Goodbye United States

Wow, time has really moved fast here in the past two weeks. Between my sparse rosetta stone usage and the multiple family functions that I have been to recently I have not had a lot of alone time until now to even think about what I am getting myself into. It is now starting to finally sink in that I will not be back to the US for over a year. This should be a scary thought to many, however, I am not nervous about it even on the eve of my departure. How can this be? I feel like I have changed significantly over the past two years both personally and professionally. The challenges that the Peace Corps will present to me are not something that I am scared of. I look at it as the ultimate opportunity to learn more about people that are culturally much different than myself. This difference in culture is something that I am looking to embrace and I will do whatever it takes in order to be an asset to my work. I am of course going to miss so many people here in the United States but I will be back sometime next year when I finally decide to take one of my vacation breaks. I have several goals that I wish to accomplish in the Peace Corps, but for the first three months it is best that I just take in as much as I possibly can without putting to much stress on myself. I will be in Philadelphia until Friday engaging in multiple orientation sessions and vaccination field trips (yay). On friday we will depart for Paris and then from there we will fly to Lome. I have decided not to bring my computer. I think it will just be a distraction because there is little chance that my house will have electrictity and no chance that it will have wireless internet service. My cell phone broke so I am just going to wait until I get to Togo to buy a new one. The only electronics I am bringing are Ipods and alarm clocks. I know the next two years will be tough, but I enjoy adapting to difficult situations that I know will make me a better person in the long run.... and if I can cycle 80 miles a day across the USA, I have a good feeling I can make in Togo.