people in the room), had a fantastic lunch, then got to present.  I presented to the two other Wartburg students, our professor, the two moderators, and one other lady who presented before me.  It helped calm the nerves to know there were not many people there, but was also frustrating. My presentation went off without a hitch and I fielded the questions well.  After that, Kayla and I went to one more presentation, found Ewest and Ben, saw the Sam Houston 60 ft statue, and then went to a FABULOUS dinner provided by the university.  It was at the historic Peabody Library which is now sort of like our Castle Room.  We had some chicken and fish (which I didn’t eat), potatoes, veggies, salad, and chocolate cake. 

Saturday, we skipped the morning session, slept in, and then headed down to Galveston for a day at the beach.  It was super windy blowing sand everywhere and the waves were huge.  Ben and I split some delicious pizza, and then headed down to the beach.  I laid out for a while until my back was significantly sun burnt.  Then I headed up to a Holiday Inn to use the internet since our hotel didn’t have any. I stayed there until about 530 when we all met up dinner.  Ben and Ewest had wanted to go to a seafood joint where the cheapest plate was 20 bucks, but Kayla and I didn’t like seafood, so we made them go for some BBQ.  It wasn’t the best, but it was cheap and better than seafood.  We then drove back to Huntsville and crashed. 

Sunday was low key.   It consisted of sleeping in, breakfast, loading, driving to Houston, finding a Whataburger to eat at, then getting the car returned and flying home.  Our flight was showing on time which was good because of all the storms in the Midwest.  We boarded on time, and then got off on time.  As we sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes, the pilot said we had been rerouted about 200 miles to avoid the storm.  So, our hour and a half flight because about a 2 hour 20 minute flight. 

The conference was good as was the trip,  but frustrating.  It was on the schools budget, but we paid for food because RICE day took away some undergrad research funds.  Although it would have been more nerve racking, I felt as though it would have been better experience to present at a larger conference.  I know that there was no way to know how many people would be there, but everyone else there were professors or a few doctoral students.  There were no undergrads there, and I would have loved to meet more students and see what others were doing.  There has been another conference they went to a few years ago in Ohio that was larger and I think I would have preferred that, but being on the schools budget, I guess I can’t complain too much.  It was a good experience, but I would have loved to meet people and present to a larger group and get some more feedback and hear other speeches. 

Anyway, I can’t wait to travel this may term with Ewest again and take some more jokes from him.  It is all downhill from here. 

Final Reflections

Signing up for Wartburg West, I really was not sure what I was getting myself into.  I knew that I wanted an off campus experience and I knew I wanted to do an internship in order to learn about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was looking for something different than taking classes on campus.  I always knew coming into Wartburg that I wanted to travel and this seemed like an awesome opportunity.  I knew I could have all of my required classes done before I came, so it seemed like an awesome way to finish out my college career.  I felt as if it would be a learning experience.  All of my friends graduated at the end of my junior year and I was not sure how my senior year would go, but I knew that no matter what, I could look forward to Denver.  I knew that when times got rough, and I wanted to quit, I could just focus on coming to Denver.  I knew that Denver would be something to challenge me in new ways and provide me with opportunities and memories to last a life time.  I used that to fuel me through fall semester.  Through the time in Denver, I have just thought of all the amazing things here and used that to remind me how privileged and lucky I am to be here. Now, preparing to leave, I can look back and always remember Denver.

When I was thinking about coming to Denver and getting ready to depart, I was worried that I would not be good at my internship.  I was worried that I would not be helpful to my internship site and would be more of a hindrance than a help.  Yet, I was looking forward to learning about the organization and having new experiences.  I was looking forward to getting some hands on experiences and learning more about the marketing field and what all comprised it. I was also scared about living at a higher, dryer altitude.  I was worried about the sickness that would come with it.  Yet, I learned quickly to adjust.  It meant drinking a lot more water and learning to rest and not always be going 100%.  This is an adjustment that I will need to make in life though as well.  Taking time to slow down and enjoy life is something I have not really done much.  Yet, being in Denver has taught me to slow down and smell the coffee so to speak; to take time to see the small things and appreciate the little known things.

Living in Iowa my whole life, we become so accustomed to the “simple” Iowa life.  We take note of the small things.  The sunsets.  The sunrises.  The quietness. The stars.  All things that I have yet to really experience in Denver.  When in a city, everyone is in a hurry and busy.  They have an agenda that they have to keep. It was strange getting used to this go-go-go lifestyle.  The coffee and sugar in the morning.  The working lunches. Being a commuter.  Yet, above everything else, it made me appreciate the Iowa life.  The slow pace and the being able to walk anywhere and everywhere. 

Coming out to Denver, I had this pre-conceived notion that the city would not be safe.  As much as my experiences have proven that true, they have proven that false.  Being safe in the city is all about learning to protect oneself and not go looking for trouble.  Obviously, being at one of the Boys & Girls Clubs at Night is a bad idea because of the neighborhoods their located in.  Yet, I was there at night and felt safe because I knew I would not be walking through the neighborhood and knew that I could drive a few blocks and be in a safer part of town

I made a “bucket list” of things to do in Denver upon coming out here.  Looking back on everything, I have accomplished the majority of things on my list.  The list consisted of eating a certain places, visiting places, seeing things, touring things.  And all but about two of them are done.  All my experiences that I have wanted to have, I have pretty much had.  It has been a journey of a life time doing things that I never would have done else wise. 

