In Fiji!

Thank you chris for the last post. Well written! I am made it to Fiji. I thought that I would never make it. I am in town for only a few minutes. Next week I will be moving out of the place that we are all staying together as a group into host families. I don't have much contact to the outside world here, but i will be trying to find a public phone when I get to my host family village. We started language yesterday and of course I suck and get extra attention because I suck so bad. I love it here by the way!!!! The Fijian people are the kindest people I have ever met. This town that we are in is very busy and I felt really stupid walking around with the bucket I just bought and soap to start handing washing my clothes. I took a great cold shower in the dark last night. I don't mind the cold showers it feels good in the heat. We are actually in the cooler season right now, but for us it feels really hot it doesn't get lower than 70 degrees. I am sharing a bunk bed with another girl. Oh yeah, the other day I was in Auckland, New Zealand at 11:30 am i was drinking a margarita in a Mexican restaurant while Country Roads started playing in the background. WOW!! Made me feel at home ya know of course everyone thoght I was crazy when I got up and started singing all the words. I have so much more to say but I don't have time. Just know that I love it here and i miss a lot of people. You are all on my mind and wonder what you guys are thinking. Chris, mom, and dad I am going to find a phone later tonight. i think I found one the other day but the cord was cut. I miss you guys so much. I think I just want to hear some voices, but I really do like it here and i feel like I have alot of challenges ahead of me with languages and my techincal stuff with health. Oh yeah, I played some soccer with a plastic dodge ball the other day in a long skirt I scored 2 points. It felt good to move around and get some evercise. Okay, I have to go anf catch the bus back to the place we are staying. I drank some kava not bad tastes like dirty water and it does make your tough numb but not for long. You don't feel drunk just sleeping and dizzy. Love you all and I am thinking alot about home trust me. I feel safe and well taken care of.

Made It!!!

Hello everyone this is chris, Alisha asked me to let everyone know that she made it safely to New Zealand and that so far she is having a great time and loves the people that shes met so far. I haven't heard back from her since she left there but she said as soon as she gets internet she will be posting another update.

About to leave for New Zealand

Can't talk long but I made it to LA and flying to New Zealand soon. I miss everyone and my group of 32 people are great! I will be in a small village north of Suva so I will not have much access to internet for the 1st 3 months. sorry this is short i love and miss everyone!!!! talk to you all when i am on the other side of world!! IN FIJI!!! so excited! love you chris thank you mom and dad for everything

Leavin' for Columbus!

Well, I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself! I don't want to brag or anything, but I am under my weight limit for my baggage. Of course, domestically American Airlines has changed their checked baggage policy, but the Peace Corps will reimburse me the extra charge on the second bag. A person can only check one bag instead of two like before. I am only allowed 50 pounds on the larger bag and mine weighs in at 46 in half! The second bag can be 30 pounds and I weigh in at 28 in a half. I feel like a load of bricks have been lifted off my shoulders knowing that I am under the weight limit. So, I am about to go to Columbus, OH tonight and spend the night at a hotel by the airport and wake up at around 5am to get to the airport for my flight leaving at 7:50am to Dallas, TX. There I will switch planes and fly the rest of the way to L.A. I am excited and nervous about meeting everyone in my group in L.A. The ones of have met already on the internet seem nice. Well, I am not sure when I will be able to get to a computer again before I leave for L.A., but I hope to get a hold of one before I fly out to New Zealand. So, I can give you all the scoop on the people in my group! That's right we are flying to New Zealand first before we get to Fiji. A 13 hour flight, I don't know why cause if you look at a map it just seems a lot easier to just go straight to Fiji, but what do I know. So, we will be spending almost a day in New Zealand before we actually get to Fiji. Well, I'm off and I will keep in touch.

2 more days!!!!

All righty then as Ace Ventura Pet Detective would say. I think I am ready. I have everything. I just have to fit it in two bags and weigh 80 pounds! So, I first want to thank everyone responding to my blog and the written comments are great and very encouraging, something much needed. Now to important things in life, I watched my last episode of Grey's Anatomy tonight. Talk about the things I give up for an adventure such as this. I said bye to most of my family members and Chris this week. So, its been rough. In two days I have to say bye to ol' mom and dad. I have been dreading this part most of all. It was so hard to say bye to Chris I just thank god I haven't had to say bye to everyone at the same time. These gradual stabbs at the heart are easier to bear I suppose. All I can look forward to is when Chris visits in November!!! I want to thank a quite fantastic friend (Kelsey) who came to visit this week making this week a lot easier to deal with because I had her arrival to look forward to. It meant the world to me that Kels came all the way up to the Burg and cold weather to say our last goodbyes before I leave.

For anyone out there religiously watching Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and/or the Bachelorette I would really appreciate a short summary of what is going on. I'm awful, I know. To let go of some things is just too hard. Arg.. the luxuries.

Well, the next time I hope to get a hold of my blog I will have pictures of my baggage and waving goodbye to you all. Then I'm off to L.A.

10 days til departure.....

Okay, so this is my first post. I have less than two weeks before I fly out to Los Angeles for orientation. I am very excited about going to Fiji, but at the same time I am trying not to think about all that I am leaving behind. I moved back to West Virginia a few weeks ago and it has been quite different from Charlotte, NC. Things move a lot slower here which I like. I don't have to schedule my plans around five o-clock traffic and of course not going to work as been great. I have gradually been saying my goodbyes. I have left behind the five years I have spent in Charlotte and all my best friends I have met there. Looking back to the day I decided to go to Queens University I never thought I would have had so much fun and met so many great people that will be apart of my life forever. Through the last couple of weeks, I have tried to get over the fact that I will no longer live with my best friends again like I have for the past five years. I can't believe all this is happening. I feel like everything has been stripped from me. I have no job and no best friends. I can only hope to make friends in Fiji like I have in Charlotte. Now, to leave my home, my comfort zone. I will miss the mountains of the West Virginia the most. The beauty of the state is breathtaking. I can't even talk about how much I will miss my family and Chris. So far, this has been one of the hardest things I have ever done and I haven't even done it yet. I have been preparing for this for over a year now. The anxiety is piling up so much I feel like I could explode. I am packing very little (2 bags with a total of 80 pounds) for two years and three months and moving to another country where I know no one. I am relying on complete strangers. I mean who does that? There has been so many ups and downs already I can't even imagine what lies ahead of me. I have read everything I can find about Fiji and I feel like I still have know idea what to expect when I get there. I keep dreaming about the first time I went to Guatemala, when we visited this island off the southern coast to distribute food to families hit by a hurricane. The people were so kind. They were so happy to see us and welcomed us with open arms. They didn't want us to leave. They had little resources on that island and it seemed that the world forgot about them. They had no food, barely much clothes, and certainly a scarce supply of water. I loved it there! I felt like I found heaven. Kids were running around happy not a worry in the world when in reality the world was against them not helping at all. The adults wanted to show us around and were very proud of there homes and schools they have provided for themselves. I miss that place often and I hope Fiji might be something like that. I don't know what to expect only my dreams give me a glimpse of what might lie ahead. I hope to become one of these people, to laugh with them, cry with them, eat with them, suffer with them to understand what it feels like to be forgotten. I know this might sound crazy, but I am ready. I know that I can't change the world in two years, but if I can impact just one person's life it will all be worth it.

To my friends, I beg you to keep in touch with me for I will miss you unbearably. For others, don't be strangers and enjoy this blog about my adventure. Thank you for everyone who have gotten me to this point. I would be nothing without my friends and family. This is as much as your adventure as it is mine!