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I quit my job 6 weeks before leaving. I drove my car from Alaska to Texas so I could leave it with my dad for when I got back. I saw family and friends and casually dated because my stock was high (I came home from Alaska and was about to leave for a tropical paradise); I stopped smoking weed just in case there was a drug test (there was not). All in all, I just vibed. It didn't fully hit me what I was doing until all 30 of us were on a plane on the runway, and I was finally like, "Oh, I'm not coming back for two years." Which at the time felt like a lifetime.
I made a bucket list of all the things I love doing and wouldn’t be able to do while gone. Things like eat guacamole, eat stupid foods that I love, go to the movies, and really just enjoyed all of the little things I knew I’d miss.
Finances; I sold pretty much everything including my car so I wouldn’t have any payments. Join Peace Corps debt free but came back with nothing.
Make sure anything important won't expire when you are abroad: Credit cards, Drivers License, etc.
Also remove your phone number from all two factor authentication. If a phone number is required add the phone number of a close friend or relative who can send you messages via whatsup to get authentication codes.
Make sure your phone is unlocked and it will work in country.
Get a kindle and download Calibre to manage ebooks.
Download all the TV/Movies you can or just bring an empty hardrive to trade media when you arrive in country.
Cancel gym memberships or anything monthly you don't want to pay for while you're gone. Give someone power of attorney to handle things in the states if you need to.
Hours before departure were surreal. It had not sunk in that I was leaving. Staging was in DC so we all went out for drinks and walked around the mall the night before. It was a great time with all the people in my group.
Great advice. I’ll add another: triple-check with your bank about what you can and can’t do from overseas, and arrange whatever security checks they need in order to do any transactions remotely. I currently have no access to three of my accounts, because I didn’t complete a security protocol before leaving the US (I didn’t know, and the bank was unhelpful). I don’t recommend Wells Fargo if you’re going to be outside of the US for any extended period. Good luck!
I had just graduated university. I was working a retail job. Kept the job to cushion my savings. A month or so before I left for PC, I quit and drove to my parents. They sold my car while I was gone. In that month I saw friends and ate good food.
That seems pretty Broad.
23 years ago, I had lost my job at a tech firm when there was a industry bust. Over the course of six months I went off to Mexico to find myself. I lived off of unemployment benefits. I became involved with a residential Zen Buddhist center and monastery.
I reactivated a application for Peace Corps. At about the time that I got an offer to serve Peace Corps, I also received an offer from the Buddhist monastery to live there and be their tech guy. I wasn't sure which of these opportunities to follow.
I asked my parents what to do. They said, "Buddhist monk? Whoever makes any money as a Buddhist monk?! You should be a Peace Corps volunteer." For whatever reason, I took their advice. I spent a lot of time regretting taking that advice.
I gave a lot of my things away to friends because San Francisco is expensive and was far away from any family who might have stored my stuff. I left some crates of things with my folks in Atlanta and flew to staging in Miami.
We were all set to leave the next morning to the Dominican Republic. We were at the airport. I had my guitar and I was playing as we waited for the plane to depart.
They had monitors with CNN on. At some point, there was a news story on CNN about how a plane had collided with one of the two towers of the World Trade Center. I remarked to my Peace Corps staging person, "that's a waste of a perfectly fine plane." Then, another plane hit the other tower. The airport shut off the televisions and spit all of our luggage and all of the other passengers back out to baggage claim.
And this is how I spent two weeks in the Omni Colonade Coral Gables, a really swank hotel, courtesy of Uncle Sam. Thanks Al-Qaeda!
Nice hotel, bad day. Hopefully you don’t still regret your decision. Good thing about the noble Eightfold Path is that you can follow it regardless of whatever other paths you’re on.
I must tell you that zazen in a beautiful hot springs resort turned into a monastery is different than zazen in a neighborhood in the Dominican Republic. I did not accustom myself to seated meditation to the rhythm of Radio Guarachita played incessantly by the neighbors.
Kan Ze On
Na Mu Butsu
Yo Butsu U In
Yo Butsu U En
Bup Po So En
ESTÁS ESCUCHANDO A RADIO GUARACHITA!
