Wow.

So I made it. I have officially arrived at my home for the next two years! This is wild.

Let's start at the beginning: So we left the University of Scranton at 6:00am on Tuesday and then the seven Micro volunteers (Meredith, Kristen, and I and then the 4 volunteers on Chuuk) caught our flight to San Francisco! Luckily, we found out our flight to HI was delayed so we had 7 hours in SF! So I got to see my friends Katie, Cali, and Kevin before I left! We all went to Boudins for soup and bread bowls and then to Ghirardelli's for ice cream! A great last American meal! Also, it was so nice to see some of my friends one last time before I left. I am eternally grateful for them for coming out!

Next we were off to HI and some much needed sleep on benches in the airport and then finally onto the island hopper to go from HI to Majuro (in the Marshall islands) to Kwajalein (a US military base, which had super weird Epcot like balls all over the place) and finally to Pohnpei! The flight was unbelievably beautiful and just mesmerizing! Most of the time it looked like we were flying upside down and the sky was beneath us because of how blue the water was. Once we finally sighted Pohnpei I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I don't even have words to describe how amazing it is. It is perfect.

After a very heartfelt goodbye to our Chuuk volunteers, we went through customs and Meredith, Kristen and I finally got to meet our fourth community mate Brian! He is wicked awesome and super nice! We also met Father Dave (our in country coordinator and Jesuit pro), Staylor (our PCS principal), Sister Maria, Katherine (a Chuuk JV who is here for the summer) and a few others! It was supremely overwhelming but also totally awesome and we got leis and fancy head pieces and then jumped into the back of a pickup to go see our apartment! We live in one of the buildings of OLM high school (where Brian and Kristen work) and within sight of Pohnpei Catholic School (where I will be working). I have an ocean view out of my window. ALos, cold showers are super refreshing and we eat on the floor. I love it.

We drove to Nett's point after we settled in and while there we got caught in our first Pohnpeian rain storm. And that we went to a graduation for a summer program and the students sang and oh my gosh, they all sound beautiful. Apparently Micronesians are all like ridiculously musical and have great voices.  We then got to try local fish and breadfruit and mashed bananas for dinner! It tasted great, especially the breadfruit (it kind of tastes like a potato).

And then today we went to one of the most beautiful waterfalls. It was a great way for us to continue to get to know each other and cool down and have our breath taken away from us. Pictures to follow eventually...

I just would like to say I am so unbelievably lucky to be here and thank you everyone for your love and support. I am truly blessed. I love you all!

Kaselehlie! (ka-sa-leh-lia: it means hello/goodbye and kind of pretty/beautiful)