Yo

[Allison Larimer]

Hello you fabulous Americorps Alums and current Americorpsesss,

Just wanted to check in and say hello!
I was thinking about you all the other day remembering when we learned about/worked on elevator speeches...I don't know about you all but I am getting to practice those bad boys EVERY.SINGLE.DAY at my current job as a waitress in gorgeous Northern Michigan...I know, totally awesome, right?! HA! But I am thankful to have this Mon-Fri off of that job to get away from all the future talk- instead I am learning how/getting certified in open water scuba diving!! It is so cool- if any of you get the chance to do it, DO IT!

I thought of you all again today while trying unsuccessfully to set up a payment schedule for my no-longer-in-forbearance student loans... it seems the silly government shutdown has closed down Americorps and my access to those untapped education award moneys...Are you SURE none of you want to become politicians to replace the current still-getting-paid slackers???

Anyway, hope you all are doing incredibly well...send along updates please as I would love to know how you are fairing post-Americorps 2012-2013.

Much love,

Allison

[Desiree Lopez]

Allison so great to hear from ya! Ok so i been out the country for a few months, what is this a government shutdown? I tried looking it up but the internet was slow where i was ( mostly cause i was borrowing it tee hee hee :-)  ).

Anywho so this meams we dont get an education award? Booo all our services for nothing, jk it sucks but the experience was worth it!

As for me like i said i been out the country, my service ended July 4th and i was out of NYC on July 3rd :-) . Left the end of July and have travelled through Colombia, a little through Ecuador and Peru. Im currently stuck (by choice) in Panama lol. And sadly enough i will be back in NYC by next week, bleh. But if anyone is still around in NYC and would like to go for a drink I'd be dwn. I wont be back for long as it looks i'm going to be moving to PR to help my grandmother out. :-) 

I hope everyones summer went well and each are on to their new endeavours. All the Med, graduate and nursing students have a great semester ( i know a lil late since its halfway over lol)!

[Alia Gehr-Seloover]

Allison!  Desi!  I've been thinking about you both, and all of you guys, so much lately!  I'd love an update on everyone's lives -- school, new cities, wedding plans (Shannon), travels, getting your diving certification (psst! Allison, WAY TO GO!), etc.

 

Desi -- we still get our education award.  It doesn't affect previous AmeriCorps or present AmeriCorps.  I asked extensively about it.  We just don't have access to it while the government shutdown is in effect.

 

Also, I would love to grab a drink with you!  I also kind of want to pick your brain about teaching a little --specifically, tell me about the games you used in the classroom!

 

Missing all of you! 

 

Our new HealthCorps group is incredible and so different from ours, it's so interesting to be here for both groups :)

 

Allison, have you finalized your travel plans?

 

 

--
Alia Gehr-Seloover

B.A. Public Health Education
a.gehrs...@gmail.com
(541) 510-7769

[Lia Cassanego]

Hi Everyone! 

Glad to hear you are all well and enjoying yourselves! It is crazy how fast time went by. 

Desi, I am so jealous of your travels. I hope I can get out of the country for a bit soon too. 

Alia, hope you are having a great time at the school! I want to try to make it downtown to see you and Lianne and everyone soon. 

 

Allison, I want to learn how to scuba dive! That sounds awesome. 

Hope every else is happy, healthy and enjoying the start of fall! 

Lia 

[Allison Larimer]

So good hearing back from you guys! Sounds like good things are happening!!
I highly recommend scuba diving- It's a "whole new world" (to quote Aladdin :) ) down there! Stunning stuff- freaky ship wrecks, wacky fish, beautiful bubbles (ah da bubbles! da bubbles! da bubbles!!!), etc! Can't wait to see the Great Barrier Reef in 2 weeks! Yup, that's right, finally got off my working horse ass and bought my ticket! First stop Sydney! AAAAAAAAHHHH! Then who the hell knows- but Ive saved up enough to keep me going for 4 months in the south pacific and hopefully beyond. May stop in NZ for a while longer to work if my visa gets in in time but we shall see. I've been kind of stressing about it, because there is so much to do before then- then this morning I ordered a towel from REI and all the sudden I am the happiest, most obnoxiously excited person ever! A towel. Who knew?! :)

I am also pretty happy about the shut down being "over". Wow. That was a joke, huh?! To celebrate I spent 2 hours on the phone between Americorps and my lender...whoop whoop! Ha...it actually wasn't much fun (hard to believe, right?!) so I highly suggest celebrating another way ;)

Sending hugs to all you loves! Would love to hear more about everyone's adventures!

xoxo,
Al