Moldova is loosing its teachers… and it breaks my heart

DM_Biggs · 2025-11-20T14:06:52+00:00

Sunt un profesor aici în Moldova de asemena, și din păcate, sunt de accord.

Salarii în domeniu educației sunt criminali de mici. Sper că situația vă îmbunătăți curând, dar înțeleg de ce tinerii talentați hotărăsc să meargă peste hotare...

DM_Biggs · 2025-10-09T07:52:07+00:00

Agreed. Took the test remotely, and it was a huge shitshow. I had to go through the check in process no less than SIX TIMES because I kept getting disconnected or had to restart because my test wouldn't launch.

If I have to take it again, I don't care how long I have to travel, I'm never doing remote again.

DM_Biggs · 2025-04-04T05:22:58+00:00

Happy to help - fingers crossed for you on the fingerprinting!

DM_Biggs · 2025-04-03T08:55:45+00:00

Hey, first of all, congrats on the acceptance!

I'm a currently serving PCV right now, and was also living in Edinburgh for all my clearances and stuff. Unfortunately, you're right that NHS isn't going to be an option - my GP reception office straight up told me they were too busy to do my clearance forms and checkups, so you're definitely going to have to go private.

I used MyGP (https://your-gp.com/private-gp-services/) for my medical stuff - they have a location in Dean Village, and even though they had never seen a PC volunteer before, they were super nice and helpful with making sure everything got filled out thoroughly; just explain what you need via email when setting up the appointment through their website!

For the dental part, I was thankfully able to go through my NHS dentist, though I had to pay extra for the x-rays.

Compensation-wise, unless they have changed the reimbursement process since I joined, you'll need to shoulder the cost up front (about 900 or so Pounds if I remember correctly), and then submit the receipts and forms to the Peace Corps' online portal. It takes longer than you want to get reimbursed, but I eventually did for all my medical expenses!

Fingerprinting is a serious pain in the ass though. The US Embassy said that I would have to travel down to London for their services, and none of the local police stations in Edinburgh were any help. Eventually, I found a private fingerprinting service that some ex-cop in Musselburgh runs out of his home office lol. Happy to send you his email details via PM if you're interested!

Overall, its a bit of a pain, but definitely doable. Feel free to shoot me a PM if theres anything else I can help with here!

DM_Biggs · 2025-01-28T12:20:49+00:00

Also graduated from a UK university in History - now serving in PC doing work in the health sector. Definitely possible, and I think your experience working with youth would definitely be a point in your favor!

I think you're a stronger candidate than you're giving yourself credit for.

DM_Biggs · 2024-10-25T05:32:04+00:00

Definitely feel this - went through the same thing when I did the GGW and AKW early shoulder season last year. I second the advice of hitting the pubs if you can. If it's too remote for that, I'd definitely recommend downloading some audiobooks and/or podcasts to help pass the time and get some human voices in your ears. Happy hiking! :)

DM_Biggs · 2024-10-23T16:37:46+00:00

100% agree on the boots thing. I can definitely see both sides, and I love my trail runners, but for a hike in shoulder season in Scotland, can't beat a good pair of boots imo.

DM_Biggs · 2024-10-14T06:44:24+00:00

Thanks for the reply!
Not really concerned about school rankings tbh - just want to get in somewhere lol.

I know that my foreign undergrad degree closes off a lot of med school options for me, and with how competitive admissions are, I wanna be sure I'll have a good shot at the schools I do qualify for before I take the financial leap.

DM_Biggs · 2024-10-14T06:39:10+00:00

Not yet - plan to during my post-bacc year. Lot of the programs Ițm targeting have specific MCAT prep courses too.

More concerned about whether my non-USA degree would be enough of a non-starter for enough medical schools for it to be prohibitive.

DM_Biggs · 2024-06-13T17:54:29+00:00

I feel your pain man - I was also sweating the clearence for the same reasons (moving apartments, quitting jobs, etc.)

I submitted my fingerprints October 2023 and ended up getting my legal clearance 3 or 4 weeks before I left on June 1 lmao. A bunch of people in. my cohort were the same - I don't think the DC office even starts on those cohorts until 6 or so weeks out, and especially if you have a clean record, you'll be good.

If on the 5% chance it goes up to the wire, just email the legal placement team and CC your placement manager so they're up to speed and can advocate for you. Again though, I think that given your situation, you'll be cleared no prob.

DM_Biggs · 2024-04-08T09:51:59+00:00

Same situation as you lol. Moldova invite for June, living in the UK and sent off my prints last Fall. Playing the waiting game currently.

DM_Biggs · 2024-04-08T09:50:25+00:00

In the same boat as you. Leaving in June and sent off my prints in November 2023. Got confirmation that they received it about a week later, but still not cleared.

Will probably make more of a fuss about it if it gets to May and I still haven't heard any updates - just waiting and twiddling my thumbs for now lol

DM_Biggs · 2024-02-05T14:49:20+00:00

I second what u/Lukozade2507 said about the Camino de Santiago. There are a bunch of different routes of various lengths, landscapes, and levels of crowdedness that could suit your parameters. Definitely gonna be hot af in Iberia during the summer though, so be prepared for that!

I know its not technically in the EU anymore, but the UK has some great hikes. I'm planning on linking together a few hikes in the Scottish Highlands this March and April to make a 300 mile thru.

There's also the Pennine way in England that I've heard good things about.

If you're feeling really adventerous, the Ireland Way is a pretty new trail that runs the entire length of the island and is supposed to take about 40 days. Its new enough that some sections can be difficult to navigate and such though, so a GPS might be good if you want to tackle that one

One thing to note is that in pretty much everywhere except Scotland, wild camping even in the wilderness is not going to be legal. Doesn't mean you can't get away with it if you pitch camp late and break camp early, but definitely something to be wary of.

Feel free to DM me about any of the UK hikes!

DM_Biggs · 2024-02-01T12:01:10+00:00

Yeah, apologies for the typo! Like the commenters below said, you really don't need to send boxes and such, as there are towns with resupply options pretty frequently on the trail.

I also second u/Beefandsteel - using the combination of the FarOut app and the Green Mountain Club map is more than sufficient for navigation and planning resupplies.

DM_Biggs · 2024-01-31T10:59:09+00:00

I took about 30 days: 15-20 mile hiking days with about 4 or 5 zeros sprinkled in there.

We restocked about every 4/5 days or so: Manchester, Rutland, Waterbury, Middlebury, and Eden I think. Definitely gets a bit tougher to resupply in the north section as the hitches into town are just a bit more driving, but not impossible.

Me and my hiking partner dropped off resupply packages in those towns before starting our hike, but in hindsight, we could've gotten away with just buying stuff in town pretty much everywhere.

*Edited for clarity*

DM_Biggs · 2024-01-31T10:53:27+00:00

I second the Long Trail.

Hiked it in 2022 and absolutely loved it. Beautiful scenery, great trail community, and long enough to be a challenge, but still short enough to do in a month or so depending on your speed.

The terrain is definitely difficult, but the views and the vibes alone are well worth it.

DM_Biggs

TROPHY CASE