Staging

I arrived in DC on Wednesday night and was transported to the hotel. It was relieving to finally arrive and I was given a room key to room 349, and I was told I would be sharing with Tina, who was a member of our facebook Peru 17 group. I unloaded all my stuff in the room, and saw that my roommate’s stuff was already there, but she was not. I went down to the lobby again, and saw other random people sitting in the lobby, I immediately assumed they were Peace Corps volunteers, and so I initiated conversation, and was warmly welcomed! It was then where the fun began, Keren, Zach, and I decided to go to dinner and as we walked out of the hotel I noticed a cab pulling up, I was 99% sure it was Amanda, who was also a member of our Facebook group. So I proceeded to yell through the cab window, “Are you Amanda?” she seemed shocked yet relieved to be greeted by a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. She ended up joining us on our excursion for food at Café Roma in Georgetown. 

After stuffing our faces we returned to the hotel and proceeded to get to know each other, and the new volunteers that had arrived. After a long and emotional day it was nice to be greeted by such amazing people, who were in the same situation as me. I returned to my room, which was still empty of any roommate. I left Tina a little note, and hopped into bed, preparing for our staging the next day. Tina snuck in the room around sunrise, and immediately was asleep! I woke up a little later around 8:30, and as I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth, Tina sat up and said, “KATHERINE!!” and jumped out of bed all cheery and gave me a big hug. It was the perfect start to the day. 

We talked about our lives prior to the Peace Corp, and talked about how excited we were both in the youth special education program. We were joined by Zach and Amanda, who were ready to wander and find breakfast, little did we know that we would be joined by another 6 volunteers, with whom we ended up eating breakfast with. After we returned to the hotel, everyone got ready; I put one of my many dresses on for our staging event and headed down with some of my new friends to registration, which was actually a very quick process. So quick when I walked into the icebreakers room I had over an hour of time to kill. I immediately found my Facebook buddy Chris and joined his table. 

This was the beginning of our staging; I got to know almost everyone in our group, even if it was just a first name. Everyone was so open and willing to talk, seeing as we were all in the same position, so no need to be shy. It was a long day of classes, and activities, but as it ended at 7, I felt more prepared for our departure the next day. A few of us (Chris, Amanda, Zack, Lucas, Sabrina, Kimberly, Mary Kate, Tina, and myself.) All ventured out into Georgetown to find some food, we walked forever, almost 30 minutes, to M street where we found a French bistro, where we racked up a 600 dollar bill! After dinner most of us proceeded to the bar down the street to watch the Heat vs. Mavs game, and celebrate our last night in America right! Dancing, German Soldiers, Bleeding fingers, and creepy old men with phone clips on their belts, we headed back to the hotel around 2am. It was so much fun and a great way to spend our last night! 

Upon return Tina and I finished packing, and devised a plan for our morning coffee and check out, and scheduled a wake up call. OF course when the wake up call arrived, both of us were a little sluggish and decided coffee would be better at the airport, we packed up our final things, and proceeded to check out and get ready for all of us to go to the airport! All 52 of us volunteers loaded up on the buses provided for us, headed to the airport! I checked my bags, weighing in at 40 and 50 exactly, and headed to the gate. All the volunteers grabbed some food and prepared for our first flight to Miami. 

The flight was fun, and we were able to talk to each other, however we did arrive in Miami late, 3:45…our flight started boarding at 3:30. So an announcement over the intercom on the plane was made, “For those of the 52 of you headed to Lima on American Airlines flight, they are holding the plane for you!” Ha, we all proceeded to head to our next gate, where we boarded the plane, and where I am as I type this. Take off was a little crazy a few of us were like, holy crap say good-bye to the US. But this is an exciting journey, that I am glad to have such wonderful people to share it with. I have a feeling this is going to be a life changing experience, and I know I will be making friends that will last a lifetime. My next post will be made from Peru, where I will be living for the next two years (ahhhh crazy) and I can’t wait to keep all of you followers updated!!