11 Days and Counting

Wow! It's starting to set in. The butterflies in my stomach are starting to fly. We have gotten a glimps of a few of our activities that we will be participating in while we are in "Western" Australia and I have got to say that it is going to be an awesome experience. I can't say too much about them though because it would ruin the fun for all of you "Blog Watchers". Make sure you stay tuned to this site. As a matter of fact save it in your "Favorites" folder for daily review. I would guess that between all of the team members, we have the capability of taking close to 8000 photos (pay close attention for the "Witchety Grub" photo that may appear). Well, enough for now. Later!

Scott

One more picture post!

Garry Powers

Shannon Mewborn

Lori Sheridan-Wilson

Lindsey Baxter

Scott Stover

Grant Gillespie

Stephanie Taylor


Marti Faglie


Heather Stoner

Team training update

Yesterday I was happy to welcome everyone to my hometown of Sumter for our team training session. After a few wrong turns - I won't name names! - everyone made it safe and sound to USC Sumter and we had another great day! With just a bit more tweaking and cutting out a few minutes here and there, I think we are ready to go.

Personally, I can't believe it's only 17 more days until we leave for Australia. It's sort fo freaking me out to be honest because the reality of everything I still have to do is creeping up on me now. Not just getting ready for the trip itself, but making sure things with my job are taken care of and with my home as well. I know the pieces will all fall into place, but it's my nature to worry, so I just go with the flow.

One of the things you have to remember about traveling is that while you are out and about in the world, everyone at home is still living their lives. That doesn't stop. But you see, I suffer from what my friend Heidi calls FOMS - Fear of Missing Something. So while I am off having this grand adventure, a teeny tiny part of my brain is not pleased that I am going to be missing something back home!

I have this theory that for the first week, everyone I know will think about me and wonder if we all arrived safe and what we are doing. Then, in the second week, I might get a passing thought here and there. But by the third week everyone will have forgotten about me and when I do come back home, I'm just going to be in the way. Sadly, some of my dear "friends" have been willing to back up this theory! haha That just means no souvenirs for them I think. :o)

Posted by Shannon

Australian location information

As I have been preparing for this amazing adventure I am about to embark upon, I have come across some web sites for the cities and towns the team will be visiting. I thought they might be of interest to anyone who is going to follow our trip, so I am posting some links here for you all.

Kojonup

Albany

Margaret River

Mandurah

Rockingham

It doesn't cover Applecross which is our first stop, but I couldn't find a site I liked enough to post it.

Shannon

More pictures from our meeting

I guess these pictures prove that it wasn't all work and no play!

This is Boss. He's my new favorite reptile, but I think he scares me!

Scott clowning around. Mainly because I said "Hey let me take your picture!"

Sandee making friends with Woody the wood duck.

Yeah, I guess that clowning around was contagious...

Posted by Shannon

Our third team meeting

Greetings from Sumter! I know I can speak for the whole group when I say that we are getting more excited by the day. We are all so thrilled and honored to have been chosen to participated in the GSE program to Australia.

Yesterday was our third meeting and we all converged on Cypress Gardens near Charleston where Lori works. She gave us a great tour of the buildings and after our meeting a few of us stuck around to get out in the swamp. Sadly, the only alligator sightings we had were the ones in the pen. But to be honest, once we got on the water I reconsidered my great enthusiasm for wanting to see one up close and personal. I think maybe the guys in the pen were a much better alternative!

Our focus of the session was to work on our presentation for the Rotary meetings in Australia. It was our first time going through our information and we had a great beginning, if I do say so myself. We all have some tweaking and revising to do, but I believe it is safe to say that things are falling into place and we are all pleased with the status.

The next team meeting is here in Sumter on January 20th and I am pleased to be hosting my teammates at my place of employment, USC Sumter. I have encouraged the rest of the team to take some time and come in and blog about their thoughts and our experiences as we get ready for this amazing trip. I hope we'll see entries from them some time soon!

In the meantime, I have some pictures to share from our day yesterday. Enjoy!






















Posted by Shannon

YOUR AUSTRALIA GSE TEAM

Garry Powers

Team Leader, member of the Rotary Club of Five Points (hometown: Columbia) -- Rotarian for 12 years. Currently serves as the District Vocational Services Chair. Director of Economic Development Initiatives with CTC Public Benefit Corporation.

Lindsey Baxter

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Beaufort (hometown: Okatie) -- Member Services and Operations Manager for the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce. Responsible for new member recruiting and retention.

Marti Faglie (alternate)

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Chapin Sunrise (hometown: Little Mountain) -- Resident Deputy with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.

Grant Gillespie

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Columbia (hometown: Columbia) -- Policy Advisor to the Governor of South Carolina on economic development, tax, and budget issues.

Shannon Mewborn

Co-Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Sumter Sunrise and the Sumter Rotary Club (hometown: Sumter) -- Director of Student Life at the University of South Carolina Sumter, a regional campus of the University of South Carolina system.

Lori Sheridan-Wilson

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Summerville (hometown: Mt. Pleasant) -- A Naturalist at Cypress Gardens. Conducts natural history programs. Lori is also in charge of the flora and fauna inventory, trail maintenance, and invasive plant control.

Heather Stoner (alternate)

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Walterboro (hometown: Walterboro) -- Associate Editor of The Walterboro Press & Standard.

Scott Stover

Sponsored by the Capital Rotary Club (hometown: Columbia) -- A Deputy Sheriff with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. Assigned to the Community Action Team (CAT).

Stephanie Taylor (alternate)

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Columbia (hometown: Columbia) -- Benefits Administrator for Allegro, Inc.