Phinally in Philly

I made it to Philly yesterday safe and sound. Saying good-bye to my parents was ridiculously hard, but I know they are extremely happy I am out of the house...finally!

I arrived here and had a sinking feeling in my stomach...how do I make friends? Did I pack the right stuff? What the hell am I doing?!?! I was just about to go to the hotel bar and drown my sorrows in a very strong, dirty martini, when I saw a group of people that looked my age, carrying huge backpacks and introducing themselves. So, I grew some cajones, and went up and introduced myself.  The first person I met, who would have thunk it, was a guy from Madison (went to Memorial, ick) who had been working Milwaukee for quite sometime-What a small world :)

A group of 6 of us went out for pizza and beer downtown and then we came back to my room and chitchatted.  I think we are going to go do some touristy stuff this morning and then we have orientation starting at 12....since we are now government employees, we have a ton of paperwork to fill out (of course) so that should be a good time.  Everyone seems very nice and we all are in a similar boat, thank goodness! I was happy to hear that lots of people don't know French...phew!

I still have sinking feelings when I wake up and about every 10 minutes, missing everyone-including Daisy :(  Hopefully, I will be so busy soon that I won't have time to even think.

We are off to New York tomorrow via bus and then leave for Cameroon at 6:30 pm...Can't believe I am finally going back to Africa!!!!