Really Done!/ A Peace Corps Birthday

All of the paper work has gone off to the office in DC!!! The office should be receiving everything on Tuesday, and I have already written to my medical contact officer to check and see what I should be doing at this point other than waiting. Hoping to hear back from him today, and I will post whatever he sends. I guess I just wait now. I have read that only 15% of people get through their medical clearance on the first go around, but I am hoping since I requested the extra paper work before I sent anything in, and because I sent in annoying amounts of records, that maybe I won't have to fill anything else out. Fingers crossed the next thing I get in the mail should be my invitation.

On a more birthday note, I turned 22! The day was very much relaxed since I had just traveled back from Philly where the Dad Vail Regatta is held every year with the MSU Rowing team. On Monday night I went back to Ann Arbor after work to spend some time with my family and they woke me up on Tuesday in traditional Swedish birthday style. The Swedes like to wake people up super early with cake and gifts in bed, and our family has been doing this since I was little, so it was really nice to come home and have that moment with them.

Pretty much everything on my birthday list was very "Peace Corpsy" so I received: a leatherman handy tool, full swiss army knife, eye glass repair kit, two books and a short wave radio. I also got a really beautiful necklace from my Mom that has a compass rose charm and then small beads in the birth stone colors of each of my family members. She gave one to my sister as well, and said it was to help guide us home when we were far away (my sister is going to college in a different state next year.)

I may have become a bit weepy...a little bit. I'm going to miss my family so much, and I think the only way I'm going to over come that is knowing that their love for me isn't confined to our house, and in fact can stretch over oceans. I love my family more than anything, and I am so blessed to have each one of them.

Love,
Claire