peace out, jacksonville!

Only four days and five more airports before I am HOME! I'm so excited. I don't think I've ever been more excited to get back to Trenton in my life! But it will be some NORMALCY for a few days, which I am in desperate need of at this point.

Jacksonville was an interesting experience. There just was not a lot going on. As our farewell tonight, we all went to the "international dinner" which consisted of about 15 or so of the community advisors (like RAs in the apartments here) bringing an international dish out to the picnic table in the courtyard. By international dish, I mean someone made mini pizzas for Italy and 7 layer dip for Mexico, etc. Hilarious. And delicious. Afterwards we barged into an apartment equipped with a television to watch SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. I heart that show so much. If I ever move back to the states, I am definitely taking more dance classes. :)

In about 7 hours, I'm heading off to the airport, flying back to Charlotte, NC and then to New Orleans for the Golden Key International Conference. It's at a kick ass Hilton Hotel right downtown, so I'm pretty excited, especially considering I've been sleeping on either a plastic mattress at UIC or the couch at JU for the past 5 weeks! I was looking at the hotel online and they have a rooftop pool, tennis courts, squash courts, a full fitness center and basketball courts. Amazing. Kate and I put together a pretty decent presentation for our workshop on international internships. The facilitation skills I learned at the NYLF thing definitely helped me out in the planning portion, which is fabulous. AND I found out the other day that we will be provided with FLIP CHARTS in our workshop room. (During the NYLF training, we spent a lot of time working on the art of flip charts, so I'm pretty much a professional flip chart-er). I'll only be there for a few days, but I'm psyched to see the city and Saturday we're doing a service project, so it'll be a fun few days.

So farewell, Jacksonville. I doubt we will ever meet again. Peace. Out.

if you're ever driving from jacksonville, fl to savannah, ga...

Since I didn't want to hang out in Jacksonville all weekend, Anna and I decided to rent a car and drive the 2 hours to Savannah, GA. Anna and I peaced out on Saturday morning, heading north on I-95. We made it all of about 5 miles before we decided we were starving and had to get some food for the road. We had every intention of just grabbing some fast food (we were already late to meet her friend in Savannah) but that all changed when we stumbled upon J-VILLE CRAB SHACK.

It was just off the Norwood exit (I picked it because I grew up on Norwood Court). We pulled into the Hardee's, but we couldn't bring ourselves to eat there, so we kept driving down the road, hoping we'd find something better. As we drove further, we realized there weren't any more options, so I pulled into what looked like an abandoned strip mall to turn around and head back to Hardee's when Anna spotted the crab shack. We decided to try it based on the fact that there were dancing sea creatures painted on the barred windows that reminded us of the Under the Sea song and dance number from the Little Mermaid. (see picture)

The interior was definitely not worth writing home about. There were cases of fish and crabs, no tables, 5 or 6 chairs lined up against one wall and that's about it. We felt bad leaving, so we decided we'd just order our food and eat it on the road. Somehow, we ended up staying for about an hour.

The shop was owned by family of 13 from Kurdistan. The 21-year-old daughter, 20-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter were working that day. They grew up in Chicago, but had moved to Jacksonville about 5 years ago to open this business. They talked about wanting to move to Nashville because there is apparently a large Kurd population there. The family currently occupies 2 apartments in Jacksonville.

The 21-year-old girl was in charge of the store that day and she was awesome. She basically told us her life story while feeding us free samples of crabs smothered in butter and garlic. The crabs was delicious, but we weren't really sure how to eat them, especially since we were without utensils or a table. We kind of situated ourselves on the chairs and tried to just bite through the shell of the crab with our teeth. It was definitely a struggle. After we finished our crab, we finally got our food - fried fish, fried scallops, hush puppies and garlic eggs. All delicious and amazing and only $7.48.

So, if you're ever driving from Jacksonville, Fl to Savannah, GA, make sure to stop by J-Ville Crab Shack at 5625-02 Norwood Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32208.

when i grow up i want to be warfare...

So tonight I went to dinner with the new co-workers, Troy and Troy's family and it was one of the most hilarious meals of my life. We went to a Brazilian restaurant in Jacksonville, which was AMAZING. If you've never eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse, it's basically all you can eat MEAT. You get a little flag, one side green, one side red. As long as your little flag is on green, the servers will bring you meat after meat after meat - pork, steak, chicken, lamb, turkey, turkey wrapped in bacon...mmm...bacon...

So we're at this restaurant with Troy's kids. He's got 5 total: Noah (17), Santiago aka "Diego" (8), Mariano aka "Nano" (7) and Jovie (I don't remember what her real name was or how old she was, but she was the youngest). They also have a new baby, Julia, who did not come. Anyway, so we're all sitting together at this restaurant and Diego and Nano are hanging out down by our end, saying ridiculous things and playing ridiculous games. I don't think I can really convey the hilarity that went down during dinner, but here are a few examples of conversations:

Nano: Did I tell you what I want to be when I grow up?
Anna: No, what?
Nano: I want to be a scientist. And an artist.
Anna: Cool.
Diego: I want to be warfare.

