Applying to the Peace Corps

I was a freshman at the University of Florida when I started seeing flyers about the Peace Corps.  It was in the back of my mind for next 3 years, but I never seriously considered applying until I went to a panel on volunteering.  There were recruiters from AmeriCorps, City Year, and Peace Corps.  After hearing them all speak, I knew that Peace Corps was the right path for me.  I immediately talked with the Peace Corps recruiter for UF, Amy Panikowski, after that meeting to set up an appointment.  She was so friendly and refreshingly honest.  She told me that the most important trait Peace Corps volunteers needed was a good sense of humor (she was right).  She was with me for every step of the application and worked hard to make sure my nomination was the right fit.  If I had not met Amy, I think I would have been slower to apply and even more daunted by facing the application process alone. Sadly, UF’s International Center had to end the position of Peace Corps recruiter because of budget cuts.  You can read all about the decision below:    

http://www.alligator.org/news/campus/article_3c3fe66a-f253-11e1-88fd-001a4bcf887a.html

I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I do believe this will negatively impact UF’s student body.  A recruiter like Amy not only guides you through the process, but inspires you to try your hardest during the good times and bad times of Peace Corps service.  After 14 months in Armenia, it’s hard to remember exactly how I got onto that plane, but I will always remember who helped me get there.    

Exploring the South

Armenia is about the size of Maryland, small enough that you would think getting from one end of the country to the other would be a breeze.  I live near the Georgian border and I set out with a few friends to visit a town on the Iranian border.  It is impossible to make it from one point to the other using public transportation.  It takes me anywhere from 4 hours to 7 hours to get to Yerevan by marshutni, and another 7-8 hours to get from Yerevan to the Iranian border by a shared taxi.  So over the course of two days with multiple forms of transportation and a fun group of volunteers we made our way down south.  We went on an epic two day hike to a beautiful lake high in the mountains.  A volunteer invited his two Armenian friends to go with us and they were essentially our guides. We used a horse to carry our supplies, camped at the halfway point, and woke up early the next morning to reach the lake.  Below are pictures of the hike (the pretty lake ones taken by my friend Kelsey, thanks!).

 

 

 

 

After our hike down south, we traveled to a town called Goris to camp in ancient caves with about 15 other volunteers.  It was a very laid back camping experience, filled with dizzy bat kickball and blackberry picking.  

 

 

Say Cheese



Out with the mosquitos and in with the mice. I have a family of mice living in my house, specifically my kitchen and bedroom.  I went into several stores in my village to learn that I had to go into town to buy any sort of trap.  I went to Noyemberyan and bought a glue trap that the owner assured me would catch the mice.  Well, the mice were able to escape from the trap and for the past week they have had the run of my house.  I’ve even been sleeping in the living room on a wooden bench because I am so afraid one will crawl on me at night.  I’m going to Yerevan tomorrow and I will be stocking up on real mouse traps.  Get ready for a showdown. Thankfully my new sitemates are sympathetic and put up with my crazy mouse talk.  This second year is going to fly by since I have more people to hang out with after school and on weekends. Here are some pictures of us on a hike from my village to Noyemberyan:

 

 

Summertime in Armenia

I’ll pick up this blog where my last one ended.  I left Washington DC for Armenia and arrived at the airport 24 hours later.  The airport taxis tried to charge me double the normal price, so I hopped in a random taxi that charged me the correct price.  I talked a little with the taxi driver and 30 minutes later I was dropped off at the hostel.  I checked into my room and realized that I had left a bag in the taxi, the one carrying my computer, ipod and kindle.  I had no way of contacting the taxi driver I took, so the hostel worker called another taxi for me so I could try and find him at the airport again.  For the next hour my taxi driver and I looked at the cars near the airport searching for my previous taxi driver.  Then I got a call from the hostel worker saying that the taxi with my bag had driven back to the hostel once he realized I had left my bag.  Only in Armenia would the driver have come back.  I don’t mention enough how kind most Armenians are, especially to foreigners.  I ended up having to pay both taxi drivers again, but it was totally worth it to have my electronics back.

I finally went to bed at 3 am and then got up the next morning to travel to another village in Armenia to be a counselor at an English Camp.  A bunch of pcvs got together and had a really fun week that culminated in a talent show.  Then I went to back to Yerevan for a volunteer’s birthday and celebrated with some of the new volunteers.

I went back to my village in a great mood and was ready to enjoy summer in hayastan. I soon realized that mosquitos had overtaken my house and there was no stopping them.  I covered myself in bug spray for the next 5 days and took a chance every time I opened a window to take a break from the heat.  I had a pretty bad allergic reaction to something that bit me and had to have a volunteer bring me medicine from our doctors in Yerevan.  It’s getting better now, but here’s a look if you want to see how swollen it was L 

For the past 2 weeks I’ve helped with a few training sessions in Yerevan for the new volunteers and visited my good friend in another town for her birthday.  I also spent a day in the forest at a fun camp held my village’s art school (pictures below). In a few days the new volunteers will Swear-In as official volunteers and move to their sites.  I’m lucky to be getting a volunteer in my village and another volunteer in Noyemberyan, I’ll write more about them next time!

