Staging in Miami

Until today, I had never been to Florida ever in my life. And much to my suprise, I really like Miami (or at least the small portion that I saw). The traffic was a little crazy around the airport, but I think that is to be expected in any city.

Once I arrived, I took a cab to the hotel where the Peace Corps made reservations for our staging group and again was pleasantly surprised to see that they were putting us up in this really nice hotel.

It was really great to get to know all of my fellow trainees at this event. I didn't really know what to expect (about what the other volunteers were going to be like), but everyone is our group seems to have their hearts in the right place, and I am looking forward to being able to work with them. It was very welcoming to be able to meet people who all shared my same passion for service and had been going through the same things that I have been experiencing lately. As I left the airport to head to staging this morning, I realized that I had never felt so alone in my entire life, but it was a great feeling to get here and meet my new "family" that I will be spending the next 2 years of my life with.

We are leaving in the morning for our first stop in the Caribbean, St. Lucia, where we will have the begining of our training all together. After a week there, our group will seperate to our individual islands for training and begin our official 7 week training.

After going through staging today, I feel more prepared and even more excited about leaving tomorrow! Wish me luck!