Just a note...

I will continue to work more on this blog... I promise! In the meantime... please know there is another blog that was done by the lovely Miss Cheryl and some of the students... follow the link: http://britishandirishheritageajourney.blogspot.com/

July 19th and 20th, 2010

This is my first post of the British and Irish Heritage trip. These are notes from my journal I kept throughout the trip. I will try to add pictures as I go along, but may add some later as well.. if you want to see the whole lot of the pics just let me know and I'll send you the link. ~Cheers!

Well our travel day started with thunderstorms rolling through and lots of delays. Our first flight from Philadelphia to Newark, NJ which is only supposed to be about 45 minutes was delyaed over an hour. Then when we got to Newark, we boarded the plane and sat for 4 hours because of another band of thunderstorms. The airline did at one point announce that we could get off the plane and stick close by if we wanted to, but we told students not to do this in fear of them wanting to take off right away and them wandering off. Coincidentally rhere was a couple on the plane that did this and caused us to lose our place in line for takeoff so it took even longer, but with all said the students handled everything brilliantly. We were finally able to take off around 10PM.

We arrived in London and met up with our Delegate Manager, Johnny. He reminds me so much of my brother Jamison it's too funny. From the airport we hopped on our Mercedes Benz bus and went straight to lunch at a restaurant in London connected to a hotel. It was the students first, but definitely not last meal or fish and chips. They were pretty wiped out, but still ready to head on to our next venture, which was to the London Eye. We all got to see a 3-D movie on the London Eye and then waited in line for a little less than an hour maybe to get on... it was amazing... such beautiful views of the city in our own little personal bubble. Roy, one of my students, has decided anytime I take a picture he is determined to be as serious as can be- little pip-squeek! :) We could see Parliament, Big Ben, the River Thames, and just an overall view of the city..WOW!

After the London Eye we went to our hotel to let students unpack, change, and some thankfully took the chance to take a shower. I wish I had taken a picture of the shower because it was the smallest shower I think I may have ever been in... kind of reminds me of the bathrooms in a cruise cabin. Dinner was nice and easy in the hotel as a buffet with veggies, sheppard's pie, mashed potatoes (which seemed redundant to me but still wonderful), and then a wonderful cake covered in a carmelized dressing of some sort. Students were exhausted and went right to bed. :) YEAH we survived our first day!

Summer Travels

Well, it has been a really busy summer for me and I still have a few weeks left yet. IT started with me leaving school a few days early and heading to Harvard University where I was the Academic lead for the week and also got to sit in on a 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Seminar. Amazing and so wish I could find a way to use more of it in my school.I am determined this year to find a way though.

Harvard was a lot of fun and getting to work with Laura Drew was a dream come true for this girl right here... so fun... actually the whole team was amazing with Annie and Alan there as well. Lots of laughs and think we did a pretty good job in trying to corrupt innocent lil Alan. :) Life was good that week, even with some of the minor snafoos, right Annie??!! I have also found a new-found love for Mad Libs, but that's a story for a different time- even Craig got to be the star in one of those.

A few days after Harvard I was off to D.C. to pick up my second (better) half, Renee. She had just finished a WLF program and we drove straight to the movie theater to watch the next movie in the Twighlight series... not many understand my obsession like she does.. actually she is the reason I have this damn Twighlight-itis. Thanks you for bringing pretty vampires into my life friend. After the movie we drove to my dad's house and spent the night there where we got to relax a bit and explore the town I am from originally. Was a nice way to start off before we headed to another program at George Washington University.

GWU was fun... was not too impressed with the teaching facilities we were given, but nice university nonetheless. We had an interesting group of students though, which if you ever get the chance look up on you tube the mad tv skit from King Burger with Bon Qui Qui... yeah that girl was totally on our program that week. What a great week of getting to be with some good friends, good program, and even more so- some interesting staff. :)

Once the program was over, 48 hours later I was on my way to England... which my next few posts will be all about my trip to the UK and Ireland. :)

Peace.

