I'm 12 days away from leaving my life here in Sacramento to embark upon an adventure in Nicaragua
Thoughts before Peace Corps
I'm 12 days away from leaving my life here in Sacramento to embark upon an adventure in Nicaragua. Nicaragua being a place I have known virtually nothing about, yet now I am forever connected to it by my 27 month commitment to live among the Nicas. I feel my departure date coming closer and closer. I wish it would just get here now!! Yet, I know it'll be here soon enough. I can already feel that lump in my throat saying goodbye to my crying mother. I have no idea how I'm going to say goodbye to everyone. Goodbyes and I have never mixed well.
I have traveled to Spain, France, and Mexico. And while I loved the historic museums, late night club scenes, different cultures, and international friends made along the way...a desire started to arise in me. This desire best described as a feeling of a search for a deeper meaning to my life. I have had everything a person could want; a roof over my head, food to eat, etc. But I kept wondering how I could go through the rest of my life without ever experiencing a different reality outside one of relative privilege.
So now I'm leaving this reality I live in to see the world from the perspective of a third world country. I want an experience that is going to challenge me intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Why? I don't really have any concrete answer other than I feel that my Peace Corps journey is going to bring me knowledge that I wouldn't be able to experience anywhere else. I want to have the experience of not having all the luxuries I have had throughout my life. I want to see what another part of the world lives like. I want to taste it, to smell it, to live it.
When I look back on my life I want no regrets...I want to know in my heart I gave it all I had.