Coming out to Denver, I really hoped to figure out if I wanted to work in marketing or look into another area of business.  I was hoping that having an internship in Marketing would help me figure out what I really wanted to do with my life.  Do I want to stay in a big city?  Do I want to live in the Midwest?  These have been questions for reflection for me throughout my stay in Denver, yet, I am not sure I have come to any conclusions.  I am not sure any of these questions have been answered.  I am not sure if that is good, or bad.  I am not sure if I am okay with not having these answers.  Yet, I know that with time, answers will come.  With time, I will find something I love to do with my life.  My internship has provided something for me to look forward to day in and day out and to make connections to through my other experiences in Denver.  Denver has taught me that it is okay to not have answers about life.  It is okay to not know exactly what is going on.  What is not okay though, is not asking questions to get there.  I have learned that I need to ask questions to get to where I want to be. 

Living in the Wartburg West apartments is a community life unlike anything I have ever experienced before.  I was really hoping to become closer to all of the students and spend time exploring with them.  Yet, I cannot say that happened.  I become friends with a couple other people, but really, the community life in the apartments this semester was lacking.  There was clearly a divide between people.  The people who just wanted to drink and party, and the people who wanted to explore.  Everyone originally said they wanted to be included, yet those people who were so add emit, were the ones excluding others.  At first, it was annoying, yet learning to do things on my own and go off and do what I wanted to do was what got me out and about.  I learned that I could not wait to be invited places, and I could not always expect people to come with me places.  If I wanted to do something or go somewhere, I just had to go and do it and no wait for others because no one would come.  This hurt as I was hoping for a better community from this semester.  Yet, it prepared me for life after college.  A life when I may not have a roommate and will need to get out on my own and explore or make new friends.  I experienced searching for a church on my own and making that a church home.  I learned that I can really rely on the church I eventually choose to make friends and find a good, stable community.

Denver has provided me an opportunity to start thinking about life after Graduation, and life's return to Iowa.  Starting the long process of applying for jobs, thinking about where I want to move to, what kind of job I want, how life will be, how to keep in touch with people, etc.  Thinking about everything I have to do before I come back to Iowa and when I get back to Iowa.  It is so strange to think that in less than 2 months I will be an alumni of Wartburg College. It seems like just last week I was graduating high school and now the baby of the family is graduating college.  Crazy.  What will life bring?  What is next?  Where is next?  Only God knows.  But slowly and surely, he will reveal his plans to the rest of us.  Until then, it is time to sit back and enjoy the journey.

I have learned so much in this three month experience here outside of my internship.  I have learned to take life one day at a time and slow down, appreciate life.  And that is one big thing that I want to take out of this going forward. I learned that you can not live life in a box.  You have to get out of your comfort zone, experience new things.  Meet new people, learn new things.  You have to use the hard times in life to be able to fully appreciate the good times.  You have to use those job rejection letters to fuel you going forward.  Yet you have to be so happy that you are able to apply for jobs and that I was raised and brought up to keep trying.  I know that God has a plan and we just need to let his plan take shape.  I have so many excuses.  I have so many fears.  I say, “God, I can’t do it.  I’m too weak, I’m too pathetic.  It’s impossible.”  But God looks back at me and says, “But beloved, since when did it become all about you?  It’s about me.  It’s my promise.  I will guide you.  I’ll never leave you.”

And that is what I have learned.  “A person’s biggest challenge isn’t someone else.  It’s the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells, I CANT.”  But you don’t listen.  You just push harder.  And then you hear the voice whisper, “I can.”  And then you discover that person you thought you were is really no match for who you really are.”

I have learned that were here learn that there are no random acts.  That we are all connected.  That you can no more separate one life from another then you can separate a breeze from the wind.

From my internship, I have learned even more.  I have learned about the type of work environment I want.  I have learned the amount of pressure that I need to be put under.  I have learned that I need a busy work schedule, and not so busy life schedule.  This experience has given me so much insight into life that I can use to fuel me forward.  I only have a few weeks of classes left at Wartburg and then I will need to start a new journey as one ends.  Using what I have learned in Denver can fuel me forward into the new experiences of life after college.  Coming out to Denver has really prepared me for life after college.  It has taught me to budget, to live on my own, and to survive and thrive in a big city. 

When talking to others about the experience, I would tell them it is one of the best things that has happened to me.  I would tell students and professors on campus about the amazing experience that it is and how great of an opportunity it is to really be challenged and nurtured for lives of leadership and service as a spirited expression of our faith and learning. Denver really allows students to live their education through experiential learning but also provides them with opportunities and experiences that we would not otherwise get on campus.  Had I not come to Denver, I never would have done an internship for credit which would hold me back even more in my job search.  I would tell everyone that there is so much more to a college experience than just taking classes on campus.  Being able to get out and explore and really experience the world is what college is about, is it not?  The Wartburg West program really allows students to do that in a safe and nurturing environment.

            In the month that I am back on campus, I hope to really talk to my professors in the business department and encourage them to recommend this experience to all students.  I feel it is easy to fit into a schedule with the proper planning and also provides opportunities that the business department cannot give.  They can provide internships, yet there are so many more opportunities in Denver and I truly believe that there is something for everyone.  Everyone can find the perfect fit and find other things to get involved in that will allow for even more growth.  I do not know too many underclassmen, but those few that I do know will not hear anything but good things about the Wartburg West experience and how they all need to sign up.  Wartburg West really allows students of all majors’ great opportunities.  Some students in certain majors believe that they cannot complete an internship because there are not any available.  I believe after my experience here that that is a poor excuse and that there is truly an opportunity for everyone in Denver.

