I received my invitation kit to serve on March 6th, 2010 (YAY!). I applied to serve sometime in January 2009. I graduated from The Ohio State University in August 2009. Basically, I put my life on hold from August 2009 to June 2010 to pursue my dream of becoming a Peace Corps volunteer. Thank goodness it was worth it! I had plenty of doubts & worries about my future during this past year, so to finally have a destination and invitation is beyond fantastical :)
So, to bring everyone up to speed, I figured I'd explain my application process experience.
I had been warned of the process being tough; every email, letter or phone call I got from any Peace Corps office reminded me to exercise patience and flexibility. I think one night I even had a nightmare where those two words were in bold, capital letters standing in front of me in a dark room, staring at me...ominously (as if they could stare any other way). Aaaaanyway, I applied during my senior year at OSU after I threw in the towel with job searching. Not to say that was the reason I applied; I spent around 2 months fighting the impending doom that was the economy and had no luck. It actually ended up being exactly what I needed to kick my fear of applying for the Peace Corps. Volunteering was something I've always wanted to do, but getting a job and settling down after college is the expected and largely traveled route. It was scary to do something different and not totally understood by friends and family. But with every interview and career fair I felt even stronger about what I knew was right for me. So I looked into applying and did it! I was interviewed about a month later, and it was a couple weeks after that that I got a phone call from the Chicago office. I had a nice chat with the handler of my file and he graciously nominated me to serve as a math or science teacher in Africa! I was informed then of my potential departure date: March 2010. I was very stoked that I was moving on in the process yet I didn't let myself get too wrapped up in it; I had 12ish months to find something to do and a nomination isn't a guarantee.
For those of you who don't know what the difference between nomination and invitation: I like to think of being nominated as qualifying for the Olympics and getting invited as the gold medal. Being nominated means they found a job/place that would best utilize the skills you bring to the table. It then puts you into a pool of applicants across the country that also fit well with the program you are nominated for. An invitation is the actual "job" offer for you to serve.
From there it was all a waiting game: I graduated, bid goodbye to my college friends, and picked up some random jobs to stay busy. I worked as a high school soccer coach, Cheryl's cookies employee, and currently as a sales person at running shoe store. I continued to volunteer & tutor so that I could build up my resume too. I made sure to check in with Peace Corps every month to see if I could get any more info on the status of my application and to let them know I was still very interested. Then, my program was pushed back from March to June. I was a pro at waiting, what was three more months?
I wish I could say that I fully enjoyed all the relaxing and the lack of responsibility that comes with not having a real job. Me not being invited to serve was a fear that always loomed in the back of my mind. Oh, I just imagined how devastating that would be; to waste an entire year of my life! That and it was hard seeing all my friends grow up and move on when I was staying stagnant. I was back at my parents house and working jobs that I didn't need even need a college degree for. I worked my butt off to get my chemical engineering degree and to waste it, even for a small amount of time, was all sorts of pride swallowing. I definitely experienced my fair share of ups and downs through it all, but emotional and/or mental breakdowns are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life! I'm pretty sure its supposed to be friends, which makes more sense, but I'm not worried about it ;) But again, it worked out which is really nice. I'm going to Ghana!!
