The Start to the Next 27 Months

"It has begun" was the only thing I thought about on the hourish plane ride to DC. That and "dang, that over-weight bag did a number on my wallet." It was a quick ride up to DC so there really wasn't much time to think about anything else. And I was glad. I got off the plane, got my bags and then someone from the team messaged me saying they just flew in too and if we wanted to share an Uber. That was an easy yes. It was nice to finally put faces to names and meet the people who I have been chatting on and off with all summer. We loaded up our Uber XL (they had 3 bags and a carry-on and I had my massive 2 bags and my backpack) and headed to the hotel. And then the nerves started to kick in.... We had plenty of time before sign-in so I decided to freshen up and relax a bit.

Then came the sign-in. I got to check out my official Peace Corps passport (yes, I feel REALLY important when I say that), made sure I knew the rules for the weekends and then I got to meet the others. And if you know me, you know that talking and making friends with the other volunteers was not hard at all. Mom likes to say I can talk to a brick wall. Our facilitators for the weekend were AMAZING! All 3 had served before and one was even a teacher before she served and then started working for the Peace Corps. Speaking of teacher, the next thing that came along were ice breakers (I honestly love them....). I found out we had 3 volunteers that were MAK 24s, returning to Macedonia after being evacuated in 2020. I find it very comforting to have some people with us that have been "in my shoes" and can kind of guide us through this weird PST (pre-service training) time. One of our volunteers has even been on more than 5 service trips with the Peace Corps. He's the oldest out of all of us, but won't say how old. His hint was, "I voted for JFK." He reminded me a lot of Grandpa which I find comforting.

The weekend in DC was great honestly. For my fellow Rotary Youth Exchange people, it felt very much like Lake Yale; bonding with the people who are there for you the most, learning the rules and expectations, and finding out a bit more about yourself than expected. But most importantly, as one of our facilitators said, "this is your chance to back out." (Spoiler alert: I didn't back out...) Even though Covid is changing a lot of things, I think Peace Corps is doing a really fantastic job at trying to keep things as normal as possible as well as keeping us safe and healthy so we can serve.

Training was a session Friday night and then all day Saturday. Sunday morning we were off! A giant bus came to pick us all up and our mountain of luggage to take us to the airport. From there we spent a few hours in Dulles getting our last chance at American food. At 5:35pm we took off, saying see ya later to the States for the next 27 months. The next big challenge was the 9 hour flight to Vienna, Austria. And surprisingly enough, I HAD THE WHOLE ROW TO MYSELF!!! I was SHOCKED. Things like that never happen to a Nelson.... I read Fire & Blood for a few hours, had dinner, watched the new Top Gun (did Tom Cruise really think he could pull off a shirtless beach scene with those other HOT men?!) and then tried to sleep but only got a few hours. But in the morning we landed in Vienna with only a 2 hour layover. We then hopped onto a small plane for the hour trip to Skopje. The flight was SO interesting. Everyone was talking (probably the loudest plane ride I had ever been on) and the two women next to me were having a VERY heated discussion. What was it about? Beats me but man oh man was I interested. I listened to the whole thing... Before I knew it we landed.

A quick Covid test (negative) and a cutie with an amazing mustache checking my passport were the next stops. Then we met up with our Macedonian team, got our bags and headed on another bus that took us into the city center to our

Holiday Inn. We did some house keeping things, ate an early dinner and I was passed out by 7:30pm. I had never been so tired in my life. All I can say is that so far, so AMAZING. More about this first training week and other fun things next time. As for now, I am going to bed so I can have more adventures tomorrow. Oh! To all my Florida friends and family, please stay safe! To Hurricane Ian, go easy please.