There comes a time in every man's life when...

Trip Start Jan 28, 2006

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of United States Oswego, New York
Friday, January 27, 2006

Tomorrow I start my adventure at the ever familiar Hancock International Airport. At this point I'm still running through my list of things to do, while trying to gain some sense of what's about to happen. As my list grows shorter, the reality of my situation is becoming more apparent. My thoughts and feelings seem to be swaying between anxious planning and calm composure, with some pure excitement pulsing in between.

Right now it seems like I've made the decision to leave pretty quickly and that's probably because I meant it to be quick... no really, I did. My worst fear up until now has been putting off major, life-altering decisions like this simply because I've reached a comfortable stage in my life. If I didn't push myself to do this now then there's a good chance that this trip would never have happened. I finished my university education in December and now, i figure it's a good time to begin a different kind of education.

For the past couple of months I've had the same conversation 100 times with many (mostly well-meaning) people.
Me: I'm thinking about going overseas to teach English.
Random person: Why would you do that?
Me: I think it will be interesting and fun.
Random person: But don't you need special qualifications for that?
Me: Sure. I'm a native English speaker with a college degree and I'll be taking a 4-week course to be certified.
Random person: Oh. Where will you end up after? How much will you make? Will it be safe? How will you survive if you don't know their language? Who will you talk to? What will you do without a car? Why don't you know the answers to these questions?
Me: I'm not sure but I think I'll survive.

The plan right now (though it's subject to change) is:
1) Fly to Barcelona
2) Share a flat with my old RIT friends Brian and Max
3) Try to pass a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course with the temptations of life in Barcelona all around me
4) At the end of February say goodbye to Brian and Max, my last connections to home, and try to secure a job somewhere... Right now I'm leaning towards Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, or Croatia) but I'm not ruling anything out yet
5) Move to and enjoy life in a strange new land

I'm not really sure how all of this will work out. It'll either be the amazing experience I'm hoping for or it'll all end with me incarcerated in a former Soviet prison camp, somewhere in Eastern Europe. Either way, I'll probably learn something from the experience.

I fly to JFK tomorrow at 11:30am. I then have a nice 5-6 hour layover until my 6:40 flight to Barcelona. There I will meet Brian and Max who will take me to my new home for the next 5 weeks.

My next update will be from Barcelona, Spain. Viva Life!

Oswego hotels

Comments

tabertot on Jan 27, 2006 at 04:08PM

Vienna Sausages and Cheese Curds
I wonder if they will transfer their marketing information on you from price chopper, overseas, just based off your credit card information. I can't imagine that those marketing people would give up on someone with such mind-boggling shopping experiences. I expect that when you do decide to come back, that you have a scar as big as the one left by 100 E Cayuga's rust enwrapped, steel, stair rail of doom. I think I will utilize your blog, to indicate my entwined feet, stuck in this same spot.

-Taber