So, what is Jen doing?

Hello Everyone,

I thought 2008 was a crazy year for me but 2009 is already proving to be quite eventful. In the one week that it has been 2009, I have quit my temporary job at the construction company, moved in to an apartment with my best friend from elementary school, who I recently "re-found" at church after 10+ years of not seeing each other and in less than 48 hours, I will be taking off for what will undoubtedly be the experience of a lifetime...the inauguration of the first black president. 

For those of you who don't know what I'm doing, keep reading. For everyone else who has heard me describe what I am doing for the 20th time, feel free to skip!

I got a one-week job as a Faculty Advisor through an organization called Envision, which is based in Washington D.C. There are three conferences being held for high-achieving youth scholars, one for middle schoolers, one for high schoolers and one for college students. Between the three conferences, there will be 15,000 youth coming to D.C. I will be in charge of a group of 16-32 high schoolers. I will be doing some teaching and facilitating debates and discussions with them. We will be attending several speeches. The last I heard Colin Powell and Al Gore will definitely be speaking. We will also be touring D.C, going to Obama's inauguration and attending the inaugural parade! We will have private access to the Smithsonian and the conference wraps up with an inaugural ball for the students. There are many more details of the trip but I will write about them as they are happening. 

I had to pay for my transportation to and from D.C. but they are putting all of us up in hotels, transporting us around the city and feeding us for the duration of the conference. Plus, I get paid on top of that!

I know...next question...how did she find out about this!? In short, being a dork finally paid off! I received an e-mail from one of the honor societies that I was in at CSU about the opportunity back in September. I almost deleted the e-mail since I am no longer in college (sad but true). However, they were looking for alumni of my honor society and after reading the description, I was thinking, why not try? My temporary job will be over by then and it seems like a lot of fun. I sent in my resume, they did a phone interview with me and a few hours later they sent me an e-mail saying I had the job as long as the background check and references checked out. (This would be a really depressing blog if they didn't check out!)

So after three long months of waiting, it is finally here! Since my life is currently about the weird way things work out, I will be driving out to D.C. with my friend, Jen, who happened to be moving to Virginia right now to  be with her husband who is in the Marines. It will be a 26-hour drive across the most boring parts of the country. I hate Kansas by the way. If anyone has ideas for road trip games, let me know!

Here is my basic schedule:

Jan 10-12 - driving

Jan 13-16 - training for conference

Jan 17-22 - the conference

Jan 23-25 - fun time in D.C.

I decided to stay an extra few days after the conference to have fun and see some East Coast friends. 

Right now, I have the excitement that a kid must have of having Christmas morning, a birthday and a cotton candy high all at the same time!!

I still have a million things to do and I am quickly running out of time to do them all!

I will try to keep my blog updated as much as possible but I will be working 18-hour days, so I make no promises! If nothing else, I will update the whole thing when I get back. In the meantime, look for me on TV at the inauguration! Regardless of political affiliation, this is an historic event of a lifetime. 

Love, 

Jen