Last Full Week in Denver

Wow.  This marks week 13.  My last full week in Denver.  I did a lot of reflection on Denver last week, so there probably wont be much this week.  Last week was pretty chill.  I wasn’t feeling well Saturday, so I didn’t do much.  On Sunday, I went to church, stopped by Buffalo Doughboy bakery on the way home, and then just hung out in the apartment working on homework for the afternoon.  In the afternoon, all of the interns met up from about 3-9 to work on our debate for religion class. I had never done a debate like this before so that made it hard.  Also, none of the other interns really value my opionon and everything is their way or the highway so it made it hard to really participate when they are all outspoken and no one else can talk.  We made it through that though.  Monday started with class, and then religion where we had our debate.  I didn’t do too well, but I also did not dwell on it.  Monday afternoon I went to the local coffee shop for about 6 hours so I could write my final reflection, do my evaluation, stream TV online, write my religion essay, and other odds and ends.  It was nice to be able to just sit in a coffee shop all day  and get work done again.  I forgot how much I can accomplish there.  On Tuesday, I was back at work and couldn’t have been happier.  I love my internship so much, and am really going to miss that place when I leave.  I worked some more on my project for the Beacons creating summer maps and information sheets with free events and locations of libraries and such.  Very in-depth and time consuming, but I got it done.  Tuesday night, our religion class went to “The Great Debate.”  We all thought it was going to be some boring debate, but it actually ended up being super funny and really entertaining.  The Great debate is a humorous academic debate about the relative merits and meanings  surrounding Latke and Hamantash, two popular items in Jewish Cuisine.  I actually enjoyed it.  A lot.  On Wednesday, I was back at work and continued the Beacons project.  I also helped stuff annual reports for a couple hours.  I scheduled meetings with my supervisors as well for the next day.  Wednesday night, I went to class and presented on my CEP.  I had some really powerful videos, but something happened going from the PC I made it on to the MAC that we were presenting from.  After the three presentations, we spent about an hour filling out exit forms which was super long and boring.  I made cookies for Embree’s birthday on Thursday and then went to bed.  Thursday, I showed up at work and helped decorate for Embree’s birthday.  We filled her office with balloons and left presents and cards.  I worked for a little while on my projects and then met with my supervisors to teach them ALL ABOUT survey monkey.  Lot’s of information and they took lots of notes.  After that, we all met to go over the stuff I had been working on for the Beacons projects.  I had edits to make after that, so I did that and then the day was over.  My last Thursday at work.  It is so incredible how quickly everything has come and gone. 

Last night, I applied for some more jobs and just hung out and watched TV.  I slept in this morning and then went to class at 1030.  We got done, I down town and had a free lunch at Rock Bottom, stopped at the library, bought thank you notes for my supervisors then returned home.  I applied for about 10 more jobs and did some laundry early this afternoon. 

I am now doing some laundry and watching TV.  I am hoping to get laundry done and get it drying so I can pack it up this weekend and begin the long packing and cleaning process.  We shall see how that goes. 

Reflections on Denver

Wow.  Two weeks from today, I will be driving across Nebraska on my way back to Iowa.  How incredibly crazy is that?  This journey here is almost over physically, but experientially, and mentally, it will never be over.  I have learned so much here.

Every week, I get asked the same question, “What are your plans for after graduation?”  Every week, I give the same answer, “I’m not sure.”  Although, that is not completely true.  I have two plans.  I have the ‘follow my heart plan’ and the ‘follow my brain’ plan.  Unfortunately, my heart and brain do not agree in what I will be doing after graduation.  None the less, the Wartburg West Experience has struck both and given both the need to further develop these plans and to really figure out what each plan entails.  Both plans call for me to get a job.  One in a corporation, one in a non profit.  One in Portland, Maine, one in Denver, Colorado.  Both plans do agree though that I would like to do some sort of development/marketing work.  That is what one of the other things I have learned here.  Although I will probably not go into marketing right away, I can see myself doing that.  I have learned that I like the event planning and research side (not together, but two separate careers) of marketing, yet marketing is so broad that I can really see myself anywhere in the marketing field. The experience has really gotten me thinking about what I want to do, where I want to go, what kind of work environment I want, what type of job do I want to do?  All these questions are things that I have begun and continued to think about throughout my internship. 

When the thought of vocation comes to mind I struggle.  So many of the employees that I work with at BGCMD have not been there very long; 5 years at the most and have other jobs before they came here.  I do not see that as being long.  Yet, I think that they are all here for the same reason I am, the passion to help the kids and teenagers who visit BGCMD and the fact that their personal passions and motivations line up with that of the organization.  Being at the support center during this time, is sort of like being at an accounting firm during tax season.  It is so crazy at this time of year, that I never really get to sit down with anyone and talk about things like vocation and passion and their work history.  Some of this has come up in conversation and some is what I have picked up on, but unless I schedule a meeting a week in advance, the chances of seeing my supervisor for more than 5 minutes in one day is rare.  That being said, I can only speculate on where our assumptions and understandings of life agree and match up.  Yet, their assumptions and understandings of me are things I can report on.  My co-workers expect me to complete my work and to grow and to learn.  My supervisor expects me to be part of the team.  Yes, there are times where I take on the busy work, but its things that if I didn’t do it, someone else would. 

Being part of the team means doing things I don’t want to do.  I have hesitated throughout this semester to speak my mind and give my opinion because of being so introverted.  I have always had control and worked with people my own age and not really had a problem giving my thoughts.  Working on newsletters and replying to people who left comments on my survey was a new challenge.  My supervisor has challenged me speak my mind.  There is one conversation that comes to mind when talking about being pushed to grow and speak my mind. 

I was moderating comments on a survey, and came to one about how we run our survey and if third parties are involved and how to verify if a ticket was purchased.  I knew the answer, yet I still asked her opinion.  She emailed me back and asked me what I thought.  I honestly thought she had emailed the wrong person.  Yet, she told me she believed in me and knew I had the response.  When I sent my response to her, she said that was exactly what she would have said.  Although this challenged me to really think about how to keep my answer short and conscience, it also allowed me to see how much I knew about the raffle in order to do this. My answer ended up satisfying the patron and they said it was a very professional answer and they appreciated it.  Had my supervisor not challenged me to write this response, I would have just passed it on with the other comments I pass on.  It gave me the confidence and faith in myself that I can reply to some of the more “challenging” survey comments and do not need to necessarily pass all these “non-standard reply” comments on. 

