I guess the technical term for it is being an expatriate. This is kinda long. Go to the end for the abridged version if you're too lazy to read. :headphone
So here's the deal, I'm 24 years old, got a great career, but something's not right. Then the other day it hit me, my best friend and I were drinking a few cold ones and talking about inane random stuff like usual. He told me how lucky I was to be in my position at my age and that, "all you have to do now is sit around until you retire."
WOAH! That scared the crap out of me. Maybe it's my restless nature, but seeing the world is something I've always wanted to do, but I don't want to do it when I'm too old to appreciate new experiences and/or do everything I want to do.
So I got to thinking about it and in doing some research online, I've found that worldwide, particularly in Europe and Asia, there is a huge demand for teachers of English as a foreign language. This seems to be the perfect way to spend three, four, maybe even five years experiencing other cultures, making a decent living doing it, and hey, maybe it would even give me time to finish up my bachelor's degree. I have checked a lot of blogs/forums and have read many positives as well as many negatives about this type of "lifestyle."
I figured I would pose the question in here as M-F is about the only forum I read where your question can get answered without two idiots getting in a fight in your thread (stupid car forums.)
Abridged version: Who has spent a significant amount of time outside of their home country? Why did you leave? What do you regret, or not regret? What did you do while you were 'traveling'? And does anyone have a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) cert. who can offer some specific input on this?
So here's the deal, I'm 24 years old, got a great career, but something's not right. Then the other day it hit me, my best friend and I were drinking a few cold ones and talking about inane random stuff like usual. He told me how lucky I was to be in my position at my age and that, "all you have to do now is sit around until you retire."
WOAH! That scared the crap out of me. Maybe it's my restless nature, but seeing the world is something I've always wanted to do, but I don't want to do it when I'm too old to appreciate new experiences and/or do everything I want to do.
So I got to thinking about it and in doing some research online, I've found that worldwide, particularly in Europe and Asia, there is a huge demand for teachers of English as a foreign language. This seems to be the perfect way to spend three, four, maybe even five years experiencing other cultures, making a decent living doing it, and hey, maybe it would even give me time to finish up my bachelor's degree. I have checked a lot of blogs/forums and have read many positives as well as many negatives about this type of "lifestyle."
I figured I would pose the question in here as M-F is about the only forum I read where your question can get answered without two idiots getting in a fight in your thread (stupid car forums.)
Abridged version: Who has spent a significant amount of time outside of their home country? Why did you leave? What do you regret, or not regret? What did you do while you were 'traveling'? And does anyone have a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) cert. who can offer some specific input on this?