Another blog?

Yes, another blog.  Cormac and I are getting ready to embark on another great adventure: life after grad school!  As many of our friends and family know, and some don’t, I signed a contract with the Foreign Service wayyyy back in 2010.  And now that I’m done with school, they expect me to hold up my end of the bargain.  So, sometime in mid-May, we’ll be packing up our bags and heading to DC for six weeks to a year.   The first six weeks are for A-100, which is a fancy name for “orientation”.  The year long window is used for job specific training and language training, should we need it.

What is the Foreign Service?  It’s the diplomatic service of the United States.  That’s right, we’re going to be a family of diplomats.  Don’t worry, I’ve been practicing all of the important skills, like chewing with my mouth shut, and just keeping my mouth shut in general.  In all seriousness, it’s quite an honor to be able to serve our country and it’s a dream job that’s bigger than I ever imagined for myself growing up.

Wait, what’s that you said about it being Foreign though? After our time in DC, which is basically boot camp for diplomats, we will be heading off to… well somewhere.  We have no idea where we will be serving, and will not know until late June.  On my third day of work, I will receive a “bid list” of all of the job openings for entry level officers in the world.  Cormac and I will then rank all of the openings either high, medium, or low preference and a more senior officer will then assign us to a post (embassy or consulate).  Then during the fifth week of training, there is a “flag day” where all of the new officers receive the flag of the country where they will serve for the next two to three years.

This all sounds pretty crazy.  What have you gotten yourself into??? Agreed! Most days when I think about all of the unknowns of our future life, I start to think it’s crazy, too!  I’ve had more than one bout of intense anxiety thinking about how much is unknown.  I’m a planner!  But then I remember what an honor and great adventure it is to serve in the Foreign Service, and how lucky I am that my husband is on board, and I feel mostly excited (and still a little anxiety).

Whew! When will this ever end? Now! -ish.  So if you’re interested in hearing about our adventure, or want to at least hear where we get posted, stay tuned to our little blog! It’s getting hard for us to remember who we have told what, so we decided this was a great way to spread the message to our friends and family!  You can also sign up for email notifications when we post to the blog, just click the button on the right sidebar.

If you have any questions for us about what/why/how we’re doing this, feel free to post in the comments and we’ll try to answer them in our next post!

And now your reward for getting this far…

Curious monkey in Vietnam, photo taken by Cormac in summer 2012