New Adventures

Hello my lovely family and friends.

Big news, I am writing this from my parents' home in Alexandria. I know, SHOCKING and honestly not what anyone was expecting. I did go to Madagascar, and I did spend time with my host family and then I realized something. I am not ready for this.

Please do not mistake me. I was physically even more prepared than I thought. I could eat the food, take the bucket baths and deal with all of the requirements for healthy living. It was surprisingly easy in most cases, to the point where two years of doing those things wasn't something I was even worried about anymore.

What I was not ready for was the emotional requirements to going to Madagascar for two years. I have a lot of reasons why I came home and for me they are the right reasons. But most of all it just wasn't the right decision for me to stay in Madagascar.

I have a few other comments to add. First of all, the Peace Corps is a wonderful organization that really gives you great opportunities and if you realize it is not for you they also support you through your process of leaving and returning home. And I hope, in the future, I can help other people make the decision to join the Peace Corps and make a huge difference. Second, I am so excited to start my life here at home so I look forward to trying to see some of you in the near future.

Finally, I really would rather not talk about it more than I have to, it was a difficult and personal decision. But if you need to talk to me about my decision to leave Madagascar please feel free to let me know.

I think, at least for a while, I am going to try and still update my blog. I know some of you will be extremely curious as to what happens with my life now. But as of today I am searching for a job and figuring it out for myself.

My mom sent me a quote recently:

"As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move." ~ Katharine Hepburn

Well, today I'm taking some of my first paddle strokes because it really is time to get my canoe moving.


Love,
Chloe

Off to Africa!

My adventure truly begins

As I write this I am getting ready to go to bed so that I can get up and shower before my 2:30am departure from Philadelphia. We will all drive to New York and at JFK we will get on a plane to Johannesburg, South Africa. After the short 15 hour flight we will take another flight to Antananarivo, Madagascar and arrive by afternoon on Wednesday. After our afternoon staging event I can tell you three things.

1. I know nothing. But I will learn during training and on the job all of the important things to making it in Mada. But really this is an entire new life adventure and I will be experiencing so many new things that I will have to learn a lot every day.

2. I am not alone. I have to tell you it was comforting to sit and a room and realize that the same fears and hopes are in the heads of most of the people there. We will get through the stress and get to enjoy our adventure together!

3. I am so scared and ready for this I can barely breath. I have been talking about the Peace Corps for years and Madagascar specifically for months and the fact that it is finally real is crazy. But it is a crazy I am so ready for. The knot in my stomach has butterflies and is the greatest uncomfortable feeling I have ever had.

I know this is a short one but I will try to post again soon. For everyone I didn't get to talk to I love you! And a special bit of love for my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and my soon to be nephew! I will miss you all like crazy but I'll come back a stronger, better person.

Love you all heaps!

Chloe

Purdue Strong, Packing, and Friends

Ok, this is a bad sign. I haven't even left for Madagascar yet and I fell off the blog-wagon! But to be fair its been a crazy couple of weeks.

I have this awesome post written about my friend Michelle's visit to DC. We went to the Smithsonian and the monuments and I wrote this awesome post about how cool it was to be able to visit parts of our nation's history without even having to travel.

Unfortunately, when I went to publish my post on 1/21/2014 something else focused my attention. There was a shooting at Purdue University and one student was killed. So of course, me being me, I wasn't going to post about my awesome weekend and I decided I had to share my thoughts about the shooting. But after some reflection I decided my opinions had no place in such a tragedy. Click here for a touching letter written by one of the victim's professors.

After an awesome weekend with Michelle in DC and some upsetting news the next week I then got to spend the weekend of 1/27/2014 with two of my best friends Alaina and Rosalie, in San Francisco and Sacramento California. It was awesome, we got to be tourists in San Francisco and then we got to explore Sacramento. I have never spent time in Northern California and  I really liked it, I can't wait to go back for another visit.

And this weekend I am getting to spend time with two of my awesome cousins! Rachel and Whitney and I have gotten to spend the weekend hanging out, having fun, and packing for Africa. I'm also really lucky that they were here because they were able to help me go through all my clothes and pick out everything that I am going to take with me. Thank goodness they were here because I would never have been able to cut down on all the items I want to take without their brutal honesty.

