These days Peace Corps starts with a one night "staging" somewhere in the US before volunteers train in their country of service. I hoped I might visit somewhere neat in the US before leaving--Miami's on the way to Costa Rica, right? Turns out, though, I'm staging in Washington, D.C. on March 1. I may be the only volunteer out of our group of 55 who can walk there (ok, you've got me, I'll probably take the metro). Still, I'm excited to meet the other members of Tico 20 whom I'll work with over the next few years. I feel like we're already friends and just haven't met one another yet. If any other Tico 20-ers come across this, drop me a line! "Unmapped" at Gmail dot com.
I've kept pretty busy with my internship, but I tweak my packing list every week and I've already got a pile going in my room. The major categories:
-professional clothes
-camping gear
-bicycle tools
-nerdy reference books
I'll probably bring my laptop (why not? It's five years old) and I'm teaching myself to play harmonica. But mostly, I'm just excited by the surprises and opportunities which I'll find when I get there.
