Yes Folks, I am resurrecting my blog for this special occasion to travel back on memory lane. Some are going to know this story, others aren’t. Every day for the next week, I will be posting what I wrote about that day in my journal. For us these are memories we cherish dearly.

Friday July 24, 2009
As I arrived at the National center to travel with the staff to College Park I did not know what quite to think. Our departure time was to be at11 am but was pushed back. While waiting I walked to a local place just blocks from the NCB for lunch. I ate lunch in the staff lunch room, talking to other mentors who had arrived to travel to college park. Around 1 pm, Becca pulled me from my socializing with the rest of the mentors and we left for college park. I rode in one of the NFB vans; packed full of supplies for the week. The NCB staff person, Becca, and I talked for much of the drive getting to know each other. We were so busy talking that Becca got turned around and had to go back the right way. In our caravan of vans was Trish and Deanne. I can’t even imagine at this point all the things that needed to go from the NCB. It was very special that I was able to ride with the staff which gave me an opportunity to get to know them better and help out more. It was a very hot with some humidity day; the kind of day that your clothes stuck to your body and you sweated whenever outside. We arrived at college park around 2pm, all of the staff and I immediately started unloading the vans. My part was fairly small compared to what needed to be done; but my whole purpose was to help and that is what I tried to do. After all of the supplies were put in the respective buildings, I retrieved my luggage and went to find my dorm. Looking back at walking around the campus, I remember thinking it was very large and confusing. Every time I turned around there was a new set of stairs and another dorm building. When we checked in, I was given two keys and a key card. One key was for the suite, one key was for my room, and the key card allowed us to get into our dorm and to get our meals from the cafeteria. With the help of a student on campus, I was able to find my way to the right dorm; it seemed like we walked and walked for a long time the campus was so large. My suite had a full kitchen, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. I had bedroom C that had two beds, two desks, one dresser and one closet. It was a small room, and the mattress was not so comfy. Once I put all of my luggage and belongs in my room, I headed back to the original building we had been stationed at when we arrived; just getting back to this building seemed to be its own adventure. I had not had experience walking so much and traveling on so many different surfaces; I started out using my NFB cane but at some point changed to a different one. The building that all the mentors would arrive at was called, Annapolis. All of the trainings for mentors would also take place in this building. When arriving back from finding my dorm, I learned I would not have students. Right off I was disappointed, but found out that I would be a relief mentor/ marshal. I would not have specific 3 students to keep track of but everyone to help and handle. Boy if I had only known what I was getting myself into. I met a lot of great people that first day, many of who at this point I do not remember, but would later on, become good friends with. Individuals who would become mentors started arriving around 3 pm; those of us who were assigned as Marshalls helped get folks checked in and off to the right dorm. At 6 we all met in the Quad, which was this area in the middle of all the dorms. From here we all walked to the dining hall as a large group; which was about ½ to ¾ miles from the dorms. Before mentors got their meals, I was assigned to help folks get into the right line; this was a role I would do the rest of the week. I would always and forever be known as marsha the Marshall. I stood at the start of the food line, and would help people get into the line they wanted with the foods they wanted. Much of what we were doing during that first day was filling in where needed and helping the mentors. There were about 80 mentors in total, not including the staff and other instructors that came. I knew a few people but many of them I did not. After dinner we all met on the Quad again for team building exercises. I learned that people like Allison from Arizona and Candace from Mississippi, were in my dorm. Jennifer Dunnam was assigned to be our dorm captain. We had dorm names that were associated with Harry Potter; the dorm I was assigned was called prince George but it was renamed Huffapuff. The team building exercises strengthened our spirit and togetherness. One of the exercises was we all had to stand in a circle and put our hands in to the middle, we had to hold hands and then get out of the tangled mess. We did really well with this one and was the first to get out of it. The next is where we had to stand in a tight circle and sit on the person standing behind us with out falling. This was harder and the first person in front of me fell, but we did it. and then they asked us to take a step while sitting, that was even harder to all move at the same time. With these team building exercises this got us off to a great start in having a good week. The Marshalling job was perfect for me, since I had a big mouth with a powerful voice; this finally gave me an opportunity to use it for a good reason. After our team building exercises, we had a marshal meeting, and were given instructions what would happen tomorrow. I went back to my dorm, to find that I had a roommate; initially I was not so thrilled with this but we found that we had a lot in common. There was another mentor and later would be mentee in our suite. I was so tired that Friday that I went to bed early, many of the mentors stayed out late, but I really did not know many people so, I knew that I would need my rest.

