I am SO tired! This whole week I’ve basically traveled to downtown Baltimore every day via light rail for core training in the Maryland Public Allies program.

Taking the light rail has been a good and bad thing. It’s good because I don’t have to drive and I can save on gas but it’s bad too because of the people I have to encounter with. Not to mention the fact that they don’t even check for tickets. I’m starting to think it’s free transportation. This entire week I rode the light rail, I’ve only seen two people walk the train checking for tickets. I feel like there’s no reason for me to buy a ticket at all.

Anyways, core training has been a great experience not only learning about Baltimore and the PA program but also bonding and sharing personal experiences with the other Allies. We were all motivated by different things to join the program yet we all want to accomplish the same goal which is to make a difference in the community.

Today, we actually ended the week with various team building exercises at a farm in Reistertown. It was a Jewish kosher farm so there were rules we had to adhere by such as not bringing outside food into the dining area. We started out at the ropes course which was super fun. I got to swing on tires, climb over a wall and walk a tight rope! Then the lunch was absolutely amazing! It was a buffet style meal with bread, salad, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, cookies and watermelon. Yes, no meat. Not because they don’t eat meat but simply because it just wasn’t on the menu for that day.

Next week, we’ll be presenting our Life Maps. This is simply a presentation about our life, where we’re from and how we got to this point. We can get as personal as we want but we have the option to choose and define what is personal to us. I’m really excited to take a deeper look into the other Allies personal life and to give them a small view into mine as well.

Although the farm was fun, the best part of my week was getting an A on my first assignment for my Media Relations class. It definitely boosted my self esteem for that class because for a while I felt like everyone was more experienced than me, which is slightly true. Either way I’ll try not to take this win for granted and continuously work hard. I still have many more assignments to go.