Bonjour mes amis!
So this morning my boss Christina and my boss's boss, Rose Emily left on a short trip to El Salvador to take care of a LOT of business in country; basically leaving me and Shaun alone in our part of the office (Pete and Jessica are here as well but since they have seperate offices I only see them sporadically throughout the day). It's nice to be able to get a lot of work done and catch up on projects I have been "procrastinating" but I since I needed a break from Childspring work I figured now would be as good a time as any to update my faithful readers (hah!) on what has been going on so far. Which unfortunately is not a whole lot!
- As for peace corps stuff, nothing new has really happened. Now that my aspiration statement and updated resume have been turned in, I get to start looking forward to filling the rest of my paperwork out such as last minute legal and financial issues. I really should start thinking about packing but it seems such an overwhelming task to start purchasing items for the next two years that I've decided to leave packing to the month of April when I have a little more time (right now I'm consumed with work work, learning French through Rosetta Stone, and studying for my GRE on the 29th of March). Luckily, this one girl who somehow found me and who is traveling to Togo as a CHAP volunteer in June with me made a packing list that I am stealing and pretty much going to follow. She says she's OCD about this kind of stuff so I doubt she left anything off (although I will have to substitute femenine hygiene products with my own personal products). Along with that girl (who is from Philly which is most likely where my US orientation will be), another guy found me over facebook who will be joining me in Togo but as a Business Advising volunteer; and just a few days ago, Megan "introduced" me to another girl who will be a CHAP volunteer with us. This brings the Togo, June 2008 total to 4 and the CHAP volunteer total to 3 so far.
- Life so far has been good but wierd. Work is keeping me super busy. I don't really get to see people very much 'cause all our schedules conflict but i've been hanging out with Jess a lot which is good; hung out with marianna and dustin a few times which is also good; and i'm driving down to augusta this weekend to hang out with patrick and check out the hoppin' A-U-G nightlife lol. I've spent a little time at the fraternity such as going to a few chapters and spending time with derussy; formal was this past friday and gina and I had a lot of fun; spent some time hanging out with daranh and that was good too. Graduating is wierd and I'm not sure I really recommend it (although I think if I were to go back to school at Tech right now, i'd be crying to be done after a week!). Got my paycheck though and that is a definite plus of the real world. Oh and I finally bought my ticket to Costa Rica to see Michelle at the end May, which I am really looking forward too. It'll hopefully be a quick escape from Peace Corps madness and it'll be nice to be on the beach again...
- Had a mini life crisis last week after spending time with Mom and Dad. I am SO thankful that they are super supportive of my decision to serve in the Peace Corps; but it's life after the peace corps that worries me. I had a plan, that has basically been in the back of my head since junior year of how my time would play out (come back from PC, take a few upper level BCPM classes, take my MCAT, get my MPH then go to medical school). But mom and dad are pressuring me more to either go to med school after the PC or just forget it. I tried to rationalize me getting my MPH first and ive been finding it harder and harder to do so, which is wierd. When I talked to jess about this, she understood where I came from and totally understood why my life plan was the way it was, but I don't think our reasons are enough to convince the folks. Now I'm at a point where I don't know if I want to do an MPH because I really want to or if it's because an MPH before med school is all I've ever known for so long and thus become a part of my mental schemas about life? Maybe I should have just buckled down and done the Master's International program. *Le sigh* Any advice would be much appreciated :) It's funny because my parents really do understand me and where I'm coming from (although they do say it somewhat condescendingly..."we understand that you are an idealist...") so it sucks that we can't agree on this. So we'll see how this all turns out. I guess my Peace Corps service really will be a time for reflection and I'm sure I'll have PLENTY of time to do so. I'm still taking the GRE before I leave though, just so I'm prepared...
So this morning my boss Christina and my boss's boss, Rose Emily left on a short trip to El Salvador to take care of a LOT of business in country; basically leaving me and Shaun alone in our part of the office (Pete and Jessica are here as well but since they have seperate offices I only see them sporadically throughout the day). It's nice to be able to get a lot of work done and catch up on projects I have been "procrastinating" but I since I needed a break from Childspring work I figured now would be as good a time as any to update my faithful readers (hah!) on what has been going on so far. Which unfortunately is not a whole lot!
