Last night I came home feeling like I was starving to death. I had to really keep myself from kicking my folks out of my apartment even though they were helping me hang stuff on the walls. I ordered a pizza and sat down to watch The OC but by 9:30 was fast asleep. I woke up with morning (at 9:30... that's a lot of sleep) to a sense of sadness and the realization that I have to wait another whole year to go to my favorite place.
I have a YIG hangover.
What a weekend... it was so bittersweet and crazy... and made me feel so old. But I'm back home again, sitting at this computer, thinking,
WOULD NEXT JANUARY PLEASE GET HERE FAST!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I guess I'll start with the bad. No matter how much I love this program there are always a few cons to going. I met this guy Patrick, from South Carolina, and he didn't have a group to be in to teach the 9th graders. Being that it's YIG and I adore all the RA's in the program, I offered to let him be in a group with Nichole and me. Big mistake. He took over out group and the only thing Nichole and I got to do was be paper pushers and (a whole one time) clerks. Yesterday right before he left I pulled him aside for a second and explain that working in a group means that you have to work together and, while I know he's from another state, this is Minnesota and you need to teach these kids the way we run things in MN. You can't say "This bill has failed" you said "This bill does not pass." And when someone says, "I reserve my right to make a statement" you don't say "That is your right" you say "So noted." I didn't talk to him long nor did I shake his hand when he left. I kind of hope he doesn't come back because I don't think he knows anything about teamwork and, in my opinion, that's part of what YIG is all about.
The other con is, sadly, Nichole. I was SO excited to see her and to get to spend the whole weekend with her. However, it's hard to be around someone who doesn't have their whole heart into the program. We all have outside lives and outside dramas and it's hard to put some of that stuff on hold for 4 days. But we all VOLUNTEERED to be there and if you don't like it then leave. It was just hard for me to hear someone complain all weekend and then, on Sunday, when I make one negative comment I'm told by the person that has been negative all weekend that she wants a positive weekend and isn't going to get involved with the drama. *sigh* I think that this weekend has showed me that Nichole and I have very little in common. I still think she's great, at times but... I dunno.
Okay.... the weekend did have TONS of good points. The 8th graders were AWESOME this year and I have a good feeling I'll be seeing a lot of them in appointed and elected positions very soon. I met some really cool people as well as got to know Mel and Werm a little better (although maybe getting to know Werm a little better isn't a good thing). We got totally bitched at on Friday night for dress code violations and what not but Saturday night was AWESOME. The meeting was hysterical and involved comments about small penises, someone sucking on a pretzel (and he was really good at it), and a strip off, among other things. I didn't get much sleep but that's okay.... I really feel like it was a good year and I met some good people and that's what YIG is supposed to be about.
Every year after YIG I want to take what I've learned from the program and apply it to my life. I walk away wanting to continue to be a confident leader, someone people look up to... I don't want to get involved in gossip and I want to tell someone straight up if they're bugging me. I really hope that I can start sticking to my guns. I want to be YIG Krysten, hehe.
Well... I need a shower and to start getting ready to go back to real life.
More soon!
