Last Days Living in Livonia

Friday 6th
So on Friday I woke up a lot later than I planned and chilled for a chunk of the day. I had to finish a few things up for my work for the Hope College Chemistry department, so I worked a few hours on that. I also got my information for housing check-in on Wednesday. Instead of checking in at The Commons, where Spring 2014 people did, we will be checking in at Vista Way. It will be an interesting, long day, since I will have to head right to Casting, then hopefully have a bit of time before the Animal Programs meeting, and then finally move into housing. Friday evening, my family went to a graduation party for one of my sister's friends. It was fun. They had pretty good food catered and even had a bartender. I ended up getting a margarita and tried a sip of my mom's Long Island Ice Tea (wasn't a big fan...) 

Then my best friends Mary and Ashley joined me at this restaurant at a local golf course called the Tin Cup for a last goodbye. My mom had been there a week or two ago and recommended it to us. Since I had just eaten at the grad party and Mary was coming from a dinner with her aunt who was in town, Ashley got a burger (which looked pretty good) and I ordered a side of sweet potato fries, which were good and had honey on them, which I never thought to try. The big highlight of the evening was out drink order. We split an 100oz Power Tower. Only Ashley and I were there when we ordered it and got some funny looks from the other people in the restaurant. 

The Power Tower

We had a great time hanging out, and they even bought me some Michigan themed gifts! We even tentatively planned them coming down the week after Ashley graduates in December! After finishing, we decided to call my parents to pick us up so they came and got us and drove my car home. Mary and Ashley left theirs overnight since we asked and they said they lock a gate. They decided to sleep over, so we played our favorite game, 1313 Deadend Drive, and slept on the couches in the basement (well Mary decided to sleep on a bunch of body pillows instead...)

1313 Deadend Drive...Our favorite game!

Saturday 7th
We woke up really early (6:30!) and talked for a few hours before I drove Mary and Ashley back to the golf course to pick up their cars. We hugged goodbye and drove separate ways. It was hard, but we are used to not seeing each other for months at a time, so I know that we will keep in touch and see each other sooner than we know!

I then spent part of the day doing errands with my mom. At night my family hopped to 3 different parties. The first one had the best food. It was catered and probably the best grad party food I have ever had. The second party we didn't spend a ton of time at and didn't eat much. The third we spent a ton of time at. They had catered greek food and stuff. It was pretty good. The best part was the deserts. I joked with the mom that she needs to send me care packages of her deserts (they are soooo good!). I only half jokingly said I wanted to come pick up some extras the next day (I really wanted those deserts!) Megan stayed longer, but my parents and I were tired and getting attacked by mosquitos, so we decided to head home.  I went through my clothes with my mom making sure I didn't forget anything important and then crashed since I was exhausted.

Sunday 8th
My dad rotated my tires and made sure I knew how to change a flat. My mom and sister had to do a bunch of errands for her grad party next week. We went to yet another grad party (I am seriously going to miss getting all this free delicious food in Florida!) and finished going through my stuff. My dad and I even stopped by the storage unit and found my Tigger! I will be taking pictures of Tigger on my drive down. I went by my Grandma's house and picked up some cookies she made for me and said goodbye. It was really hard. I tried to hold back tears and put on my sunglasses before she could see. I just am worried that something will happen to her and it could be the last time that I see her. I didn't have time to stop by my other Grandma's assisted living. I feel bad, but she barely knows who I am anymore and wouldn't understand what was going on. I said goodbye to her on Thursday at my sister's birthday dinner, but I hope that nothing happens to her either since it will be probably harder to talk to her on the phone and everything. She has Alzheimer, but is otherwise really healthy, so I hope that I won't have to have more regrets about not being able to say a final goodbye to her. Lastly, I ended the night watching the Tigers game and making a no-sew blanket. My mom and sister gave me some material, but I ended up being the one to spend my last few hours making it! lol.

Well the car is all packed up and ready to go, so I should get a few hours of shut eye until I leave bright and early tomorrow morning!

Tigger has been rescued from the storage unit

The pictures weren't uploading right, so I put reminders in to put them up when I get a chance. I promise to finish my PI application posts soon! I had written a bunch up in advance since I knew how crazy these last few days would be, but I got to one that I needed to type up and haven't gotten a chance to. Well, almost set to begin my exciting journey to Florida bright and early tomorrow!

Working at the Zoo

So I returned from Vienna a couuple of weeks ago (on a pretty eventful flight home) and I have begun my job at the Detroit Zoo this summer. I keep a journal while I was in Vienna, but didn't have very consistent internet access so maybe I will post those later (thinking about it I am not sure if I even finished my last couple of days of journaling so I should do that....). Vienna was awesome and I wish that I had more time there. It definately makes me want to go be in Europe again for multiple weeks since living in a place really made a great expereince.

My official title at the zoo is Summer Safari Camp Teacher. I have finished my training and this week starts our first full week of camps. I am excited and a bit nervous. We had a training camp day with staff members kids and since my group only had 4 kids and another 6-8 camp only had 3 we decided to join together. The other teacher, Mr. Nate, did most of the leading throughout the day, which was nice since it gave my the ability to see how other teachers lead their camps, but it makes me more nervous tomorrow having approximatly 10 kids for me and my aid (and I think all the groups have a volunteen this week which might be nice) instead of having 7 kids for 4 staff members. With the training camp day, I think that I have realized that I have a the worst luck for first days ever. I had 2 for 4 kids have medical issues (1 minor and 1 major) so my summer camp season is not off to a good ratio. I had a great team dinner afterwards, but I hope that things will look up.

When I worked at Life Time as a lifegaurd, my first shift after training was a 8-midnight shift, where I had one other lifeguard (who also was having his first day) for the first half and was alone the second half. There proceeded to be a thunderstorm that turned into a tornado. I had also been told that there would be someone coming after me for the following shift. I first of all just thought there was a bad thunderstorm until I left and one of the night ops members told me to be careful since there had been a tornado. I had heard an announcement earlier in the evening and had asked to be repeated on the radio and no one ever responded. I had evacuated the pool deck, but didn't even know what I was supposed to do. Then when no one showed up at the end of the shift, I tried getting ahold of my supervisors, my assistant department head, and lastly my department head (who was at a wedding). I ended up getting off at 1:30am. I then proceded to drive home, which took twice as long as normal and I almost got stranded in my sub since it was flooded with our streets being torn up. Oh and did I mention, I had my high school graduation the next day? 

The rest of my summer at Life Time ended up going well so I am hoping that this summer turns in that direction as well. Time to finish watching this movie with my family before heading to bed to be well rested this week!