Spilling the Beans

Today was a first for me. I handed in my resignation letter for the first "real" job I've ever had. Don't get me wrong. I like my job. I work with many great people, have learned a lot, have had opportunities for advancement and I am good at what I do. However, in the three years that I have been working, I realized that life has become quite predictable: get up, go to work, go home, make dinner, relax for an hour or two, go to bed, then do it all again. Since I have nothing to tie me down to my home town, I decided that its time to do something awesome!

With a need for change, I entertained a few ideas. At first, going back to school was not part of the plan. When I finished my Bachelor's degree, I definitely needed to get away from the student life. There was a time that I thought about getting a job abroad. After a previous experience of living in Switzerland for four months during a spring/summer break from school, I knew that I wanted to travel more. However, when the world wide economic crisis hit, I decided that I'd rather not run the risk of being laid-off on the other side of the world.

The next best option at the time was to focus on buying some property. I still had travel in the back of my mind, but planning trips with my 15 days of vacation per year would just have to do. Searching for property kept me entertained at first. When it came down to it, though, I really was quite bored.

I toyed with the idea of pursuing a Masters part time while continuing to work. Then I thought, "What the crap is the point of this?" When I first started working, I could not wait to get away from school and finally have some spare time. If I combined school and work, I'd have no spare time and likely would not travel. That was it... after much deliberation I came to the conclusion that I am really a keener at heart, and I have a bad case of the travel bug.

So here I am. Over the last year I've applied for schools and funding. The hard work paid off. Starting in August, I will be a Masters student for a year in the Netherlands and then a year in Sweden. In this blog I will share anything and everything related to being a student abroad. In the coming weeks before I leave, I will post about the application process and previous travels.

I really have no idea where I will end up, both geographically and professionally. All I know is that I'm ready for my new adventure.