Oh the places you'll go...

I am embarking on an amazing adventure this summer, and I am so incredibly excited that it is starting to affect my school work. Who can focus on thesis writing when they are going to live in another country after they graduate??? Not me. Nope.

So, backing it up, a few months ago I was thinking about graduation and what I should do with myself once I finished my bachelor's degree. I knew that I wanted to take a year off before heading to grad school. As much as I love school, I am WAY burnt out right now and I need a break. But what to do with that whole year before going back to higher education?

I thought about working full-time and saving money. It's the responsible choice I suppose. I already have a part-time job which could potentially turn into a full-time position after graduation. But then I thought about it more and realized that whatever job I got would most definitely not be in the field I want, and on top of that I would most likely not make that much and still have to live at home. Now, I love my family, don't get me wrong, but I've been living with them for 22 years. As an independent soul, this has killed me over the years. On top of that, I do not have the same values as my family, which makes home life very complicated and stressful. I don't think I could handle much more of this, especially as an adult with a job.

So I started exploring other options. Ever since I traveled to London (which deserves a whole bunch of other posts on its own!), I've had the worst case of travel bug. I knew I had to get back to Europe as soon as possible. I looked into working abroad programs through my university, but ultimately I would have had to pay first to join the programs, and then pay more for airfare, lodging, living costs, all that fun stuff, on top of having a meager payday. This is just not financially feasible for me right now. But that didn't deter me! I knew there had to be some other way to travel that would actually work for me.

Then I remembered hearing about au pair work. I hadn't seriously considered it before, since I wanted to do "real" work and use my education. But then I realized the value of living with a native family in another country, and I thought that if I could find the right family, the experience would be very much worth it. Plus, it seemed like the easiest way as a young, broke woman to get a full cultural experience in another country. I researched the different options for finding au pair work, picked the option that fit me best, and then actually found an amazing family who I'm really excited to work with.

So in short...I'm moving to Germany!!! I can't believe this is happening, and I am beyond stoked about this entire situation. I'll post more details about how I found my job and what led me to choose Germany later on, but first I wanted to share the good news :)

Now I have to at least pretend that I'm working on my thesis so I can actually graduate and get to Germany. Til next time!