Goodbyes and Hellos

It seems strange to begin with goodbye. But in some ways, the past few months have been a series of goodbyes - saying goodbye to my life as an academic; to my apartment and friends in New York City; to my family in Pittsburgh. Last weekend, we had a party. Most of my family came, and some friends too. The cake said "Good Luck in Indonesia, Melissa!" It had the Peace Corps logo on it. Because tomorrow, I'll fly with more than 70 other volunteers to Surabaya, Indonesia, to say goodbye to our old lives and begin training for two years of Peace Corps service. It was a good party, but it seems in some ways that I've been saying goodbye for months, and the party was the culmination of that. I'm ready to go, and at the same time it still seems unreal that it's finally happening. 

Last August, I moved from New York City, where I'd lived for eleven years, back to my hometown of Pittsburgh, where I worked as an adjunct instructor of English Composition and bided my time until it was time to leave. Now that I've flown to Los Angeles and am leaving in seven hours, the past few months seem like a blur. I spent them learning a few basics of Bahasa Indonesia, the language I'll have to use on a daily basis, and taking intermittent trips to New York and elsewhere to see friends. But it seemed even a month ago that I had all the time in the world. And then one day, both suddenly and finally, I was on a plane. I arrived in LA two days ago. I spent time with friends new and old, and had an absolutely wonderful time. Today, I met a whole new group of people whom I will know very well by the time this journey is complete. 

I don't really know what to expect in Indonesia. I know plenty of facts about the country, and current Peace Corps Volunteers have been really helpful. But when it comes down to it, I won't really know what it's like until I'm there. I really hope I didn't overpack or underpack, but I'll deal with it if I do. I probably didn't absolutely need a Shutterfly photo album, solar batter charger, or complete volume of Keats's poetry (also the origin of my blog title!), but I'll feel more like myself with the photos and the poems, and the batter charger might really be useful. 

Because I'm exhausted, and because I had a beer at dinner, and because I volunteered to be a group leader for the two days of travel we're embarking on, I'll keep this short this evening, but I did want to get a blog started. I won't be able to post much in the beginning, especially during the ten weeks of Pre-Service Training, but I'll update when I can about what I'm up to and what things are like in Indonesia. I'm both excited and mystified by what's about to happen, and I look forward to sharing stories when I can.