Yeaaaaaa it's coming down

Where to even begin? College graduation is in a mere 18 days away and my life is about to undergo the most tremendous change I could ever imagine. Since beginning kindergarten some 17 years ago (1990), I've always looked forward to the end of the school year and the beginning of summer break. Life was simple; I always had the fall to look forward to when I would return to school. Yes, there were changes in schools, and some as big as entering high school or even going off to live the college life. I always knew I would be attending classes come fall, but now that is no longer inevitable. For the last four years I have lived and breathed college. Friends have come and gone, classes have filled my head with incomprehensible amounts of knowledge, I traveled Europe and studied in Madrid for 5 months, and I've rocked out the fraternity life back in Syracuse. My time at 'Cuse has been amazing and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've realized that, although it is cliche, nothing lasts forever. It has taken a lot of soul searching, but I think I am finally ready to move on. College has been one hell of a milestone in my life, but the next holds so much more for me.
In 22 days I will be heading off to Peru with my father for 10 days in search of a South American adventure. We've booked hostels in Lima and Cuzco, as well as a 4-day hike where we'll be camping along the Quarry Trail en route to Machu Picchu to explore the ancient ruins. I am so pumped for this and cannot wait to share the experience with him.
But the real big news is that in 49 days I will begin my "staging" for the Peace Corps and in 51 days I will fly to Tanzania where I start my training and work as a Village-Based Extension Facilitator for the next 27 months of my life. Tentatively, I will be returning in August 2009! Seeing it in text, it seems so far away! On the other hand, I remember looking at my year book in 5th grade and seeing class of 2003 written on the front. 2003 seemed like it would never come back in 1995. Now, that time period appears just to be another drop in the bucket. 2009... Bring it! I ask myself daily, "Am I seriously doing this???" The answer is always, "Hell yea!" I am going on an adventure... no one gets to go on adventures anymore. For the most part, my friends from college will all be making good salaries out of college, but they will be confined to teaching, accounting and business jobs or going onto further education. I am not ready for that. What would my answer be if I was taking a job working behind a desk in an 8'X8' cubicle and asked myself daily, "Am I seriously doing this???" If you guessed "Hell yea!" then you'd be completely wrong. I can't settle down at this point in my life. Put me in a mud hut! Tell me to grow my own food! Give me a task to help out a village in a developing country! I want to learn through this experience!
I couldn't be luckier having received an invitation to volunteer in Tanzania. When I found out that I would be serving in Africa, I was nervous that the Peace Corps would send me to a country located somewhere in the Sahara Desert. I did not want to live in a desert where water, the essence of life, is extremely scarce. Apparently, someone must like me! I'm being sent to real-life "Lion King" country! Tanzania is surrounded by Africa's largest animal reserve and is home to the Serengeti Plains, Mt. Kilimanjaro, borders Lake Victoria, and is situated on the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean. Almost any animal you can associate with an African safari lives in Tanzania... Elephants, lions, flamingos, crocodile, wildebeests, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, etc.... the list just goes on! I really just have to worry about the tennis ball size tarantulas and poisonous snakes. I'm definitely going to keep my mosquito net pulled tight around my bed at all times!
There is this excitement for my future growing in my eahc and every day. Although I love college and everything it stands for, I am ready to move on to the next stage of my life. I want to see what else is out there. What Africa has in store for me is a big mystery. At this point, I know that I will live and work in a rural village in Tanzania. My work will be focused on agriculture and forestry, including sustainable development farming, environmental protection, and HIV/AIDS awareness. I will learn Swahili (Kiswahili), live at the same level (economically and socially) as the villagers, and learn things about the world and myself along the way. I am nervous to leave my family, friends, and everything I know behind for such an extended amount of time, but I know these are natural feelings. I'd be afraid if I wasn't nervous to leave everything. For the time being, I mind as well get my fill of American culture and do the things I enjoy with my family and friends because my future is taking me along a route that is unimaginable to most. I can barely even believe I am doing it! Still, I can't wait to see what is in store for me over the next 27+ months. Rock and roll.