The start of it all.

“ Follow your deep whim. Do what you truly want to do — not your superficial, thoughtless impulses, but when you are here, now, being as nakedly honest with yourself as you can, speak and act from that unmasked honesty and your perceptions will strike a chord in the hearts of others, for the center of their Self converges with the center of yours.”

Today I sent in my acceptance form for AmeriCorps NCCC. Ahhh, yes. It feels good. It’s been a pretty long journey to get to this point. And it is defiantly one of the biggest decisions I have ever made. It’s frightening and liberating and the same time…so you can imagine my uncertainty. Anyways, what is AmeriCorps you ask..? Well, let me tell you :D

AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women age 18–24. Members are assigned to one of five campuses, and I’m located in Vinton, Iowa. Each year, AmeriCorps NCCC engages teams of members in meaningful projects in communities across the United States. Service projects, which typically last from six to eight weeks, address critical needs related to natural and other disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, energy conservation, and urban and rural development. Members construct and rehabilitate low-income housing, respond to natural disasters, clean up streams, help communities develop emergency plans, and address countless other local needs.

Awesome, here is the website if you care to know more:

http://www.americorps.gov/for_individuals/choose/nccc.asp

Long story short:
1.) I applied the end of last school year.
2.) It took all summer.
3.) After I was already taking 22 credits to graduate early, I heard back from Americorps…
4.) WAITLISTED. Balls.
5.) My new plan…UNI next year.
6.) I filled my spring semester with classes from Iowa Lakes in the mean time.
7.) February rolls around and still no call, so I forgot about it.
8.) April 12th I got and E-mail. I was taken off the waiting list.
9.) :))))))))

From here on it’s just uber complicated. This term is an off season term and starts May 5th…I don’t get done with classes until May 14th. This also puts of UNI, and complicates some other things. Psssht, whatever…I still want this soooooo bad. So, I talked to all my professors which is a grand total of four. Ha. And I also talked to the dean of Iowa Lakes (btw---he is super intimidating). They were all very helpful and said that finishing classes early wouldn’t be a problem. Now…in two and a half weeks I need to: Finish school, move out of my dorm, pack and get ready to leave, deal with loans and UNI, and get my license. Hmmmm, tricky right? It’s okay…I’m super woman I can do it.


Listen to this: It’s cute .

Basically this is to keep the people I love updated without having to talk to every single one of you. Haha. Also, it’s good to keep a blog about this kind of thing. It might be daily, weekly, bi weekly. I don’t know. It’s all sort of uncertain right now.

I’m so excited. I’ve never wanted anything more than I’ve wanted this. I’ve also never had to try so hard for something I wanted. There were so many hoops to jump through. Anyways, I did it…and it’s the greatest sense of accomplishment I’ve ever had…better than graduating high school…better than graduating college, better than the mountain I hiked, even better than learning to ride a bike. Ha.

I knew this was the right thing to do because of one thing. How I felt when I was wait-listed and the way I felt when I learned that I was accepted. I nearly had a heart attack. I compared this feeling to the way I felt when I was accepted into UNI. Not even close. I often decide things off of the way I feel, I think everyone should…it’s never failed me. This is the right thing to do, I can’t pass it up. I'm frightened as hell, but that’s perfectly reasonable…this is a pretty big decision for my future.

I have to call the AmeriCorps office on Monday. I’ve got tons of questions.

I purchased a sunflower making pot today. Yay.
I love every single one of you. :)