The Plan

The plan has always been to join the Peace Corps. I knew in middle school that I wanted to travel. I don’t remember when, but somehow I began romanticizing the idea of traveling to a different country and volunteering for a few years.

Initially, my desire to travel reveled in rising hormones; wanting to visit my Japanese Pop and Rock idols, who I still vibe to on occasion. In High School I dived into an after-school program called buildOn which focused on volunteering, education, and uplifting urban youth. That program sent me to Nicaragua, and for this reason I spent three years of  college attempting proficiency in Spanish. Then I fell in love. I gave up Spanish for Swahili and then proceeded to spend half a summer in Tanzania for study aboard working/teaching children with disabilities. Its’ all kinds of strange when I think back on it, but I suppose the point I am trying to make is that I really followed my passions and immersed myself in each one.

In High School I conceived this whole plan of my milestones throughout my twenties, but of course life set in while going to the University of Michigan and…

• I didn’t get a degree in Neuroscience or a Bachelors of Science in general, so I couldn’t apply to medical school and become a doctor.
• I didn’t find true love.
• I didn’t go to grad school immediately after.
• I didn’t find work in the field I studied (Creative Writing and Literature).

I know, its a sob story that we all get over in all of our bildungsroman, but I really had the feels and since graduating ten mouths ago I have fought for stability. Learning how to “adult’ is a real thing now for us kids who just graduated and desperately need income because the well at home has dried up. Though it could be said that the best way to learn is by sinking and swimming and during those five years since high school I have…

• found God
• graduated from one of the top universities
• brought a love child a.k.a. my cat Mikkel
• scored a job that allowed me to save
• got accepted to the Peace Corps Ethiopia

The only thing that has come out of college that I dreamed of during high school was becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I have or rather I will after I fill out piles of paperwork and submit myself to prodding.