Anyone Volunteered For The Peace Corps?

[USSInsiders]

have white guilt brehs

 

[NatiboyB]

Join the military and get some real experience.

 

[Giselle]

It's unlikely that you'll go to a place of your choosing, they make choices based on best fit, not on what's most comfortable for you.

Not knowing the language isn't a deal breaker at all, you end up learning it during training anyways, just limits the likelihood that you'll be in a french or spanish speaking area tbh.

Try to limit your expectations and ride the wave, if you do make it all the way through the application process (It's a marathon breh...) and land in country for training, just take it slow by slow; accept that you don't have to stay if you're absolutely miserable (some fellow pcvs that I know would reassess their commitment every 3 to 4 months) and that you're not going to dramatically change the world or anyone's life through your works.

The experience teaches you a lot about yourself, guarantees that you'll get plenty of interviews that others won't, opens up grad school opportunities, introduces you to a circle of great, interesting, and passionate people with ideals and interests similar to yours (maybe I should've found a wife ) and will (hopefully) give you an internal source of strength that is palpable to others around you.

It was one of, if not the most challenging things I've ever done in my life. Transitioning back home after I finished my service was far more difficult than moving to country.

What made it so difficult?

 

[old soul]

Culture shock works both way, ya know? Back home, everything moves soooo quickly, people are shockingly vapid, petty and inpatient, makes it really hard to connect with people the way I did before. Everyone wants to congratulate you for your service but I (and I think most who served) have mixed feelings about the work. At some point I became frustrated by the mentality of good intentions being enough. Being constantly reminded of how great of a person you are for "helping those poor people," can be frustrating and call back failures, revelations of true self (everyone is selfish or self-interested, there was once a time that I was foolish enough to believe that I'm above that) and honestly just gets annoying after awhile; people saying that sort of thing don't understand the experience, and don't really want to know. And I don't always want to explain, or know if I can fully, if that makes sense. I also struggled with some serious depression and anxiety while there (not really a huge revelation but definitely made me realize that it had gone unaddressed) that carried over to my post-PC experience.

Also, no one wants to talk to you about your experience after like the first week. They just want you to be the "old" you, but that person has changed. I understand their frustration, but the reality is, you talk about transformative experiences. You talk about the last 2+ years, the closer you were to that person/persons, the more difficult it is to connect? People age and change so much in the time that you're gone, sometimes it's frustrating, seems like you're being left behind. I graduated from college when I was pretty young, so I was normally the one knocking shyt out early, ya know? Ha ha everything is humbling. Everything.

 

[Captain Crunch]

It's unlikely that you'll go to a place of your choosing, they make choices based on best fit, not on what's most comfortable for you.

Not knowing the language isn't a deal breaker at all, you end up learning it during training anyways, just limits the likelihood that you'll be in a french or spanish speaking area tbh.

Try to limit your expectations and ride the wave, if you do make it all the way through the application process (It's a marathon breh...) and land in country for training, just take it slow by slow; accept that you don't have to stay if you're absolutely miserable (some fellow pcvs that I know would reassess their commitment every 3 to 4 months) and that you're not going to dramatically change the world or anyone's life through your works.

The experience teaches you a lot about yourself, guarantees that you'll get plenty of interviews that others won't, opens up grad school opportunities, introduces you to a circle of great, interesting, and passionate people with ideals and interests similar to yours (maybe I should've found a wife ) and will (hopefully) give you an internal source of strength that is palpable to others around you.

It was one of, if not the most challenging things I've ever done in my life. Transitioning back home after I finished my service was far more difficult than moving to country.

What country is that?

 

[Poh SIti Dawn]

@old soul thank you very much, this is what I needed to read.

Do you feel like you've became a better person, and what mixed feelings did you have?

 

[Astroslik]

Culture shock works both way, ya know? Back home, everything moves soooo quickly, people are shockingly vapid, petty and inpatient, makes it really hard to connect with people the way I did before. Everyone wants to congratulate you for your service but I (and I think most who served) have mixed feelings about the work. At some point I became frustrated by the mentality of good intentions being enough. Being constantly reminded of how great of a person you are for "helping those poor people," can be frustrating and call back failures, revelations of true self (everyone is selfish or self-interested, there was once a time that I was foolish enough to believe that I'm above that) and honestly just gets annoying after awhile; people saying that sort of thing don't understand the experience, and don't really want to know. And I don't always want to explain, or know if I can fully, if that makes sense. I also struggled with some serious depression and anxiety while there (not really a huge revelation but definitely made me realize that it had gone unaddressed) that carried over to my post-PC experience.

Also, no one wants to talk to you about your experience after like the first week. They just want you to be the "old" you, but that person has changed. I understand their frustration, but the reality is, you talk about transformative experiences. You talk about the last 2+ years, the closer you were to that person/persons, the more difficult it is to connect? People age and change so much in the time that you're gone, sometimes it's frustrating, seems like you're being left behind. I graduated from college when I was pretty young, so I was normally the one knocking shyt out early, ya know? Ha ha everything is humbling. Everything.

I hate when cacs take pictures of african kids like exhibits

 

[old soul]

^^^?