Last day in California

So today is officially my last day in California. Its actually really weird to think about, because I've spent my entire life living somewhere in California, and now I'm leaving for over 2 years. A friend asked me yesterday if I felt like there was anything else I needed to do before I left, and luckily I don't think there is! I've been up and down CA in the last few months doing a million things and visiting everybody, and it's been an awesome time. Of course it's still bittersweet to say goodbye to everybody here and all the places I love, but I'm also super excited to start my adventure.

I want to say a quick shout out to everyone that's graduating from UCLA, I'm so proud of you guys and I wish I could be there at graduation...best of luck in the transition to whatever type of "real world" you're heading towards.

So from here I fly to D.C. to do orientation for a few days. We have a celebration at Peace Corps headquarters for the return of the Peace Corps to Sierra Leone, and NBC is supposed to be there! I have no idea what if anything will be on TV, but just giving you guys the heads up. After orientation we fly to Freetown, Sierra Leone to do some odds and ends before traveling to Bo for actual training. I'm told I wont have any access to internet in Freetown, so the next update wont be for a couple of weeks until I get out to Bo.

It is still so unreal to me that this is finally happening. I first decided I wanted to join the Peace Corps almost 2 years ago, and finished my application over a year ago. All the waiting sort of lulled me to sleep, and now all of the sudden here I am, flying away tomorrow! I'm not sure it'll fully hit me that I am actually living in Africa for a while...I think it'll feel like a summer trip to me at first (i.e. like Romania trips of recent summers). Maybe once I am actually moving in to a house (hut, or something) once training is finish I'll actually believe this is really happening...

Last but definitely not least, I want to say thank you to everybody for supporting and encouraging me through this process. It's really meant a lot to me, and I can't wait to update you guys with all my crazy adventures!

Finally Starting the Blog...

This post marks the official beginning of my Sierra Leone blog! I admit I've never blogged or twittered and rarely even update my facebook status so this will be an adventure in itself. Most other Peace Corps volunteers start blogs much sooner during the whole application process, but I decided to spare you guys all those details, and start with me leaving for Sierra Leone.

Here is the plan right now:
Fly to DC (via Denver) on June 1st to meet the rest of the volunteers, hang out, get immunizations and such, then fly to Freetown, Sierra Leone (via Brussels) on June 3rd. The Peace Corps has already told us there will be a celebration for us at the Sierra Leonean congress, which is super exciting! After a few days making the rounds in Freetown, we set off to Bo where training will be for the next 10 weeks. After that its off to whatever village or town I will end up at for the next 2 years!

I plan to update this blog as I can, but in all honesty I have no idea how much internet I'll have. Because of that I can't make any promises how often I'll update (I can't even promise it'll be interesting enough to read when I do!), but I'll do the best I can.

Just in case the internet situation is terrible and you guys want to keep in touch the old school way, here is my address. The Peace Corps says mail takes about 3 weeks, so don't be offended if you don't get a response right away:

Amanda Pease, Peace Corps Volunteer
Peace Corps
Post Office Box 905
Freetown, Sierra Leone

As far as I know you can check rates here http://ircalc.usps.gov/ and US stamps are perfect.

That's all for now :)