<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Fly Like an Eagle]]></title><description><![CDATA[Fly Like An Eagle]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:45:23 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Distant Destinations]]></title><description><![CDATA[Scroll to the bottom for more pictures. I recently road tripped to some of the Balkans' hot spots. The first stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia. My group then drove to Kotor and Perast in Montenegro. We concluded our journey in Ohrid, North Macedonia. While the locations we visited were so beautiful that I would go back, I did not feel like I was in the Balkans anymore. They did not reflect the Balkans that I have come to know. This was especially apparent as my friends' first impressions of the...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/distances-and-dissonance</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a5be408830cbda37bbf7d59</guid><pubDate>Sat, 18 Jul 2026 21:27:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_0a4185616247443bb2e12fcba52c5fff~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Parasites and Plot Twists]]></title><description><![CDATA[This month's most utilized emoji: This is a developing story. Subscribe (and check your Spam) to keep informed. Terms To Know Before Reading PCMO: Peace Corps Medical Office. These are our doctors. Med sep: Medical separation is when PC sends you back to the USA for treatment. Many people never return, so PCVs fear this.  Headquarters: In this blog, this refers to PC's main medical office based in Washington, D.C. "Posh Corps:" A nickname used to describe countries with conditions and...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/parasites-and-plot-twists</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a21b2d3de6a4fa1b1f2b374</guid><pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:46:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_3719c4e26afe4cc48b6d5a21fc135bc0~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[No Final State]]></title><description><![CDATA[On April 4, my cohort celebrated our one year anniversary of service in Albania. That's a milestone that deserves reflection. I'd like to think that as much as I am still the same person, I am not. One of the beauties about PC is that you learn what you appreciate (and don't) about your home country, your country of service, and yourself. Here are some of my thoughts. Having lived in a so called "developed country" - the USA - and a "developing country" - Albania - I have found that these...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/no-final-state</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a00e2ca9b0abb41c545b19a</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 May 2026 20:16:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_fbc96cb0dec94005b99e9b7826d6a6f5~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[WriteOn! Albania]]></title><description><![CDATA[Shown here are student writing sessions and our first judging. Begun years ago by PCVs in Georgia, WO! is a creative writing competition with both national and international competitions (https://writeonalbania.wixsite.com/home). The national competitions run January - February in participating countries. During this two month period, Albania's PCVs proctor 60 minute writing sessions for grades 6-12 at schools around the country. We focus our efforts on PCV sites since those are typically...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/writeon-albania</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69c7cdb03b87f276336c61e5</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:00:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_8ce9ca8d03aa451ca221489c80a211e5~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[E Dua Beratin ]]></title><description><![CDATA[The mural reads, "A woman with a book and pen has the strength to move nations. A woman with a mind and voice has the strength to change worlds." Albania is home to 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These include Beech tree forests, the Lake Ohrid region, Butrint, and Berat and Gjirokaster. The two cities of Berat and Gjirokaster are lumped together due to their shared Ottoman architecture. I visited Berat recently as my first ever solo trip. I made unexpected connections along the way and...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/e-dua-beratin</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69417a68f76939b608d1482a</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Dec 2025 13:21:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_8a06615f0e834aa2b9628f7bed45e030~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Unpacking Baggage ]]></title><description><![CDATA[You can find almost everything on this list in Albania. If you are freaking out because you can't fit everything, you'll be okay. I was 20 lbs under the maximum weight allowance. Not ideal, but I have been just fine. What I'm Glad I Brought: Slippers. Albania is a slipper culture like none other. You might as well hit the ground running in them. Snuggie. My snuggie took up a ton of packing space, but it's been saving me since day one (I’m in one of the coldest parts of Albania). Hiking Boots....]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/unpacking-baggage</link><guid isPermaLink="false">694171a57aecebf9ca3d222c</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Dec 2025 12:58:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_9718cdef5a614667abcf05e876721c5c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_747,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Burning the Candle at Both Ends]]></title><description><![CDATA[My host family got me a cake. It was touching. I cried. My family in the U.S. doesn't really do birthdays as adults. My birthday is, more or less, a normal day. In Albania, however, birthdays are a huge deal. Birthday parties can rival weddings in pomp and circumstance. My school takes birthdays very seriously. That's where I learned that the birthday person gives others gifts. If a student has a birthday, they give energy drinks (or Bravo juice, etc) to their class and all teachers. If a...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/burning-the-candle-at-both-ends</link><guid isPermaLink="false">691370d31c42c373b9b7af33</guid><pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2025 18:57:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_716caad14a1740359bae6126464ae80f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bean Season]]></title><description><![CDATA[After my last post, I spent the remainder of summer traveling, going to PC trainings, working with the bean harvest, and reading. All that considered, I am glad to be back in school. Teaching is not a career I will pursue beyond PC, but I am thankful for the things it has brought into my life. First, I love my students. It's a joy to get to know them as people. One of my goals is to learn everyone's names. As I am not Albanian, mistakes are made. Last week, I misheard a name and called a...