New School Year

Hello again! Well the past month has been pretty good. I have been having more neck and back pain lately. After having an MRI, they found that I have 3 herniated discs in my neck. I am supposed to see an Orthopedic doctor next month, but I have a feeling it will be a lot of take some advil and suck it up kinda stuff. We'll see. I've lived with the pain for years, so now I just know what it is.

School is going pretty well. I have a hearing impaired student this year which has provided some interesting challenges, but so far has gone really well. It has opened my eyes to a new world. I do love my job, for the most part, but I also question each and every day if come May I should stay on as President for the next two years. I feel like I need a break. On the other hand, I have finally developed these great relationships with the administration and the state reps. What to do?

Right now I am looking forward to a few up coming trips I have planned with friends and family. I am heading to South Carolina in 2 weeks to visit my brother and then I'm off to Arkansas to hang with the girls for a few days, and to top things off, I just made reservations to go hang out in Branson, MO with some of the best friends a girl could ask for for the week of New Year's. YEAH!

Not too much else going on. Jamison is loving school, but just came home for a week since he has one class this month and it is all online. I miss him tons but can't wait to see and hang out with him tomorrow! :)

Hope all is well with everyone else!

Crazy summer

Well, Chicago has come and gone and I am happy I went so I could see some of the most important people in my life... friends that I don't know what I would do without! After our P2P trip, my friend John and I explored a bit of the city on our own, although I feel bad that I was not as lively as I would have liked to have been since I was kind of wiped out from the rest of the week. Melissa and the DC office staff did a great job planning another new trip for P2P. The Obama and Lincoln impersonators were fabulous and I still wonder how long it took for students to realize it really wasn't Obama up there! :) LOL! for those on FB, you can see the rest of my pictures there.

Since I have returned home, things have been kinda crazy. I have been having some major neck and back pain and the new chiropractor I have been seeing seems to think I may have a bulged disc, which, I'm not gonna lie, scares me! With all the back problems my mom has I worry I am going towards the same path. This is something I will have to take as it comes I know, but scary nonetheless.

Union work is already keeping me busy, but I am very much looking forward to heading to Orlando this weekend to see my brother's new apartment and wish him well as he starts school down there. Can't believe he is in college already, but I know he will do REALLY well. I know he is going to be seriously missed up here by all of us.

Grandmom seems to be doing better and I am going to take her out to lunch and do a little shopping with her tomorrow. She's so cute! :)

Well, guess that's it for now. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Break in the Summer

Well, UCLA was a big success for me!! I worked with the best site staff ever and had a blast! It made it super hard to say goodbye to everyone but I hope I will either get to see or work them again sometime. Right now I am inbetween People to People trips and have 2 weeks off... well really only one now. I relaxed and got some stuff done at home last week and am now in Easton, MD visiting my dad and sister. Jenny and I went canoeing with our grandfather today on the River... was a lot of fun, even though I do tend to have a fear of tipping... not sure why- crazy I know especially since I do know how to swim, but just don't want to swim with the crazy amounts of sea nettles. eek! I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend...
Tomorrow I plan on attending the local art festival where they are closing down the streets and displaying some local artists work. I will return home tomorrow night but leave first thing in the morning to go see my best friend from college and her family!! YIPEEE!!! Then the rest of the week will be dedicated to seeing friends, family, packing, hopefully seeing a show in NYC, and then off to Chicago on Friday. I am looking forward to my trip, especially since my friend John is coming to visit and we are going to spend 4 extra days in chi-town to explore and have fun. :)
Lots of fun yet to be had here this summer... still trying to decide whether or no to take a mini-vacation to Orlando at the end of the summer as well...hmmmmm... or save my money for something else. Decisions... decisions!

UCLA

Well, we are in midweek here at UCLA... another great week so far... great students, great staff... can't beat it! I am helping to run one of my favorite People to People programs with some of my best frinds! I could only hope and pray all programs were like this one. It's nice to be away from home right now... away from work, and even some house and family issues. I say this everytime I'm on program, but I so wish I could find a way to do this more often!

I find hope each week in these students and a ton of inspiration. I find inspiration in the staff as well and hope many of them take away as much from this program as I have in all 12 trips that I have done! LOVE IT! :)