Since it is getting so close to the time I am going to leave I will try to post a couple more times in the next week. I hope you all had a good January and the start to our shortest month is good.

All the Best,
Chloe

Packing is as packing does...

Ok, so here's the problem. I created a packing list and started figuring out what I need to buy (I know so unlike me!) BUT that was bad bad idea.

I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!

Not only do I need to start packing and figuring out what I can take in my two suitcases but I have to go BUY a lot of it! I feel like the time I have until I leave just keeps rushing by and I don't have enough time to see people, pack, buy the necessities and be ready on time. How did I ignore this for so long?? I should have started weeks ago and the fact that I didn't was just silly.

I received my staging email this week as well. I officially have a staging date and location and a flight. It's crazy that I have less than 30 days until I am out of the country for over 2 years...But for those who are interested, I am leaving DC on February 9th and arriving in Philadelphia late that night, I have about 7 hours of staging in the hotel on February 10th and I leave on a bus for New York at 2:30AM on February 11th. I will fly from New York to Johannesburg, South Africa and then from there I will fly to Antananarivo, Madagascar. Then I will start my time as a trainee and if I learn enough and have enough language proficiency at the end of my training I will officially become a volunteer. My journey has begun!

On a side note, I started writing my "just in case" letters this week. And let me tell you, its HARD. First of all, figuring out what you want to say if something bad happens to you is hard to imagine, what do I want to say if I never have a chance to say anything again? Umm...mostly sorry I didn't stay with you. But I'm managing I need to get them done before I leave for California because I'm leaving them with Alaina along with a few other odds and ends.

I know that some people have a lot of questions about the Peace Corps. I know a lot of information and I still have questions! Here's a cool video that recruiters often show at universities at info sessions. Well, there is not that much else that is going on with me. I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Best,
Chloe

Happy New Year, Cheers!

That's right, I was in London for New Years!!!

I got to spend a week in London with my parents, sister and brother-in-law. It was the best possible family vacation I could have had before leaving for two years, I got to spend a ton of time with Kate and Ron and we got to explore and have an adventure as a family.

Some of the awesome things I got to do include:

- The London Eye, I'm going to be honest, its amazing, the views from the Eye are incredible and if you are ever in London (even if you've been there before) get a ticket and enjoy the view!

- A trip down the River Thames, this was awesome and you got to see a large amount of the city all at once.

- Shopping on Portabello Road. This was awesome and we saw some awesome stuff and if you are someone who loves to shop this should be a great stop. I would love to make it on a weekend in the summer when the weather really allows you to see the street vendors instead of mostly just the stores.

                                                                    Portabello Road

- Canterbury Cathedral may not technically be in London but it is worth seeing. I took my first audio tour (thank you for insisting Kate) and really enjoyed walking around the beautiful cathedral while learning a lot of interesting history. My favorite part was the cloisters which was the area where the monks lived in the past, it was beautiful.

                             View from the area where the monks would worship and sing all day

                                                                             The alter

                                                                   View of the cloisters

                                             Some of the cloisters with the Cathedral behind it

                                                                It was just beautiful!

- If you ever go to London, do a bus tour! There is so much history in London that it was awesome to learn more of it.

                                                                A newspaper just for mom!

                                                             St. Paul's Cathedral

                                                                 View of Tower Bridge

                                                               Crossing Tower Bridge


- The Tower of London was something my mom and I did just the two of us. It was really beautiful, we didn't see the crown jewels because we didn't want to wait in a long line but we got to walk the battlements and see some medals and learn about the history of the tower. It was so cool to see but...the Tower is so SMALL compared to what I saw in my mind. But it was still awesome!

- The British Museum is something I would love to go visit again. We didn't have as much time as I would have liked so we only got to walk around a little but it was so cool and they have so many artifacts that I would love to spend a day or two going from the top to the bottom. We did get to walk through the African area and found some textiles from Madagascar and then we walked through Egypt and Ancient Rome. It was awesome!

                                                Dad and I in front of some ancient Roman art

                                        Mom in the center of the main floor of the British Museum

I bet you can't guess but I thought my whole trip was awesome! It's the first time I've been to an English speaking European country and I loved that I still heard French, Spanish, German, and many other languages. I'm pretty sure I heard Finnish which was pretty cool. I can't wait to go back and it made me want to live in Europe even more.

