So far things have been going pretty well. I've had a couple of minor "Oh, shit, what have I gotten myself into" moments but it seems plenty of others feel the same way. I had some issues with the bike drills because I was pretty tense but once I relaxed I did a lot better.
Wednesday morning my parents and I checked out the USS Constitution (oldest naval ship afloat) and then headed off to Revere. They bought me lunch and dropped me off, just like when I went to summer camp. It was nice having them there to calm me down and make sure I got there okay.
We got to Orientation on Wednesday and got to know one another and Bike and Build policy. Our bikes got checked (and mine got plenty fixed) and we grabbed pizza for dinner. That night we didn't stay up too late because it'd been a long day.
Thursday we got up early, ate, went over health and hygiene stuff and bike maitenance/rules of the road. We watched a really cheesy video about how to ride in traffic. The cool thing about it was it was filmed in DC, some parts where I ride along the Mt. Vernon trail. We then were fed amazing italian by some members of the church and did some emergency drills.
That afternoon we did a shakedown ride of about 14 miles (including getting lost). It was scary riding around the church because the streets are not well maintained and there is lots of traffic. However, we got to Deer Park Island and rode around it. The view we were met with was absolutely breathtaking. I felt like I was in the caribbean. Unfortunately, sand got into my eyes and burned like crazy for a bit before I had to stop and wipe them out.
The people of St. Anthony's fed us dinner that night (again delicious italian food) and we gave a presentation on affordable housing. One of the ladies stood up and told us, tears in her eyes, that if her college bound granddaughter could end up like us she would be so proud. It's nice to see this side of young people these days. It reminded me of the letter APO got from Venable Elementary parents saying how usually the thought of college age kids invokes thoughts of beer cans on the lawn and how APO helped change that image.
That night we relaxed and tried to watch the celtics game. Unfortunately, we only saw the first half when the Celtics were losing by 24. Apparently they won, go figure.
Today we had relatives/guests join us and did the wheel dipping ceremony. We dipped our back tires in the atlantic ocean and will dip our front tires in the pacific. We headed off to Andover. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get here because of all the lights and wrong turns. This will be our shortest ride day so we had most of the afternoon free. The family of the former program director of bike and build, Chris Webber, who was killed last year is having a cookout for us. The trips this year are dedicated to him.
Overall, I'm enjoying myself. The people are great and everyone goes out of their way to help others. It's been a good start.
Oh, and one of graham's trip leaders is the director of our trip so I've been hearing good stories. graham beware.
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