And So It Begins

I want to say thank you to everybody who was able to say goodbye and wish me good luck! I am missing everyone already, but looking forward to what's ahead of me.

With the help of my family, over the last six weeks I was able to get everything I need and to pack it all up. We fit two years worth of living basics into two checked bags, one carry-on and a personal item.

This morning, I flew out of SFO at 6:00am (my wonderful family came to the airport at 4:00am!) and I arrived in Philadelphia, PA this afternoon. I definitely got some interesting looks from people at the baggage claim as I picked up my backpacking frame pack on my back, camping duffle bag on my front, carry-on duffle bag in one hand and my messenger bag in the other. It takes me a few minutes to pick everything up and to get adjusted to all of the extra weight. And I may have lost my balance once or twice...I'll try to get a picture up of me with all of my luggage because it's pretty amusing!

After I caught a shuttle to my hotel in historic downtown, I immediately set my luggage down in my room and passed out in my bed. I walked around and grabbed something to eat and now I'm in my hotel room writing to all of you! I haven't seen anybody else in the hotel that looks like they're with the Peace Corps so I'm looking forward to meeting some people tomorrow! And I'm not sure when my roommate will be arriving...so maybe tonight or tomorrow morning before training.

So, here's a rundown on the rest of my week:

Tuesday, October 12: My first day of training in Philadelphia where we turn in forms and go over some basic information. And I get to meet all of the other volunteers training with me!

Wednesday, October 13: Check out of the hotel at 6:30am and load up the Peace Corps vans with our luggage. Then we have some vaccinations before heading to the JFK airport in New York. My flight departs for Brussels at 6:30pm, then I fly from Brussels to Ouagadougou, the captial of Burkina Faso.

Thursday, October 14: When we arrive in Ouagadougou, Peace Corps staff meet us before customs and takes our checked baggage to Koudougou, the city where our training takes place. We stay in Ouagadougou for 2 days for some training and we will all be staying together in a Peace Corps building.

Saturday, October 16: We travel to Koudougou, where we will be training until December. There is a welcome ceremony for us and we are introduced to our host family that we will be living with during training. Once training begins, I will have classes from 8-5 everday with nightly homework assignments. It sounds like it is a very intense, quick training, but I'm excited for it because there's so much to learn about Burkina!

Well, I can't wait to have some stories and updates for all of you, but that's it for now!