Post-Graduation Plans

What are you doing after graduation?

Most college grads dread this question. The two prevalent answers are—working or searching for work. When people ask me my plans, I sheepishly tell them I’m spending a year traveling.

A few months ago I luckily received job offers from Teach For America and Teach For China. Because I thought it was the obvious next step in my life, I was eager to jump into work immediately following graduation. However, my parents suggested I spend a year abroad traveling, and my sister, rightfully so, told me I would be an idiot if I didn’t take this opportunity. At first, I was reluctant to turn down two job offers while my friends struggled to find work. My family reassured me that other job offers would come along and now is a great time for me to travel. I don’t have anything tying me down, and I may never have this amount of freedom and flexibility again. Fortunately, Teach For America allowed me to defer my offer for a year to join the 2013 corps.

How do you make travel arrangements for a year of traveling? If you had a year to travel, what would you do? Where would you go?

I was overwhelmed by the possibilities. I know that is a lame excuse and an awesome problem to have. During the school semester, I blamed being busy with classes and rowing for not planning my trip. While in school, I felt I always had to be doing something or working on something to not get behind. I told myself that as soon as I graduated I would start to plan. Lies. After graduation I spent several days doing absolutely nothing. It was liberating to not have “to-do lists” and to see nothing on my Google calendar. 

In May, I finally booked a one-way ticket to Berlin. When I was working in The Hague last summer, I was bummed that I never made it to Germany. When my friend told me she would be working in Berlin until July, I saw it as a perfect opportunity to visit. It also helped that months ago she scored two tickets to watch both beach volleyball and tennis at the Olympics. Although at that time I didn’t have any plan or idea how I would get there, I told her I would meet her at the Olympics. If a friend is willing to take you to the Olympics with them, take them up on the offer. Who can turn down tickets to the Olympics? When I tell people about the events I’m going to, they typically ask who I’ll be watching. I have no idea, and I don’t really care. I’m going to watch the Olympics! I am actually writing this in the London Heathrow Airport right now waiting for my next flight. There are many Olympians (or people decked out in Olympics swag) wandering around. We will be back in a week!

About three weeks ago, I started booking more tickets. First, I booked a one-way flight to London. When I was in London last year, I would have never imagined I would be back this soon. We are flying in on the day of the opening ceremony. Crazy. A couple days later I booked a flight to Madrid and a flight from Barcelona to Hong Kong. I haven’t decided where I am going after Hong Kong, but I will have to make my way to Nanjing by the end of August. I am going to study Chinese language and culture at Nanjing University.

The original plan was to meet my family in Argentina for winter break, but my sister says the ticket prices are steep. So, I don’t know where I will be after the completion of my program in December. I have never visited South America and would love to spend time there. 

I am also interested in spending time in Central America. Several years ago my family joined a tour group in Costa Rica. Our tour guide told us about the country’s turtle conservation efforts, and he mentioned that he has known tourists to come back to volunteer. Going back to that beautiful country to work with turtles has always been in the back of my mind. I am planning on spending my last few months in Costa Rica before I head back to the states. I will have to make my way back to the U.S. in May to prepare for Teach For America training which starts around June. 

I don’t have many concrete plans or ideas, so I would love to hear from you if you have advice or travel tips. I would also like a less cheesy name for this blog if you can think of one. I would love to hear from y’all!

P.S. I feel kind of awkward about this but I put a PayPal donate button on the right hand side. My friend suggested that I set up a way for people to donate to my adventures if they care to.