Coming into this internship, I really was not completely sure what to expect.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get out of this internship.  I knew I wanted to try to figure out what I wanted to do after graduation, but beyond that, I wasn’t really sure what my goals were. Looking back at what I wrote I wanted to do and learn about before coming out to Denver, I think I have accomplished it all.  I said that I wanted to be able to appreciate the “simple” Iowa life.  I do.  I appreciate the quiet, the humidity, the simplicity of it all.  I said that I wanted to learn if I wanted to stay in a big city or go to a small town.  I think I want something in between.  Not as big as Denver, not as small as Iowa City, but somewhere in between.  I also lastly said that I wanted to decide where I wanted to concentrate my job search, in the marketing field, or in another field.  Although this isn’t exactly complete, I know I want to look first in the marketing or development areas and then branch out from there.

This week at work was pretty slow, and contained a lot of the same work that I have been doing in the past weeks.  We are gearing up for another early bird drawing next week, and this week is the last week to buy tickets for that.  It was a lot of calling people who had declined credit cards, working on coming up with guerilla marketing techniques, and beginning to say good bye.  With only 5 working days left, I think about everything I have done here.  I think about coming in and not knowing anything about this organization, and look at all I have accomplished.  I have done a lot of market research for them, helped plan drawings, helped film kids, hung out at the Dream House, and worked on minor parts of many other projects.  This week it really hit home that we are almost done here in Denver, and I still have no idea what life holds after graduation.  But I know that I know have all of these internship experiences behind me that I can use and reflect on in order to try to get a job.

I’ve learned that I want to live in a city, but maybe not one as big as Denver.  The city isn’t dangerous like I orginially thought it might.  But all the people always being in a rush gets to me.  I’ve learned to take life one day at a time and slow down, appreciate life.  And that is one big thing that I want to take out of this going forward. I learned that you can’t live life in a box.  You have to get out of your comfort zone, experience new things.  Meet new people, learn new things.  You have to use the hard times in life to be able to fully appreciate the good times.  You have to use those job rejection letters to feul you going forward.  Yet you have to be so happy that you are able to apply for jobs and that I was raised and brought up to keep trying.  I know that God has a plan  and we just need to let his plan take shape.  I have so many excuses.  I have so many fears.  I say, “God, I can’t do it.  I’m too weak, I’m too pathetic.  It’s impossible.”  But God looks back at me and says, “But beloved, since when did it become all about you?  It’s about me.  It’s my promise.  I will guide you.  I’ll never leave you.”

And that is what I have learned.  “A persons biggest challenge isn’t someone else.  It’s the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells, I CANT.”  But you don’t listen.  You just push harder.  And then you hear the voice whisper, “I can”.  And then you discover that person you thought you were is really no match for who you really are.”

I’ve learned that were here learn that there are no random acts.  That we are all connected.  That you can no more separate one life from another then you can separate a breeze from the wind.

Week 11

This 14 week journey is beginning to come to an end.  It seems like just yesterday we were leaving for Denver, and now we are starting to think about home.  This week brought excitement in a new form.  My parents.  They came out to visit this week and I got 5 days of them all to myself to show them around Denver and spew my knew knowledge all over them.

Last Friday after class, I went to go meet up with my parents at the B & B.  I took them down town to the 16^th street mall, to Larimer Street, to Tattered Covers, to the Capitol, and to the Molly Brown Museum all by about 4:30.  For dinner, we ended up at Pizza Fusion which not only has phenomenal food, but also is a good cause.  All the people who work there are in transitional housing and work there in order to get back on their feet. 

Saturday, I met up with them at their B & B for breakfast and then we headed out.  We first went out to Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  I don’t think they knew how amazing it was going to be, but I’m pretty sure they both had their breath taken away by how beautiful and amazing it was.  After that, we drove up look out mountain for a funny tour of the buffalo bill museum, and then went up to his grave which had amazing views.  We drove down the mountain, got lunch at a small diner in Golden, and then went to tour the Coors Factory.  The tour was audio guided and sort of boring, but it was still cool.  After the Coors Factory, we walked around town a bit, and then headed back to Denver.  To finish off the night, we went out to eat at CityGrille, home to the City’s best burger.  And boy oh boy was it good.

Sunday, my parents went with Sarah and I to Denver Community Church.  I did not think they would like it as it is sort of contemporary, but they said they liked it.  And the pastor got them laughing which is always good J After church, we went to buffalo doughboy bakery for a light lunch and then went out to a wine tasting at a local vineyard.  Afterwards, we headed out to Cherry Creek and walked around the mall a bit before deciding we were tired.  For dinner, we went to Casa Bonita.  People don’t go there for the food, but for the experience.  They had cliff divers, a mariachi band, gun fights, and juggling gorillas.  I wasn’t a fan of the food, but it was still sort of cool.

Monday morning, I had class again, so after class, I took my parents to the Delectable Egg for lunch.  Afterwards, we headed out to Boulder.  Boulder is a lot closer to the mountains and still really cool.  Plus, the tea factory is there.  We drank lots of tea, and had a fun tour in which dad recognized pretty much all of the equipment.  And I got to go back to the peppermint room which was AMAZING! We drank some tea for a while, and then headed down to the Pearl Street Mall where we walked around, watched some street performers, and got a nice Italian dinner. 

Tuesday we had a pretty laid back day.  We had breakfast at Jellys, and then went out to the Hammond Candy Factory.  We drove around CityParke, ate at D Bar Desserts, and then went out to Aurora to shop a little.  We also walked around South broadway a little before saying goodbye.  It wasn’t tearful though, as I know I will see them so very soon. I enjoyed the time we had together and hope they did too J.

