Expecting the unexpected...

Or can the unexpected happen when you have no expectations?

I came to this media conference to learn and absorb information, but I really had no concept of what type of weekend I was about to have.

So far I am staying in a youth hostel for the first time and I wasn't the only one who didn't know that there even were hostels in America. I thought it was strictly a backpacking-across-Europe-in-Birkenstocks type of thing.

The house is true communal living -- without communal bathing, thankfully. They have a water-conservation bathroom. Really. If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down -- but only one for those who are into that kinda thing. Shared chores, labeled food, kinda expect everyone to be sitting around on floor cushions singing with a guitar.

We arrived well after midnight and had to be ready to roll with only a few hours of good sleep. I am rooming with four other females, including the editor-in-chief of "Atlanta's most widely read magazine," and the youngest in our group is a well-known blogger who has traveled around the world on a mission to help protect the environment. And this morning, right after breakfast, I shook hands with Jesse Jackson! There is so much more I want to say, but I think I will save that for later...My weekend has just begun.

--Vanessa Bartley
Clark Atlanta University