I have been doing my usual perusal of the various peace corps websites tonight and I'm feeling pretty motivated right now about several things.
One being graduate school. I haven't considered the Peace Corps' Master's International program that much, mainly because they didn't offer the program or school I would want. But tonight I did a search on there and see that they offer an International Development program through American University. This has been my dream school for like forever. I don't know if this is new or if I have just been out of the loop for a while. I know my chances of getting accepted to this school are pretty slim, but still it's exciting to think about. I have yet to take the GRE so obviously that needs to be number one priority. I signed up to take it a few years ago when I was finishing my Bachelor's and I just kept rescheduling it and then I couldn't reschedule any more. Soo I paid money and didn't even take the test. I know..I'm ridiculous right? Ugh, I'm just afraid I'm not going to do well on it at all and I hate to pay money and have those scores recorded just to bomb it. I've taken some practice tests and they haven't gone great and I just hate it because I consider myself a relatively smart individual. I did really well in high school and pretty good in college, so I don't know what the problem is.
Secondly, I'm feeling pretty motivated about just Peace Corps in general. I was reading about open positions with Peace Corps Response and I have always known this is something I would want to do. I really like the idea of after my service working in another country, but for a shorter period of time. They can be anywhere from 3 months to a year I think. So the idea of getting to potentially work in several different countries makes me excited about the future. As a future job/career I'd really like to work with the UN or the State Department and I really hope the peace corps can help get me there. I definitely don't want people to think I'm using the Peace Corps as a means to an end or that I'm involved for the wrong reasons. I genuinely do want to help people and learn about other cultures, I just hope to do it as a career as well.
I've been reading other journals and hoping to come across someone else that could potentially be going to the Dominic Republic or was even told the Caribbean region, but no luck so far. I'm going to mail my medical kit within the next few days and I'm hoping to know a real invitation within a month or two. I know not to get my hopes up, but I'm pretty excited about DR and getting to really study Spanish and the fact that I'm nominated for a Business Advising position. Of all of those I hope the Business Advising doesn't change.
I found this description on the peace corps wiki and for those that aren't completely engrossed with Peace Corps a business advising position involves:
Working in a variety of settings, assisting both private and public businesses, local and regional governments, nonprofit organizations, women's and youth groups, and educational institutions. Volunteers train and advise entrepreneurs and managers in business planning, marketing, financial management, and product design; advise agricultural cooperatives, agribusinesses, and farmers; develop and write project-funding proposals; and work with community and business support groups. Other projects include assisting with credit programs; facilitating business-training workshops; and teaching business courses, English, and Junior Achievement programs.
Sounds pretty exciting to me :)
I think the AU ID program is new only because it's one of the schools on my grad school short list. I only recall seeing the Education/TEFL program when I started the process. It's been a while since I checked the Master's International though. Best wishes in your process.
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