Wednesday, September 8, 2010

It's Been Too Long Since I've Written An Essay

I'll start today's post with an update on my application process.

Last night, I sent out the requests for my three letters of recommendation. I had to ask for one from a work supervisor, a volunteer supervisor, and a friend. For my letter from a friend I, of course, asked Ashley. She's been my best friend since the tenth grade, and has been with me for a majority of this past hectic year. She was excited that I asked her, but not so excited when I asked her to compare me to Mother Theresa and Oprah....oh, well ;) I'm confident that she is the best person to write an accurate reflection of my skills and aspirations.

While being out of school has had it's perks (no homework!), it has also it's drawbacks. I learned this the hard way as I struggled with my first attempt to write the first of my two essays today. Ugh. Here is the prompt:

Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 250 - 500 words) that includes:
  • Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and
  • How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.
  • How you expect to satisfy the Peace Corps 10 Core Expectations (please be specific about which expectations you expect to find most challenging and how you plan to overcome these challenges).
My first thought was, "What?!?!? 250-500 words? Kill me." But I got a sort of rough, and I mean ROUGH, outline done today. This might take a lot longer than I thought, but I am setting a deadline to have both essays done by the end of next week. I want to have enough time to have a few people review them. Also, in my research about Peace Corp essays, I found that some people post the finished products on their blog. I intended this to be helpful to others, so I'll post mine when they are done.

Now that I have decided to live at home to save money for my future endeavors, and not move to Seattle as I had originally planned, I have to start the job search over again. After researching what type of experience would be helpful for Peace Corps placement, I have decided to take my mother up on her offer to follow in the family footsteps and work in the realm of....Credit Unions! *audible gasp!* The business practices and financial experience gained from working in non-profits directly translates to helping developing nations create cooperative programs. I'm also going to incorporate some volunteer experience, and am currently researching organizations in the area. Besides, I'm pretty sure it was my destiny to work in Credit Unions at some point. My grandmother is a retired Supervisor for Credit Unions, and my mother is a Credit Union Corporate Trainer. I even have a shirt that I got when I was around nine that says "I'm a Credit Union Kid!"

In unrelated news, I bought ingredients today to make my brother a cake for his 17th birthday tomorrow. It was also his first day of school today, and his first day of work, so there is a lot to celebrate! Since we're nearing the end of strawberry season, I decided to make a Strawberry Charlotte for the very first time. I don't have much baking experience, so wish me luck! I'll post pictures of the yummy creation later.

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