Saturday, July 25, 2009, Mentor training day!

I woke up very early, mainly because I could not sleep. I had to be up early anyways but a few more hours of sleep would have helped. I reported to the dining hall at 6 am, and was in position soon after. The goal was for me to eat before everyone got there but that did not happen. I stood at the start of the food line, depending on the meal, and would yell “food line this way” for breakfast I would tell everyone what was for breakfast or lunch. Breakfast usually lasted about 1 ½ hours. After breakfast we all headed back over to the Annapolis building for our mentor training. I soon found a seat and we started. All of the main NCB staff was there, Dina, Treva, Mary Jo, Mark, Amy, Becca, and a few others. As we all went around to introduce ourselves, the rooms was palpable. Mentors were chanting for their states and each other which helped us all know it was going to be a fun week. We had our training for the entire morning. Because I did not have students a lot of it did not apply to me. At around 11:30 am, I and the other marshals headed over to the dining hall. We actually got lost, but soon found our way. I knew that I would need to learn this route and learn it quickly as if I were going to have to direct others. In the afternoon all the marshals got a long orientation to the campus. Here is something I am not so happy or proud of. During our orientation I had to go to the bathroom so badly, so I and another staff person ran off to find the bathroom. We had to go to several different buildings which none of which were open eventually going back to my dorm. Luckily the rest of the group took a break and it all worked out but I felt bad nevertheless. Once I cleaned myself up the orientation continued. I had to learn the routes of how to get to all the building and where they all were very quickly; which was not hard for me to do since I have a good mental map abilities. After our long orientation we headed back to Annapolis. We were then given an opportunity to meet all of the mentors in our dorms and to get to know each other. Just before dinner time, again I left early for marshaling at the dining hall. After dinner we were all suppose to meet in the quad for a meeting and team building activities; but mother nature had a different plan with thunderstorms. A kind male Mentor gave me a Ziplock baggie so that my cell phone would not be damaged by the rain. I will explain this mysterious male mentor and his zip lock baggie further down. Like everyone else, I went back to my dorm. Before it stopped raining I was requested to help in Annapolis; this caused me to be soaked to the skin by the heavy rain. The unexpected thunderstorms caused all of the evening activities to be cancelled. Once the rain cleared up, the weather was very pleasant and nice. Yet again I went to bed fairly early as I knew the next day would be busy and long, as the students were all arriving.

As I mentioned above, all of the mentors reported to the quad where we were to have a meeting and team building exercises. The sky was looking very dark and every once in a while we would feel a sprinkle. As the winds picked up and thunder could be heard off in the distance, I got very nervous about my only precious possession, my cell phone. At the time I had a Nokia cell phone with a screen reading program called Talks. At this time in my life this cell phone was my life and connection to the world. I was standing and waiting like everyone else; talking to no one in particular I was saying that I should probably go in before it started raining. A nice male mentor whose name I didn’t even know at the time started to listen to what I was saying about my cell phone. Before I could do or say any more, he began digging in his backpack and then handed me a Ziplock baggie. Once I figured out what he had handed me, I without much thought asked, “Can I keep you?” This kind gesture was unexpected and so caring I was caught off guard. I quickly thanked this male mentor and ran inside before the rain got too hard. My cell phone was now secure and safe in the Ziplock baggie.

Until tomorrow July 26.