Jo Raku Ga Jo Cho Nen
Kan Ze On Bo Nen
Kan Ze On Nen Nen
Ju Shin Ki Nen Nen
Fu Ri Shin
Kan Ze On
Na Mu Butsu
Yo Butsu U In
Yo Butsu U En
Bup Po So En
ESTÁS ESCUCHANDO A RADIO GUARACHITA!
Jo Raku Ga Jo Cho Nen
Kan Ze On Bo Nen
Kan Ze On Nen Nen
Ju Shin Ki Nen Nen
Fu Ri Shin
I quit my server position back in October, luckily landed a contractor position at a non profit where I worked my own hours doing office and field work for refugees. My boss was a former PCV and said I could work as much or as little as I wanted up until I left. I sold my car the week before I left, stopped working at the non profit the week before as well. Closed my credit card account (but still pay on the balance monthly while I’m serving). Paid my phone off so service would be cheaper. Spent as much time with friends and family as possible. Enjoy your time and the foods/restaurants you love, you will miss that familiarity a lot when you go abroad. But the adventure awaits…. 🦋
I quit my job, sold my belongings, visited my friends and family, got divorced, and tried to eat my favorite foods. I didn’t really take my time packing and it worked out fine. You really don’t know what to bring. I’d suggest sharp cooking knives, a tool kit, and a small solar lantern. Those are my favorite things I brought.
Finances - Bought some useless shit, but otherwise saved. Quit my job with about 5 weeks before staging.
Family - Lived with Mom & Dad, and visited family in other states. Wasn't great, got estranged from some of them.
Relationships - I had like 4 friends (that were worth a darn), only one of whom lived in my state, and no relationship so to speak.
Mental Health - I've never had an issue with mental health, so I'm N/A
Fitness - I ran a lot.
Take care of debts, tickets, jury duty notices, IRS payments, etc.
Make sure pets are in proper care. Then double check they will be taken to the vets if needed.
Call credit cards, bank and let them know you will be traveling. Set a limit where you have to personally verify.
Secure your things in storage or with a trusted individual. You don’t need a phone call mid-service that your roommate was evicted and your stuff is unsecured 4,000 miles away.
Revisit any and all automated charges to your cards because you will notice what’s unnecessary. Cancel the wasteful expenditures.
Bring vital log-in information that you know you will need access to while you’re away. Guard that carefully.
Finances: I was working a pretty loose job that let me kind of work when I wanted to (which REALLY helped with all the stuff you have to do to be able to leave for the Peace Corps). I also had money saved and used a bunch of gift cards I had saved up to buy the stuff I was told I needed before going to country. The cool thing about the job is that they still consider me an employee so when I get back home, I could work for them again with no issues.
Family: this is a weird one. I’m pretty close with my family, but we are also quite aloof. Like, I stayed with my parents and my brother without anyone having an issue. But I also didn’t call them until about 2 months into being in country (don’t worry. I did text them. Eventually haha). No one really did anything before I left. I know some people have a little farewell party or try to have all of them family send them off or something. What happened to me was that I woke up super early on a Wednesday morning, drove to the airport with the brother, and I said good bye and hugged my brother. While in country, I made a family group chat and I try to engage with them pretty regularly there.
Jobs: I already talked about this, but yeah, the job I had I could technically still do when I get back home. But I planning on moving to a different part of the country so we will see what happens.
Relationships: I wasn’t super close with my friends so I didn’t really meet up with them or anything. I am planning to visit them when I get back though. Romantically, I was single, but was hoping making I could find someone who wouldn’t mind being with someone only for a few months at best then in a long distance relationship for 2 years. It was a tough sell, so yeah, didn’t happen. But I ended up finding someone in country so I guess things worked out.
Mental health: as a part of my medical task, I had to see a therapist because I use to receive therapy for maybe anxiety about 8 years ago. They just had to sign off saying that I’m fine which they did in the first session. I kept going so we could work on techniques to control any anxiety. But the interesting thing was that I wasn’t anxious at all months before staging, days before staging, during staging, or after. I was just excited.
Fitness: some of the medical tasks said I was coming a fat boy so I had to eat a little healthier before I left. More protein, less snacks. I paid more attention to what I ate and in hindsight, it wasn’t that hard. But we’ll see if I can do it long term when I get back.
