I've been pleasantly surprised at the end of this all...amused by the nostalgia & fondness for everything here that's setting in. I've only got about 53.4 hours left in the country (not that i'm counting) and while I'm ready to get back to Dublin and haven't had a life-changing experience or anything, I'm glad I got to come back. I'm glad I got to have a bit of a different experience here. When prompted the other day to rate the experience on a scale of 1 to 10, I gave it a 6...not because it'd been anything particularly bad, but nothing spectacular. And compared to some times in the previous year, of trips to Portugal, Spain, France & even running around Dublin with some of my US friends, it just wasn't as great...(yeah, admittedly, i really like life right now, it's not so rough) I don't think there's anything wrong with looking critically at what I've gotten out of this, maybe even negatively as long as I appreciate the good parts, and those were here too!
There were definitely some sunsets under the avocado tree that made me glad I came and made me realize how much I appreciate the change of scenery and some elements of the life here.
My placement wasn't the internship I hoped for, but I feel good about the work I did and what I had to do to get it done. I didn't get to see anywhere I hadn't before, no safaris, gorillas or rainforests, but I'm pretty confident that I'm gonna be back in Rwanda sometime, and further, with more money to really enjoy those things and do them the posh, muzungu way, while still retaining some of the Peace Corps perspective that I'm unlikely ever to completely lose. And I'm glad of that cause I do think it's unique. The other weekend at a barge party on Lake Kivu (the first of its kind) I met up with some fellow RPCVs from Burkina Faso and the list of experiences and expectations was so similar you'd think we'd all been in the same places doing the same things.
As I look for internships for this upcoming year in Dublin I'm having to encapsulate my experience into a CV-enhancing, super-active, professional, awesome thing. In doing so and in creating my presentation of my "research findings," I am able to appreciate what I've gotten out of all this, but I've also come to remind myself of what else (and how much else) there's still for me to do in my life quest! Bring it on....Round 2? 3? i might've lost count...i'm okay with that.
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