I just spent about 5 hours preparing the forms for my recommenders for graduate school. And I realized I need to find one more professor for the school that only accepts recommendations from professors. AHH! And,  by the way, I’m applying to Cornell now instead of Columbia. I’m sure graduate schools look positively on the trait of indecisiveness. Oh, and my fear of leaving Columbus still persists.

Luckily, I did find a bit of spare time this weekend to write back my friend Nick. He is in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. He graduated in spring 2008 and left about 6 months later. He will return to America next January 2011.

As is this experience weren’t unimaginable enough, his letters make it ever harder to grasp. In his last letter, he wrote out a rating system of his experience in Ethiopia, basically a version of a pros and cons list. Some of the cons included missing family and friends of course, extreme loneliness, lost time of 2 years (which he refers to as 10 percent of our lives so far), fear of failure if he quits early and comes home, fear of injury or death, and difficulty of adjusting to the real world afterwards.

He often talks about how much he misses the little things. Some that resonated with me were playing a song that you have stuck in your head, or going to a favorite eatery with friends. When he talks of these things, I am in awe. These are sacrifices I really don’t think I could make, especially fresh out of graduation. And if I did, I certainly would not last the two years.

Yet Nick, even with over a year left, doesn’t seem to let his commitment to the two years falter. Despite the above list, his letters are generally positive and much like an everyday conversation. The reader could almost forget what he’s going through.
 

This is going to be my current inspiration. If Nick can travel endless miles, away from his entire world for two years, then I need to at least be able to handle a nearby move or a minor lifestyle change after graduation. Heck, I’ll probably still be in school, so it really won’t be all that different. But for post-graduation and for all the upcoming transition points in my life, I need to keep these letters in mind. Considering the big picture, I have nothing to be afraid of at all.