Last days of Training!

My entire training group: Peru 24

I just swore in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru along with all 58 of the other volunteers. Yes we ALL made it through! Training went by so fast and yet it feels like I’ve known my fellow volunteers for a LONG time. We’ve shared so many tough times, happy times, boring times, and extremely busy/crazy times. Although I wasn’t able to get close to every single person, I have a solid group of people who I know have my back and I can go to for anything I need, as they can equally count on me. I’m sad that we’ve all parted ways but I am confident that I will be visiting the other regions to see my new friends!

After site visit, the last 2 weeks were such a blur. We wrapped up our language and tech trainings, I had my birthday, we had Thanksgiving, we said bye to host families, we became real life Peace Corps Volunteers.

My birthday was fun! We had all gotten back from site visit and spent most of the day in Lima, going out to lunch and exploring a chocolate factory. Back in Chacrasana, TJ’s host mom prepared a cake for me. All my friends went over to her house to celebrate with me, even though they were tired from the long trip that morning. I truly lucked out with this group of people. Each one of them is an incredible human being and I don’t know what I would have done without them. Luckily 4 of the 11 are coming to Amazonas with me!

Speaking of the amazing Chacrasana volunteers, we spent many hours during the last week preparing a dance to perform at the Going Away Party/ Goodbye to our families. This was totally our own idea, and no one else did anything like it! Although we were all busy with everything else that week, we committed to it and the result was awesome! Check my facebook for the video, it’s epic! We saw it performed during our visit to the Sierra early in training and were able to find a YouTube video to learn the choreography. We executed so well, and the response of the host families was incredible and so worth the time and effort. It was one of my proudest moments, for sure!

The Chacrasana crew after our dance!

After the host family Party, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Training Center. We have some AWESOME cooks in this group! We all put in 10 soles and ate like kings! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (my favorite), sweet potatoes with marshmallow, and more! We shared what we were thankful for, reminisced, danced, and laughed a ton. Even though I missed home a lot that day, spending it with those crazy gringos made it bearable.

Thanksgiving dinner! ~notice the plate I licked clean ;)

The next morning we packed up all our belongings and headed to the Ambassador’s house where Swearing In takes place. It was was huge and gorgeous, and the day was beautiful. Swearing in was short and sweet with a few speeches, us all speaking the official oath, and receiving our certificates one by one. After, we socialized with Peace Corps staff and host families while eating snacks including chocolate chip cookies that were delicious! Then we said a final goodbye to host families and staff and headed to our hostel.

That night we all celebrated the ending of our long 11 week training and our last night all together! We went out for dinner and drinks at TJI Fridays (thought of you, Liz!). Afterwards we spent some time hanging out in the hostel and then hit a bar, then a discoteca. I usually am not a fan of discotecas because I’m not a good dancer, but this was amazing! There was a live “boy band” up on a stage that was high up on the second floor level looking down at us. They were so good with so much energy and I loved them! We danced till 3 in the morning and then made our way back to the hostel. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, ran a few errands, and ate AMAZING burritos. After a few tearful goodbyes and good wishes, the Amazonas group headed to the bus stop to begin our 24 hour trip.

I’m now here in Chachapoyas and will head to Chocta in the morning. I am excited, nervous, and still a little bit in denial that this is real. I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer and am about to start what we’ve been training for all this time. I will no longer be in our bubble of training and will be out, on my own, working as a PCV in Peru. My two years of service starts now: ready (I think so…)- set (Can’t turn back now!)- go.