August 26th has been circled on my calendar since March. The day finally arrived, as 4:30 am came way too early! Have asleep, I lugged all of my luggage (and life) down the small, cramped stairs of Kevin and Erin's apartment complex, trudged across the street, caught a bus and then the metro, before finally arriving at O'Hare for my flight to Miami. The flight was a straight shot with no major problems to report! Once we got off of the plane, my baggage was literally waiting for me on the baggage claim belt, both sitting nicely together. I made my way outside and caught the next shuttle bus to the Crowne Plaza International Hotel, where our Peace Corps staging event was being held.
After getting checked in at the hotel (and taking a necessary shower), I made my way down to the lobby to get registered and start meeting the people that I'll be spending the next 27 months with! It was a lot to take in at first, but we all settled into each other's company very quickly! The staging event was filled with a few ice breakers, some general information about the history of the Peace Corps, a review of the main goals and expectations, and some other interactive activities to help prepare us for our journey to Colombia.
After all of that was done, a majority of us headed out into Miami for one last night on the town. We ate at a really good Cuban restaurant near the hotel. It was great being able to enjoy delicious food and get to know each other better. Following that, a smaller group of us headed down to South Beach and ended up at Wet Willie's. Wet Willie's is famous for the adult slushies and they definitely didn't disappoint! We enjoyed a few drinks, more stories, and then headed back to the hotel, anticipating our flight the next day!
August 27th finally arrived! As we all checked out of our rooms, loaded our luggage onto the bus, and headed to the airport, the air was filled with excitement, nervousness, and overall unknown for what we had all just gotten ourselves into! The check-in process went fairly smoothly and we all made it through security and to our gate in time to board the plane! The take off made it officially real that we were really doing this - leaving the United States for 27 months to work and serve with people on a different continent!
We landed in Barranquilla, passed through customs, located our luggage, and walked out in the muggy, Barranquilla night. To our surprise, we were greeted by current members with signs, shots of coffee (even I took one), and tons of enthusiasm. Despite the long day of traveling and all of us being pretty weary, it was such a nice welcome to the country. Definitely energized us all a bit and gave us a bit of a glimpse as to what the next 2 years holds for us!
After a brief welcome speech from George, our CD (Country Director), we boarded a bus and headed off to the hotel where we would be staying for the first few days in country. The drive was really neat and it was cool to see the city at night. We arrived at the hotel and were ushered into a conference room (where our trainings would be held for the first few days) for a proper welcome from the staff and others. We received our room assignments, moved all of our belongings upstairs, and then had our first Colombian meal in country! I can definitely tell that I'm gonna love the food here! Afterwards, we just hung out with some of the current volunteers and then called it a night.
It has been a hustle and bustle of activity from the time that we landed in Colombia! There's still a lot more to talk about, so stay tuned for more posts on the coming days!
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