- As for peace corps stuff, nothing new has really happened. Now that my aspiration statement and updated resume have been turned in, I get to start looking forward to filling the rest of my paperwork out such as last minute legal and financial issues. I really should start thinking about packing but it seems such an overwhelming task to start purchasing items for the next two years that I've decided to leave packing to the month of April when I have a little more time (right now I'm consumed with work work, learning French through Rosetta Stone, and studying for my GRE on the 29th of March). Luckily, this one girl who somehow found me and who is traveling to Togo as a CHAP volunteer in June with me made a packing list that I am stealing and pretty much going to follow. She says she's OCD about this kind of stuff so I doubt she left anything off (although I will have to substitute femenine hygiene products with my own personal products). Along with that girl (who is from Philly which is most likely where my US orientation will be), another guy found me over facebook who will be joining me in Togo but as a Business Advising volunteer; and just a few days ago, Megan "introduced" me to another girl who will be a CHAP volunteer with us. This brings the Togo, June 2008 total to 4 and the CHAP volunteer total to 3 so far.
- Life so far has been good but wierd. Work is keeping me super busy. I don't really get to see people very much 'cause all our schedules conflict but i've been hanging out with Jess a lot which is good; hung out with marianna and dustin a few times which is also good; and i'm driving down to augusta this weekend to hang out with patrick and check out the hoppin' A-U-G nightlife lol. I've spent a little time at the fraternity such as going to a few chapters and spending time with derussy; formal was this past friday and gina and I had a lot of fun; spent some time hanging out with daranh and that was good too. Graduating is wierd and I'm not sure I really recommend it (although I think if I were to go back to school at Tech right now, i'd be crying to be done after a week!). Got my paycheck though and that is a definite plus of the real world. Oh and I finally bought my ticket to Costa Rica to see Michelle at the end May, which I am really looking forward too. It'll hopefully be a quick escape from Peace Corps madness and it'll be nice to be on the beach again...
- Had a mini life crisis last week after spending time with Mom and Dad. I am SO thankful that they are super supportive of my decision to serve in the Peace Corps; but it's life after the peace corps that worries me. I had a plan, that has basically been in the back of my head since junior year of how my time would play out (come back from PC, take a few upper level BCPM classes, take my MCAT, get my MPH then go to medical school). But mom and dad are pressuring me more to either go to med school after the PC or just forget it. I tried to rationalize me getting my MPH first and ive been finding it harder and harder to do so, which is wierd. When I talked to jess about this, she understood where I came from and totally understood why my life plan was the way it was, but I don't think our reasons are enough to convince the folks. Now I'm at a point where I don't know if I want to do an MPH because I really want to or if it's because an MPH before med school is all I've ever known for so long and thus become a part of my mental schemas about life? Maybe I should have just buckled down and done the Master's International program. *Le sigh* Any advice would be much appreciated :) It's funny because my parents really do understand me and where I'm coming from (although they do say it somewhat condescendingly..."we understand that you are an idealist...") so it sucks that we can't agree on this. So we'll see how this all turns out. I guess my Peace Corps service really will be a time for reflection and I'm sure I'll have PLENTY of time to do so. I'm still taking the GRE before I leave though, just so I'm prepared...
Sorry for the rambling. March is going to be pretty boring so don't expect an update until April probably, unless something really exciting happens.
À bientôt,
-Nikhil
1 comment:
As always, love the updates. Good luck on that damn GRE :-( I've never had a test give me so much anxiety as that one...I'm sure you'll be alright. You're a survivor! :-)
Also, I downloaded Google Earth (the free version) to check out Lesotho. Looks awesome with all the mountains, etc. Of course I had to look at Togo...much more "city" looking regions than I expected. I'm jealous you'll be close to the beach for training!
Post a Comment