Also, I updated my wish list and book list.

There's No Place Like Home

I’m back! In Armenia that is.  My vacation in the states went by WAY too fast.  I’ll back track to June 12^th while I was still in Armenia.   I met up with all the volunteers in my year because we had a Mid Service Training together at hotel for a few days.  It was actually a really nice conference and I had a great time catching up with people I hadn’t seen in months. I came down with giardia (look it up), and had a very unpleasant time running back and forth to the bathroom every hour.  Thank goodness this struck in a hotel, I can’t imagine being this sick and having to use my outhouse, gross…. Anyways, the doctors brought me medicine that luckily kicked in just before I boarded my plane for America.  My flight was supposed to leave at 5:55 am according to Orbitz, but other people told me that the true time for my flight was 4:55.  How could Orbitz be so wrong? Well, Armenia boldly decided not to do daylight savings time this year and the rest of the world inconveniently forgot to notice.  I stayed out all night with a small group of volunteers and then happily took a taxi to the airport.  This began a long string of the most horrible flights I have ever had.  The man next to me used an electric razor TWICE on the plane for a solid 15 minutes each time.  Seriously, no one needs to use a razor that much on a 5 hour flight to London.  After London I flew to DC and hustled to catch my flight to Jax.  My mom was waiting for me and literally ran past security when she saw me.  We both started crying and just stood there for a few minutes; neither of us could believe I was actually there.  Then we drove home and my brother surprised me there since I wasn’t supposed to see him for another week.  My first meal was chips and guacamole and then I was passed out in my own bed at 9.  A whirlwind 2 weeks in Florida were slightly hampered by the tropical storm, but nothing beats being home.  I spent a lot of time with my extended family, some of who traveled all the way from New York to see me (Thank you!!) and then I traveled to UF to meet up with my friends for a few days. 

After a wonderful two weeks in Florida, I flew to DC to visit my boyfriend.  I was flying United and everything was going fine for the first hour.  Then all of the sudden we started flying in a different direction.  The pilot got on the speaker and said that we were having air valve problems and needed to divert the plane to Knoxville.  We all thought surely they must have another plane waiting for us in Knoxville, because why else would they divert a plane that far??  Nope, they had no plane waiting for us and we all had to spend the night at the airport hotel.  Considering I was only spending 7 days in DC to begin with, I was pretty upset.  The next morning my flight left for DC at 5:50 and I got there with no problems this time.  My awesome boyfriend was waiting with a bouquet of roses at the airport and so we started our DC adventure.  We managed to see all the monuments, museums and fireworks while eating the most delicious food the entire week.  A week was not enough time at all, but it was perfect J

Phew. What a crazy, crazy week. I’ll start with the most interesting first, I got to meet Hillary Clinton! Twenty volunteers were randomly chosen to attend a short speech at the US embassy so it was pure luck that I got to go.  I took a marshutni early yesterday morning to Yerevan and went to the embassy, which was beautiful and is one of the biggest (for the US) in the world.  Hillary Clinton gave a short speech and walked around to shake a few hands, I was lucky and got to shake her hand, but of course I got nervous and the only thing I could think of to say was “It’s so nice to meet you.” Anyways, it was an especially great moment because it celebrated my one year anniversary of being in Armenia.  Days like that make me feel incredibily blessed to be living and working here in Armenia.  Here are some pictures at the embassy, including the one of the back of my head next to Hillary Clinton haha:

Then days like today are not great.  I took a marshutni back from Yerevan early this morning and discovered I had forgotten my Dramamine pills.  I felt like I was going to be sick for the entire ride.  I had to meet my school director as soon as I got off the marshutni looking as pale as a ghost.  I asked him some last minute questions about a grant (that was due at midnight tonight!) to repair our gymnasium. Turns out we were still waiting on a couple of price quotes from different vinyl store owners so it was a crazy rush to finish everything on time.  Thank goodness it is all turned in and finished.  I will find out on Monday if it has been accepted or not… keep your fingers crossed! I haven’t worked this much since college and I will be completely crushed if we get rejected.

Random good news: There is a sour cherry tree in my backyard and I made a pretty awesome cherry crisp last week.

Random bad news: I have rats living in my roof and now I’m perpetually frightened that they will fall on my head while I sleep.

Here are some pictures of spring in Armenia J

Thanks to everyone who sent me a birthday card or package! I had a pretty good first birthday in Armenia.  My students decorated the blackboards and sung happy birthday to me.  Then my Armenian friend Manik had a surprise birthday lunch for me at a café with a few teachers.  It was really nice to get together outside of school. 

Later that day Danelle and I went to the huge monument in Noyemberyan and chilled there for a few hours.

I went to Yerevan on Friday for a meeting and met up with some other volunteers at our hostel. We spent the afternoon at an outdoor cafe, summer is finally here! We had a great time dancing the rest of the night and I went back to my village the next day.

Today I am traveling to Yerevan to meet the new volunteers.  A few of us will stay at their hotel and help them adjust to Armenia.  I barely remember those first few days because we were sleep deprived and jet lagged so it will be interesting to do it again!  

23 days until Florida :)