Monday, November 11, 2013

            Today was, what I consider, my first day of the Peace Corps! I left home too early to remember and flew from O’Hare to Philadelphia! My dad was flying to New York that same morning, so we drove to the airport together and got to have a quick breakfast with each other. It was a nice little goodbye! It also made me much less nervous and anxious; but once I had to board my plane I was officially on my own. Upon arriving in Philly I got a cab from the airport, with my two semi-huge suitcases and ready to explode backpack. I arrived at the hotel with a few hours until staging began so decided to grab a bite to eat for lunch. You’d think there’d be a bunch of fast food restaurants around, but Yelp showed me none. I was too anxious to go to a sit down restaurant so decided to head back to the hotel. That’s when I realized I was lost. Even with a dang GPS I was lost, and in not the best part of Philly. I spotted a McDonald’s and thought some chicken nuggs might be good for lunch so stopped in. I tried to eat but was so anxious for the day that I couldn’t really get anything down. I gave the rest to a homeless guy and set back for the hotel.

            And then it began. I got in line for check in and met everyone, whose names I would forget within ten seconds of them telling me.  I checked in for staging but had to fill out a few forms, that I had already filled out might I add, but due to the fact that I was supposed to go to Kenya and got thrown into the Uganda trip two weeks earlier, they must have gotten lost in translation somewhere.

            Staging was kind of like an orientation. What they expect, what we expect, what are our roles/responsibilities, an idea of what it’s going to be like, etc. We wrote some stuff, did some skits, and talked a lot – what you’d imagine an orientation to be like. I was glad for it, though, because it was good in the sense that everyone got to come together at this point before we leave. It was SO relieving to meet everyone and to learn that we all shared both the same fears and the same aspirations. Knowing I wasn’t going to go through this alone and finally meeting and talking with everyone lifted a huge weight off my chest. And everyone seems freaking awesome and I can’t wait to get to know them!

            Staging lasted around five hours or so and then we all met and set off for dinner. Considering there are forty-three of us, we couldn’t all go to the same restaurant so we split up into different groups, basically based off of what you really want for your “last” meal. I followed a group into Hardrock because I figured a nice juicy burger and some beers would be delicious. And it was. I got a turkey burger with some satisfying toppings that I can’t quite remember what they were, fries, and two beers – Blue Moon and a Yeungling. NOMMZZZZ. Taylor, Steve, Andre, Marvin, Cody, and I all ate dinner together and just sat and talked about where we’re from, what school we went to, what we did this summer, where we’ve traveled to, etc. It was a fantastic last supper! We departed Hardrock to look for some more bars and found a cute little joint a few blocks away. It was a little expensive for us, I mean we are only Peace Corps volunteers after all, but luckily they had specials starting at ten p.m. It was like 9:40 so we were like ok no biggie we’ll just see if the bartender will let us start early with the specials. Jokes, he was super unwilling to budge on this ten o’clock rule. I’ve never had a problem flirting with bartenders, especially after I’ve already had a few drinks, so decided I’d give it a go; that failed. One of the boys tried the whole “but we’re Peace Corps volunteers and leaving the country for 27 months tomorrow” gig but the bartender did not seem to care. What was this guy’s problem!? So we said eff you, we’re going to sit here and wait for fifteen minutes and not order anything like the cheapos we are just because you’re rude. Finally ten o’clock hit and we had a few beers (although I’m pretty sure it was a wine joint so they only had like fancy beers). After a little while we said, “onto the next one!” and found another bar down the street, well it was kind of like an alley but the bar looked satisfactory to our needs. Lo and behold, we ran into more volunteers there! After a beer and something to do with something that was pumpkin (it might have been a car bomb with pumpkin beer? Or a shot? I can’t remember due to the fact that I’m writing this a few days later and have the worst memory like ever) we squeezed around the table with the other volunteers, chatting and drinking, and had a heck of a last night.