1. The Calm Before the Storm

As I'm sitting here at terminal J7 waiting to board my flight and sipping my deliciously bold  Starbucks' Three Regions Blend coffee,  it finally starts to sink in. This is probably the last time I'll even see a Starbucks. How am I ever going to survive the next three months? (I'm only half-kidding.)  Still, I can't believe how much I took something as simple as that for granted. Living here in the United States, it seems you can never wander too far from all-too-popular franchise. However, the more I think about it the more I realize I'm not too upset to be getting away from all that. As much as I do enjoy Starbucks, I can hardly imagine what different kinds of coffee I'm bound to try while in Peru. 

Maybe I'll even get to see a llama up-close and personal for the first time. In that sense, I'm still the naïve young girl excited to go to a new place and meet new people. I can't believe how lucky I am that I can go abroad and experience something like this. Even though this is a volunteer internship, it's undeniably  true that I'm going to get so much more out of this than those who I'm supposed to help. Sure, I know everything won't be peaches and cream all the time, but I think even the multitude of challenges I'm also sure to face will be such great opportunities for my personal growth. Maybe I won't be saying this in a day or so, after I experience the altitude sickness associated with being high up in the Andes mountains or I get lost in Cusco for the first time and in my freaking out forget all the Spanish I know. For now, I'm eager to get going and start already.

I just really don't want to forget anything that we've covered so far in the EdGE course. I feel like I've been getting a lot out of each weeks readings and discussions. In these past nine weeks, I've had my apparent preconceived notions about this trip challenged quite a bit. I'm so glad we've discussed how good intentions can lead us astray. I'm more aware now of how easy it is to make implicit assumptions of what others need, and I hope that awareness stays with me in the coming months. Also, I feel like I just a lot more lenses for understanding and making sense of the situations I'll find myself in this summer. I wonder what other perspectives on inequality I'll encounter. I certainly hope I can keep enough of an open mind to empathize. Perhaps I'll even be able to share some of the many stories I'll hear.

So, even though I'll be away from all the familiar faces (and coffees) I know and love, I'm really looking forward to this. I've finished packing, I have all the documents I need, and just a little while ago, I waved good-bye to my mom and dad after getting through airport security. Tomorrow morning as the sun is rising, I'll be just flying into Cusco. I guess I should have typed this, my first "pre-departure" post a lot sooner, but hey, my plane doesn't board for another twenty minutes. Technically, I haven't left yet, but the adventure has already begun.