Departure

After a day of team-building exercises and information overload in a room with florescent lights and no windows, I have arrived at my last evening stateside for an indefinite time. Dinner was a to-go meal from the hot bar at Whole Foods eaten while Jeopardy played on the TV. I sat on the hotel bed, which happened to be nearly invisible under the pile of dispersed  goods that will sustain me the coming 27 months. It all seemed pretty appropriate. 

I am strangely calm. Maybe it's due to the fact that there are but final sips of IPA left in the bottle on this desk, but there aren't much in the way of nerves for this girl. Many of the other PCTs (No, not Pacific Crest Trail, like all you wonderful Oregonians are thinking, it is indeed Peace Corps Trainees) are outside of the hotel sucking on cigarettes talking on cell phones, stressed and anxious. I certainly don't blame them. I suspect that part of my nonchalance is due to the fact that I have committed to myself to take this time as it comes.  I anticipate good things, and challenges and intensity, but I guess I haven't thought much more past that. It is a good thing to feel completely ready for something. If I  am anxious it is because I want to be there now, experiencing what is waiting for me.