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!