It has taken so much time to reach this point. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer, sitting in my apartment at my site, Lipnica Wielka. In a way I want to cry – not from happiness or sadness. It’s just from relief. I finally made it.

So now I must write about the past two days: Yesterday had an interesting start. Nick, Ingrid, and I were taking [bus] 15 to the school and they told me that if we took it to the end of the line that we would be right behind the school – no need to transfer to seven. So we got off at the end of the line and began the hunt. I knew we were in trouble when Nick, who was our bold leader, cried out from the front, “Hey, there’s a stream here!” An old man working in his garden gave us directions as we stood pondering our situation. He didn’t know where we were going; we did not tell him [anything] – he gave us directions . . . and we followed them. It all worked out somehow, for we were only lost for another forty-five minutes! We all thought it was somewhat amusing.

I skipped most of the sessions that morning because my counterpart wasn’t there. I wasn’t keen on being bored silly. After lunch Kristine and I went downtown for a little bit, and then I headed home to pack, eat a little bigos, and get ready for the swearing in ceremony.

The event itself was honestly just a bit boring. Still, we sat through it and did the oath thing – it was full of pomp and a bit of hot hair. Afterward there was a huge buffet – everyone stuffed themselves.