My time in Switzerland, and Europe in general, is quickly coming to an end (for now) and I'm not ready to return to the States to live permanently - it's just too... permanent... and doesn't involve enough travel. After lots of thought, I've decided to get certified to teach English as Foreign Language to adults. This seems like a good career path that will combine my passion for traveling and meeting new people with some form of income.
I found a couple of schools that offer the CELTA course (a Cambridge certification that is highly looked-upon by English schools worldwide). There is a school in Hawaii, and also one in New Zealand. Both seem like ideal places to live for a bit, but New Zealand will be a lot less expensive thanks to the exchange rate (right now about 70 cents US will buy $1 NZ). Because of this, I applied to the school in Auckland, New Zealand and interviewed with them at 11:15pm on Skype after I finished up work at the Chalet. At the end of the 45 minute interview, I asked when I would find out whether or not I'd been accepted, and Michael (my interviewer) told me it was safe to say I had been.
Not one to wait around, I immediately accepted the admission offer and booked my flight to NZ the following day. I'll be out there for 5 months, flying home for Christmas. I'll get a working holiday visa (available to US citizens 30 and under, healthy and without kids, and with enough money to support themselves and fly home) that will allow me to stay for a year. I don't know if I'll actually stay a year, longer, or just the five months, but the plan is in motion. I'm going to sell my car, and chances are I'll have to leave my job, but traveling is what I want to do, and being able to teach English all over the world seems like the perfect way of supporting my travel habit. So, we'll see what happens!
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