Jul 11, 2009
Posted by Zachary in Activitys, General
On May 24, the Boys State session was initiated. It seemed a little confusing at first because they really didn’t have much instructions to go where to register and where to park, etc. After we my parents and I found where we were suppose to go, I had no idea where to sit and what to do in the gym. There were names on the sections of the bleachers. I definitely had no clue what they meant. As soon as they called the section we chose to sit at, I went to give up my information to they registration lady. The people were actually quite nice, overall. And during the whole process there was this guy that was talking into a microphone and you could barely hear him over the roar. Soon to find he was the “Kernel.” In the next step of the registration, I obtained my shirts and, not sure of which size to get, I got the large. Everybody was strangers to me, and of course I was a little nervous. Who wouldn’t be right? When I got my shirts, I also got my the name of my city which I was in. That is what the names were on the bleachers I had not what were for. Once I sat in the city’s section and after a couple minutes, I was called my our Junior Counselor, Mr. Bowland. He was carrying a flag in his hand with Reel City on it, which was my city. Calling us to go outside as a group, I followed everyone in a line. Then he told us to go get our stuff, and then go back to the bleachers and wait for him. So I went to go get the stuff, and come to find out my suitcase was A LOT heavier than anticipated. I tried on my right shoulder and that wasn’t happening since that was the shoulder I broke a couple years ago when I fell off my porch. Walking up the stairs, once I got my dorm number, was so terrible for me since our city happened to be on the fifth floor. My dad had to carry it up the stairs it was so heavy. Next time, a rolling suitcase is required. Unpacking everything was cool I guess, but It all had to follow certain guidelines. It was all most like the military, in how they have a place for everything. Once everything was done my parents left after we said our goodbyes. This was the start of Boys State.
Aug 11, 2009
Posted by Zachary in Activitys, General
After my parents said their goodbyes and left, I was uncertain what was going on. We almost got are rooms backwards. The hallway was separated in two sections on each floor and, of course, they didn’t tell us this at first. After everything was squared away in the dorms, we had our first formation. I never was in any type of formation before, so it took a little while to get used the thought. You should’ve seen me trying to march in formation, that was “fun.” Don’t get me wrong I was able to do it, but it took some time. On that same day we had our pictures taken. They had us wear dark dress pants too which was a little hot, but it was manageable. If you don’t know me, I’m pretty obsessed with how my hair looks on an hourly basis. My hair is also straightened every day, but I wasn’t able to do this while there because I normally didn’t have enough time to take a shower in the morning and plus it would have been too much of a hassle around the guys in the dorm. My hair was adequate for the picture but it really didn’t turn out that great.
After we took the pictures, dinner was served to us. I was actually quite surprised by what they had. Some of it I actually liked to eat. I’m a pretty picky eater so eating in places sometime can be a bit difficult for me. Derryberry Hall was the next thing we went to on that night This is where we had almost every assembly at boys state. It was pretty comfortable in the room. You would think 580+ guys in a single room would be a problem but it wasn’t that bad. I mean at least nobody stunk that bad! In deed if felt like a lifetime while we were in that room, and it felt like that every time we were in there until the that following friday. To top off the day, tests were given to us that night. They weren’t that bad but I was really tired since the tests were given at 10:15 at night, and I normally go to bed at 9:00 or 9:30. It was a big change for me, and come to find out that everyday after that was a little worse on that category. Everyday the lights out was around 10:30 to 11:00 depending on everyone on the floor. When the day was over I got to know a little of the peers I was around, and got to know them a little more throughout the week.
The days after that first day seemed so long to me. Getting up a 6 in the morning and going to be at 11 at night almost every day for a week can do something to you, let me tell you that. Even though each day was feature packed with activities for us, the days still seemed to drag on until the last day, which went really fast. One other thing that I wasn’t wanting to do was athletics. Don’t ask! I somehow got out of it. Actually I know how it happened, but I’m not going to tell. HAHA!
Zachary enjoys long walks on the beach in jeans to hide my long legs and loves to hang out in the outdoors as long as it involves a gazebo or some kind of roof over my head. He dislikes the sun so he is usually inside. Actually that’s where he’s mostly at.
