One Year

Well one year ago today my parents dropped me off at the Hampton Inn in Chicago. I said goodbye to them, gave them hugs and kisses and began my Peace Corps Journey. Hard to believe that an entire year has passed. This has easily been the fastest year of my life. So much has happened that it causes my head to spin sometimes when I think about it.
Just over a year ago I left my job at the Minneapolis airport and moved back with my parents for about two months before leaving to come to Bulgaria. During that two months I had three weekends of decadence with my friends Mike and Mike in Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee. I played golf with my father and his friends and ate out at allot of restaurants with my mother. I watched allot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD and enjoyed driving my car before I had to sell it. My family through me a surprise going away party, which I grudgingly admit was allot of fun and an excellent idea. I went to my cousin's wedding and visited the hollowed ground of Lambeau field.
Those two months were a great time to relax, enjoy my friends and family, and get ready for the next two years of my life. I wasn't sure what I was going to experience but I knew that it would be a challenge. Well I was definitely right, the past year has been a challenge, but in the most incredible and fantastic way possible.
One of the main reasons that I left my job, friends and family behind for two years was because I had become content with my life. I had a job which I was good at but also caused me stress and frustration. I was happy with my friends and family but also incredibly bored. I knew that if I didn't do something my life wouldn't change significantly for a long time, and I didn't want that to happen. The only choice I had was to give up everything and go in a completely different direction. It was a scary decision, but the prospect of not doing anything scared me even more. When my parents dropped me off at the hotel and left me there alone I knew that no matter what happened from that point, I was going to experience things that I never would have if I had stayed put in Minneapolis.
Looking back over this year I am amazed at how far away I am from Chicago, both in a physical and metaphorical sense. I have been accepted into a Bulgarian family, whom I love. I have met people that I never would have even known existed. And made friends with people who were not in my life a year ago, but whom now I can't imagine life without. I know allot of people think that you have to be crazy to join the Peace Corps, and indeed that definitely helps. But at the same time, I believe that you would be even more crazy to not want to try something like this.