Arriving at Orientation

The day before my flight to Chicago, I woke up at 5:00 and could not fall back to sleep because of the anxious feeling I was having. So I just got out of bed and began to do laundry and pack. I found later that I was going to have a hard time to fit everything I needed into two fifty pound bags. I was able to see my grandma one more time and I went out to a late movie with my parents. Anthropoid was a movie about an assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich (The Butcher of Prague). I really enjoy seeing representations about World War Two. It was nice to do that with my family before I left. On thee way back home I found that my heart was racing and I knew I would have a hard time sleeping tonight.

Leaving my family was hard but after a couple of hugs and goodbyes to everyone, I was in my sister's car with her (Rachel) and her boyfriend Sam. We were on our way to the Marta station for me to take a train to the airport. After arriving at the airport I went to pick up my boarding pass and check my bags. My big bag weighed 49.8 lbs and the small one weighed 30.5 lbs. I felt so satisfied because I worked hard to get the weight under 50.

My plane landed in Chicago and I found my way to the baggage claim. I felt so much more comfortable to see thee familiar faces of other YAGM volunteers that I have met from DIP (Discernment Interview Placement) in Chicago four months ago. I realize that the butterflies in my stomach have completely gone away and I feel excited about my journey to Mexico. After bringing all my gear to my dorm room, I decided I would walk around a bit. I soon found my roommate (Tim) and we decided that it would be a good idea to take a nap. We were both exhausted. At four o'clock we had to attend the meeting were we received the schedule for the rest of the week. We found the group of Mexico volunteers and hung out and talked about our trip until it was dinner time.