New Year, New Adventure

Just two days left of work at NOAA, then a weekend, and then it's off to the Foreign Service races! I can't believe it's finally here...

The last few weeks have been lovely: 

- lots of shopping with a style-savvy friend to stock up my business professional wardrobe

- the fabulous parental units came up to DC to spend Dec 25-28 with me, during which time we cooked and checked out museums and talked and laughed. It was an excellent long weekend! 

- much pondering, worrying, anticipating, and wondering about my new career path

- meeting other local hires in my Foreign Service orientation class, including returned Peace Corps volunteers, current State Dept employees, and amazing work experiences and personalities

- a quiet and warming new year's eve spent with a good friend eating ravioli and watching movies

- organizing a few welcome wagon activities for folks in my class flying in to DC this week/weekend

And now, it's just a few days away! I've found a group to carpool to training with, which will be nice. Our first day, though, we'll all get to "Main State" on our own. That's the nickname of the Department of State (DOS) main administrative building. There we'll get processed into DOS, including badges and myriads of other paperwork. 

On day two, we'll head for the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Arlington, VA, and that's when orientation really begins. I don't really know what to expect!

It's a grand adventure ahead, and I find that saying my goodbyes at NOAA, while bittersweet, also intensifies my excitement about joining the Foreign Service. I will, however, seriously miss the incredible people I've worked with over the past several years. It's the side of satellite technology and weather prediction that goes unseen by most of the public, but I can tell you firsthand that the women and men who make satellite data accessible on a 24x7x365 basis, and get that data to the folks who use it, are a determined, dedicated, funny, and incredibly big-brained group. 

It seems trite and cliché to type this, but I'll do it anyway: it was truly my honor to have gotten the chance to work, learn, and grow at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility, with old friends and new, government and military and contractor. Thank you to any and all who welcomed me to their team at the NSOF!