After graduating from Marquette University, I said to myself, "What am I going to do now?" After looking around at different volunteer opportunities, military, "real jobs," I decided to join AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.

I am now serving with my AmeriCorps team Red 2.

NCCC is a 10-month, residential, national service program for 18- to 24-year-olds who enjoy working long, odd hours with a team of eight to 10 other individuals.

The perks of the job are meeting new people, working outdoors, working with children, meeting unmet needs, learning many new trades (i.e. driving motorboats, ATVs, gutting houses, first aid/CPR) and just having an overall interesting experience in an abnormal job.

With NCCC, you and your team are based on one of the four campuses and travel around your region of the country completing projects in disaster relief, unmet human needs, public safety, environmental service and education.

Most projects last four to eight weeks and teams usually complete five projects. I am writing this article with two of my teammates, and with NCCC we have served in four states and completed four main projects and various extra volunteer projects.

Our first project was in Pascagoula, Miss., creating and opening a volunteer center for the remaining hurricane relief efforts. It is amazing what you can do in the Mississippi heat to a gutted-out, abandoned gymnasium with FEMA tarp, paint and duct tape.

Next, we traveled to New Orleans to work with the American Red Cross doing various office-related disaster relief projects. You think college is chaotic, try rebuilding a city after a hurricane with the Red Cross.

After New Orleans, our team moved to Baton Rouge, La., for an education project and lived on the Louisiana State University church/fraternity row.

We worked in a middle school with many displaced Katrina students, tutoring one-on-one and in small groups, as well as assisting the teachers with daily activities. Many students are very bright and have a lot of potential to do well, but need much more guidance.

Our team was excited for our fourth project, which was an environmental project in the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia.

After working inside for months, we were excited to be in the middle of nowhere, wade in the swamp water, build platforms, learn to survive motorboat crashes, tromp through the woods and fight fires.

Yes, that is right, fight fires. We were chosen as one of the four teams to be trained as wild land firefighters. Working here was our fire project and we were able to work firsthand on a wildfire.

Soon, Red 2 will depart for our last project in Edgar Evans State Park in Tennessee, clearing six miles of trail.

This has been an eye-opening, out of the ordinary, fun experience that you would not get anywhere else.

If you find yourself wondering what to do after graduation and do not want a "normal" job, check out AmeriCorps NCCC at www.americorps.gov.

Romes is a 2005 alumnus.