The day we swore...in

They day finally came. We had passed our language exams, proved ourselves capable in our technical trainings, and cramped our hands filling out paperwork. We were officially ready to become official Peace Corps Volunteers. The day started early with leaving our PST Host Families. It was an emotional moment. It was hard to say goodbye to these wonderful people who had introduced us to Georgia and been patient enough to take care of us until we had mastered simple phrases like “I need to go to the bathroom” and “I really can’t eat any more of your delicious food.” But luckily we can still go back and visit while we’re here.

As a G15 group, we traveled together to Tbilisi, loaded with anticipation and all of our physical belongings. We got all dressed up and after a rehearsal, welcomed the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, old host families, new host families, and future counterparts for our swearing-in ceremony.

In a small choir, I sang the Georgian and American National Anthems. We definitely did better on the American one, but they still applauded us for effort on the Georgian one. There were speeches and cameras and pomp and circumstance. It was a very special moment as our names were read, then the Ambassador had us raise our right hands and swear-in as official Volunteers.

After a reception and cake, we all headed our separate ways to start what we came here to do. As our group has said at every big milestone, “it just got real”.  Congrats and good luck to all my fellow G15s!