I made a recording.

Once upon a time a couple months ago I was sad and started seeing a therapist.

She gave me a pep talk and now here we are. I'm doing the blog and I'm making sound recordings. Enjoy my rambling.

https://soundcloud.com/thebestthird/creating-shared-experiences-and-combatting-perfectionism

4 Years Later

So I need to create stuff.

It's now 2019. I stopped writing in this blog 4 years ago when I finished my Peace Corps service and I've lived 4 years worth of life since then.  To give credit to my time in Panama, there has been no 2 year span of life that has taught me more than my Peace Corps service--no contest.  At the same time, it's 2019 and I'm more of an adult than I was coming out of Peace Corps.  I have a grown-up job, I'm dating a real live boy, and my political opinions are way more developed than they were in 2015.  And yet, there is something I'm looking to pull back from my Peace Corps days.  I need to create!

These days I'm still reading books (not to the same extent I was in Peace Corps, but still), and I'm still listening to music.  I am who I am, ya know that's not gonna change.  The biggest change recently is that I have a 9-5 job and I have bills like a regular person.  At the same time, I don't want to lose my sense of creativity and curiosity.  I still want to keep doing new things and exploring new ideas, and most of all I need to create.  Creativity is what makes people human.  Whatever I create doesn't have to be good.  I don't have to share it with anyone if I don't want to.  But it needs to be something that I made.  Creating something reminds me that I'm an individual and I have my own unique flavor to add to the world.

So yea, its gonna happen.  I'm thinking writing and podcasting, because words have always been my medium.  Words are important to me and they're how I express myself.  I'll probably just post some things to SoundCloud or write some blogposts here just to be able to look back on them and know that I made something.  That's enough for me.

I'm not in the Peace Corps.

I’m not a Peace Corps Volunteer.

You read that correctly. As of April 8, 2015 I have officially successfully completed my two-year Peace Corps service and I am now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV). . .ok, I haven’t quite ‘R-ed’ yet, but you get the idea.

                  

Close-of-Service, or ‘COS’ week went very smoothly, despite the fact that Summit of the Americas was happening in Panama City during the week that I was running around doing my last medical and dental checks and completing paperwork to be able to submit everything to finish my Peace Corps service on time.

Afterward, I had the most AMAZING vacation in Colombia with a few of my favorite people. I got to visit Cartagena, Medellin, Rio Claro, Bogota and Villa de Leyva and it was the most glorious thing ever.

I’m not trying to trivialize unemployment, but in my peculiarly unemployed-yet-worryfree state right now. . .I’m in good spot. I had exactly zero concerns or worries during my twelve days of galavanting around Panama’s South American neighbor. I won’t take the time to recount my whole journey, but just know that I got to dance, karaoke, and spend time with friends I hadn’t seen in two years. It was wonderful.

I’m currently back in Meteti for my last four days. It feels good to be in my Darien home and—would you believe it?—my brain does not believe that I’m peacing out of here on Tuesday. It felt so good to come back to my house and sleep in my bed and see my cat and shop in my store and hear the tipico music playing across the street—I guess being uprooted may prove a little difficult.

I’m ready for it, though. I’ve given it a lot of thought and prepared as best as I can, and on Tuesday I’ll be taking the leap. (I just keep reminding myself that in exactly one week I’ll be laughing until I cry when I go to see Kevin Hart’s show in Charlotte.)

Okay family and friends, I’ll be seeing y’all in a little while!


What I've read recently:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean Dominique Bauby
Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness - Rebecca Walker
I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts - Larry Wilmore
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

The Time is Near

As my Peace Corps service continues to draw to a close, I am realizing more and more how this move back to the States will be the transition to end all transitions. If this next month doesn’t make my head explode, then I am 100% invincible. I’ve already survived one teary despedida (going-away party) for one of my closest Peace Corps friends and the sad goodbyes continued later that day when my unofficial sitemate gringo came by my house as he made his way to leave the Darien for good—and that’s just the beginning.

I’ll be in my house for the next three days packing my stuff for my Close-of-Service week in Panama City as well as my 12-day trip to Colombia that will immediately follow. During this time, I’ll also be pasearing in my community to say some goodbyes to my friends in Meteti that have really helped me find my way around town for the past two years and have helped me feel at home.

It’s so odd being at this crossroads of ending one of the most transformative experiences of my life (it’s like this and high school marching band, no lie) and yet knowing that I’m about to embark on a huge crazy adventure in DC and Jersey once I leave the Darien.

Just thinking about readjusting to life in the States is enough to make me dizzy. As soon as I’m back, I’ve got to get:

• a pedicure (#1 on the list. . .these dogs are barkin’)
• a phone (to WhatsApp my Pana-people!)
• a computer (for grad school)
• new clothes (Operation: Dress Like a Grown-up)
• Business Cards
• Online statistics courses (I need to brush up on some stats)

And of course I’ve got to spend some quality time with my family before I take off again. Luckily, I have:

• A month of free time of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (except Kevin Hart and a cookout) before I begin my awesome swanky DC summer internship
• A sister who is serving as a major crutch as I ease back into the whole repatriation deal.

I think the whole thing sounds do-able, right?

Welp, even if it’s not, it’s about to get DONE anyway.

Much love to everyone in the States. I’ll be seeing you lovely people THIS MONTH (can you believe it?).

Aja

What I've Been Reading (the Darien-to-US prep has slowed down my literary digestion. . .)

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Barbara Demick

Peace Corps to Foreign Service

*SPOILER ALERT* This is a braggy blog post. I’m going to be a Foreign Service Officer.

Hey guys—I just got some crazy amazing news that I have yet to wrap my head around. Bear with me.

Ok, so when we last checked in I was waiting to hear back from grad schools. I had already been accepted to:

-Syracuse Maxwell School of Public Affairs (MPA)
-Duke Sanford School of Public Policy (MPP)

Since that time, I’ve received acceptances from:

-UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy (MPP)
-U of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy (MPP)
-Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs (MPA)
-Harvard Kennedy School of Government (MPP)

Aka I got in everywhere I applied. (WHAT?!?) Several of these schools gave me AMAZING funding offers. As time went on and I began hearing back from more schools, I began to get excited. When I got offered funding from Berkeley (1 yr tuition+$5,000), I was surprised. When I got the offer from Michigan (full tuition+$9,500 stipend per semester+health insurance) I was super excited. By the time I got the email from Princeton (who funds all of their students) I was literally so overwhelmed that I just cried big ugly tears—how in the world could this be happening to me? Princeton’s MPA program is my top choice, and I’m SO EXCITED to attend in the fall.

But wait. The good news doesn’t stop there.

I’ve been awarded a crazy fellowship from the State Department. Remember how I want to be a Foreign Service Officer? Well, check all over that. This fellowship has got it covered. Let me try and explain.

The Charles B. Rangel Foreign Affairs Graduate Program is a partnership between Howard University and the State Department. This program seeks to recruit candidates from underrepresented populations (i.e.: minorities) to serve in the Department of State’s diplomatic service (aka my dream job).

Graduate fellows complete a two year graduate program, and upon graduation, enter into the Foreign Service for a minimum of five (5) years. Fellows receive financial assistance to fund their studies, as well as funding for two (2) ten-week summer internships: one on Capitol Hill the summer before beginning the graduate program and one at a US Embassy abroad between the first and second year of graduate study.

TLDR; I have the next seven years of my life planned out EXACTLY the way I would have wished. Princeton’s MPA program even has an agreement with the Rangel Fellows program so that I will actually end up getting paid to go to graduate school!

Check it out, I’m a professional student.

I’m stoked; can you tell?!?

Shout out to my whole family in the States. We on the come-up, y’all!

