Big Changes

One of the most prominent themes in life is change. Change is what makes stories interesting; what makes them, and people’s lives for that matter, dynamic. Although a flight from Chicago to Bucharest (via Frankfort) marks the beginning of a vastly different two-year period in my life, it is not the beginning of my story. It is a change, a major change; in the direction my life is taking. Much change is unexpected, which makes it hard to deal with and react to. But big changes like moving half way around the world to a less-developed country that speaks a completely foreign language are not unexpected.

I’ve been planning and preparing for this major change for nine months, yet I still feel woefully unprepared and a bit apprehensive. I know that my eleven weeks of training will prepare me adequately for assimilating to Romanian culture and teaching English to Romanian children. But even with those assurances in mind, I have yet to really wrap my head around the fact that I am actually, finally in Romania, and will be living here for the next two years.

Luckily, there are 44 other people who are in the exact same boat as I am. We are already on our way to forming a Peace Corps Romania family. I have met quite a few interested (yet intimidating) people. The diversity of our group will be an asset during our training process and beyond into our service.

After a long day and a half of travel, I had some time to explore a few blocks around the hotel. I’ve already experienced the wild dogs that roam the city streets, the adorable park complete with bronze statues of Romanian kings and teenage couples in skinny jeans eating ice cream, and Romanian children who descended upon us “American tourists” asking for money as soon as they saw us. I EXPECT to see all these occurrences again, and many other UNEXPECTED experiences along the way.