Peace Corps offers opportunity for service and a variety of experiences

During a presidential speech at the University of Michigan in 1960, John F. Kennedy asked a group of 10,000 students if they wanted a challenge. He asked how many of them would be willing to serve their country and promote peace by working and living in a developing country.\nThe response was overwhelming. \nKennedy's vision became the Peace Corps, a 27-month service commitment, and prospective volunteers must meet certain education and work experience requirements. During an interview, the applicant must be prepared to answer questions about life experiences, community involvement, volunteer work, motivations, and hobbies, according to the Peace Corps Web site.\nServing 135 countries, the organization offers a variety of service experiences. Currently, 53 IU graduates serve in the Peace Corps. The volunteer is placed in a country tailored to their skills and personality. Recruiters search for people with an interest in education, business, environment, agriculture, health or community development.\nBefore their adventure begino, volunteers tend to be concerned about housing, language, and safety. The Web site states that a person should be prepared to live alone, stay with another volunteer or a host family. Prior to service, a volunteer is educated about the new language and culture during a three-month training.\nJulie Roemele, a graduate student and former Peace Corps volunteer, was serving in Bulgaria, while the U.S. and NATO bombed Serbia.\n"It was quite scary at times, especially when some of my fellow volunteers saw tanks going through their town and heard bombs dropping," Roemele said.\nAccording to former volunteers, leaving the comfort of home requires dedication. Before jumping on a plane to Bulgaria, "one should remember that Peace Corps is a two-year commitment, it's not a vacation," Roemele said.\nOn some days, volunteers found themselves wandering around the village, feeling isolated, alone, and homesick. \nBrandon Booth, a graduate student who served in Samoa, possessed a hankering for Mexican food; Greg Renda, a former volunteer who served in El Salvador, longed for live music and concerts; Willy Volk, another volunteer, missed girls in bikinis.\nAlthough when working for the Peace Corps all volunteers seemed to miss their American way of life, now that they are back in America they miss their time abroad. Volk recalled the day he purchased a goat for $8 which fed a family of 12 for two days. Caryn Muellerleile, a graduate student, remembers the excitement of the U.S.-Lithuanian basketball game for the gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics. Roemele reminisces about attending a wedding, drinking rakia (Bulgarian brandy) and dancing the hora.\nThe volunteers overcame a variety of obstacles. Roemele's greatest challenge was learning the language, Renda learned to live without electricity and running water, and Volk battled diarrhea for three months.\nAfter the volunteers returned home, their outlook on life changed. \n"I learned I am more resilient than I thought I was. I have more of an eye on the international scene," graduate student Jennifer Knoeber said.\nMuellerleile said during the absence, all volunteers miss out on what is going on at home. The letters from friends and family cannot be replaced by daily conversations, they are left out of inside jokes and people carried on their lives without them. \n"I feel like I'm still catching up in terms of pop culture and those sorts of things," Muellerleile said. "After awhile, I stopped caring about those things that I missed because what I gained in return by being there was so much more"