Dana and Kristin on the road to Doucki during one of many break-downs.
Jeff, me, Kristin, and Dana while hiking in Doucki.
Avoiding the Heat and Choosing a Grad School
By the time our second hot season rolled around, we were counting down the days to our departure using 2 week increments. I spent much of March/April agonising over where to go to grad school and finally made my decision a few days before our COS conference.
11:34 PM 4/1/2002
Hello,
I think Tanja let you know that I had been accepted
to Scripps and to Princeton, and now I've received
official word that I've been accepted to Wash U.
(supposedly, they sent letters to both me and my
parents, but none of them arrived - in any case, there
has been no mail here for the last 1.5 months). I
still have not received word from MIT, but hopefully I
will soon, for better or for worse, because after
April 15, there will be no more email for another
month and a half. I'm off to take a small vacation in
the Fouta Djalon (the "mountainous" part of Guinea)
where it will be a little cooler, instead of the of
the 40 C that it is here. Hopefully, I will not get
stuck anywhere, because there are rumours of an
impending gasoline crisis. We already had one a month
ago and Guinea came to the standstill. Apparently,
it's an attempt to destabilise the country. After the
break, we have our Close of Service conference (which
we think is in Conakry, but we're not sure, since
there has been no mail) and it's back to site for the
last 6 weeks, in a mad dash to finish teaching
everything I am supposed to. In any case, this leaves
me approximately two weeks to decide where I would
like to go to grad school, and I feel completely
incapable of making a decision. I had better go now and prepare to sit
squashed in a bush taxi for the next 10 hours. I hope
you are all well.
Urska
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 09:58:27 -0800
Hi,
How's life? I'm in the midst of trying to decide
where to go to grad school....It
seems every day, I'm leaning to a different one. Who
knows. I have two weeks for inspiration.
Anyway, about this summer. I should be COSing June 28. ... I'm in Labe right now, off to do some more hiking. I met my friend Jeff here, from Brown. We did the same tutoring program-I was a senior, he was a freshman. So now he's doing a semester abroad in Senegal so we met up. He came overland from Dakar - that's two days. crazy. Jeff and I are going to go hiking in Maliville after Doucki, so we're just going to split up [from the rest of the group]. easier that way.
I am so stressed about this whole grad school thing. I'm
probably going to end up flipping coins. by the way,
I've gotten some of your letters. Thanks. They're
great. Unfortunately, I also haven't gotten any mail
in the last 6 weeks, thanks to Peace Corps, who is
hoarding it in Conakry. They just haven't sent anyone
to Kankan since Feb. 14. INsane. I haven't gotten my
February, March, or April newsletters yet. Tomorrow
I'm off to Doucki, but I'll be back in Labe in a
couple of days, and on the 11th, I should be in
conakry for our COS conference. So I will have a bit
of email access. So nice. Anyway, take care.
Urska
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 03:51:19 -0700 (PDT)
..... My brain is frazzled. I spent the last four days in bush taxis, going to and from places. Hiking was really nice. Kristin and Dana only stayed a day after they did the big hike, Jeff and I stayed a day longer, and then we went up to Mali-ville, which is also really pretty. Jeff was pretty easy-going so he was easy to travel with, which is good. We didn't know each other that well at Brown, it's more because he was in Senegal, that he came.
Right now, I'm trying to see if I can take a trip to Ghana in June. I asked George for permission, which he gave, until I mentioned that I have no vacation days left. Why do I do such stupid things? I should have said nothing, and just gone, they can't do anything to me now. Now he's thinking about it. I'm hoping for the best, since he is leaving and I do feel I have been a "good" volunteer. Problem is, we need to work out visas as soon as possible (such a pain). I have a feeling he will say no. The vacation day issue is a big problem. We can buy them, for all of $4 a day, which I have no problem with, but he doesn't like us to do that. On the other hand, he's leaving for good in July, so he doesn't have to worry about setting a precedent. the only reason I want to go is to visit my friend who is there with VSO-another volunteer program. Oh well.
Anyway, I need to go into town to buy my plane
ticket home-June 28. Yea!!!!!
Urska
