So You've Graduated. Now What?

Sixteen years of schooling, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tuition fees, countless over-nighters, one degree later, and I am finally free. To do what exactly? Well, my degree is in International Affairs with a regional concentration in African Studies, and a minor in Art History, but I could save a lot of word count by shortening that to “unemployed”. Transferring to the George Washington University my sophomore year seemed like the greatest personal, academic, and career choice I could have made. It seemed pretty straight forward: get myself to the political capital of the world, graduate from a top ten ranked program from an accredited university, get involved on campus, lock down a few internships, and bam. Golden. How could companies not be impressed? Or, at least interested, in me for a new hire?

Well…turns out a LOT of people are also well educated, well-rounded, well-connected individuals. Here’s the honest truth. Careers within international affairs - like diplomacy, international NGO work, or consultant work - are competitive fields that require advanced degrees, abroad experience, and tend to work on a seniority-rule basis. It’s a tough sector to break into, and definitely one that resembles the “chicken or the egg” scenario. How do I gain the experience when entry-level positions require 2-5 years of experience or a Master’s Degree? Where is my starting point? And, a question that deserves a much more serious platform, where do I gain useful work experience that isn’t just in the form of unpaid internships, or volunteer trips where I end up paying thousands to essentially complete a voluntourism project? (A big buzz word at GW. When students go abroad to volunteer, what are they actually accomplishing? Especially in short-term, one or two week service trips? Working at the Center for Student Engagement and Public service for two years, I heard the most liberal viewpoints of an already liberal university in the heart of D.C.)

Now, don’t think I played around my three years living in D.C. I maintained good grades, I worked one or two jobs/internships each semester, I was in a sorority, I sat on student boards, and I volunteered. I received a Presidential Volunteer Service Award and was inducted into the Order of Omega, the honors program for students in Greek life. I felt like I was constantly moving but wasn’t seeing the progress my classmates were. A hamster on a hamster wheel desperately hoping I didn’t lose my grip. (Also how I would describe the inner workings of D.C. On a podcast - yes, on top of blogging I’m also heavy into the podcasting scene - I had listened to a Hollywood screenwriter describe the film industry as a place where meetings were called just to discuss when the next meeting should be held. D.C. operates in pretty much the same way…on second thought, I think Jerry Seinfeld said that on an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Still applies.)

So, as graduation approached, I did what any other confused and scared new graduate would do: I planned my escape. D.C. is truly an amazing city, and I genuinely loved my time at GW, but both environments are pressure cookers for students: hyper competitive, self-serving, and overly stimulated. Rogaine should be headquartered in D.C. because everyone in that city is grey by 30. The stress is palpable on every street corner. Members of congress don’t keep their homes in their own districts for political transparency, they do it to escape the city. I can almost understand why congress has so many days of recess. Almost.

Studying International Affairs, I had read, presented on, and heard from speakers all over the world, but I hadn’t done the one most valuable and arguably necessary thing I needed to do. Actually spend an extended period living abroad. So, in a completely selfish act, I booked a plane ticket to Stockholm, Sweden for the day after graduation. Why Stockholm? Easy, it was the cheapest flight into Europe. (Travel tip: London isn’t always the cheapest location to fly into! More on that in a later post.) I didn’t really have a plan when I bought that first ticket, only that it was a round-trip ticket for exactly 4 weeks. Not exactly “extended” travel, but I had never been out of the country on my own, and I genuinely didn’t know how I would handle the experience.

So, three weeks before I was scheduled to leave, I sat down with one of my best friends in his dorm, opened a bottle of Rose, and began planning. A few things to note here. I actually planned my European trip with my gay best friend while getting wine drunk. It was honestly a disgusting scene. I can already feel my channel losing subscribers. Or maybe gaining them…ugh I feel like a Kardashian.

In one night, we worked out an 11 stop trip from Stockholm to Barcelona to Ibiza to Venice to Cinque Terre to Rome to Athens to Budapest and finally to France before flying back to Stockholm. I really said fuck Central Europe and went straight for the Mediterranean Sea. Before I get serious hate for this, no it was not a graduation gift from my family, they didn’t pay for or organize the trip in any way. They did, however give me a graduation check, and THAT went to the trip <3.

It was actually my mom who came up with the idea of making a travel blog before I left. An idea that I entertained for about 2 days before I realized that without a computer with me, documenting all my travel in real time was going to be a challenge. Also, why would anyone be interested in what I was saying? It’s not like I’m offering a completely unique story. It would probably just be my family reading my entries, and to be honest I felt uncomfortable putting out content solely about how much I'm…enjoying myself. My family is humble. Like, almost to a detrimental degree. We follow the “show them don’t tell them” mentality. So, how do you write a travel blog that follows that philosophy? All I’d be doing was telling AND showing people my experiences. It just felt unnecessary turning to the internet to document when I had been keeping a written journal for years and felt that was doing exactly what a blog would achieve, and without the cry for public attention.

But, here’s why I decided to finally start this. I’m not trying to talk down to anyone reading these. I’m not trying to act as some all-knowing source guiding the less-traveled on their future journeys. None of my experiences are particularly unheard of or inspiring, they’re just funny. I’ve laughed so many times since I left for Stockholm four months ago. I’ve met so many people and had hilarious experiences with them, and almost daily I’ve had to accept my mistakes and laugh at them. Each mistake, each conversation, each new experience has been a chance to mature and remember how little I experience is permanent or important in the long run. I’ve had to learn to be flexible (in more ways than one), I’ve had to stand up for myself in ways I never had to before, and I've had to learn “where is the bathroom?” in more languages than I ever expected myself to know. It’s these stories, the ugly, peeing on the streets of Venice, getting my phone stolen in Ibiza; and the beautiful, going on my first Tinder date in Athens…going on my second Tinder date in Athens, that I hope to share with you.

Literally as I’m typing this my cousin just sent me a picture of my side mirror destroyed in D.C. Apparently a tree branch fell on it? I’ll offer updates as they come in. So maybe also talking about how to deal with things back home while still abroad. Like I said, it’s about being flexible and dealing with what comes, knowing what’s in your control and what’s beyond! Also known as stoicism. Ya, I learned a thing or two in Greece.

Just think of this blog as background locations from The Bachelor meets Broad City. Together, lets laugh at the highs and lows of travel, and hope it brings us a little closer in the process. Because the biggest lesson I learned from traveling is that despite language, location, or background, we really aren’t that different at all. Also, never exchange currency at the airport.

Cheers!