And so it begins...

 I've been thinking about starting this blog for so long, and now that I've finally done it, I don't quite know what to say or where to start. Although my journey hasn't actually started, it doesn't feel like that at all. Peace Corps has been a part of my life for almost 2 years at this point - it all started in May 2010, when the first wave of my friends graduated from Rice and started doing awesome things with their lives -- including the Peace Corps. During my senior year, the application process for me went really smoothly -- I was thrilled! Now, after taking a break for a year, I'm back on track to begin my service and I'm both incredibly excited and completely terrified.

Don't get my wrong, I love knowing for certain what I'm going to do for the next two years and where I am going to be -- I hated being in limbo for a year -- but I have no idea how it will change me, or if I will be the same person coming out than I am now. Hopefully any changes will be for the better, but who knows? Will I have the same career aspirations when I get out? Will I gain skills and experience that will help me get an edge to get into the Foreign Service? Will I still want to join the foreign service when I get out? Will I want it more? Will I long to go back to school? Will I even finish the two years? What if I hate it? What if I love it and don't want to leave? What if, what if, what if?

I guess at this point all I can do is sit back and enjoy my life right now. I'm winding down my last few days at work and then I face a summer of who-knows-what. I am going to try to do the things in Texas that I have never had the chance to before -- like hiking in Big Bend, driving around Hill Country, etc. I'll get my fill of the States (and my family) before I have to go without both for 27 months.

And now, I am forced to use those essential PCV skills of "patience and flexibility" while I wait for them to clear me medically. Only then will I find out what region and/or country I'll be in. That's when the real adventure begins. Until then... it's a test of my patience. And maybe my sanity.

P.S A note on the name of this blog:

There's this great British sitcom that my family used to watch called As Time Goes By. One of the main characters, Lionel, writes a memoir about his (rather dull) life in Kenya. Several times throughout the series, this conversation happens:
Lionel: I wrote a book.
Person: What's it called?
Lionel: My life in Kenya.
Person: What's it about?
Lionel: My life in Kenya.
Everyone always laughs, but there's a kind of sanity to that. People spend eons trying to come up with clever titles. I spent several weeks trying to think of a clever Reddit username. I failed, by the way. So I figured I'd take the Lionel Hardcastle No-Nonsense Approach. 
Though one would hope that my life would not be as dull as his.