(no subject)
I'm in Mobile, Alabama for an internship until July 25. I'm working on a study called the Mobile Youth Survey. Basically what we do is go out into low and moderate income neighborhoods (mostly subsidized housing) in Mobile and Prichard. We have the names and addresses of about 3000 kids who have participated before, and we go to their houses to sign them up to take the survey again. It's a longitudinal study that's been going on for 10 years, for kids aged 10-18. This week so far has all been training. We have talked about recruiting, and the general administration of the survey. We also had to read through the entire thing, which is 406 questions. And I'll have to read it aloud probably dozens of times over the summer, to a roomfull of young loud kids who just want to get in and get out and get their $15 for completing the survey.
We've also been going over a lot of gang information so that we don't get ourselves into trouble. There are a lot of seemingly innocent words and gestures that I am not allowed to make. haha.
Sunday when I got here I met a girl who got here about the same time as me, and our rooms are across from one another. She doesn't have a car, so we drove to wal-mart together for food and basics. Also I've been hanging out with a lot of the girls here (there are 16 interns so far and 15 are guys) in the lounge, cooking and eating and whatever. (Not me at all, I know).
Tomorrow we're going to walk around in one of the neighborhoods and get a feel for things. After work all of us are going out for dinner in downtown Mobile, which is supposed to be a really cool place. I'm excited.
I'm staying in a dorm room at the University of Mobile, which is some sort of baptist/christian university. It's a dry campus (doesn't mean anything to me obviously) but there are very strict visiting hours and when residents have visitors of the opposite sex, the door must be open and they are not allowed to lay together on the floor or beds. Good thing I don't go here! I wouldn't make it with all the supervision. However the room is really really nice. It's pretty big, and we have AIR! which is good because obviously its verrrry hot out here. And it will only get hotter as the summer goes on.
I'll post some pictures of my room and the campus later, when the internet is being better.
We've also been going over a lot of gang information so that we don't get ourselves into trouble. There are a lot of seemingly innocent words and gestures that I am not allowed to make. haha.
Sunday when I got here I met a girl who got here about the same time as me, and our rooms are across from one another. She doesn't have a car, so we drove to wal-mart together for food and basics. Also I've been hanging out with a lot of the girls here (there are 16 interns so far and 15 are guys) in the lounge, cooking and eating and whatever. (Not me at all, I know).
Tomorrow we're going to walk around in one of the neighborhoods and get a feel for things. After work all of us are going out for dinner in downtown Mobile, which is supposed to be a really cool place. I'm excited.
I'm staying in a dorm room at the University of Mobile, which is some sort of baptist/christian university. It's a dry campus (doesn't mean anything to me obviously) but there are very strict visiting hours and when residents have visitors of the opposite sex, the door must be open and they are not allowed to lay together on the floor or beds. Good thing I don't go here! I wouldn't make it with all the supervision. However the room is really really nice. It's pretty big, and we have AIR! which is good because obviously its verrrry hot out here. And it will only get hotter as the summer goes on.
I'll post some pictures of my room and the campus later, when the internet is being better.