Beginning an adventure

Here I am again preparing myself for international travel. To give you a rough idea of what I have in store for the next three and a half months (Feb. 9 to May 17):

1. Hopes of interning at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
2. A host mother with whom I can stay until I find an apartment in Lima
3. Expectations of becoming fluent in Spanish
4. A list of hosts across Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile through Servas International
5. Responses from law schools
6. Lots of relaxing on the Pacific beaches

So I don't have an official internship, but instead a sort of back-door, makeshift hopes of an internship. The family friend I will be staying with for what will probably be a couple weeks works at the UNODC on projects to provide farmers with alternative crops to dissuade them from growing coca leaves (for cocaine). I have a meeting with the Legal Director on Monday, under whom I hope to be working. He is an anti-corruption expert and works with law enforcement. I'm not sure what work he'll have in store for me, but it could be interesting. My Spanish level may be a problem in the beginning, since I can barely claim proficiency. I'm really hoping it all works out. My main goal is to determine if I'm ready to commit my career and law study to working with the United Nations. I'm hoping that showing up ready to work and covering all the expenses myself will give the staff at the UNODC enough incentive to let me hang around and see how the organization works.

I'm spending a couple nights in Miami with my uncles Mark and Kirk before I go. It's going to be a blast. Well, better finish packing...