BRO–BRY: Alphebetizing + Spring Break = Brain Pain.
6:30 a.m. The breakfast bell goes off, and twelve campers pop out (ok, some of us rolled out) of their bunk beds in sleepy confusion. Our camp mom, Ophelia, got us up a bit earlier than planned today, and upon leaving our cabins we were greeted with a steady Florida downpour. Most of our first thoughts involved the fruits of our hard work sopping wet out on the clothes line behind our cabins – we'd already gone through our clothes so quickly this week that we hand-washed all of our dirties last night and hung them out to dry. Thwarted.
Due to the rain and lightening, our day's plan to continue clearing the Valparaiso water treatment site turned into performing indoor jobs for various areas of the city. We split into two groups – we hate to separate, but that's how serious we are about efficiency – and one group went to work at the local library (Claire will tell you all about it) while another went to the Heritage Museum of Western Florida to do odd jobs and learn a bit about the history of the area we're working in. This museum was quaint and cozy, and full of tasks well suited for a strong, strategic team.
The day at the museum consisted mainly of clearing out and reorganizing an archival area that would allow for more efficient use of available space. A few tasks involved some serious organizational and strategic brain usage, which I think was a bit of a shock to us after days of hard labor. Once the puzzle of the archive room was sufficiently solved, we all felt quite satisfied with our ability to work as a team to accomplish a communication-heavy task. The work we did today was something that the women supervising us said had been put off for weeks – simply because they'd had neither the time nor the manual resources to put into it. It is just amazing to see the effect that the Gulf Spill has had on this town. Tourism is down, which is a primary support system for this museum. Hopefully the work we accomplished today will allow the facility's planners to focus more on attracting visitors, and stress less about organization issues within the museum.
After a delicious Mexican feast tonight, we had the awesome opportunity to be trained for volunteer service at a Red Cross disaster relief shelter. Essentially, we are now able to set up and volunteer at any Red Cross shelter in the country in the event of a disaster. The training was extremely informative and quite eye opening. I had very little previous knowledge of the organization, and now I feel like this is something that I may consider as a postgraduate career. This week has just been a constant reminder of the fact that there is so much more out there than school and work, school and work. There are so many opportunities to make a difference; it's been uplifting to actually see the differences we are already beginning to make here. I am really excited to get involved with the local chapter of Red Cross back in Columbia, and it looks like the rest of the group is making the same plans.
After a hard day's work inside, we are definitely ready to tackle the physical work that tomorrow's going to bring. Woo sea grass!
--Jessica Garrett
Today we woke up to rain. We anticipated the rain, but shrugged it off with 'Florida always rains, but it never lasts'. Well this lasted. And lasted through mid-afternoon. It was evident outside work would be unpleasant. Even though all the physical work we were doing was extremely rewarding and challenging, being a girl of "5'4" who's main physical activity is lugging a giant backpack across campus, I welcomed a change. (Not that I didn't love the physical stuff, I just think I about died the day before.) Our group was split and six of us went to paint at a library/community center. I really enjoyed the split time. I got to bond with some team members I hadn't talked to that much so far. I learned a lot about these people (including how Kate got her nickname, Pee Girl), my team members, my classmates, my friends. I shared with them and learned more than I thought I would about people I was thrown into a 12-passenger van with.
To me, this exemplified the entire trip. Sometimes its amazing the luck you have. I look around me at the circle of 12 people, some formerly strangers, all currently close friends and cannot imagine how lucky we all our that we click and get along so well. We have boosted each other's morale and helped each other through any tough moments. Louie, with his smiling optimism, keeps our spirits high with a constant stream of thumbs up and ever present vitality. Veronica keeps us all cheery by changing song lyrics to fit our various moods and trying her best to make everyone happy and comfortable. I have never met anyone else who can use 'nom' is as many different contexts.
Ryan's quiet intelligence and amazing love for everything we've been doing inspires us to keep vigilant even when the works seems too tough to bear. Kate, who will get her dance party one day, can't speak to anyone without making them smile. Tim keeps our spirits high with his amazing modeling poses and hilarious commentary for everything. Cameron (more commonly known as Camey Cakes) inspires us with his incredible work ethic and ability to play ultimate so intense he sprains his ankle. He was genuinely thankful when we ate outside with him and kind enough to thank us, which most people would have overlooked. He possesses warmth the Southerners would be proud to call polite. Ian is English, which is just hilarious. He keeps us laughing even when we feel so tired that we couldn't work another moment. Stephen is basically Dug from the movie Up. His energy never ceases, keeps every revitalized and can take a bit of team abuse. Plus, he also gave me some awesome advice about business school so he's pretty much my favorite (just kidding everyone else!). Jess always has a kind and encouraging word and has a rare gift of making everyone feel important and listened too. Raha and Chelsea are the best trip leaders anyone could ask for. They are the perfect team of calm and energetic, sensible and fun.
Basically, this day was my favorite so far. I felt I bonded with this amazing group of people and am looking forward to another 17-hour drive with my friends. What cemented this day as particularly memorable to me was the amazing amount of teamwork. On previous days, we have worked together, but our jobs have been so immense we haven't been able to finish a job. Today, we got the first coat painted on a whole, humongous room. The six of us had most of the room done, but there was no way we could finish by ourselves. Our other half showed up and together we pulled the last bit of room together. It was amazing to see everyone encourage and use their gifts to help our group accomplish a goal.
Altogether today was amazing. Team bonding, Mexican food for dinner and not to mention, the city of Valpairso bought us some nom pizza (Ron inspired me). Even though my physical capacity reached max at lifting a 30 lb tree, I know I can lean on my team to help me through it, keep me inspired, and carry the bottom half to lighten the load. And isn't that what friends are for?
-Claire Virden
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