First post from San Diego!

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delayed first update - we don't have any internet access where we are staying, so I write this from a little restaurant up the street called "Olives"...you have to buy something to use their connection, but I doubt that will be much of an issue.

So far the trip has been fairly hectic and overwhelming, but it's finally starting to settle down. The plane rides were peaceful without any babies screaming and loud snorers, and luckily I only had about a 15 minute layover in Memphis before flying the rest of the way to San Diego. When I arrived in San Diego I discovered that only one of my bags had come with me, and when I went to the desk to find out what was going on, they told me the other bag was left in Memphis, and for me to leave a number for them to call when it arrived. That made for a stressful beginning of the trip, because that bag had my toiletries and some other things that would be necessary very soon after arriving. The bag ended up coming that night, and the airport delivered it to the place we are staying, so that turned out to be less of an issue than it could have been.

The actual planned events of the project started with registration upon arriving to the motel, and checking into the rooms we would be staying. The accommodation is a fairly small hotel room with two sets of bunk beds, a small kitchen, and a bathroom, with very limited space for storage. That was also a little stressful to take in all at the beginning, but after settling in, I think space won't be as much of an issue as I originally thought. That night, we all had a dinner together as a project and just had more of a basic orientation. Considering I had woken up at 2:30am eastern time, I was ready for bed about 9:00 pacific(there's a 3 hour time difference between San Diego and Roanoke), but I had to stay up to wait for my bag to be delivered.

Yesterday was another busy day, with another small orientation in the morning and the first real meeting for all of us to hear about our schedule and receive our notebooks with vital information. After that, we broke up into our growth groups(a group of 3 students on project, and 1 leader/staff member). The afternoon was spent sharing our faith stories and basically any of our significant life experiences that had shaped us into what we are today. It was an awesome opportunity to really get to know some people on a personal level early in the project and I feel like it will develop trust that can lead to friendships much faster. That took most of the rest of the day and we were all pretty much exhausted afterwards.

Some other random details so far that I have left out....

After orientation the first day we were assigned our job locations, and I was assigned Sea World, rode a shuttle over to the H.R. department and applied for and received the job. I will be doing vending services at the park for different shows, carrying cases of drinks and snacks up and down steps trying to sell. My other option was to work in the back of a kitchen, and being a people-oriented person, I felt like this was a better fit for me, not to mention I think it will really get me into shape carrying around a 40 pound case. We don't start working until next Friday just because of the different trainings and other opportunities that are planned by the project. I'm excited to work, but I know these other things will be awesome as well.

Today we have a "Man's time" on the calendar, followed by some of the local pastors from churches we will be attending are coming to talk to us about their congregations and different things around San Diego, so that should be interesting. After that, we're going out on a time of sharing around the local area where we're staying and can hopefully spark some great conversations.

I think that's about it for now. I'm going to try to update every couple days, and most of the posts probably won't be this long. Feel free to ask any questions you have either through e-mail or whatever you would like...my e-mail is albo24@vt.edu.

Have a great day!