Wednesday I was back at work and it was check request day.  Laura’s family was in town, so she only worked a half day.  We worked quickly all morning in order to get everything done and touch base about how we were splitting up responsibilities while Laura was gone.  We were working on getting check requests for the next to Early Bird Drawings done as well as the Grand Prize Drawing.  That meant  I had about 330 check requests to do.  Luckily, I could just photo copy and fill in numbers so it was fairly painless.  I also sent out another round of the survey today and spent a lot of time responding to comments on that.  Thursday was a fairly laid back day.  We still had people out sick and people at meetings all day.  I spent the morning responding to survey comments and doing some social media stuff.  We went out to lunch, and then after lunch I did some work with the survey, writing letters, and doing some more research on guerilla marketing.  Marietta Schemell came today to take pictures of me at the site so that offered a nice short afternoon break. 

This weekend is St. Patricks Day.  I have a lot of work to get done, but I think we should be able to have some fun too J

Week 10

Wow! It is so incredibly hard to believe that in less than a month, I will be in the car back home! Tomorrow morning, my parents arrive for 5 days of touring, roaming, eating, and just being reunited.  It has been 10 weeks since I left home and what an adventure.
On Monday, I started the day in class.  In religion class, we had 4 people present on their engaging politics project.  It was interesting to hear what other organizations people are working with and what these organizations are doing for the community of Denver.  After class, I met up with Amy Arnold again in Washington Park before she left town.  We walked around a little bit and got a chance to talk a little again which was really nice.  After that, Brittni, Marcela and I went to AFSC, the organization I am politically engaged with, to head out to a vigil/rally in Aurora to protest the new ICE policies and their new set of raids and silly other stuff they are doing.  There were about 50 people at the rally at the peak point and it was interesting to talk to people and hear their stories and hear about why they are there.  After the rally, we came back to the apartments, and I spent the night watching TV (although there was nothing on) and just hanging out with Nicole.
On Tuesday, I went back to work.  I worked on raffle (surprise!) and also began to write some newsletter stuff for the summer newsletter.  Over lunch, Ben and I wrote the volunteer newsletter and then I  priced some more golf balls before finishing out the day writing thank you notes for raffle.  I finished my long list of thank you's which was super nice, and then came home.  I spent the night just chilling which was nice to not have anything to do.
On Wednesday, I woke up excited for the Raffle Drawing today.  Needless to say, I was a little disappointed after all the build up.  In the morning, I met Daniel from Raffle Admin which was a little interesting, but went well.  He is a nice guy and not at all what I expected from the emails we had exchanged.  Daniel and Erin and Laura went to a PR meeting and I stayed at the office.  I got my work done at 1130, in time for our lunch meeting, but the early PR meeting went long, so I just hung out a little bit and worked on various things.  When the three others came back with lunch, we had a lunch meeting which was interrupted with the CEO came in and started talking taxes.  He thinks he knows all about accounting, but really he doesn't so it was interesting to listen to that conversation.  As soon as we were done, the auditors showed up to meet with Daniel and audit the tickets and such.  Seemed fairly painless. I went back to my office and cut up email addresses for the survey drawing I would do later in the day.  Around 2:45, Laura and I got the barrel drum, and loaded her car and headed over to the Cope branch.  I started interviewing a few kids about their dream house, what they'd do with 25,000 dollars, etc.  At 3:20, I headed to the gym to film the drawing.  Once we got started, it took about 3 minutes to give away $40,000.   It was crazy.  WE had a few people there watching, but none won.  After the drawing, I interviewed a few more kiddos, before we headed back to the support center.  We had to shred all the non winning tickets, and then call the winners.  Let me tell you, shredding over 15,000 takes about 15 minutes, and fills our huge "to shred" bin.  After that, Laura, Daniel, Erin and i started calling the winners.  To hear their excitement was awesome.  We collected some stories from them and chatted a bit, Erin cried when she called the winners, and then we were done.  Erin and i then pulled survey winners, I email them, and finally left work on a bus shortly before 6 pm.  I did not make it home in time for class, so when I got home about 7:10, I wrote a couple of papers, sent some emails, and watched a movie.  I was exhausted after the long day.
Today, Thursday, was quite different.  I had nothing on my plate at work.  Erin was gone all day at a couple of meetings, a funeral, and a youth of the year dinner.  Laura had no work she needed help with.  It left me with very little to do.  I wrote a story for the summer newsletter, sent some more surveys, and then just spent the afternoon chilling.  I felt bad not doing any work, so started asking around to see if anyone needed help, which no one did.  It made for a very long day, but i got to leave at 415 rather than 445 since i worked late yesterday.  Tonight I have some homework to get done and need to clean the apartments, but other than that, I am just chilling in preparation for my parents coming tomorrow, which I am SUPER excited for.
We have a packed schedule of things to do, but we have some free time, and it will be fun to catch up with them and just spend time with them.
Were going to visit the Molly Brown house, go to red rocks, go to the tea factory, do pearl street, 16th street, the Coors factory, the Hammond chocolate factory, the winery, and the buffalo bill museum.  Five days of my parents all to myself :) I cannot wait :)

That is all for this week!  Check back next week to read about all that my parents and I Did!

End of Weekend Post

It is so hard to believe that we are done with another weekend.  In just 5 short days, my parents will be here for some fun, reunited time together. I can;t believe that they will be here for 5 full days!  Five days of having my parents to myself.  I don't have to share them with anything but the people we encounter on our tours!  We will be doing a lot of things and seeing a bunch of places, but it will  be incredible!

This weekend was an incredibly beautiful weekend here in Denver. I did a lot of homework, and watched some movies.  It was nice to not have to set an alarm and be able to just sleep and chillax.  Sunday morning, Sarah and i went back to Denver Community Church, and it felt like home again.  It was a nice time of praising God, and talking more about confession.  Although it doesn't seem like a happy topic, it was very engaging, open, and easy to understand.  I am really enjoying this church and having a faith community again.

