And the adventure begins before it even starts...

I always knew I wanted to start a blog about my Peace Corps experience to share with people back home, but I decided to start it a little early to try to convey what is going through my mind for the few short months before departure...so here it is! I'll try to make it short and sweet.

I saw a quote the other day that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the next two years of my life...

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” - Mahatma Gandhi

When I share with people my decision to join the Peace Corps, the first question I always get it, why? This is a difficult question to answer because as with many big decisions, it has a complex answer. As many of you probably know, I started college with the hope of going to medical school. Why I choose this path, I am not completely sure yet even to this day. At the time, my high school counselor put the idea in my head as I have always done well in school and my strength and interest was always math and science. Yes, I loved my college experience and would not change it for the world, but here I am at the end of it asking myself the question, do I really see myself as a doctor? I love learning and being challenged in the classroom and I find medical topics very interesting, but I am coming to realize that maybe all that does not equate directly to wanting the life and career of an M.D. If only someone would have helped me realize this along the way...

What I have realized, however, is that maybe everything does really happen for a reason. After sophomore year at Grand Valley, I packed my bags and headed to Peru for the summer to volunteer with a nonprofit organization aimed at furthering the education of women and children in Huaycan. Originally, I did this as a way to spend my summer traveling and doing something that would set me apart from the other med school applicants, but it gave me a lot more than that...through this trip I found a passion of mine beyond anything I had ever known about myself. It was an experience I have a very hard time putting into words. But it was this experience that opened up a new world for me and helped me find my true passion. And this is why I joined the Peace Corps, to be a part of something bigger than myself, to enter into a world many people are afraid of, to change a life and have my life be changed in the process, to face my fears and then over come them, to expand my horizon, to let the world know there are American's who care about more than materialistic things, and the list doesn't stop there.

Everyone says joining the Peace Corps is a roller coaster ride of emotions, and believe me, my ride has already begun. The excitement of awaiting my country of service, the frustrations of trying to create a packing list and figuring out how to fit two years of my life into an 80lb suitcase, the fear and excitement of the unknown, the sadness of knowing this Christmas was the last one with my family for the next few years, the feeling of seeing my closest friends not knowing if I will get the chance to see them again before I leave, the feeling of knowing I am going to miss my little nephews 2nd and 3rd years of life, missing the next two summers on the boat with my dad and brothers, not being here for the next few years of my youngest brothers life knowing he is going to change so much, not being able to sit down and enjoy a glass of wine with my mom at the end of a long week or a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning...and the list goes on. All of these things are going to be hard to give up, but I know the experience in the end will be worth it, and my family and friends will always be here when I return, anxiously awaiting all my stories about life a half a world away.