Nano: I know a lot of different accents. Listen to this one. "Sssssss...."
Anna: What kind of accent is that?
Nano: That's a Sprite accent.
Anna: Sprite?...like the soda?
Nano: Yeah. Sprite...It's also the snake accent.

Diego: There was this one time when the German's bombed Orlando...

[Outside the restaurant as we're getting ready to go]
Jovie: [seeing a plane in the air] Look.
Scott: What's that?
Jovie: It's a star.
Scott: Oh, that's pretty.
Diego: I'm pretty sure that's the Germans coming.

Ok, I feel like this might have been one of those you-had-to-be-there situations, but whatever. It was hilarious.

another day, another dorm, another cafeteria

So I survived NYLF, hit airport #4 and #5 of my summer travels (Charlotte, NC and Jacksonville, FL respectively) and am now occupying a new dorm which has it's own unique smell not unlike that of my UIC dorms. I just keep reminding myself that in a few days I'll be shacked up in a Hilton Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans and that this will all be worth it once I get there...but the dorm-life is getting OLD.

Despite the less than perfect accommodations in the Chicago, I MISS it! I think it might be one of my fav places in the world during the summer time. The NYLF posse definitely went out with style on Tuesday night - we had a party bus shuttle us around town, hitting Piece, Whirley Ball and Cans, topped off with a 2AM stop at Flash Taco. I mean, really, what is a night out in Bucktown without Flash Taco? All and all, it was an excellent evening to finish out an excellent/exhausting 4 weeks. As much as I complained about everything, I'll miss the FAs and student drama and all of that good stuff.

So after peacing out of Chicago on Wednesday (nearly missing my flight thanks to a faulty alarm clock and a hangover), I made it to Jacksonville, FL, which as it turns out, is full of nothing. It's only claim to fame is that it is the largest city in the continental US (Alaska has some city that is even more spread out), but this just means it takes forever to get anywhere, especially when you are sans car.

I did get to meet my new co-workers down here, along with the infamous Troy, who from what I can tell, is a living legend in the international education field. Since ProWorld and IEP recently decided to get in bed with each other, they've produced 4 new staffers: Anna, Julie, Keith and Kate. They're no Autumn, but they're all pretty chill, so it should be fun time in Mexico. I saw Adam for a full 20 hours, which was fab, since I haven't seen him since May and won't see him again until we both move to Mexico in November. I can't believe I'm moving to Mexico in November...

That's all I got for now. Training has been as expected - kinda boring, but necessary. We're going to try and explore Jacksonville tonight with the help of some locals, so hopefully we'll find ourselves some fun! Till next time...

so i officially hit my quarter life...

So the big 2-5 was a pretty big one! Ok, not really, but for being on lock down in a college dorm with 403 high school students, it was pretty "B.A." as my students all say. They talk in so many acronyms I can barely understand them and that's how I know I'm officially crossing the line into old-dom. Some quick highlights of my day of birth:

• Having the 16 students wage psychological warfare on me with the Invisible Hat Game ALL day at Evanston Hospital...
• Getting a "surprise" party in my classroom once I got back to the university from my 22 students...
• Awesome flip chart cards and posters from other groups...
• A really nice card from Jimmy Ops...
• Just being able to witness the complete mayhem that was the Wa-nament.
  
• Receiving awesome gifts (nerf gun, playdough and a bizarre card game) from my NYLF boss...
• Escaping NYLF-land with the Bobert for a grown-up drink (even if it was at a crappy bar and only for one drink)...
• Drinking wine and breaking all the rules in my dorm room...

Like I said, I did the best I could with what I had and I must say, it was a pretty good day. So thank you to everyone who made me smile! I'll make up for the lack of adult activities on Tuesday when the final students head out and all the FAs are FREE for real. I can only imagine the debauchery that is going to go down on Tuesday.

If you all are looking for me after Tuesday, I'll be in Jacksonville, FL from July 23 - July 30 and then in New Orleans from July 30 - August 4. And then, hopefully, I'll be able to get back to Michigan for a quick visit!!

Tomorrow is my 6 hours off and I'm PSYCHED, plus there's a talent show tomorrow night (apparently the lady FAs are doing some sort of dance) and then it's SIX FLAGS DAY so hopefully Tuesday will come sooner than later! Peace out all...

FREEDOM

So I made it through the first conference without killing or loosing any of my kiddies. Hoorah! I celebrated that and my new found freedom (4 whole days of it) pretty hard last night. I heart dollar beers in Chicago summer. I know 10 days doesn't sound like that lengthy of a time, but seriously, we were with these kiddies ALL DAY EVERY DAY for 10 days straight, not allowed to leave campus unless we were with them. So it felt like quite a long time.

The kids were pretty awesome though, I must admit. My group definitely had their moments and to sound completely cheesey, I was definitely proud of them by the end of the conference. Hopefully my next group doesn't disappoint.

Anyhoozle, I am peacing for my very first Cubs game! Probably a little overdue considering I lived in Chicago for an entire year and never went, but better late than never, I suppose!