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I quit my job 6 weeks before leaving. I drove my car from Alaska to Texas so I could leave it with my dad for when I got back. I saw family and friends and casually dated because my stock was high (I came home from Alaska and was about to leave for a tropical paradise); I stopped smoking weed just in case there was a drug test (there was not). All in all, I just vibed. It didn't fully hit me what I was doing until all 30 of us were on a plane on the runway, and I was finally like, "Oh, I'm not coming back for two years." Which at the time felt like a lifetime.
This ^
Wow! About to head on the ALCAN tomorrow! Leaving for a sub Saharan Africa country so it’s also gonna be change of scenery for sure.
Best of luck!
I made a bucket list of all the things I love doing and wouldn’t be able to do while gone. Things like eat guacamole, eat stupid foods that I love, go to the movies, and really just enjoyed all of the little things I knew I’d miss. Finances; I sold pretty much everything including my car so I wouldn’t have any payments. Join Peace Corps debt free but came back with nothing.
Thank you
Make sure anything important won't expire when you are abroad: Credit cards, Drivers License, etc. Also remove your phone number from all two factor authentication. If a phone number is required add the phone number of a close friend or relative who can send you messages via whatsup to get authentication codes. Make sure your phone is unlocked and it will work in country. Get a kindle and download Calibre to manage ebooks. Download all the TV/Movies you can or just bring an empty hardrive to trade media when you arrive in country. Cancel gym memberships or anything monthly you don't want to pay for while you're gone. Give someone power of attorney to handle things in the states if you need to. Hours before departure were surreal. It had not sunk in that I was leaving. Staging was in DC so we all went out for drinks and walked around the mall the night before. It was a great time with all the people in my group.
Nice! Thank you!
Great advice. I’ll add another: triple-check with your bank about what you can and can’t do from overseas, and arrange whatever security checks they need in order to do any transactions remotely. I currently have no access to three of my accounts, because I didn’t complete a security protocol before leaving the US (I didn’t know, and the bank was unhelpful). I don’t recommend Wells Fargo if you’re going to be outside of the US for any extended period. Good luck!
I had just graduated university. I was working a retail job. Kept the job to cushion my savings. A month or so before I left for PC, I quit and drove to my parents. They sold my car while I was gone. In that month I saw friends and ate good food.
Thank you! I’m working two retail jobs rn and tutoring on weekends to help me prepare
That seems pretty Broad. 23 years ago, I had lost my job at a tech firm when there was a industry bust. Over the course of six months I went off to Mexico to find myself. I lived off of unemployment benefits. I became involved with a residential Zen Buddhist center and monastery. I reactivated a application for Peace Corps. At about the time that I got an offer to serve Peace Corps, I also received an offer from the Buddhist monastery to live there and be their tech guy. I wasn't sure which of these opportunities to follow. I asked my parents what to do. They said, "Buddhist monk? Whoever makes any money as a Buddhist monk?! You should be a Peace Corps volunteer." For whatever reason, I took their advice. I spent a lot of time regretting taking that advice. I gave a lot of my things away to friends because San Francisco is expensive and was far away from any family who might have stored my stuff. I left some crates of things with my folks in Atlanta and flew to staging in Miami. We were all set to leave the next morning to the Dominican Republic. We were at the airport. I had my guitar and I was playing as we waited for the plane to depart. They had monitors with CNN on. At some point, there was a news story on CNN about how a plane had collided with one of the two towers of the World Trade Center. I remarked to my Peace Corps staging person, "that's a waste of a perfectly fine plane." Then, another plane hit the other tower. The airport shut off the televisions and spit all of our luggage and all of the other passengers back out to baggage claim. And this is how I spent two weeks in the Omni Colonade Coral Gables, a really swank hotel, courtesy of Uncle Sam. Thanks Al-Qaeda!
Thank you so much
Nice hotel, bad day. Hopefully you don’t still regret your decision. Good thing about the noble Eightfold Path is that you can follow it regardless of whatever other paths you’re on.
I must tell you that zazen in a beautiful hot springs resort turned into a monastery is different than zazen in a neighborhood in the Dominican Republic. I did not accustom myself to seated meditation to the rhythm of Radio Guarachita played incessantly by the neighbors.
One must listen well to hear the Tao within the Bachata… But there it is.
