Training Craziness

Now that I have my internet up hopefully I will be able to update this daily or at least every few days. Besides not having internet I have had 16 hour training days which are draining, but necessary and rewarding. The day after I got to Auburn we left for a 2 day retreat/ropes course. There we did a really fun adventure challenge in teams, it was a great opportunity to get to know people better and also be competitive (2 of my favorite things). After all the adventure challenge fun we had the grandaddy of all meetings which reviewed like every aspect of Camp War Eagle the meeting was like 5 hours long with 2 or 3 breaks. The CWE staff is SO prepared it is a-mazing, I was in awesome just watching them in action. That meeting was fun too especially when Mark (aka the CWE boss) would pass me random notes, pure comedy.

The next day we did some small teambuilders where I learned some amazing new games to add to my collection of icebreakers and teambuilders. My favorite was called "the smog and the jewel" it was fun and I was good at it. Then we were off to do a bunch of activities on the low ropes. We worked really well as a team and in the process I got to know everyone really well, especially Ben...I'll have to tell you that story in person if you want to hear about it!

The ropes course was a really great way to start training week and to get to know people. The past few days have been so jam packed that I'm surprised they are not a blur. We have had tons of speakers come in to present from various departments, I have presented as well as other staff members, I've already been in Jordan Hare Stadium (the ENORMOUS FOOTBALL STADIUM), I have also watched hours upon hours of Real World: Auburn practice and the War Eagle Welcome skits (both of which are hilarious), and this week me and the CCs and other staff members were certified in CPR. I am so thrilled to be certified, it was something I really wanted to do and I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to do the training there. It was scary and exciting. On Tuesday we spent 2.5 hours watching videos and listening to a lecture on CPR and emergency response and then today for 2 hours we got to practice on the dummies and then take the written test and the practical. I hope that I will never HAVE to use CPR, but if I do I feel confident in my abilities, I found the whole experience to be really interesting. I was also really impressed by the skills and abilities of the CCs who were getting trained as well.

Tomorrow is the last day of training and then we have the weekend off yay! I cannot believe I have been functioning on 4-6 hours of sleep a night. Also, I had my first coffee since I got down to Alabama today, I was going through serious withdrawals so it was nice to get my "fix."

Honestly I haven't met someone down here yet that I don't adore from the students to the staff to the people that live here. The whole Long Island vs. Alabama hasn't really come up. I will poke fun at some of the things they say or have them repeat when they say a few times to tease then, but overall the talk without much of an accent, but it's the word choice like "ya'll" or "set" that I get a kick out of. Honestly it is not as different as I expected. Auburn is a great town with lots to do, eat, see, etc.

I am still in disbelief that I haven't been here for a week yet. I feel like I've already built some really strong relationships and know the area to some degree. Like tonight for example I went to dinner with 2 staff members (Star and Melissa) and a HCC (Katie). Then later tonight Star, Natalie (a housing staff member) and I watched Grey's from this week and like cried our eyes out and began to "process" that magic that is Grey's Anatomy. It was such a fun time, plus this weekend having some down time will allow for more nontraining related bonding with people like going to the movies, the mall, or out in town.

What I am most excited about is that the first of eight sessions of Camp War Eagle starts on WEDNESDAY!!!

WAR EAGLE
Jenn

P.S. I am also in disbelief that a year ago today I was participating in Senior Week at Quinnipiac leading up to Graduation, where did a year go??? Honestly, time has really flown by. I hope all my Q Seniors are living it up and taking pictures and that I will be able to hear all about the good times they had.