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/bean-season</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68d96bf5d3b5c27c52ffc134</guid><pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2025 19:45:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_c30c66e3aa98439fb53c012d33299dfc~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA["The Livin' Is Easy"]]></title><description><![CDATA[It’s summertime, and us TEFL volunteers are off until September. The first 1.5 weeks of summer were a rough patch. Experiencing my first free time in 6 months, my brain simply shut down. My language understanding crashed no matter how hard I tried. It felt as if my brain surrounded comprehension with a concrete wall against which Shqip could only futilely claw. I thus spent significant time reading in my room. Eventually, my brain had finished whatever processing it required, and my Shqip...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/the-livin-is-easy</link><guid isPermaLink="false">688b89ec4f66457a2538f6ee</guid><pubDate>Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:11:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_654e8348f87e46d3bbc1b73bff0adb39~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rrugë të Mbarë]]></title><description><![CDATA[I travelled down south (“jug” in Shqip) to Saranda, Ksamil, and Butrint! The warm Mediterranean climate was a nice break from my northern site.  The foremost highlight was the beach. Unlike Shëngjin - an Adriatic beach city - there were no shells. Maybe it’s an Ionian thing, but both the Saranda and Ksamil beaches were pebbly. There was also little wind to churn the water, so the sea was clear and bright blue. As soon as I submerged myself, dopamine went off like fireworks on the Fourth of...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/rrug%C3%AB-t%C3%AB-mbar%C3%AB</link><guid isPermaLink="false">686950ea02e2c0b5efed2ad6</guid><pubDate>Sat, 05 Jul 2025 19:13:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_13266f77e1114c71ba31a05917d1d215~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[In Jail or Just Visiting?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Pretty sweet for jail, am I right? We've made it to month 2! For the initial 3 months at site, new PCVs are not allowed to leave because integration into communities is crucial. Volunteers jokingly call this time “site jail.” Integration is going well with both my host family and my school. My host family is 6 members strong, and there are innumerable relatives. I have become more familiar with students and their names. This process has mainly entailed class, playing volleyball, collecting...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/in-jail-or-just-visiting</link><guid isPermaLink="false">682dcabb53176812d1add1d4</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2025 19:46:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_9ac7b475c46a44b3a60a245785778273~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[New Sites to See]]></title><description><![CDATA[On Friday morning, April 4, my cohort swore in as PCVs. We left our PST site on Wednesday, April 2 and spent the 1.5 days before the ceremony meeting our counterparts. Both of my English teaching counterparts came. Friday morning, we walked to the Tirana International Hotel where those of us dancing changed into our costumes. I wore a costume from northern Albania’s Shkodër region, and it was shumë mirë. My PST host parents then arrived, but we were required to remain in our seats in...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/new-sites-to-see</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68110f02d7aab542e7f35c23</guid><pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2025 19:03:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_50ba7c4ac6e24d1999d2a67766d254f8~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Welcome to the Zone: An Ode to PST]]></title><description><![CDATA[You may be wondering why I haven’t posted for a while. I ran out of space on the website and took time to adapt. A free website has limited storage, who knew? This post in particular will be a compilation of an unpublished post written halfway through PST and a summary of subsequent events.   Whoa, We’re Halfway There We are halfway through PST! Things that used to be novel are, most of the time, now normal. I usually know what's around a street corner and I've figured out shortcuts to get...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/welcome-to-the-zone-an-ode-to-pst</link><guid isPermaLink="false">680f98e1f6adbe69a82e39aa</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2025 18:08:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_ddd5bdb0cf6e4ea3b2b2bf591e175d6d~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Mashed Potatoes and Hunting for Petulla]]></title><description><![CDATA[Albanian countryside. We've made it to PST Week 4! Despite the stresses of daily life, I love the Peace Corps experience that I've had....]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/mashed-potatoes-and-hunting-for-petulla</link><guid isPermaLink="false">67a88e5827ec510ec26abc6a</guid><pubDate>Sun, 09 Feb 2025 15:25:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_6b3837c325734310852c8663edf63c6c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_810,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Welcome to Albania: Starting PST]]></title><description><![CDATA[Welcome to Albania! I have been here 3 days. The journey was not nearly as challenging as expected, but I did not sleep at all for about 32 hours. We arrived in foggy, rainy weather which, according to Albanians, blessed our arrival. While my cohort was bused to a nearby monastery, I remained at the airport involved in a slight luggage fiasco (shout out to AirTags). That 45 minutes of trying to get my luggage from Vienna was my first major exposure to the Albanian language. I caught on to a...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/welcome-to-albania-starting-pst</link><guid isPermaLink="false">67940d51687bcd22886606b1</guid><pubDate>Sat, 25 Jan 2025 23:45:50 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_0b8ab3fcf97044d6ac4384f9167b154f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_810,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Departure]]></title><description><![CDATA[January 18, 2025, I convene with my cohort in Philadelphia. My cohort spends about one full day in Philadelphia and then flies to...]]></description><link>https://isabellemyers01.wixsite.com/flylikeaneagle/post/departure</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65f776d0e3704cba5832a8fd</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 Mar 2024 23:04:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8c483d_37a95952243f4829ac6719f13959357b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>isabellemyers01</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>