It's finally here and really happening - I have made it to Chicago to begin my year of service with Amate House! After just over 24 hours, I am beginning to settle and already feel the transition from a house to a home.
Last night I spent a little time alone making my bed and arranging my room (God bless my sister for shipping me a fan - I don't think I could have survived without it!). After the basics were in place, I joined 10 of my housemates who had arrived earlier in the day in watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We were all pretty beat by the end, so we went to bed early. Today has been relaxing - I finished setting up my room and then spent a lot of time with my housemates. We chatted about everything from our communal reading experience (Community and Growth by Jean Varnier) to people's food preferences to embarrassing stories and more. We enjoyed some time outside in our courtyard while the weather was nice, and then walked to get dinner together at a local diner/ice cream parlor. After dinner we walked through our neighborhood park - it was really pretty and looks like it will be a great place for us to spend time for the rest of the summer and again in the spring.
I am most certainly missing home, my family, my pets, and my friends, but I am growing to appreciate my housemates and am looking forward to the year ahead. Tomorrow is our Opening Mass to kick off the week of orientation when I will meet all of the other Amates. Hopefully I will have more updates soon (and hopefully they'll be more exciting than just a play-by-play of an average day :) ).
No comments:
Post a Comment