Moving On

“Why is it you can never hope to describe the emotion Africa creates? 

You are lifted. Out of whatever pit, unbound from whatever tie, 

released from whatever fear. You are lifted and you see it all from above.” 

~Fransesca Marciano

Well the day is finally here. I am officially an RPCV. WOO!! HOO!! This past week has been a little stressful, going through all the administrative check-out procedures. I have to say to people who think that the Peace Corps application process is difficult, just wait until it’s time to COS, then you will experience the REAL arduous process. What made the whole week more fun was going through all that paper work and check-out with the 27  fellow RPCVs who embarked on this crazy experience with me back in July 2012. I’d say the theme to this week was, WE DID IT!!

Most people are leaving today, either out of the Lome airport on evening flights bound for European connecting flights, or leaving to go to Ghana to catch flights home tomorrow out of the Accra airport, which sometimes has cheaper rates than the Lome airport. After dealing with my flights being cancelled twice, I FINALLY got a plan that works and I'm leaving in just a few hours. 

It hasn’t hit me yet that this period of my life living in West Africa is over. I still have a busy month ahead of me before I can process beginning to let those emotions out. I’m sure it will sink in once I get home in September.  As for the immediate future, before heading back to the U.S., I am making my way to East Africa for a month of tent-camping, safari adventure. I decided to give the Africa overlander tour experience another try, this time traveling through Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. With any luck, this will go better than the last trip did! If I have internet access along the way, I’ll try to post some updates. Now I’m off to the airport. Au revoir sweet Togo! I will never forget you.