Prologue

It has been nearly 8 months since I received my invitation to serve with the Peace Corps in Senegal but the time feels like it's flown by. My staging begins on March 10th in Atlanta, and I leave for Senegal on the 12th. Despite having got a fair amount of preparation done during the past month, I find myself scrambling as the 10th approaches. It seems like time flies when one most needs or wants it! Apart from preparing for my service, I have spent the past month meeting with my closest family and friends. I will miss them...

In lieu of communicating with a mailing list while I'm abroad, I decided to keep this blog because it is less time consuming for me, and it allows people to keep track of my experience without my spamming their inboxes. That doesn't mean that I don't want to keep correspondence with people while I'm abroad- I just think that this might be a little bit easier. Thus whenever I have internet access and ample time, I will catalogue my experiences here.

In the time since I received my invitation, the prospect and magnitude of Peace Corps service has always been in the back of my mind. However, only now have I begun to have a visceral feeling of what it may actually represent. The uncertainty of how my experience will unfold both excites me and makes me nervous. That said, I can think of few better opportunities for personal growth. I stand to gain reasonable fluency with at least one other language, an understanding of a foreign culture, and an understanding of how things may work in a developing country.

Of course, Peace Corps service is a tremendous responsibility. By choosing me as a volunteer, the Peace Corps has done me a great honor and has shown a tremendous amount of confidence in me. I will do my utmost during my time there to vindicate their choice. I can't wait to get started!