update

hey!

So I apologize for not updating but even though a LOT has happened over the past month (incredible fall break road trip to delta sig chapters across the midwest, winning 1st place in mock rock for the 2nd year in a row!, exam hell week #2, etc.), not a lot has progressed in terms of my peace corps stuff (still working on dental clearance but almost there...final dental appointment is in one week!). Once I get some exciting news I PROMISE to let y'all know what's up. till then, ciao!

Fall Break - Fall break was AWESOME! probably one of the best fall breaks ever :) Me and four other brothers road tripped across the midwest visiting other delta sig chapters and it's an experience I recommend for all brothers. It really helped me better understand my brotherhood on a national level and how amazing we are. Visited Trannsylvania, Purdue (and watched the Purdue vs. Ohio State game...football is SO different in the north), Illinois - Urbana/Champaign, Millikin, Rose-Hulman and Kentucky over 4 days in a cramped SUV. I was very unsure how we would all get along as all our personalities are so different but we came out alive.

Mock Rock - I took the reigns again this year with the help of TJP III and we won Mock Rock for a second year in a row! Check out youtube for our amazing show (and you can also see our amazing show from last year). It was a LOT of hard work but totally worth it; I hated being the asshole but I guess that's what you have to be sometimes with this group. It's funny, although I think this show theoretically was WAY better than last year's show, technically, last year's show is still my favorite. oh well...hopefully or first place tradition will continue long after I graduate this December (no pressure Hollywood lol).

medical clearance part 2

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated but as usual, not much has happened. Unless something super exciting happens over the next few weeks (apart from me reading Harry Potter Book 7 in less than a day!!! Harry Potter V...the movie that is...was ridiculously awesome...as was Transformers btw), you probably won't hear from me until September since the last part of my clearance (dental) takes place August 22nd. I could have probably gotten an earlier date but the Peace Corps has a new program where dentists who are a part of the International College of Dentistry have agreed to perform FREE DENTAL CLEARANCE for PC applicants and I am ALL about free stuff.

My visit to the doctor to get all my paperwork signed was pretty uneventful except for the fact that now I have to go and find some place that will give me a polio booster (hopefully the GT Health Clinic). All my tests came back clean and surprisingly I even had normal blood pressure (which is amazing considering the amount of stress I am normally under). The only thing of "concern" was my high cholesterol but that's mostly my parent's fault as high cholesterol is genetically-linked and both my parents have high cholesterol (but I am working on eating a little healthier and have started to work out more frequently since I can't blame EVERYTHING on my parents). Everything with the eye doctor went well as well. My contact lens prescription is the same but my eyeglass prescription increased slightly.

I'm sure you don't really care about the health of my body so let's just blame my rambling on boredom at work and leave it at that. Till September...

medical clearance...

So, I finally recieved my medical/dental clearance forms in the mail last week and they don't appear to be too complicated since I don't have any serious health conditions that need crazy tests. I got my dad's office to do my physical for me which makes my life soo much easier lol. They got to conduct all the fun labs on me like urinalysis and blood work (PC requests a lot of blood work. I ended up giving 4-5 small vials of blood). I also got three shots today, my Hep B (shot 1), TB test, and my Tetanus shot and was soo proud of myself for not crying (Preface: I hate needles and more so, hate getting shots! go figure for the guy who wants to be a doctor...). Luckily I don't think I've have much of a problem being medically/dentally cleared but everyone was right in saying that this will be my first time practicing my patience as this is going to take a few weeks to complete since I have to wait till next week to get my eyes examined, the earliest I have time to get my dental check-up is in two weeks, and then I have to go back and get my polio booster since my mom has to order one for me along with my Hep B (shot 2) in about a month. Luckily, I don't really need the full Hep B series to be cleared (but mom and dad want to do it anyways even though the peace corps normally provides it) since the the third shot is given 6 months later or else that would have really delayed my medical clearance.

Sorry this post isn't very exciting but remember that part of the reason why I am writing in this blog is to document the Peace Corps process for any prospective PC applicants, particularly GT people referred here by Sarah. Also I'm bored and blogging about the Peace Corps is a lot more fun than doing my Physics II homework...

