Since I was in elementary school, all I ever wanted to do was travel. Actually, that wasn't everything I wanted to do. I also wanted to be a lawyer, a senator, a global journalist, an artist, a singer, a fashion designer, a best-selling author and a marine biologist, a research psychologist, and an archeologist. (Quite a list, I know.) However, one of the common threads throughout these fabulous career opportunities is travel. I was determined that whatever occupation I chose would keep me on the road or in the air.
Speed forward through time and I still want nothing more than to travel. Through some brain seizure or some masochistic urge within, I decided on the frustrating and gratifying major of History: International Studies (with a minor in English, of course!). Speed forward again and through one other moment of masochistic desires (or intense restlessness.) I decide to graduate a year early. I am a college sophomore/junior who just decided that she only had one more year left before she entered into the "real world." Scary thought. So, I surfed and surfed the internet for a type of job that would take me overseas. I searched resorts, schools, internships, archeology, etc.
The frustrating thing about the "real world" is that most jobs of significance, money and adventure require experience and or more money. I have neither. So, I switch to looking for PAYING internships overseas. If you ever want to experience the feeling of running into a wall without doing damage to the wall, look for PAYING internships in History or English. It doesn't feel pleasant. But then...I clicked on a link...and there it was.
A paying internship in RUSSIA!! Teaching English as a Second Language. No experience necessary. AND... a TEFL Certification given at the end of the program (which is required to teach and intern in most Western European countries). It was perfect. Not only could I go to Russia, but the certification could open up doors both in the US and abroad. But wait...there is MORE!
Throughout this same semester, I had been taking both Russian History AND a Dostoevsky class. And I had found my passion. Having always been slightly attracted to the morbid and strange, Russia's dark history and their cultural folk traditions and manners fascinated me. The psychological depth of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy drew me in and, weird as it is, Stalin fascinated me. And now, I may actually have a chance for a payed internship in Russia, homeland of the Russian Ballet, Tchaikovsky and the Nut Cracker, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy (Stalin was born in Georgia). Russia, home to some of the most splendiferous and opulent palaces, could be my home for a whole year. So, I applied. And I have been accepted. And...
IT'S RUSSIA!!!!
Sincerely,
---Your hopefully soon-to-be Russian traveler---
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