Thursday, February 24, 2011

Things I'm Thankful For

Today has been a wonderful day (aside from the somewhat frustrating econ test this morning) filled with friends, laughter and God :) Gotta love those days! Having lunch with some wonderful friends from my semester abroad and planning for our sunday soirée this weekend! First one we've had since we've been back from France (over a year ago...). A wonderful bible study and then a great chat with one of the girls who I've recently gotten to know. It really amazes me what you don't know about people, how similar your thoughts, fears, and dreams can be even when you are incredibly different people. Sharing these kinds of things always makes me happy. These past few days have also been fun with my suite-mates, just chatting late at night. I can definitely feel myself hanging on to every minute left here... it's coming to a close way too quickly.

A couple of other things to be thankful for in the life of a hopeful PCV:
- encouragement from friends and promises of many letters
- blogs that reveal the real-life day-to-day events and emotions of current PCV volunteers (good and bad)

So, off to do the rest of my homework...

Fun tidbit:
One of the many reasons I love Vanderbilt; inspiration everywhere!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sav

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Fun weekend :)

So this weekend brought a lot of fun and relaxation, starting with a visit from my cousin and aunt from Memphis! They came to visit Vandy, so I accompanied them on a tour, which happened to be lead by a friend of mine, which was a lot of fun to do. I haven't been on a tour since I was a senior in high school, so it was a nice full-circle feeling. Then we had dinner at a great Nashville restaurant then went ice skating, followed by relaxing. Saturday brought frsibee practice (sprints... oy), yummy Calypso (fresh veggies & chicken) and going inside the Parthenon (replica, of course, though full-scale - unfortunately it is not within my budget to fly to Greece for a day to see the real Parthenon). Then that afternoon was filled with watching our guys ultimate team play in their tournament. Then some awesome ASB friends came over and just hung out till 4 am (whoops haha). Sunday brought sleeping later than I meant to (kinda good - got sleep, kinda bad - missed church :/ ) and Pancake Pantry with my great-grandbig in my sorority! A few of her friends, her boyfriend, and my big also came - it was wonderful. The entire weekend was much nicer weather than Nashville has been experiencing of late, so that was nice - took full advantage by watching the guys again in their last game of the tournament, playing some pick-up and going on a run. More ASB fun tonight with pancake-making (yes... many pancakes in one day). Now I, unfortunately, have to get down to the real business of schoolwork... blech.

Clip that got me into Glee. Just watch: here.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Finding a peace about Peace Corps

So this week has brought a lot more peace and confidence in my decision to continue down this road for the Peace Corps. I really do feel like this is what I want to do, and that this is where God is leading me to make an impact. Especially when I get multiple messages from different sources (from friends to speakers to news reports) basically saying the same thing.

And on a happy note - I am finished going to all of the doctors! So as soon as I get some more tests and paperwork back, I will send everything in and will just have to wait on them to see if/when I get a formal invitation!

But life at school has also been wonderful lately. I can really feel myself clinging onto the people here who I love, especially those who I wish I am closer to. Lunch date after coffee date with classes wedged somewhere in between is about what my life is at the moment haha. Just one example: Monday night (Valentine's day) Amy and I were both returning from out of town, and Christine and Emily picked us up, and we had a suitemates outing at Urban Flats with wine, appetizers, and desert. It was so much fun just to get out of the Vanderbubble and relax with some great friends. Here's to many more nights like that until graduation (which is approaching too fast!).

Fun tidbit:
Live like a PCV (Peace Corps volunteer) Challenge!:
Follow this link to get info about how to imitate the life of a PCV in certain counties while still here in the US.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sav

Saturday, February 12, 2011

The emotional rollercoaster

Even though the Peace Corps has been what I have thought about doing for several years now, having that nomination makes it much more real than I would have realized and with that reality comes more fears and hesitations in trying to really think through what I will be jumping into. The possible living situations, safety, emotional support (through the long-distance communication), making new relationships at training and in my community, and the teaching position to which I may be assigned - all of these are unknowns, at least to an extent, which makes it scary. However, through these considerations and really thinking through what I may want and how I can handle these things, I have come to several realizations about myself.

One is something that I already knew, but now just realize to a deeper level, and that is how much I rely on my friends for emotional support and validation. This became much more obvious to me this past weekend when several of my closest friends expressed more concerns and hesitations than I had previously heard or expected. Receiving those reactions when I was expecting, or at least hoping for more positive support, was difficult and gave me a lot to think about. And in recognizing my reaction to that input made me realize that I really need to think about what I want and don't need to rely on the validation and confidence from everyone else. And, don't get me wrong, I don't believe at all that these opinions should be disregarded in the least, but I also don't believe that they should completely direct my decisions.

Also, in addition to realizing how much I depend on others for confirmation, I also am realizing how much more I need to learn to turn to God and trust in Him to get me through everything and lead me down the right path. If I do end up in a small town in Africa, I need to trust him to either provide those relationships that will help get me through the tough times, or the strength to get through it otherwise. Overall, it's still a lot to think about, but I'm feeling better about things now that I'm trying to think through things on my own.

In other news, life at school as been plugging along as usual. ADPi party was a lot of fun last night, though BB King's made us stand outside for 20-30 minutes in the cold before they let us in the venue... that wasn't so great. But the Rep your state costumes were a lot of fun. Then scrimmaging with the Western Kentucky and Nashville/USN ladies was great! Lots of good practice for tournaments later in the semester.

Fun tidbit for the day:
In honor of Jessica Jackley, founder of Kiva who came and spoke at Vanderbilt earlier this week.
http://vimeo.com/16991128

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!
Sav

Friday, February 4, 2011

Doctors, Here I come!

So since receiving my nomination, I have slowly scheduled doctor's appointments, and had my first few today. Though I did have to drive home for it, it is rather nice to have a few days off of school/class.

This path so far has been a bunch of ups and downs, with many more to come, I am sure. Some days I am excited about all of this, and other days I seem to be terrified - whether of the possible housing, dangers, distance from home & friends, spiders & bugs (yes... this is a serious concern of mine), or just of the thought of me in front of a classroom. But I also have moments like today, where I remember how much I enjoy giving back to people and trying to make a difference in someone's life. Hopefully I will continue to have more of the latter as I continue through this process.

In other news, my wonderful ladies of VUDU (Vanderbilt's Women's Ultimate Frisbee team) had an awesome time at the T-Town Throwdown tournament in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We played wonderfully, even though we had some really tough games - physically and psychologically. And I think we can all feel the conditioning we've been doing, which is great! Thanks Coach Abby :) Also on the bright side, I got to stay with my Dad both nights in Birmingham, thereby spending time with him as well as getting a warm bath and my own comfy bed to spread out in haha (normally there are 3 girls to a bed in a hotel room on tournament trips, and while I love my fellow VUDU players, it's nice to be able to spread out).

That's about all for now. Being home also has it's ups and downs. Ups: baths (with bathbombs from Jen, DVR, running into people around town, lunch w Mom). Downs: struggling to find time with God, missing a lot of fun activities on campus (including a roommate's birthday).

But overall, things are going well! Progressing slowly, and trying to hold on to the less than 100 days left before graduation...

Fun song for the day.

Look at that. I finally figured out how to insert a link.

'Till next time!
Sav