Oh and I would like to take the time here to say goodbye to Sally Kline, an administrater in the Office of Community Service and Greek Affairs who is leaving Georgia Tech for an Assistant Dean position at the University of Virginia. Sally provided me with much advice concerning my decision to apply to the Peace Corps and her support for me has been incredible. I am truly grateful for her advice and support and I wish her the best in her new ACC school :)

ciao,

-Nikhil

alaska

Since people have been asking how my trip to Alaska was, well it was pretty incredible. Actually it was absolutely incredible. Alaska is such a BEAUTIFUL state and its sad that not that many people get a chance to visit due to its somewhat "extreme" location. I flew out to Anchorage to meet up with my parents and other family friends who were just coming back from the land portion of the trip up to Denali National Park. I am extremely mad that I missed that part of the trip (silly summer school) because seeing Denali on a clear day is something very rare and my parents got to see it. Its okay though, give me a reason to go back :) After meeting up with my folks we toured around Anchorage for a bit then over the weekend took a trip down to Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward and saw some pretty incredible glaciers and landscapes. I even got to kiss a glacier (why not?) somewhat illegally.

After a weekend on land, we all set forth sail aboard the Island Princess for a 7-day cruise southbound to Vancouver. Along the way we visited College Fjords, Glacier Bay National Park, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchican before finally arriving in Vancouver. The cruise was awesome and very different from the Carnival Carribean cruise I took a few years ago because we pretty much followed land about 75% of the time. The ports of call were fun because I got to go and see a musher's camp and ride a sled dog cart as well as go rock climbing and rappelling in Skagway; then ziplining in Juneau and finally sea kayaking in Ketchikan. I also ate massive amounts of awesome food (particularly great seafood) and even go to try some pretty exotic stuff like caviar, escargot and frog's legs (which I promise does taste like chicken).

Saw some cool animals. Bears, sea otters, bald eagles, ginormous starfish, moose and WHALES! I saw not just pods of orcas in the open water but one of my favorite memories was a huge pod of humpbacks! Me and my friends were sitting in the food court on the top deck looking towards the bow of the ship when we saw whale after whale after whale breach slightly. The pod must have had at least 15-20 whales. The coolest part: I SAW A HUMPBACK WHALE BREACH AND EAT A BIRD! no joke!

We ended our cruise in Vancouver and honestly, I now love the west coast even more than before. West coast mentality and culture just rocks and suits me well. I really hope that I get the opportunity to move to the west coast at somepoint in my life whether it be to Vancouver (one of my new favorite cities) or Portland or Seattle or San Francisco. We'll see where life takes me.

I'll try and post pics on facebook or something like that soon. But for your viewing pleasure, here's one of my favorite pictures from the trip: a panoramic view of Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park.

congratulations! you have been nominated to serve in the Peace Corps.

So just to let you all know, I had my interview with Valerie, my recruiter, this past thursday and it went very well. It was a lot longer and more personal than I expected it to be but I guess also a lot more "normal" than the interviews I'm used to (after you've interviewed for GHP and done the whole thing in Spanish and after you've interviewed with Freshman Council, you're ready for anything!). However there were some slightly amusing questions that dealt with what kind of cultural circumstances I would be able to tolerate such as privacy issues, appearance issues, alcohol issues, etc. Reflecting back, I've had some pretty incredible experiences in my life and I've been in almost every kind of living situation from a fancy hotel with running water, WiFi and room service to a village "house" with a squat down latrine, sporadic electricity and eating food from a banana leaf. I'm so glad that these experiences will hopefully prepare me for my transition to life in a developing country.

Anyways, if you haven't guessed by now as per the title of this post, I recieved my nomination to the Peace Corps this weekend. According to the website the nomination means that my PC recruiter has nominated me for service in a general field to a general geographic area for an approximate departure date. I won't know any specifics about my exact job nor the country I will be going to nor my exact departure date until I recieve my actual invitation to serve. Before I can recieve my invitation, I have to get medical, dental, financial and legal clearance which i hope to work on before the end of the summer. During my interview Valerie told me that she was going to nominate me for a health position since that's what seemed to be the best fit for me but as for geographic location, she had a few choices. Because of my strong Spanish backgroung she was originally going to nominate me for a position in Latin America for a departure date of January/February but since I wasn't too excited about serving the Central America and because it's been a dream of mine to go to Africa, I pushed the whole "I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to go to Africa" and she told me the earliest she could get me to Africa was June-ish 2008. Although I was hoping to leave around March/April, I decided field and location were a LOT more important to me than departure date because the only departure restriction I had was that I wanted to be back in the US around August to apply for jobs and graduate school and leaving in "early" June would let me do that.

So basically my situation right now is that I am "in" the health program pending medical/dental/financial/legal clearance and it will most likely be somewhere in Africa around "early" June. But just to clarify, nothing is certain until I recieve my actual invitation. So there is still a decent chance that I may open my invitation and it might say I'm doing NGO work in Honduras leaving August 2008. So pray for me please :)

p.s. since my application packet is all done, if any of you (particularly those of you who are filling out the application) want to read my two essays (personal statement and cross-cultural experience) for an example of what's expected, just e-mail me and I'll send it to you. No real point in posting them up here...