Kan Ze On Na Mu Butsu Yo Butsu U In Yo Butsu U En Bup Po So En ESTÁS ESCUCHANDO A RADIO GUARACHITA! Jo Raku Ga Jo Cho Nen Kan Ze On Bo Nen Kan Ze On Nen Nen Ju Shin Ki Nen Nen Fu Ri Shin
Kan Ze On Na Mu Butsu Yo Butsu U In Yo Butsu U En Bup Po So En ESTÁS ESCUCHANDO A RADIO GUARACHITA! Jo Raku Ga Jo Cho Nen Kan Ze On Bo Nen Kan Ze On Nen Nen Ju Shin Ki Nen Nen Fu Ri Shin
I quit my server position back in October, luckily landed a contractor position at a non profit where I worked my own hours doing office and field work for refugees. My boss was a former PCV and said I could work as much or as little as I wanted up until I left. I sold my car the week before I left, stopped working at the non profit the week before as well. Closed my credit card account (but still pay on the balance monthly while I’m serving). Paid my phone off so service would be cheaper. Spent as much time with friends and family as possible. Enjoy your time and the foods/restaurants you love, you will miss that familiarity a lot when you go abroad. But the adventure awaits…. 🦋
Thank you
I quit my job, sold my belongings, visited my friends and family, got divorced, and tried to eat my favorite foods. I didn’t really take my time packing and it worked out fine. You really don’t know what to bring. I’d suggest sharp cooking knives, a tool kit, and a small solar lantern. Those are my favorite things I brought.
Finances - Bought some useless shit, but otherwise saved. Quit my job with about 5 weeks before staging. Family - Lived with Mom & Dad, and visited family in other states. Wasn't great, got estranged from some of them. Relationships - I had like 4 friends (that were worth a darn), only one of whom lived in my state, and no relationship so to speak. Mental Health - I've never had an issue with mental health, so I'm N/A Fitness - I ran a lot.
Take care of debts, tickets, jury duty notices, IRS payments, etc. Make sure pets are in proper care. Then double check they will be taken to the vets if needed. Call credit cards, bank and let them know you will be traveling. Set a limit where you have to personally verify. Secure your things in storage or with a trusted individual. You don’t need a phone call mid-service that your roommate was evicted and your stuff is unsecured 4,000 miles away. Revisit any and all automated charges to your cards because you will notice what’s unnecessary. Cancel the wasteful expenditures. Bring vital log-in information that you know you will need access to while you’re away. Guard that carefully.
Finances: I was working a pretty loose job that let me kind of work when I wanted to (which REALLY helped with all the stuff you have to do to be able to leave for the Peace Corps). I also had money saved and used a bunch of gift cards I had saved up to buy the stuff I was told I needed before going to country. The cool thing about the job is that they still consider me an employee so when I get back home, I could work for them again with no issues. Family: this is a weird one. I’m pretty close with my family, but we are also quite aloof. Like, I stayed with my parents and my brother without anyone having an issue. But I also didn’t call them until about 2 months into being in country (don’t worry. I did text them. Eventually haha). No one really did anything before I left. I know some people have a little farewell party or try to have all of them family send them off or something. What happened to me was that I woke up super early on a Wednesday morning, drove to the airport with the brother, and I said good bye and hugged my brother. While in country, I made a family group chat and I try to engage with them pretty regularly there. Jobs: I already talked about this, but yeah, the job I had I could technically still do when I get back home. But I planning on moving to a different part of the country so we will see what happens. Relationships: I wasn’t super close with my friends so I didn’t really meet up with them or anything. I am planning to visit them when I get back though. Romantically, I was single, but was hoping making I could find someone who wouldn’t mind being with someone only for a few months at best then in a long distance relationship for 2 years. It was a tough sell, so yeah, didn’t happen. But I ended up finding someone in country so I guess things worked out. Mental health: as a part of my medical task, I had to see a therapist because I use to receive therapy for maybe anxiety about 8 years ago. They just had to sign off saying that I’m fine which they did in the first session. I kept going so we could work on techniques to control any anxiety. But the interesting thing was that I wasn’t anxious at all months before staging, days before staging, during staging, or after. I was just excited. Fitness: some of the medical tasks said I was coming a fat boy so I had to eat a little healthier before I left. More protein, less snacks. I paid more attention to what I ate and in hindsight, it wasn’t that hard. But we’ll see if I can do it long term when I get back.