Kathryn's Peace Corps Adventure

The opinions expressed and experiences described in this blog are mine personally. Any musings that you read here are not affiliated or endorsed by Peace Corps or U.S. government. Or Starbucks. And I'm not making any money from any of this, so don't send a lawsuit my way. Got it?

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

why, why, why?

First of all, welcome to my page documenting my (hopeful) Peace Corps adventure to come. I am currently in the application process....

I suppose I should answer the question on most people's minds: "Why would she want to join the Peace Corps?"

I know that it seems strange to some people that I would want to leave all these conveniences of my life to go and live in a developing country, but I don't see it that way. I like to see it as an opportunity to learn a new language, travel, live in another culture, learn more about myself and about my country from the perspective outside of the U.S.

Plus, I can't wait to quit Starbucks. Really.

I have spent the past year really thinking about what I want to do with my life. I am certain that I want to work with youth and more likely underprivileged youth, but I'm not sure that it's in a school setting.

When I worked as a tutor at St. Ben's, my mentor teacher was a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. He worked in Bolivia and told me that it was a fantastic experience. At the time, I didn't give much thought about it, but as graduation came closer and closer, I began to give it a lot of thought. After about 6 months had passed since graduation, I decided to apply and see where that could take me.

"But you won't start your career until you're almost 27!", someone said to me. I have the rest of my life to have a career and I have never understood the obsession with starting a career immediately after college. How often do opportunities like this come along? How long will I be able to travel with no ties?