Today is May 16. Hard as it is to believe sometimes, Sam and I have been living here in Georgia for 25 months. The end of our Peace Corps service is now galloping towards us, and as hard as it is going to be to leave here, we're starting to also get that rush of excitement about heading back home. Leaving will mean wrapping up all the projects that we've put our time and effort into over the past 2+ years, and saying lots of goodbyes that I'm not actually prepared to think about yet. These approaching sad moments, combined with the sheer fear of the unknown that is the next step in the life after Peace Corps have made me put off thinking about the future in a lot of ways. But many of you have been asking us what we'll be doing and where we'll be going, so here's our breakdown, as far as we know.
Sam's got more concrete plans than I do. Here's what he'll be doing over the next 3 months:
June 15: Officially close his Peace Corps service and depart for a 3-week archaeological field school.
July 6-8: Spend 3 days in Kiev on a layover. I'm guessing he'll try the chicken.
July 8-August 3: Spend 4 weeks studying German intensively in Vienna. Sacher torte will be eaten, and socks will most likely be worn with sandals.
August 4-August 8: Travel to Copenhagen, Denmark. Hopefully there won't be anything rotten about it.
August 8-August 17: Head to Iceland to see puffins (and baby puffins, which are apparently called "pufflings") and pretend to be a viking.
August 17: Arrive in Washington Dulles airport at 7pm. Drink some root beer.
August 17-September 15-ish: Visit friends and family!
September 15-ish: Move to Chicago.
October 1: Start a PhD at the University of Chicago in their Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, focusing on Bronze Age Mesopotamian Archaeology. He'll study cuneiform, Sumerian, Babylonian and maybe dabble in Akkadian. There may be some digging in the dirt involved. I'm not sure exactly where fighting Nazis and learning to wield a whip fall in the curriculum.
2022: Dear God, hopefully he'll be done with this PhD by now.
My plans aren't quite as focused, but here's what I've got so far:
July 16: Finish my Peace Corps service and head out on a 2-week solo trip to Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn and Parnu, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Warsaw, Poland.
July 27-ish: Meet up with Sam in Vienna. Eat some (ok, lots of) Sacher torte.
August 4-8: Copenhagen
August 8-17: Iceland. Try to resist the urge to smuggle home any pufflings.
August 17: Arrive in Washington at 7pm. Drink some beer and eat some Chipotle.
August 17-September 15-ish: Visit family and friends and eat. And eat. And eat.
September 15-ish: Move to Chicago. Hopefully find some employment.
November 3: Run a marathon in Indianapolis. 'Cause, why not?
Sam's got more concrete plans than I do. Here's what he'll be doing over the next 3 months:
June 15: Officially close his Peace Corps service and depart for a 3-week archaeological field school.
What an archaeological field school may or may not entail
July 6-8: Spend 3 days in Kiev on a layover. I'm guessing he'll try the chicken.
July 8-August 3: Spend 4 weeks studying German intensively in Vienna. Sacher torte will be eaten, and socks will most likely be worn with sandals.
Last year's Sacher torte
August 4-August 8: Travel to Copenhagen, Denmark. Hopefully there won't be anything rotten about it.
August 8-August 17: Head to Iceland to see puffins (and baby puffins, which are apparently called "pufflings") and pretend to be a viking.
Puffin!
August 17: Arrive in Washington Dulles airport at 7pm. Drink some root beer.
August 17-September 15-ish: Visit friends and family!
September 15-ish: Move to Chicago.
October 1: Start a PhD at the University of Chicago in their Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, focusing on Bronze Age Mesopotamian Archaeology. He'll study cuneiform, Sumerian, Babylonian and maybe dabble in Akkadian. There may be some digging in the dirt involved. I'm not sure exactly where fighting Nazis and learning to wield a whip fall in the curriculum.
2022: Dear God, hopefully he'll be done with this PhD by now.
Soon, Sam will be reading these things
July 16: Finish my Peace Corps service and head out on a 2-week solo trip to Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn and Parnu, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Warsaw, Poland.
I'm hoping Tallinn is warmer this time around (all though, to be fair, February wasn't the best time to visit. On the other hand, Tallinn was a whole heck of a lot warmer in February than St. Petersburg was, so it made sense to go then)
This year, I won't just order one piece
August 4-8: Copenhagen
August 8-17: Iceland. Try to resist the urge to smuggle home any pufflings.
August 17: Arrive in Washington at 7pm. Drink some beer and eat some Chipotle.
August 17-September 15-ish: Visit family and friends and eat. And eat. And eat.
September 15-ish: Move to Chicago. Hopefully find some employment.
November 3: Run a marathon in Indianapolis. 'Cause, why not?
Will they make t-shirts for this one? Is the pope Catholic?
So that's what we've got right now. If anyone has any other suggestions, give us a shout. And if anyone has any meaningful, productive employment in the Chicago area that they might want to offer to a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, let me know.
Oh, you only wish we were doing shirts...check out IU basketball here: http://photos.indystar.com/galleries/12088-indiana-university-s-big-heads and start thinking about which photos we'll be using!
ReplyDelete