I'm starting to think about life after Graduation, and life's return to Iowa.  Starting the long process of applying for jobs, thinking about where I want to move to, what kind of job I want, how life will be, how to keep in touch with people, etc.  Thinking about everything I have to do before I come back to Iowa and when I get back to Iowa.  It is so strange to think that in less than 3 months I will be an alumni of Wartburg College. It seems like just last week I was graduating high school and now the baby of the family is graduating college.  Crazy.  What will life bring?  What is next?  Where is next?  Only God knows.  But slowly and surely, he will reveal his plans to the rest of us.  Until then, it's time to sit back and enjoy the journey.

Week 9

Welcome to week 9 in Denver!  That means 5 weeks left! This week brought some new adventures at work, some old adventures at work, and in general, some stress and fun. 

Last weekend, I toured Sports Authority Field at Mile High (where the Broncos Play), hung out in Washington Park (it was about 60 degrees), and did some exploring of Cherry Creek.  Other than that, I think I just hung out. Sunday morning, I went to a new church (after 4 or 5 failed attempts at finding a new church) that I fell in love with.  (Reflections on church in a separate post).  We also just hung out in some nice weather and aired out the apartment.  Because this week was break week at Wartburg, we did not have class this week. It allowed for some extra time to just relax and get some extra work in.  Monday, I met with someone from the American Friends Service Committee to start volunteering with them with a class assignment.  After that, I went over to one of the Boys & Girls Clubs to volunteer for a few hours.  I have really enjoyed spending time with the kids at the Clubs and getting to know them and seeing them get excited when they figure out the answer to a math problem or when they are able to finish reading a book. 

Tuesday morning, I found myself back at work.   I really like my internship.  It was sort of a busy week at work this week.  Last Friday was the first Early Bird deadline for the raffle, so we had sold about 4,000 tickets while I had had time off.  I then had to hand check all of those names and write thank you notes to about 45 people who had purchased 4 or more tickets.  It kept me quite busy for a few days.  Tuesday night, I went to another one of the Boys &Girls Clubs to volunteer.  When I am at this Club, I spend a lot of time breaking up fights over the wii.  It is crazy and high energy and drains me, but I still enjoy it. 

Wednesday, I continued writing thank you notes, continued working on thank you notes, and attended some meetings with my boss, prepared for Thursday’s big day.

Thursday, I met my supervisor at 5:30 AM.  Yes, ridiculously early.  We headed to the Pepsi Center for a fundraiser breakfast. We had about 250 people show up for breakfast and learning about Gates Camp, properly dubbed, “The most funnest place on earth.”  After being at the Pepsi Center for 3.5 hours, I was finally able to leave with one of my supervisors.  We stopped at Starbucks before heading back to work.  At work on Thursday, I did some raffle work with the survey, before heading to an All Staff meeting about the new benefits plan.  It really got me thinking about life after college and how much I really know about this stuff.  Which is nothing.  After the meeting, I decided (without thinking) to sort the master raffle file to see how many people had bought 4 or more tickets, but at separate times.  I came up with about 30 more names that I now have to write thank you notes too.  All in a days work I guess. 

Thursday night, I met up with someone I met through A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. Their main office is located in Denver, and one of the people I met lives only a few blocks away, so I went over to her apartment for a nice dinner and a time to catch up.  It was super nice to be away from the apartments for a night and have a nice meal with her.

Friday was a special day.  There was a service trip from Wartburg in Denver, and one of my friends who graduated last year, Amy, was in town.  I had to work with AFSC in the morning, but after I was done there, I went down to 16^th street and got to hang out and catch up with Amy and also spend the afternoon and evening with the people on the service trip.  Both were amazing things.  Being able to reconnect with these people who I have spent so much time with in the past was nice. 

Today is Saturday.  I was going to go to the Art museum, but decided time would be better spent catching up on homework and taking it easy.  I have a lot of work to do in preparation for going to Texas and for RICE day on campus.  And, some class work I want to try to get ahead of.  Also knowing that this coming week will be busy with the early bird drawing makes me want to get ahead on some work. 

Hope you all are having an awesome weekend and see you soon! 

Reflections on Church

Sarah and I attended Denver Community Church last week and I was amazed at home at home it already felt.  We got there about 10 minutes before the service was supposed to start and were welcomed and told to choose any seat.  As we sat and waited, I noticed all the different types of people there.  There were college students, young adults, old adults, and some elderly people.  The service started singing some contemporary songs.  I hadn’t heard of a couple of the songs, but it was still cool to see everyone singing along and praising God.  There were a couple people with hand raised, but no one really shouting amen or anything like that. It was a lot like a mix between Open Bible and Prairie Lakes. As we finished singing, one of the associate pastors came up and talked to the congregation about human trafficking and a couple members of the congregation who had moved to Africa (I think) to combat the human trafficking.  After that, the main pastor came up and started his message.  He talked about confession (since it was the start of lent) and how we deal with confession and peoples responses to our confession. How does confession fight into our ‘flight or fight’ response?  Which resonates stronger inside of us?  Do we fight and not confess anything?  Or do we use the flight response and confess something?  How do people respond when we confess things to them?  Does their response change our habit of confessing?  What is the impact of all of these things on our life?   It got me thinking about what myself and others are focused on in life.  Are we focused on hiding, like Adam and Eve after eating, or are we focused on giving our lives to God?  The pastor talked about how God always follows through even when we don’t listen to him.  He will always be there when we need to confess and will be there when we don’t confess.  Everything in life starts and ends with understanding who we are and where we are in life.  In order to get there though, we have to start understanding who we are ourselves.  What are we hiding from others that we should be confessing?  For so long, I hid so much.  Yet now, I am able to ‘confess’ most of that.  Yet, is there still a hidden self when we confess?  Psalm 32 starts by saying, “Happy are those whose sins are forgiven…” And doesn’t it feel good when we confess stuff to people and they understand and are able to hold us and help us through it?  I found this song this week, well more it really stood out to me this week.  It’s called, Oh My Dear by Tenth Avenue North.  I thought about how much it describes my relationship with a couple of people, and it went pretty well with this sermon from church.

