Staging

Hey guys,
This is gonna be quick 'cause it's late and I have an early morning tomorrow. Right now I'm at a Holiday Inn in Philly for the beginning of our orientation. Which means that last night and this morning I said goodbye to everyone, and needless to say, I was an emotional wreck. I cried a lot, and I still get really sad, especially when I think about missing my favorite 2 people (Justine and Zach.) But I figured that as soon as I started Staging I'd be okay, and so far so good. We basically sat in the hotel for 6 hours getting lectured about rules and policies, but after that we finally got to hang out with each other and go to dinner and stuff. There are 36 people in my group, mixed between Health Education and Environment volunteers. Definitely a majority female, and a majority of us recently out of college. Only 2 married couples and only 4 people over 40 I believe. I've been so nervous and edgy all day, but as soon as we actually went out and talked to each other, I've felt so much better. I went out to a burger/beer joint w/ about 8 others and it's so clear that these are the kind of people that I'm going to get along w/ so well. After dinner we walked around a little bit, past the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin's grave and stuff. Woot. As if we came to see American History, not. After that we sat at the hotel bar for a while and the bartender serving us asked if we were Peace Corps. When we said yes he immediately told us he was going to buy us all a shot because he respected PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) so much. So he brought over these HUGE shots of tequilla, they were seriously almost 1/2 a wine glass full. As soon as that happened and we were all just getting along so well I was like "Ok, I am definitely doing the right thing." So yeah, now I need to go to bed because we have to get up at 5:30 am tomorrow to start our long day of travel. Love you all though, and know that so far the 1st stage of my journey has been awesome!