I'm applying to the Peace Corps!
Today I met with the UNC Peace Corps advisor and officially decided that I am going to start the application process in June! Although I had done some research on the website and the associated blogs, I still was not fully aware of what this 27 month commitment abroad entailed. After speaking with the extremely helpful advisor (A returned Niger Peace Corps volunteer who is graduating from the UNC Gillings School of Public Health this May) all my questions were answered and I am 100% certain I want to do it! If I do get accepted (knock on wood) I would leave sometime in the summer of 2013.
I am really glad the advisor emphasized how the Peace Corps is most likely going to be the most challenging thing I would have done up to that point in my life. Although this could make me shy away from applying, I see it as the challenges and difficulties I will face may not only benefit the community I am serving, but may also serve to benefit me as an individual, leader, student and future practitioner in Public health. Considering my personal and career goals and interests, joining the Peace Corps would allow me to spend time doing the things that I am truly passionate about while simultaneously advancing my skills and knowledge so that I can apply my experiences to my future studies in Public Health school and in my future career.
Because the Peace Corps program is very competitive, I also plan to apply to other volunteer programs, jobs, and possibly to public health schools in London. I have always wanted to go back to the U.K. since I moved when I was four years old and never got to experience life there, and public health is an area in which you can go to school anywhere and not have it affect where you are eligible to work. Because I am a British citizen and a lot of my family lives in England, the transition wouldn't be extremely difficult, although it still would be a drastic change from living in the U.S. for most of my life.
I have really enjoyed my time in Chapel Hill, but after my senior year I will definitely be ready for a change. Even if I am unable to go abroad after graduation I definitely want to live and work or attend Public health school in a different part of America.
As Andy Worhol once said: "the world fascinates me."
I am really glad the advisor emphasized how the Peace Corps is most likely going to be the most challenging thing I would have done up to that point in my life. Although this could make me shy away from applying, I see it as the challenges and difficulties I will face may not only benefit the community I am serving, but may also serve to benefit me as an individual, leader, student and future practitioner in Public health. Considering my personal and career goals and interests, joining the Peace Corps would allow me to spend time doing the things that I am truly passionate about while simultaneously advancing my skills and knowledge so that I can apply my experiences to my future studies in Public Health school and in my future career.
Because the Peace Corps program is very competitive, I also plan to apply to other volunteer programs, jobs, and possibly to public health schools in London. I have always wanted to go back to the U.K. since I moved when I was four years old and never got to experience life there, and public health is an area in which you can go to school anywhere and not have it affect where you are eligible to work. Because I am a British citizen and a lot of my family lives in England, the transition wouldn't be extremely difficult, although it still would be a drastic change from living in the U.S. for most of my life.
I have really enjoyed my time in Chapel Hill, but after my senior year I will definitely be ready for a change. Even if I am unable to go abroad after graduation I definitely want to live and work or attend Public health school in a different part of America.
As Andy Worhol once said: "the world fascinates me."
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