I cannot wait to attend church again at Denver Community Church. 

Week 8

Hello Friends and Family!

Happy almost end of February.  There is so much going on here in Denver and just getting busier by the day! 

Today is the last day to buy raffle tickets for the first early bird drawing for the Dream House Raffle I am working on for my internship.  I have been busy with the raffle and comparing names, calling people who can’t read their credit card numbers, calling people again, emailing people who leave comments on the survey I am moderating, writing thank you letters to people who buy 4 or more tickets, and still doing some miscellaneous work for the YOY Gala.  I spent some time this week, about 4 hours, hanging out at the Dream House we are raffling off following reporters around and making sure they didn’t go where they weren’t supposed to and answering any questions that they had.  It was a beautiful Wednesday and a good day for filming!  Thursday, I got a text message from my supervisor right as I was leaving for work saying that the power was out and all the servers were still down so I couldn’t go in to work until noon.  When I finally got in, I did some more raffle work as we had sold about 3,000 tickets in two days.  We are up and over 10,000 tickets with our final goal being about 20,000.  We will see how we continue to do! 

Other than working, I have been consumed in writing papers for classes and enjoy the wonderful things that Denver has to offer.  Last weekend a few of us went up to a restaurant in North Glenn called Cinzzettis, which is this exquisite Italian Feast.  Also last weekend, I spent some time at Washington Park playing basketball because it was so nice out.  Sunday night Nicole and I went to Colorado Springs to the Rock and Worship Road Tour, a big Christian Rock Concert with 7 bands for only 10 dollars.  It was an awesome night to praise God and hang out with about 9,000 crazy people.  I have always wanted to go to a big concert like this and could not pass up this opportunity.  Some of my favorite bands were playing and it was a chance to hang out with Nicole and worship God.  Good night all around. 

Monday morning for the religion class, we went to Faith Advocacy Day downtown and then I headed out with Matt and Sarah to the Botanical Gardens for their free day.  There was not much to see as it was Winter, but the inside exhibits were pretty cool and the flowers were super cool! After that, I headed to Urgent Care because I have been sick for a while and found out I had an acute upper respiratory infection and bronchitis.  I was able to get some sleeping meds, antibiotics, and steroids and am finally feeling better. 

This weekend starts Wartburg’s break so it should be a pretty low key weekend.  Not sure what all it will hold yet, but hopefully some exciting times are in store for me this weekend!  

Week 7

Hello Friends! 

In exactly 7 weeks, I will be back in Iowa.  How incredibly strange is that?  I suppose that makes this the week 7 update! 

Last Saturday, Matt, Sarah and I made the half hour trip up to Boulder, Colorado, to visit the Celestial Tea Factory and for a day out of Denver.  It was absolutely amazing.  The Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory gives free tours and has a free tasting room. We spent about three hours there touring the factory floor and sampling tea.  I was on a pretty high tea high!  They had all different kinds and would tell you what to mix in it to make it even better.  After the tea factory, we headed to the pedestrian mall on Pearl Street for food.  We ended up at this pizzeria famous for their cookie pizza.  It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie baked in a deep dish pizza pan topped with ice cream.  Basically the most delectable thing I have had while here.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day.  I spent the day doing some work for my internship again before heading out at about 4:30 for dinner with the Schemmels.  The Schemmels usually take all Wartburg West Students out to eat their first week here but Mr Schemmel had a heart attack our second day here so we didn’t do that.  There were four of us that Mrs. Schemmel had not met yet so she and Jack took us to this awesome restaurant called Racines for dinner.  After that, I went downtown to see the play “I Love you, your perfect, now change.”  It was incredibly funny and gave me a night to myself to laugh and have fun.

Monday morning we had class and visited the Rocky Mountain Family Council and then I chilled part of the afternoon.   About 5 o’clock, an alumni came and picked me up and took me to her house so we could fill gift bags for the Board Of Regents who is visiting Denver this weekend.  I spent the night working on that and getting to know some alumni.  It was a little awkward, but over all a good evening.  Tuesday I was back at work.  BGCMD had our “big announcement” where we announced that we are opening a new club with a grant from the Anschutz Family Foundation!  The site where it will be used to be a strip mall where the community of Park Hill hung out but the mall was burnt down by gang arsonists in 2008 and has stood empty since then.  I spent the rest of the day entering entries for the raffle.  Wednesday I was back at work and the job for the day was working on more stuff for the Auction of the Youth of the Year auction.  I had to take the list I made last Friday and find addresses and phone numbers for all of them.  Quite the event.  Wednesday night Nicole and I went straight downtown because the class was seeing the play, “The Two things you don’t talk about at dinner.”  It was incredibly funny and nice to not have to sit in class for the night.  Afterwards, we jumped the light rail home and stopped at Albertsons so I could get something to help my bad canker sore J . 

Thursday was a big day and I made it a half day.  The Board of Regents visited my site in the morning and then left at 12:30 so I could head down to the capitol.  My religion class here requires us to follow a legislative bill through legislation.  My bill was being heard at 1:30 so I went down to hear that.  My bill was third out of 3 bills so It didn’t start being heard until about 4:30.  The first two were super boring and went super long so they had to rush through my bill.  We left at 5:15 and my bill got sent to a committee to decide if they can fund it or not.. So we shall see what happens with it.  After that, I came home and chilled. 

