Final Days in California

Well, the time has finally come.  I leave tomorrow morning to begin the next chapter of my life….Peace Corps Uganda!  I have spent the last week packing, then re-packing, and packing again to make sure everything is the right size and weight limit. I think packing has by far been one of the most stressful parts of this process! How does one pack and prepare for 2 years?! A lot of thought and time went into this.  Before heading off to Uganda, I first fly to Philadelphia where I will stay for two nights and attend what is called “staging”.  Basically Peace Corps puts everyone from the group up in a hotel and we spend a day doing registration, orientation and tying up any loose ends.  I fly out of JFK with my whole group on Wednesday June 4 to South Africa (15 hour flight) and then South Africa to Uganda (4 hour flight).  This will be a much longer travel time than when I moved to Ghana…..i’ve got my compression stockings ready to go!!  I have been waiting so long for this day and now that it is finally here I cant help but feel so many different feelings…excited, nervous, sad.  Saying all of my goodbyes these past few weeks has been difficult, but knowing that I have so many people who love and support me makes it that much easier.  I am dreading the good-bye to my mom tomorrow at the airport, which will probably be one of the hardest good-byes of all.   I'm not sure when I will be able to post anything in the future, so I wanted to make sure I got one in before I headed off…..i guess now I should probably try and get to bed as we must be up bright and early to head to the airport…not sure im going to get much sleep tonight!!