In other news, while I was in London I got confirmation that I have been medically and dentally cleared! And the night before we left I submitted my graduation transcript so I have EVERYTHING turned in. YAY!!!!

And as of yesterday I am FREAKING OUT about leaving in a month. How am I going to get everything done? I have so much to do to get ready for Madagascar and I just hope that I get it all done in time. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a completely last minute packer and I had an epiphany yesterday that I cannot do that this time. This could be a hilarious time to witness, my parents are going to get to see my attempts and getting things done early and I'm sure they will have many stories to share.

Hopefully my next post will be about how awesome I am at preparing but...we shall see. I hope you have an amazing week!!!

Love,
Chloe

Here goes nothing...

Now that I've promised about 50 people I have decided it is time to actually start a blog. Just a preface to this whole thing: I AM NOT A WRITER. My mother (the amazing journalist and editor that she is) often points out that I have a great tone to my writing but I don't really like punctuation. I'm still going to try my best and I hope you're reading this more for entertainment and to stay up-to-date on my life than to see some great writing. Kinda like Twilight I want to entertain not win a pulitzer.

ANYWAY, let's start with the reason I am writing a blog. In February I will be leaving to go work in Madagascar with the U.S. Peace Corps and this is my way of keeping in touch. I am so excited and I cannot believe that one of my biggest life dreams is coming true!


Above is a map of the continent of Africa with Madagascar conveniently labeled.

The process was pretty demanding and I actually could still end up not getting to go because the medical clearance has become complicated because of some awesome testing that I forgot to have done with my initial medical paperwork. But as of right now I am leaving for Madagascar on February 11, 2014 and I can't wait!

I'll give you the basic process as I experienced it, they recently redid the whole thing so someone applying tomorrow would experience something different but it was as follows:

1. Online Application (medical questionnaire, tons of random questions, resumes, cover letters, recommendations, etc.)

2. Interview (this is the first place they get rid of people, my interview was done on webcam since my recruiter was in Chicago -- Purdue -- and I was in Alexandria, VA for Spring Break)

3. Nomination (this isn't a guarantee in location or job but is the recruiter telling the Peace Corps they think you are an ideal candidate and that you would probably be good at "X" in my case community development)

4. Background Check and Medical Questions (you give the Peace Corps the information to do a background check and if your medical questionnaire left some questions for your suitability you would answer more questions at this point)

5. Selection Pool (now you are in a pool of Applicants that have been deemed suitable for work with the Peace Corps, you could be here for days or weeks or months)

6. Invitation (a Selection Officer reads your file and sees a good project for you and places you in a country and project area and sends you an invitation, you have one week to accept your invitation)

7. Medical Clearance, Orientation, Safety (TONS of medical paperwork, online paperwork, orientations online and an online safety course that all must be completed by 30 days prior to departure)

8. Staging and Pre-Service Training (where you meet in the US travel to your country with your staging group and go through up to 3 months of training in your country before you go to your site)

So I am still in step 7, I had some mix-ups with medical tests that I didn't get done so that is still where I am at but I need to be completely done ASAP! But it should be fine.

I realize I've been rambling but I wanted you all to know where my life is currently! So I guess I should give you a few other updates.

- I graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Management, a concentration in International Business, and a minor in Anthropology on December 15, 2013.

- I am about to leave for London for a week with my parents, my sister, Kate and my brother-in-law, Ron. As far as ways to spend time with family....I'LL TAKE IT!!!

- I'm also heading to California for a weekend to be with two of my best friends Alaina and Rosie and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

-And I'm very lucky that two people in my life are coming to see me before I leave my friend Michelle and my cousin Rachel.

With all of these occurrences in my life I will hardly have time to breath before it is time for me to pack my bags and head to Africa! I can't believe how much my life is going to change in such a short period of time!

I promise I am going to post more soon but I wanted to get my first blog post out there so people find out it exists!

Side note: I will post my mailing address as soon as I know it but there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. International postage can be expensive
2. If you are going to write letters or send packages you need to number them because they tend to get lost or come out of order
3. If you want you can just send things to my mom and she'll send them when she sends me things (email me at chedden90@gmail.com and I'll give you her address)

Okie dokie I will be back soon but until then click and enjoy!

Best,
Chloe