This morning we had religion class which was actually quite bearable!  We talked about the regents and then about what we want to do with out lives and what we are doing to get ourselves there.  It was really cool and made me think a lot about Youth and Family Ministry class and peer Helpers training.  Strangely.  Afterwards, I came home and got a package ready to mail home (have fun with that mom and dad.. lots of bubble wrap and duct tape J). 

Not sure what this weekend will bring, but I will tell you about it when it happens! 

I have a lot more work to get done this afternoon, so I should probably get going! 

Peace, Love, and Happiness! 

Week 6

How incredible is it that we are almost half way done in Denver?  We have been here just over 6 weeks.  It seems like we just got here.  Yet, I can tell I have been away.  The homesickness really set in this week.  I spent that majority of the week wishing that I could chop off my head due to a head cold.  It started last Thursday night and managed to get worse until Monday night.  I spent 16 hours asleep and 20 hours in bed from Friday until I left for work on Tuesday morning.  Through that, I still got to watch the Super Bowl and visit the Art Museum.  I was too sick though for the zoo.  (Mom, dad, maybe we can go when you come?) 

The Art Museum had a free day so I went with some people.  I forgot my camera, but will hit up another free day with my camera in March hopefully.  It was amazing to see all these different kinds of art and reminded me of touring museums in Paris.  I got really tired after about 5 floors so I headed home via a stop at Walgreens for Dayquil and Nyquil (which are almost gone now J).  On Sunday, I made some brownies and hamburger cheese dip and had about 10 people in our room for the game since we were the only people who got it on TV.  I disinfected the room before they came in hopes to not spread germs. 

Monday, I skipped class because I felt so bad and slept all day.  Tuesday I was back at work though.  And I had forgotten how much I love that place. Tuesday was dedicated to working on the raffle.  I stayed late in order to get all the piled up tickets entered into the computer.  All together, I entered over 100 orders which were about 160 tickets.  It took me pretty much all day.  Wednesday, I was busy writing thank you notes for about 30 people who had bought tickets.  Also, I wrote copy to send and reach out to bloggers to promote the house and made a week one report about the survey.  

Thursday, I worked a little bit on the raffle, narrowed down places to canvas with fliers, sat in on a conference call about building mobile websites with some dumbo from California, compared lists of board members who had bought tickets, and probably did more that I don’t remember!  Thursday night, I realized how tired I had been from this week.  Although I had been going to bed between 8 and 930 every night this week due to still not feeling well, I was still really tired.  I just sort of relaxed all night and tried to prepare for today.

Today, I went to class where we visited InterFaith Alliance.  While there, I was reminded how awkward the group dynamics are among WW participants.  The other girls in my class are all best friends and exclude everyone, but always preach about how they want to be invited.  They feel the world revolves around them and always have to say the last word; their opinions are always stated and you have to agree with them.  It is getting rather annoying, but I only have to be with them during class luckily. 

After class, I went downtown for a slice of pizza for lunch, the worked for almost 4 hours on stuff for my internship.  They do a big Gala event with silent auction and need to solicit businesses to donate stuff.  So, I worked on breaking Denver into 25 neighborhoods and coming up with restaurants and stores who the board can go talk to for donations.   After finishing that, I jumped on the light rail and headed out to walk around University of Denver.  Just because I could.  I found the book store and got a cheap shirt and walked around some.  I didn’t find the college of Business like I wanted to, but I will go back and find it sometime.  J

Tonight, I am just chilling and doing laundry.  I will probably clean some and have some dinner and just take it easy tonight.

Tomorrow, I am headed with a couple of people to Boulder for the day.  We are going to visit the tea factory and do some shopping.  Should be fun.

This week was homesickness week.  I don’t know if it was because I was sick or it was cold and snowy or what, but I just missed home this week.  Missed the people at Wartburg, my parents, my friends, and the campus ministry community.  I realized how much I have and I can’t wait to return after I do everything there is to do in Denver.  Also this week, I started thinking about jobs.  It is sooo scary to think that I need to start applying for jobs soon!  I’m all growed up! When did that happen?!!?

That’s all for now! 

Updated bucket list below

1. Eat at the Tilted Kilt  DONE Dec 31, 2011
2. Eat at the mellow mushroom DONE Jan 1, 2012
3. Tour the capitol DONE Jan 23, 2012
4. Buy something from Tattered Covers Bookstore
5. Visit the Denver Art Museum DONE FEB 4, 2012
6. Go to the Celestial tea museum in Boulder
7. Eat at D Bar Deserts
8. Visit the Denver Mint
9. Take a jog around Washington Park
10. Tour the Performing Arts Center Downtown DONE Jan 10, 2012
11. Visit Rocky Mountain National Park
12. Visit the Falling Rock Tap House
13. See the Molly Brown House Museum
14. Drink at Jacksons
15. Visit the University of Denver DONE FEB 10, 2012
16. Go to Breckenridge Brewery
17. Write a Paper at the Denver Public Library DONE Jan 13, 2012
18. Attend a service at a Mega Church DONE Jan 29, 2012
19. Walk LoDo DONE Jan 8, 2012
20. Walk through Union Station DONE JAN 8, 2012
21. Attend a Murder Mystery dinner show
22. Tour Sports Authority Field
23. Drink coffee at a local coffee shop DONE Jan 15, 2012
24. Walk the entire length of 16^th street
25. Visit Red Rocks Amphitheatre
26. Visit the exhibits at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library DONE JAN 30
27. Visit the Buffalo Bill Museum
28. Tour Coors Field DONE Jan 20, 2012
29. Go to the Denver Zoo
30. See a Colorado Rapids Game/ Or just tour the field
31. Go to Dazzle restaurant
32. Find the Denver Cupcake Truck Done Jan 13, 2012
33. Strike up a conversation with a Homeless Person
34. Strike up a conversation with the occupy protestors
35. Buy a piece of Broncos Clothing
36. Attend a performance at the Denver Performing Arts Center DONE Jan 10, 2012