Welcome to Miami

Right now I am in Miami, and tomorrow morning I am off to CR!

I didn't expect leaving to be so hard! It all hit me on Sunday, but I made it! I did have a brief urge on the plane to pull a "Sarah from 8B" aka, book a return ticket home as soon as I landed in Miami. But I decided against it and here I am.

Getting to the hotel was a little nervewracking because I had to be the grown-up and figure it all out, but again, here I am. Right away on the shuttle to the hotel, I met about 5 other volunteers (we stand out with our 80 lbs of luggage). We got to the hotel and had lunch in the hotel restaurant, but I could barely eat anything--no one could; I guess we were all nervous! We got into the room where we had staging, and most people were there. It is a group of 35 people, maybe 1/3 male, 2/3 female, most right out of college or just a year or so out. Our training sessions have been a lot of info about Peace Corps, cross-cultural stuff, safety, etc, but they are interactive programs, so we're getting to know each other, and it's kind of fun.

Last night, most everyone took cabs into the city area for dinner. Kind of reminds me of freshman year when no one knows anyone so you stick together like glue... We ate at a cool restaurant that was indoors and outdoors and had lots of colored lights and stuff. It was in this complex that was kind of like a 2-story outdoor mall (the restaurant was upstairs). We hung out at the restaurant for a while, and then came back to the hotel and went to bed. Everyone was really exhausted. Sidenote: there are actually a couple other Wisco natives here, but not from UW Madison. I guess the cheese doesn't stand alone after all, hey? (Okay, sorry that was cheesy...pun intended :) ).

Today we had more training. At one point I looked over and saw two of the three facilitators in the back of the room with a big thing of blue yarn. They were cutting it, and at first, I thought they were playing with a Cat's cradle! I almost burst out laughing, but I kept it in (no Kate-laughs yet :) ).

Well, tonight I think we're just going to chill here, maybe hang out at the pool, relax, since tomorrow's a big day. Yeah that's right, joining the PC = "chilling at the pool"...haha. That will change soon though! I am in charge of all the passports and tickets for the whole group, so...yikes! Just kidding, I won't lose them.

Okay, that's all for now. I won't have any email access till Friday, since I'll be on my arrival retreat. Thanks for the emails and comments so far! It's really good to stay in the loop!

I have InSoMnIa

In all of college I pulled two all-nighters: one was for "fun", the other was not so fun. In this past week, I've already done one, and I think tonight might be another one. I can't help it--I can't sleep! I am not nervous or anxious or excited; I'm just not tired. I hope this doesn't catch up with me...

So, this is what's left on the agenda: go downtown and pick up some postcards of Racine/Wisc stuff to give to my host family (along with some other stuff), pick up a couple last-minute essentials (i.e. soap...could come in handy), clean my room for once, finish packing, cancel my cell phone, mail some stuff, watch the season finale of the Office (season 3, my brother has it on his ipod), attend Ezra's 1st birthday party, maybe take the boat out one more time, and get my hair trimmed. All in all, it should be a good weekend.

Sorry this is the most exciting thing I have to say as of now. I'm tempted to start making things up... :) Although, this is true: something just fell off my closet shelf, and I am sitting on my bed...spooky...then again, my window is open, and it is kind of breezy. Great, I just ruined that.

My first post!

I am getting ready for my last week in the US for a while. I just unpacked everything I had packed, and now I am repacking it all. There is a purpose to this. (For example, some things will be folded when they go back in the suitcase). I don't really have anything else to report at the moment...