First of all, I should set some context for those of you who stumble upon here. I am a 23-year-old recent graduate from Valparaiso University. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Humanities. If you try to tell me that it's a useless degree, I will disagree because I have to. And also because it does leave your options open; there are a lot of different directions career-wise that you could go; they just all require some creativity. This is an issue for another day, as I could argue the merits and drawbacks of graduating with an arts degree for ages.
Anyway, I exited university armed with my degree, an internship for Conan O'Brien in Los Angeles, and a semester abroad at the University of Otago in Dunedin New Zealand (for all the exciting details about the best six months of my life, see the sidebar to your right, and click on "IFSA-Butler New Zealand Blog"). And thus I began (along with thousands of my peers in the class of 2013) the tedious process of applying for nearly every job that I was even remotely qualified for (and some that I wasn't).
I received a few offers; one as an English teacher in Beijing, a teacher in Florida, and various dull, marketing and sales positions that I could have been hired for without a college degree. And many, many rejections. However, since all but one rejection was based solely off of my resume, I didn't take most of it too personally.
And then there was one rejection that I DID take personally. A certain company (which shall remain nameless, for the moment...) put me through a string of personality tests and writing samples and phone interviews before finally inviting me to an on-site interview, complete with more personality tests, writing samples, and discussions with various members within the company. The position was as a technical writer for a software company; far from ideal, but at least it was writing and there were some nice benefits and a good paycheck accompanying it. I thought I had it; all the interviews went well, and I know that I am a talented writer. I even went so far as to start looking at apartments in the area and looking into buying a car. I succeeded in really convincing myself that this was what I wanted; the beginnings of a solid career in something and a settled life. I had already done New Zealand and Los Angeles; two amazing opportunities that most people will never experience in their lives. I thought it was time for me to behave and act like a responsible human being.
For better or worse, there was another plan in the cards for me. At the very end of the interview process, I was discarded along with countless other applicants. It came as a huge shock; I was back to square one. The settled life that I had been painting vanished before my eyes, and in a fit of rage, I began applying for jobs all over the world.
But everything happens for a reason. The night before I received the pitying phone call where I was told that the company was "moving forward with other applicants," I had been watching Midnight in Paris and felt a pang of regret that there was no way that I would be doing a tour of Europe (or any other foreign country) anytime in the foreseeable future. Two weeks of freedom from work goes fast in the adult world. I applied for all sorts of jobs, but the ones that ended up biting were from families looking for an educated au pair (basically, a live-in nanny) for their children.
And so it ended up that I accepted a position with a family in Stuttgart, Germany. To the surprise of everyone (including myself), I am forsaking a job in the real world and the beginnings of a career for a sort of sabbatical in Europe.
To be fair, it's not an entirely selfish and irrational move though. One of my potential career aspirations (aside from becoming the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, of course...) is to work in International Education and/or a study abroad program so I can help more students to have that same life-changing experience that I was lucky enough to have in New Zealand.
Here's to hoping that Germany offers some of the same benefits! I'm less nervous about this than I was before New Zealand, but I actually think that this may be more challenging in some respects. The language barrier and the lack of a built-in peer group to begin with may make my social life rather absent to begin with at first, but I am looking forward to rising tot he challenge. After all, I'm going to Europe. The entire world is at my feet and I cannot wait to see what's in store next.
Below is my one and only tattoo...apparently it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bonus points for whomever knows where the quite comes from...
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