Departure and Arrival

So I am officially in Washington D.C. It has been a long day. It started out with waking up at 5:00 am, and then heading to PDX. Got through baggage and check in ok. Stood around with my mom, Kim, and her mother. Then as time past, we new we needed to get through security, so that Kim could catch her flight for Guatemala. It was hard saying good-bye to my mom, but i'm sure it won't be too long into the future when she and my dad come visit. But another hard time was soon to happen: saying good-bye (see-you-soon) to Kim. It is really hard to leave someone you care so much about, but i think that both of us are pursuing great things, and no matter what we want the best for each other and will try to keep in touch as much as possible and see each other whenever feasible. Either way she is one of the greatest parts of my life, and i am so thankful that she cares for me so.

The flight was nothing special. Watched some 30 Rock and an Eddie Murphy movie (which i dozed off to several times). I thought i had more time in Chicago between flights, but it turns out i only had around 30 minutes. So that was a brief stop in Chi-town. I talked with Kim briefly, and got on the plan. Luckily i had an empty seat next to me, so that was nice. I noticed a girl on the other side of the aisle from me that looked like she might be in Peace Corp (had a lot of travel/heavy clothes on that not many people wear in summer), but i didn't want to ask her if she was going to Peru with the PC.

Landed, talked with Kim right before she lifted off out of Dallas. Headed to the baggage claim, and met up with a guy named Greg (from Albany, NY, but has lived in San Diego the past few years). I noticed he had a PC sticker on his baggage. Then the girl that i thought might be going to Peru asked us if we were in the PC, and it turns out i was right. Her name is Alyse (probably not spelled right) and she is from Portland. We waited for the shuttle to the Holiday Inn, and when we got on we met Nate from the O.C. We all got to the hotel, and it turned out Gregg and I were roommates. We got some beers down in the bar, watched some tv, and then met two other guys that showed up. Mark is from Wyoming, and Todd is from Colorado. All three (Greg, Todd, Mark) are all involved with environmental programs. We had dinner in the bar, and now i'm back in the room. I think we are going to meet up with those guys in the morning to do some sight-seeing for a little bit before we have to check in at 1:00-3:00 pm.

I've been pretty freaked-out, sad, nervous, stressed, excited all day. I won't lie, this has been a really hard day emotionally, but i am pretty excited for what is ahead of me. No better way to see how it will be than to just go on and do it! Miss all of you (thanks Pete, Sam, Holly, tricia, Em, Martin, Andy, Heath, Alison, and Dani for for coming out to dinner with me last night).

Love you and miss you all,

Patrick