Happy trails . . .
Hey kiddos,
Guess who's finally back in LJ Land. Ohhhh yeah. That's right. It's me.
Well, I've gotta say (and it's no big surprise), this could probably be my last update ever . . . or at least for a quite a long time.
As you may or may not remember, I graduated from UGA a little over a month ago. That's right, I'm supposedly an "adult" or something like that. So they say. When all was said and done I was able to squeeze out a BA in Spanish, an ABJ in advertising, and a minor in Portuguese. (Ha, although I'm a little rusty on the Portuguese at the moment, as proven by my conversations during the Brazil-Japan match today with all the Brazilians. But no worries, it should re-improve soon. . . .)
It's been quite an odd experience, graduating and all. It's certainly far different from graduating high school when everyone had something to look forward to. I'm going to college here, you're going to college there. What are you going to major in? I don't know, but I can't wait to get there!
College graduation is much different, yessiree. So what are you doing after graduation? Oh, actually I'm not graduating . . . I still have at least another semester left, maybe two. Oh, well, another football season, right? Yeah. So what are you doing after graduation then? I have no idea. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. I might go back to my parents while I try to find a job but I might go travel for a bit. I really don't know.
Friends slowly disappear from the radar, moving all over the country, getting jobs at big corporate companies, still just hoping for job interviews. My house is slowly emptying. We're now down to three out of six roommates left (soon to be two out of six by Saturday). How adventurous are we though? Check this out:
Matt: hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington) with Paul
Paul: hiking the PCT with Matt
Dave: just started a job as consultant in San Francisco (lame, the job, not the city)
Derick: traveling around Vietnam for 5 weeks, starting Monday
Brett: leaves for 27-month stint with Peace Corps in Nicaragua, starting at the end of August
Me: traveling through/moving to Brazil/South America in 3-1/2 weeks
Yes, it's true. I know I've talked about it a good bit before, but it's finally coming to fruition; I've got my plane ticket, visa, pack, and everything.
I'm leaving the evening of July 17th for São Paulo, Brazil. My plan is to not have much of one. I'll be spending the first two or three weeks traveling north from São Paulo seeing the cities of Ouro Prêto, Salvador, Lençóis, Maceió, and possibly Fortaleza or Manáus. After that, I'll likely return to one of those cities--whichever one I really liked and has job opportunities--to try to find a job teaching English at a language school. Other than that though, there isn't much more to my plan. I've basically just got a pack of clothes and books and a plane ticket. From there, we'll just see what happens. I hope to spend 6 months to a year in Brazil doing that. Then, I'll move on to Argentina, find work there. Then, after a while, do the same in Chile, and so on. So, the door's wide open. Who knows what'll happen.
I was originally doing this solo, but it now seems like my friend Laura may be joining me for the initially 2-3-week travel leg of my journey. From there though, I'm on my own, to find a job, a place to live, to survive everything. It should be quite an adventure.
So, as you can see, I probably won't be using my LiveJournal too much anymore. However, I will try to update my Travel Blog with entries about my life, pictures, and more. You can find it at: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MonkeyBoy/. It should be the best way to keep in touch and let everyone know what's going on with my life. Also, if you'd like to be added to the subscribder's list, let me know. I can add you, and that way you'll be sent a little e-mail everytime I've updated my blog (because it probably will be somewhat infrequent).
There's so much lying ahead of me. I'm excited/scared/nervous/unsure/ecstatic/clueless . . . but that's what makes it great. I just want to soak this in. It's not the best feeling in the world, to be honest. This whole thing has already been very tough, and it hasn't even begun yet. But at the same time, it's a moment to test who I am. If I can do this, I can do anything.
So, to all my friends I've made over the years, I say thank you and God bless you. I hope we see each other again sometime soon. And seriously, if you'd ever like to see Brazil or South America, please let me know. I'd love to show you around. Take care, everyone.
Love,
Andy
Guess who's finally back in LJ Land. Ohhhh yeah. That's right. It's me.
Well, I've gotta say (and it's no big surprise), this could probably be my last update ever . . . or at least for a quite a long time.
As you may or may not remember, I graduated from UGA a little over a month ago. That's right, I'm supposedly an "adult" or something like that. So they say. When all was said and done I was able to squeeze out a BA in Spanish, an ABJ in advertising, and a minor in Portuguese. (Ha, although I'm a little rusty on the Portuguese at the moment, as proven by my conversations during the Brazil-Japan match today with all the Brazilians. But no worries, it should re-improve soon. . . .)
It's been quite an odd experience, graduating and all. It's certainly far different from graduating high school when everyone had something to look forward to. I'm going to college here, you're going to college there. What are you going to major in? I don't know, but I can't wait to get there!
College graduation is much different, yessiree. So what are you doing after graduation? Oh, actually I'm not graduating . . . I still have at least another semester left, maybe two. Oh, well, another football season, right? Yeah. So what are you doing after graduation then? I have no idea. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. I might go back to my parents while I try to find a job but I might go travel for a bit. I really don't know.
Friends slowly disappear from the radar, moving all over the country, getting jobs at big corporate companies, still just hoping for job interviews. My house is slowly emptying. We're now down to three out of six roommates left (soon to be two out of six by Saturday). How adventurous are we though? Check this out:
Matt: hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington) with Paul
Paul: hiking the PCT with Matt
Dave: just started a job as consultant in San Francisco (lame, the job, not the city)
Derick: traveling around Vietnam for 5 weeks, starting Monday
Brett: leaves for 27-month stint with Peace Corps in Nicaragua, starting at the end of August
Me: traveling through/moving to Brazil/South America in 3-1/2 weeks
Yes, it's true. I know I've talked about it a good bit before, but it's finally coming to fruition; I've got my plane ticket, visa, pack, and everything.
I'm leaving the evening of July 17th for São Paulo, Brazil. My plan is to not have much of one. I'll be spending the first two or three weeks traveling north from São Paulo seeing the cities of Ouro Prêto, Salvador, Lençóis, Maceió, and possibly Fortaleza or Manáus. After that, I'll likely return to one of those cities--whichever one I really liked and has job opportunities--to try to find a job teaching English at a language school. Other than that though, there isn't much more to my plan. I've basically just got a pack of clothes and books and a plane ticket. From there, we'll just see what happens. I hope to spend 6 months to a year in Brazil doing that. Then, I'll move on to Argentina, find work there. Then, after a while, do the same in Chile, and so on. So, the door's wide open. Who knows what'll happen.
I was originally doing this solo, but it now seems like my friend Laura may be joining me for the initially 2-3-week travel leg of my journey. From there though, I'm on my own, to find a job, a place to live, to survive everything. It should be quite an adventure.
So, as you can see, I probably won't be using my LiveJournal too much anymore. However, I will try to update my Travel Blog with entries about my life, pictures, and more. You can find it at: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MonkeyBoy/. It should be the best way to keep in touch and let everyone know what's going on with my life. Also, if you'd like to be added to the subscribder's list, let me know. I can add you, and that way you'll be sent a little e-mail everytime I've updated my blog (because it probably will be somewhat infrequent).
There's so much lying ahead of me. I'm excited/scared/nervous/unsure/ecstatic/clueless . . . but that's what makes it great. I just want to soak this in. It's not the best feeling in the world, to be honest. This whole thing has already been very tough, and it hasn't even begun yet. But at the same time, it's a moment to test who I am. If I can do this, I can do anything.
So, to all my friends I've made over the years, I say thank you and God bless you. I hope we see each other again sometime soon. And seriously, if you'd ever like to see Brazil or South America, please let me know. I'd love to show you around. Take care, everyone.
Love,
Andy