Philly

Today was the day that I've been waiting for since November when I got my invitation. After a restless night of packing, repacking, and writing thank you notes, I woke up at 5am to get on the road for the airport. My parents and I had some much needed coffee and a banana nut muffin as we waited for time to pass so I could board. I thought my flight was earlier than it was, so we had plenty of time to hang out before good-byes. Inevitably, however, we did say good-bye and I boarded the plane with entirely too much luggage. I'm assuming the flight was fine because as soon as I buckled the seat belt, I passed out and did not open my eyes until we were descending upon Philadelphia.

I caught a cab and got to the Hampton Inn, where I checked in and found my roommate already there. We talked briefly while getting ready for orientation and it was nice to finally talk to someone who will be going on this journey with me. We had similar anxieties and aspirations, so that made me feel more at ease.

We got down to orientation and filled out more paperwork than my hand could handle. We were then told that from that point on we were to only dress in business casual attaire. Flips flops and jeans were a no go. I looked down and discovered that I was severely underdressed. After changing, I came back down and sat at a table with people from all over the US. I was really surprised by how many people there were (about 90) and how everyone varied in age. The majority were younger but there was a good amount of middle-aged to retirees there too. The majority of the people there were doing Education. The others were doing Youth Development or Community Development. The next five hours were full of ice breakers, group activities and questionaires. It felt just like those first few days of college again. Everyone seems to be pretty cool, though and not afraid to share their knowledge of Bulgaria. I learned a lot about the country today. We had to go around the room and say one thing that we knew about Bulgaria. It was very interesting.

Being here makes it all so much more real and so much more exciting. I just can't wait until we're finally there and I don't have to worry about all this luggage anymore. Tomorrow we are getting on a bus to go to JFK and then from there Munich and from Munich to Sofia! It's so close!