“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”

So as many of you may know, I have recently made the decision to join the Peace Corps (PC) after I graduate this May. During my time researching this possibility, the best resource for me has been the blogs of future and current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV). As a way of giving back to this tremendous help I am going to add my voice to the chorus and share my experience with everyone.

These first few months will be fairly sparse with posts, as the process (which I will outline in a second for you) goes fairly slowly. But keep checking back as I will be posting my progress and news on here.

So I guess the first question you’re all asking is: Why?

Why in the world am I, a technology dependent, high fructose corn syrup addicted, new-shoe loving girl going halfway around the world to live somewhere that may or may not have running water and electricity? Well there’s a myriad of reasons of course, some better than others.

1. Service: One of the best habits I gained in college was that of doing volunteer work. This activity has truly become a great joy of my life, and the PC is a way for me to give back on a global level.

2. Submersion in a new culture: throughout my life although I have been lucky enough to travel, I have never lived and fully experienced another culture. While I am abroad I will be totally out of my skin, learning a brand new language and seeing how I function in a life so different from my own.

3. Self Growth: Yeah, this one is kinda cliche, but as one volunteer said, while you’re in the PC it takes away everything but you: your family, your friends, your language, your native food, your native clothes. At the end of the day I want to see myself challenged by all of these obstacles and come out of it having done something great with my time by serving other people.

Oh look, they all start with S. That’s cute, and if I were wittier I’d name them something to that effect.

So the next questions is: Where am I going?

In short: I don’t know yet. Keep reading.

What have you done and what is there left to do:

So far I have submitted my official application and requested my three recommendations. After that I was accepted for an interview, which I have scheduled Monday (the 13th). In this interview I will be discussing life in the peace corps and more importantly, where I will be going and what I will be doing.

My personal preference is that I go to somewhere in Latin America, Africa, Asia or the Pacific Islands. I will probably be teaching English.

None of this will be set in stone after the interview though. Once I leave there I will have extensive medical and dental record forms to get completed (widely considered the worst part of the application process).

Then I will receive a nomination for a trip, which will consist of a continent and a month that I might leave. Once I am accepted I will receive my official invitation, and hopefully, confirm!

I will have a better idea about the timeline of this process once I go to the interview.

You’re probably all wondering how I am feeling. But that, my friends, is a subject for a whole other post on a whole other day. For now I’m going to keep working on my midterms.

Hope everyone is well! I’m very excited about this and am so grateful to all of your for your support thus far.