Dreams Deferred

During my freshman year of college (@ University of Wisconsin-River Falls) I decided I wanted to join the Peace Corps some day…

…It wasn’t a completely random thought. In March of 2008 I spent two weeks exploring the amazing country of Belize through a study abroad program. After just a few days there, I asked my professor how one might go about coming back to Belize to do an internship, or something of the sort, for a longer period of time. Professor Ed Robins walked me over to an organization called Cornerstone Foundation in the town of San Ignacio and introduced me to the staff. He said he had a former student who volunteered with them and she had only good things to say. After returning from the two week trip, it was only a matter of weeks before I made a commitment to intern with the Cornerstone Foundation (in Youth Development) for 3 months in the summer of 2008. (Highly Recommended: They have programs ranging from 1 week long to as many months as you can afford in areas from health to environmental studies to women empowerment. They are much more affordable than most study/volunteer abroad programs, provide a meal a day and dorm style living quarters equipped with a computer room ;) http://www.cornerstonefoundationbelize.org/ )

I could tell you about Belize ALL DAY LONG but if you already know me, you can go look at one of my 10 Belize photo albums and see the PURE JOY living in Belize brought me. I immersed myself into the culture, made life long friends with locals and other volunteers and made the first best decision of my life. I have now been to Belize on 5 different occasions and will be back for more. 

After that summer, I knew. I knew there was this whole other world out there. I knew, more than ever, that diversity was a passion of mine. I knew I wanted to continue to indulge in cultures aside from my own. I knew I wanted to join the Peace Corps. There was only one thing stopping me…lack of an undergraduate degree. I had heard it was very difficult to get into the Peace Corps without such a thing.