Last Goodbyes

The time has finally come for me to say goodbye to my family and begin my journey in Tanzania. I'll be flying out to Philadelphia today, spend the weekend with friends and then begin my Peace Corps experience at staging on Monday. My bags are packed (not nearly as heavy as I thought they would be!) and the final goodbyes have almost all been said. I'm excited to get this adventure started and the huge support I've gotten from friends and family has really helped make leaving easier. Thanks again everybody for all your support and kind words!!

To give you an idea of what is ahead for me, I'll be starting my Peace Corps business in Philadelphia Monday for staging (basically an orientation type thing) then I'll be flying out to Tanzania on Tuesday. I'll first be staying in Dar es Salaam for about a week getting adjusted, then it's off to training which will be  in the Tanga region (North of Dar on the coast). I'll be living with a host family during training, which will last until December. During training I'll be learning Kiswahili and various agriculture-related technical skills.

I'm sure y'all are anxiously awaiting actual updates about my Peace Corps experience, and I'll try to update my blog as often as I can (which I know won't be nearly as often as some of you may like...). If anyone would like to send me letters during my training, here's my address:

Peace Corps/Tanzania
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania

In the meantime I'll leave you with some pictures from last weekend's adventure at Acadia National Park. Enjoy!

2 Weeks!!

In 2 short weeks I'll be on my way to Philadelphia to start my crazy adventure as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania! My to-do list is shrinking and I've almost finished getting everything on my packing list... although I don't think I'll be completely convinced I have everything until I'm forced to board the plane and whatever I have is what I have...

I'll be spending these last few weeks in the States visiting friends and enjoying the New England fall. People have been asking me a lot about how I'm feeling about my departure, and honestly it changes every day. Some days I'm anxious to just get going, other days I'm a nervous wreck, freaking out about every little detail around packing. I'm also starting to make small life changes that I hope will help me adjust to life in Tanzania (re: diverting from my vegetarian ways). The other night I ate fish for the first time in 5 + years!!! Next step: chicken. I'm hoping that by subjugating my body to these types of foods now, my stomach will be slightly less shocked when it encounters Tanzanian food. I'm sure I'll be updating y'all to that lovely transition as well in the months ahead :)

I'm looking forward to sharing my adventure with y'all and I hope you enjoy my various musings along the way. I'll be posting my address soon so if anyone wants they can send me awesome letters :) Email is also great too!

But for now, I'm off to Vermont to take in as much Vermont-ness as I can before leaving!