I´ve been thinking pretty hard lately on my options for after graduation. For a while I thought I was locked into simply entering the working world and "that´s it" due to my college loans. It was a really uncomfortable feeling and I just couldn´t accept it. Soooo, I did some investigating and I discovered some FANTASTIC news - I´m not locked into entering the working world immediately after I graduate due to my loans! WAHOOOO!
Then I considered all of the new options with which I was presented - study abroad, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Teach for America, other programs, etc. I decided that I´m done studying formally for a while. AmeriCorps/Teach for America aren´t all that appealing to me. Peace Corps seems like a great offer - they pay for all transportation/insurance/stipend/loans/reasimilation money but I just couldn´t get over the fact that I would be "completely alone" in some remote area. I want to be part of a network and have a close by support system. With all of the perks of Peach Corps, I couldn´t rest easy with my list of cons.
All of that prompted me to do some more digging and asking around. I´ve found this awesome volunteer program in Guatemala (the country immediately south of Mexico) called Safe Passage (Camino Seguro). It focuses on providing children of the dump with hope for the furture through education. I have a friend who is currently taking the year to do that program and loves it. She´s been giving me some really good feedback and first hand information. While I would have to pay for my expenses myself, I get to choose from a wide variety of volunteer positions and housing options. There´s a great support system but I can still assimilate myself into the community as much as I want. Even better, I´ll have almost a month off at Christmas to come back and visit family (!!!!) and do some traveling around Latin America.
I´m 80% sure I´m going to apply with the intent of going if I get accepted. I first need to think through when I want to leave (if I can stay here and work to save more money then it might be advantageous) and also a plan for fundraising to help defray the costs for the year. I also want to do a bit more investigating into other possible programs to make sure I can´t find something that fits me better.
I´ve been so excited about this that I had to share!! More to come about this later! Besos!
