Three days out

Only three nights left in Ann Arbor until I fly to DC! I'm excited to go, but I'm sad to leave. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with family and friends this month, and I've even made some new friends in my last few weeks here. I'm very grateful for these two post-grad months with minimal responsibilities, I will not forget them!

FYI, I added a "Follow by email" link in my blog sidebar <-- if you enter your address, you get an email every time I post. I always intend to check blogs regularly, then forget... so if you're like me, you might be interested in this feature. I posted the link to this blog on Facebook and the response was almost overwhelming, so it looks like there will be plenty of people reading it, including a couple of hopeful PCV's which is especially exciting.

I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone in Group 79 (G79) that will be entering Peace Corps Panama with me. We have a Facebook group, and many of us posted intro videos in Spanish. Most of the group seems to be around my age (there are ~50 of us), and from a variety of places and backgrounds. Everyone's videos were great, and I have a good feeling about the people that will hopefully be some of my best friends for the next two years!

Let's see... I have a lot of emotions/thoughts running through my head these days. I'm not an eloquent writer, never have been (sorry) but I figured I should try to explain anyways. I've already had to say some difficult goodbyes but the hardest ones are yet to come this week (immediate family, roommates), so far I've cried during/after saying goodbye to (only) four people but I think that count will go up by Saturday :) I moved all of my stuff from my college house to my parents' house this past week. Actually that's a lie, much of it is still in transit, sitting in the trunk of the minivan, and I have forgotten some things at the house that I need to go back for. It's unsettling to have your whole life packed into 20+ bags/boxes/suitcases, if anything because it's crazy how much stuff I own...definitely looking forward to living a simpler life for two years. I've been thinking a lot about how much my life revolves around instant gratification - like if I am craving an iced coffee, I can go buy one. I check my phone every 10 minutes to see if I've gotten any new likes on my Instagram post. I'm feeling down, I watch a funny video on Youtube. All things that I am going to have to quickly learn to live without! But I am excited for this challenge. I've also been thinking a lot about last summer, when I spent two months living in Ulsan, South Korea. Whenever I especially missed the comforts of home, my friends and family, American food, Michigan weather, etc... I would just remind myself that before too long, I'd be home. Everything was temporary. Panama is just going to be a slightly more intense, and longer, version of this. In the words of Kimmy Schmidt, "You can stand anything for ten seconds. Then you just start on a new ten seconds." :)

Many people have asked me, "What projects are you going to be working on?" I have a standard answer for that, but I usually add the disclaimer that there's a wide variety of projects I could be assigned to. Here's the description from the PC website:

"Environmental Health (EH) Volunteers serve in the rural areas of Bocas del Toro, Ñokribo, Comarca Ngobe Bugle, Cocle, and Darien, often in indigenous or marginalized communities. They work with water committees and other community members to build capacity, improve access to potable water, and improve hygiene and sanitation practices. Typical EH Activities: Train on water-borne and waste-borne disease prevention; Strengthen water committees to manage and conserve water resources; Train on construction, management, and maintenance of Wat/San systems; Introduce appropriate technologies and practices for water collection, treatment, and storage; Rehabilitate or construct pit latrines, composting latrines, and/or grey water soak pits; and Conduct awareness campaigns, trainings, and other events about hygiene topics such as personal hygiene, hand washing, and food preparation."


Hopefully that is helpful! If I find time, I'll post with my packing list. Reading past Panama volunteers' blogs has been soooo helpful in learning what to expect on a daily basis and also what necessities I'll need - I've been basing my packing list off a combination of lists posted by previous volunteers so I hope to add my own into the mix.

For the next three days I'll be frantically packing and eating as much ice cream as I can...next post coming from Washington D.C.!

One month out!

Hola y bienvenido to my Peace Corps blog! My name is Sierra, and I will be serving as an Environmental Health Extensionist in Panama, training July-September 2016 and serving September 2016-September 2018. If you're reading this you most likely know me personally, but for those who might have stumbled upon this blog or who are considering applying to the Peace Corps and want to learn more about it, I am very glad you're here. Feel free to send me a message at any time - see the Contact Me tab. So, a little background on how I got to where I am today...since sophomore year of college when I began the environmental engineering curriculum I always assumed that I would get a job as an entry-level engineer right after graduation. But junior year, after returning from my second spring break service trip I started thinking about taking a year off to do volunteer work instead. I went back and forth countless times, afraid of the two-year commitment of the Peace Corps, not seeing any projects on the PC website I was really excited about, going to career fairs and having several full-time job interviews with no success. Winter break I went on the website again and found this program in Panama (I had a strong preference for a Latin American country) that was specifically looking for civil & environmental engineers to work on water & sanitation projects. I knew instantly that this was exactly what I wanted and I completed my whole application in a few days and sent it in at approximately 11:58 pm on New Year's Eve to make the January 1st application deadline :) I learned that I was being considered for the program mid-January, got an interview request at the end of January, had my interview February 4th, received my invitation Feb 8th, and had to make a final decision by Feb 15th at the very latest! The whole thing was crazy fast - almost exactly six months from application submission to departure date. The Peace Corps has really streamlined their process, from what I've read it used to take up to several years from applying to actually get your assignment. Luckily, it doesn't leave me much time to change my mind! I had a very fun, busy, and fulfilling last semester of undergrad, and I graduated from the University of Michigan on April 30th. Since then, I have been doing a LOT of relaxing, reading, working part time, studying for the FE exam at the end of this month, spending time with friends, and I visited my family in Wisconsin for a weekend. Next week, I'm going on a road trip to Tennessee with three of my best friends from Racine, which I'm very excited for. I'm also realizing that now is probably a good time to take care of all of the business I need to get done before leaving the country for over two years... and of course continue to spend as much time with friends and family as possible!