Why Spain, Why Now (Why Not)???…

As many of you can tell, I’m pretty stoked about my forthcoming journey back to Spain–I mean, it’s Spain!!…While many people I know have been very encouraging and supportive of my decision to dive into the expat experience, at times it’s very frustrating to be met with the same sort of questions constantly: “So you don’t want to get your Masters?”, “I thought you didn’t want to teach?”, “Why not take a job over here with good vacation time?”, etc….

…Yeah…

Hence, I’d like to clear the air as to why exactly I’m choosing to teach abroad at this stage in the game…

1) I’m sick of school–At this point in my life, I’m not pressed about going to grad school and getting another piece of sheepskin…I mean, no disrespect to those who are reading this with M.A.’s and Ph.D.’s, but I don’t see the need right now to continue with school and a) go even further into debt, and b) obtain something that’s becoming more and more commonplace (and therefore not as eye-catching or distinctive) amongst my contemporaries in the job market…

2) I don’t want to be “responsible”–O.K., so I’m not implying that I’m this extremely hedonistic, devil-may-care person who shirks her duties–I know that, in this life, there are bills to pay and people to feed (i.e. me)…However, the idea of taking that “conventional” route, with a 40+ hour-a-week job behind a desk in some mindless, soulless monotonous rut, acting as some syncophant to just to make ends meet is not, by my standards, living…

3) I want something more than Greensboro, N.C.–Just a disclaimer: I’m proud to be a North Carolinian, and Greensboro is where some of the people dearest to me here…But after spending 21+ years of my life here, where nothing ever changes and there’s the same cyclical, dysfunctional, stifling personal nonsense, it’s time for something better…something different…a change…Yes–the whole idea of me being an adult, in a foreign country is absolutely petrifying, but I know that, in the end, it’ll be worth it!!…Heck, this BuzzFeed article (and this video) sums up my sentiments pretty accurately!!…

…My affliction…

4) What better opportunity is there??–Admittedly, becoming a teacher is not my ultimate career goal…However, teaching English is pretty much one of the only gigs that I could [legally] do and have the opportunity to live abroad…And let’s get real, here: I’ll get to work for 12 hours a week, getting a pretty sizable stipend, health insurance, and approximately 5 weeks of vacationtime…That’s not a bad deal!!…

5) The time is now–I’m in my 20’s, and as far as I know, I don’t have any children to provide for (jk, Mom)–really, the only other time in my life when I’ll have this few responsibilities and the free reign over my destiny will be retirement, and that’ll be around 50 years from now…I know it’s really cliché, but that whole carpe diem thing is spot on: I’d rather say that I dived in and acchieved my 30 by 30 goal in this stage of my life, than look back at age 75 and think, “I really should have moved to Spain when I was young and abled-bodied”…

In lamen’s terms, there’s a world full of great, big somewheres–and now is the time for me to discover them :-)!!…

Oh, and don’t forget:

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