What Kind of Peace Corps Volunteer Are You? A Helpful Personality Quiz.

This quiz was written by Emily, another volunteer in Indonesia, and I simply had to share it!

• When you sat down for your interview with a Peace Corps recruiter, you were most excited to discuss:

1.     The likelihood of getting to meet President Obama.

2.     How much you enjoy serving underdeveloped communities.

3.     Your wide variety of food and medical allergies.

4.     Your plans for stripping back Western life’s cushy amenities.

5.     The Peace Corps countries with the best beaches.

• The first thing you did upon receiving your Invitation to be a Peace Corps Trainee was:

1.     Notify your local newspaper and university alumni network.

2.     Start googling poverty stats in your country of service.

3.     Research poisonous insects and reptiles in your country. Good news, there are 45 kinds of fire ants alone!

4.     Meditate.

5.     Buy the Lonely Planet on your country of service and check out the best adventure vacations.

• During the week before Staging and departure, you:

1.     Hosted a farewell dinner for yourself, with several local public officials in attendance.

2.     Gave most of your worldly possessions to local charities.

3.     Found out Peace Corps lost your medical clearances, and needs you to go get some last minute blood tests.

4.     Finished packing your solitary day pack, complete with one pair of shoes and not a single electronic device.

5.     Got your scuba diving certificate and complete forty hours of sea plane piloting.

• It’s mid-way through Pre-Service Training. You are feeling:

1.     Tired from staying up so late with the village leaders drinking mystery concoctions.

2.     Upset that most host country nationals you meet just want to talk about Justin Bieber, and not raising labor wages. Don’t they know they need help?

3.     Nauseous. Probably should’ve turned down that organ meat delicacy.

4.     Irritated that you have to spend so much time in groups.

5.     On top of the world—literally, you just went on a weekend trip to the highest mountain in the country.

• The worst thing that could happen when you get to your permanent site is:

1.     Not being taken seriously.

2.     Being placed in a community whose greatest need is more reliable wifi.

3.     Getting hit by a motorcycle while trying to community map and then getting mugged by the driver, waking up to a group of large spiders on the inside of your mosquito net, malaria… the list is endless.

4.     Home Stay

5.     Really, nothing can bother you. You’re in a foreign country on PC dime. There is no downside.

Mostly 1s: The Resume Builder

PCVs aren’t granola crunchy hippies anymore. You’re a shrewd Type-A who knows that being an RPCV provides an impressive name drop for interviews, builds connections, and offers a killer Masters Fellowship program. You’re here to complete your service efficiently, with hopefully several successful community projects in your portfolio you can present to future employers. Making friends with other PCVs is important, because who knows who they might be related to back home! You probably text with your Country Director frequently.

Mostly 2s: The White Knight

Sometimes you cry during that infomercial for the Humane Society. You know, the one with the Sara McLachlan song? You’re a bleeding heart idealist who probably starts ranting about societal injustice after a drink or two at the bar. You are a Peace Corps volunteer because you want to HELP PEOPLE, because they are LESS FORTUNATE.  You may feel a lot of American Liberal Guilt when strangers ask to take your picture, praise your few broken sentences of host country language in smooth English, or ask you how much your DSLR camera costs. Never ride a becak, you will hate yourself.

Mostly 3s: The Poor Sap

A special kind of PCV… you could have any reason for being a volunteer, but it doesn’t change the fact that the universe is conspiring against you. Improbably bad circumstances seem to find you, no matter how well you try to assimilate. It is a given that you will get sick—repeatedly—with little hope of ever adjusting to the weather, cuisine, or customs. Don’t even think about brushing your teeth with unbottled water. If you were a motivational poster, you would be a kitten desperately clutching a branch- Hang in There!

Mostly 4s: The Walden Pond-erer

You’re trying to set sail from safe harbors, suck the marrow from the bones, and some other Transcendentalist quotes. Peace Corps is about self-improvement and living without all the complications back home, like YouTube. You want to blend seamlessly into a new culture without any American luxuries like blogging and iPods. You pictured service as a chance to ponder human nature, ideally alone on a quiet mountain top, feeling the wind against your Tevas. You kind of resent Peace Corps for requiring you to own a cell phone.

Mostly 5s: The Wave Chaser

Peace Corps is, in your opinion, a two year vacation punctuated by some work. You were very specific in your site placement interview that it should be near an international airport. You’re probably assigned to an unstructured field like Community Development (the Communication Studies of Peace Corps, perhaps?). Your training village mates voted you as Most Likely to Get Sent Home for Riding a Motorcycle. Be that as it may, you’re probably having the best time of all the volunteers, and definitely the best tan.

all meant in love. I mean, who doesn’t cry at that freaking Humane Society commercial?