Alex doesn't agree with me, but I see many similarities between departing for Peace Corps and departing for Antarctica. Both involved us flying west to a city where we got on a shuttle bus that took us to hotel and then we spent the next day (or two if your going to Antarctica) in training and then a big bus takes you to the airport many, many hours before your plane leaves and you wait and try to write reflective blog entries.
Beyond that, there's this energy that comes with meeting a bunch of strangers who have been brought together for a common purpose we have all individually chosen.
We are certainly not all here for the same reasons, but there's an underlying feeling of likeness or kinship or something. I felt the same feeling with Antarctica (again, not so sure Alex would agree).
There's a lot more homogeneity with the peace corps group than the antarctica group. We are all (I'm assuming) educated and have been assigned to Vanuatu because of the handful of technical skills Vanuatu has requested. We're not trying to run a city that requires vastness of backgrounds, skills and knowledge as required for the ice.
I think there's more of a social-worky stereotype with the peace corps and less of the escapist mentality that shadows Antarctica.
Whatever the actual reality of similarities between experiences doesn't really matter, it's just fun to think about.
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