Hey everyone. Right now I'm relaxing on a couch on the third floor of a residence hall at the University of Chicago and I have to say, this is one of the nicest lounges I have ever seen in a college dorm. Anyways, the reason I am here is for pre-departure orientation, that is to get all the YAGMs together before the 57 of us scatter to different corners of the world. I am very excited to be going to Uruguay but this week so far has been a great experience unto itself. It is really amazing to meet new people and get to know them, the volunteers come from all different parts of the United States and ALL have a story to tell. Sometimes I think that what I have done or who I am is boring and mundane but talking to some of my fellow YAGMs really made me remember how everyone can learn from hearing different perspectives.
In some ways, I feel like I'm in a bubble of sorts that is transferring me from my home in Platteville to Uruguay because orientation lasts until Wednesday when the four other Argentina/Uruguay volunteers fly out to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It does not yet feel like I'm going to be gone for an entire year and I don't think that will really hit me until Tuesday night, at which point I will probably start to stress out about a million and one things I can't change at that point. But stress attacks aside, I'm very excited for Uruguay. I found out that I'm the only volunteer that will be living and working in Uruguay, as the other four are in Argentina, which is exciting. I can't wait to call Montevideo home.
Also, the orientation keeps us pretty busy but I got the chance today to explore Hyde Park a little bit with another YAGM that will be going with me to South America. We went to a grocery store and indulged in one of my favorite pastimes, which is looking at all the wonderful food but not buying anything...ok so we got some sodas but still some of the food, especially before lunch, was hard to resist. I ended up going with the coconut soda, there were so many items in the grocery store that definitely are not on the shelves in Platteville. Hopefully, I will get the chance to explore Chicago a little bit while I am here for orientation, I'm a little bit of a public transit nerd and love to people watch so I will definitely be riding the El at some point. I also LOVE Vietnamese food and am a little worried that I won't find much Vietnamese food in Uruguay so I might have to ride the Red Line up to Little Vietnam to get my fix for the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment