Thursday, January 6, 2011

Life Plan #1

I cannot believe it has been 5 months since i have last updated my blog. So much has happened in my life! In less than a week, i start my last semester of college! AHH! Pure craziness!
So now, I'm sure you are all wanting to know what my plan for after graduation is; well i don't quite know yet. I change my mind about every week and come up new ideas and life plans (which are basically backup plans, ex: search for Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster). Throughout the past semester my plans were changing constantly. At the beginning, my plan was to go to grad school to become a museum curator, then it changed to joining the Peace Corps, from there it was to go to Africa and do volunteer work (my parents weren't too thrilled with the Africa thing), so then it became South American (i thought same side of the earth would work better for them; they also did not like that either), then it became getting a job for a year and then going to grad school (that idea lasted about 5 days lol), after that it became finding volunteer work in Alaska or Montana (same country so surely they would like that, but they were still not thrilled). So I'm sure you are all wondering what the plan is now, well as of now it is to apply to volunteer with Heifer International (then name sounds crazy, i know) for a year and then go to Grad school.
Heifer International is a non-profit organization that works to end poverty and world hunger and that is the type of organization that I'm wanting to do volunteer work with. During the summer i went to Heifer Ranch (in Arkansas), which is part of Heifer International, for about 5 days for a summer class. While there, i lived like a 3rd world Mozambique person, complete with the mud hut, eating basically the same type of food that they eat, and doing the same type of jobs that they normally do. I wasn't super happy about the food but through the experience, the whole idea of doing volunteer work started.
If i get a job at Heifer International, i would be teaching people how they can make a difference, helping to put an end to poverty and world hunger, and be in the U.S. the entire time. So you would think that surely my parents would be okay with it, but they still are not thrilled about it. Their idea is that volunteer work is great but it's what other people do, they expect me to continue with school or get a job and just make donations to charities. Making donations is great, but i want to actually be physically helping and be able to actually see the difference that i am making and know that there was a reason for my existence. I really feel like this is what I'm meant to do, i just wish my parents would be okay with it and supportive it. So now the plan to continue with applying for different positions with Heifer International and just hope that my parents come around to the idea eventually.
If you read all of that, you are awesome! Here's the link for Heifer International in case you want to check it out! http://www.heifer.org