Peace Corps?

I have been pondering joining the Peace Corps. These are my reasons:

1) I have such a bitter outlook on life, that perhaps seeing people live in shit would make me more grateful.

2) I am either going to study Nutrition or Alternative Medicine in college and knowledge in either of these fields would be very helpful in a third world country. Especially Nutrition, because I could help malnourished children.

3) It would be a free adventure. I have always wanted to go to Africa or Romania, or South America (all have corps volunteers) and this would be my way to get there. I would get to help others and see a place I have longed to see and probably wouldn't see unless I joined the Corps.

My mother doesn't want me to do it. She worries that I'll contract a disease or get hurt while in some decrepit nation. These are understandable fears but by the time that I joined (age 22 or so) she wouldn't be able to stop me. The thing is, I just don't want to go through life never having done something extreme and huge. The Peace Corps could be my extreme adventure. I see it as a win-win situation. People's lives are bettered by my volunteering, and I am personally bettered by just being there and seeing what they go through and knowing that I helped them.