Back In 2009: Part 1

This is the first post of an intended series to retroactively document my decision and application process leading up to my invitation to the Peace Corps.

I've written this article 5 times, with varying lengths, documenting varying experiences, with varying people. It just hasn't worked. I can't really put on paper why I'm joining the Peace Corps; it's too convoluted.

The only thing that comes close is saying that it was the sum of my experiences in Columbia from August 2007 to May 2009. The people, places, and events from my time there had me primed to make a major change in my life.

I started reconsidering where I was going and why I was going there. I wasn't satisfied with my job and instead of sticking with it for my future, I just felt like doing whatever I wanted to do now, and letting my career work itself out later. In passing I had overheard some chatter about the Peace Corps. I looked up the website one afternoon, the requirements, the projects, the lifestyle and liked everything I saw. I was qualified for this, I was willing to live like that, and I could use these experiences to build on my foundation at my company. Looking over the 20 pages of forms in the application, I didn't see anything that would disqualify me. I needed 3 letters of recommendation, one from an educator or supervisor, one from a volunteer coordinator, and one from an old friend. The volunteer coordinator and old friend would be easy, the supervisor would be more complicated.

I started filling out the application but tentatively. There weren't any educators that would write me a recommendation because none of my professors from Clemson could pick me out of a lineup. I'd been out of school 3 years and had barely attended a class in 6. I wasn't going to use my boss from when I was an RA at Clemson; too small a job, too long ago. So I decided that if I was going to go through with this, I was going to have to ask a leader from my company to help me leave it. I wasn't going to waste the other two's time if I wasn't going through with this. I was deadlocked until I was ready to broach the subject at work.