I’ve got another month left in my Peace Corps Service and about a month and a half until I return to the United States. I’m going to do all I can to make the most out of the short time I have left in my Darien home. I can’t wait to see all my friends and fam in the States! Nos vemos pronto!

More Updates--Michigan, Rangel and d00k

Here are a few updates on the post-PC/grad school planning thing:

• The interview with Michigan went well, I think. I hear that the fact that they chose to hit me up for an interview is a good sign. I figure this means I'm already into their program, I'm just awaiting a funding decision. (I'm hoping to get a REALLY good funding offer from this school, because I need to get good funding offers from at least two schools to be able to negotiate a really good offer from the school I'll ultimately choose to attend.)
• After the Michigan interview, I recieved some good news via email--I'm a finalist for this year's Rangel Foreign Affairs Fellowship! I won't explain all of the benefits of the fellowship on this blog unless I am ultimately selected to recieve the fellowship, but suffice it to say that as an aspiring FSO looking for grad school funding, it would be the dream of a lifetime (I'm NOT exaggerating) and would help me fund any school that I choose to attend. (If you want more info about the fellowship, click here.) My interview is on March 10th and I recieve a final decision on March 13th. . .March 13th can't come soon enough.
• A couple of days ago, more good news rolled in. I've been accepted to the Master's of Public Policy program at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University! Duke gave me a pretty good funding offer that will cover 90% of my tuition costs, plus provide me with a $4,000 assistantship (think grad school version of work-study). Duke is certainly a school that I'm seriously considering for next year's studies (in no small part due to its location in my home state of North Carolina), but my decision will be heavily dependent upon the funding options that I end up with after all the decisions roll in and negotiations have been finalized--to be blunt, I'm not made out of money and I don't want to go into massive debt for graduate school!

Those are all the updates I have for now. There are some big dice rolls and decisions to be made during the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned! Hopefully this good news can keep up just a little while longer. Send me good vibes, peeps. I'll keep ya posted.

Paseos and Grad School Stuff

I figured maybe I should give an actual little update rather than posting my self-indulgent hippie-esque ruminations.

I’m pretty much just chillin’ out over here. Nothing groundbreaking. I’m trying to hang out with my Pana-peeps and my Peace Corps friends as much as possible before I depart from these beautiful people in a couple of months.

This past weekend I went to a few different sites of other Peace Corps Volunteers in Panama Este (the next province over from me). I pass through Panama Este every time I bus to Panama City, but I hardly ever stop through and actually get to know the place! Welp, now’s the time for stopping to smell the roses. I hung out with a couple of the newer Peace Corps Volunteers who I hadn’t gotten to meet yet and continued to learn more about the geography and people of Eastern Panama.

I’m hoping to continue in my paseos and make some trips to the sites of a few other PCVs before I leave in April.

In grad school news, I’ve finally gotten some news back—and it’s good news! I was just recently notified that I’ve been admitted to the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University in their Master’s of Public Administration program (MPA). It’s the highest ranked public affairs program in the country, so I’m very excited that I’ve been admitted there. I’ve applied for admittance to some pretty competitive programs, so while I know I’m not out of the woods yet with respect to admissions/funding decisions, I am pumped to start off the notification season with some good news.

Michigan also just emailed me. I think they're going to call my cell phone tomorrow afternoon. They want to talk to me for about 20 minutes in order to get to 'know me better' during their fellowship decisions process. (They're tryna pretend it's not about the C.R.E.A.M.)

Also, one of my Peace Corps friends just emailed me out of the blue about a connection for a new job with this really cool NGO. I'm kind of excited to hear more about the position (jobs like this don't just fall in your lap!), but I also know that taking a job would mean deferring grad school I'm like AHHH! DECISIONS! Future! I'm not ready for you yet!

I’ll certainly be posting as I go through this new adventure of closing out my Peace Corps service and figuring out my next step! Things are starting to cook up and it's getting pretty exciting. Stay tuned.

--Aja

What I’ve been reading lately:

End of Poverty – Jeffrey Sachs

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer