mrveitch

We finally did it; we, the China 20 are now officially Peace Corps
Volunteers.

For anyone having a mental breakdown, here’s an analogy that helped me a bit:

Remember our first day of college? This is kinda like that. We packed your bags, hugged our friends and stepped onto campus to begin a new (and incredibly scary) chapter of our lives.

We may spend our first couple weeks in a funk. For the 4th time in 10 weeks, we’re being thrust out into new surroundings and must create a home. With our new surroundings will come new people and in many ways, a culture that is “foreign” to us (we kinda got used to Chengdu, right?). Once again, we must ask ourselves some hard questions: Where will I fit in? Will my colleagues like me? How long will the food wreck my stomach?

What we will experience now is very similar to that first semester of college, and if you went away it, this is especially true. If you didn’t, I believe that those of us that did can tell you with confidence, that despite all the tears, it does gets better.
How long that takes will vary for everyone but it does pass. Bear in mind however, that jumping that hurdle will take a profound amount of effort.

It is up to us to push ourselves to find a home in our new surroundings. It is up to us to preserve those relationships with the people we love in other areas (and around the world!). Make no mistake, we will have help, but ultimately the bulk of the effort lies in your hands.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe it is that very struggle that makes this journey that much more worth it.

My fellow volunteers, and any staff that creep on this page, I look forward to seeing you all again during IST. Getting to know you these last 10 weeks has been life changing in the best way possible. This first semester will be hard, but for us to have made it this far, a lot of people already believe in us. Now it is your turn to believe in yourself.

加油