Letter to my former ACorps roommate

Hey bud,


Yeah, while the time seems to have flown by, the days and individual weeks certainly don't. It's just two months now till N-trip graduation, though, and I'm excited at the prospect of moving on to a position with a little less responsibility, and with fewer people requiring my input or assistance at any given time of day. It really puts parenthood into perspective.

Ha ha, anyways, my team is actually great. I can't decide if it's my influence on them, or their basic natures, or development from the course of the program, but whatever it is, they're reliable and not grumpy, crabby, or frustrated--unlike my corps year memories of teammates at this point. Though the Southeast's weather this time of year, and into the summer, certainly didn't help back in Class 9. I'm anticipating and preparing myself to rally against the seemingly inevitable end-of-the-corps-year slump--especially since I think I may be starting to hit it myself--but they're a hard-working and overall laid-back bunch who despite their differences from me and from one another simply want to have a formative but amicable service experience.

Regarding DC, I feel myself drawn back. I've applied to American University's School of International Service for an MA in International Politics, for the Spring '10 semester. I'm pretty sure I'll get in, but in the meantime I'm not quite sure what I'd do. I may try to work either at a faith-based nonprofit or charitable organization or simply bartend or wait tables and take a breather.
Not that three months of unemployment last summer wasn't a bit of a break, but imagine the intensity of being an N-trip corps member, yet adding on an all-encompassing sense of responsibility for both everyone on your team plus everyone with whom they come into contact, plus an extra 15-20 hours per week. Also, at work, rather than completing tasks, my brain is constantly juggling thoughts of 'how is everyone doing?', 'how can this be a more meaningful experience?', 'how can we be more efficient?', and 'what have I forgotten to do today?'. Not to mention an extra month of Powerpoint training at the beginning. Come July I'm ready to move on.

Your international travel sounds very cool, all the places you've gotten to go, but I simply don't have the $cha-$ching right now to fund that, especially with grad school on the horizon and undergrad loans about to come a'knockin' as soon as my corps year ends. Unless I come into money or find a lucrative job in escorting or dealing, I think I'm going to be domestic for the next year at least.

I'm starting to ramble a little, but it's good to hear from you. Enjoy your exotic locales! Not that Galveston TX, New Orleans LA, Sacramento/Tahoe/SF/Yosemite area CA, and boondocks MT (my last project where I'll be rehabilitating an 1860s gold-mining ghost town) are boring. Recent domestic travel has been pretty fulfilling in its variety, at least. It's nice having a big and heterogeneous country.

Later buddy, and hope to hear back soon,

D