When one decides to move abroad, a plan is usually in place. However, sometimes life runs a lot more smoothly without one. Yes, this is coming from an incredibly Type A person, but I can now say from personal experience the saying “He who fails to plan, plans to fail” is not always true. Amy Kirkcaldy, a student who embarked on her own foreign journey to teach English abroad says that the most important lesson she learned abroad was to stop worrying about planning every detail. “College gives the illusion of freedom, but it is really a structured and sheltered environment. It is hard to break free from the idea that one needs to plan the rest of his or her life before graduation.”
However, if you do break free from the A-typical mold, the common steps of moving abroad usually include:
- Travel to destination √
- Find a place to live √
- Secure employment …
- Balance your budget
- Live day to day
- Relax and play a little
Step one has already proved to be a detour waiting to happen.
When leaving Germany for Barcelona on an 18 hour train ride turned into a 24 hour BUS ride, I am confident that even the best of plans do not always ensure success. We had secured a sleeper car with reserved seats and all the amenities for this overnight adventure, however an unexpected detour of our train being completely CANCELED from Zürich, Switzerland to Barcelona forced us to trade our tickets in for a 14 hour bus ride. Hence, plans made in advance do not always determine a “failure” or not.
Once we eventually arrived on this cramped bus, we were onto Step #2: apartment hunting. I will not go too much into this, but it is the understatement of the century to say searching for a place to live in this city knowing NO ONE was the week from Hell. Searching Spain’s version of Craigslist did not prove any more safer or reliable than the United States’ version. Let’s just say the apartments were either really nice in super dangerous parts of Barcelona, or really small and dirty in the nice parts of town. OR multi-family housing in two bedroom flats. After no food, no rest, and lots of determination and running about on the metro, we found an excellent apartment in the center of Barcelona near Gaudi’s famous La Sagrada Familia, with 3 other roommates our age. This was achieved 3 days ago. Whew!
I am currently in the process of completing Step #3, however this is the detour I expect to find the most trouble with (and take the longest). Teaching English in schools abroad most often requires a TEFL or TESL certificate, which I do not have the funding, or time for. So I plan to market my skills as a private tutor, nanny or even in alternate industries, such as tourism and hotels?
I dropped off a resume today at a local bike tour company to be a guide, so we will see where the wind takes me (this week that is).
2 responses so far ↓
Rmss // February 7, 2009 at 8:23 pm |
Yeah, normally TEFL is required to teach. That’s why I’ll try to get my hands on that first before permanently moving to Spain.
Sorry to say; but it could be difficult to get a job that pays enough. Spain is in a DEEP recession, and there aren’t even enough jobs for Spaniards.
Ramses // February 7, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
Hm, that was me on my old account
And oh, I booked my bus trip yesterday. I really hate flying with all the security nowadays. Besides, going by bus is a lot cheaper for me.