Tuesday, March 30, 2010

plans changed

During high school and my first year of college I was certain of my future plans. I intended to earn a biology degree and then enter a physician assistant program. Well, I'm currently a junior in a biology program and I no longer have that comforting certainty of knowing what grad program/occupation I should pursue after my days in college are over.

I have yet to find any occupation that would align with my interests and, at the same time, provide a definite and sufficient income. So, since I believe that the likelihood is rather low of determining in the next year what long-term career will work for me, I'm thinking of taking a year or two after graduation from college to do something that I won't do when (and if) I ever settle into a stable career. The only problem is that I don't know what to do.

Ideas I've considered include: working on a sheep farm in New Zealand or a Kibbutz in Israel, travelling through Europe, getting a job on a cruise ship, et al. A major consideration is that I need to find something that will provide an income or at least room and board since I don't have access to unlimited funds. Anyway, I thought I'd post this in case anybody has any helpful suggestions.

4 comments:

  1. Feedback:
    (1) "travel through Europe" -- instead, choose a small town in one country, learn the language , live there and work. Hitting all the big names tourist site is a joke and superficial and will not change you. And why Europe? What languages do you know?

    (2) New Zealand is very much like America -- you won't learn hardly anything given other options.

    (3) Kibbutz -- learn modern Hebrew -- but make it a Jewish kibbutz, not a Christian one. But your boundaries !!! But most important, LEARN a foreign language and stay local.
    (4) Cruise Ship --- you have got to be kidding me ! Why not work at Disneyland -- that would be about equally educational. Stretch yourself. You won't probably have a much better chance to stretch yourself. And emotions will make the memories stick at your age. Make it different. Make it a challenge.

    Does that help at all?

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  2. Sabio,

    Thanks for the advice. Staying in one location probably would be a wise idea. I definitely want to stretch myself and get outside of my comfort zone. The main difficutly I'm having is finding something feasible.

    My language knowledge is limited to some Spanish. However, if I knew of any definite opportunities that required proficiency in another language, I'm sure I could work on that over the next year.

    Anyway, I guess I'll keep looking over the next year until I discover an opportunity that will work for me.

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  3. Jobs are easy in Japan and China -- and those would stretch you, if you immersed while there instead of hanging with foreigners like yourself (which is the normal pattern). I have done both.

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  4. I'll have to check out job possibilities in Japan and China. Thanks for the suggestion.

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