going into week 4 of training, i'm only loving my life more as time goes on. i can honestly say the past few weeks has been the most amazing time of my life. i never could have guessed just how much i would enjoy myself here...even in the midst of the intense training we have to go through. i am even more amazed at how connected i have become to so many of the people here. there are even those really special people that i would have never expected to get as close as i have. we've only known each other for a few weeks but it definitely doesn't feel like it. i  have even developed a bond with my language teacher, who i can talk to about anything. it's uncanny how this whole peace corps process works.

this past weekend we had the opportunity to take a field trip with our language groups which was our first time leaving the city since we arrived. it was beyond amazing. we were in the mountains, which is definitely one of my favorite places to be. everyone welcomed us with open arms and treated us like family from the second we got there. we got to see just how current volunteers live, work, and integrate in their communities, which was a great experience. the guys were very helpful and extremely fun to spend time with and get to know.

we got to walk 1 1/2 up and down a mountain for a bbq, where we were treated like royalty and fed way too much food. there were springs and woods that we got to hike in. we got to visit the school and apartment of our host volunteer and spend time with people in the community. it was a great learning experience. i also got to experience being attacked by swarms of flies for a non-stop hour and having a puddle splashing fight in a hotel parking lot in the middle of a thunderstorm. there was other kinds of fun there...too much to mention but (in a nutshell) this weekend was outrageous and i can't wait for my next overnight adventure away from home!