Korean Toothbrushes

So I haven't written since I came to Korea so I'll in a nutshell say it's been amazing. What I want to write about today however isn't an update but more of an observation. For all the technological advancements in S. Korea, I've never seen so many people with cavities in my life. The odd thing however is that people here religiously brush their teeth several times a day. It's not uncommon to see groups of people brushing away in the bathroom or walking down the hallway with a toothbrush. At first I thought there had been a recent push towards brushing due to all the cavities but then I realized that brushing has been part of the culture for some time. So why is it that I'd often have elementary school students with bad teeth? Today I found the culprit. Not long after I arrived back in January, I had to buy a toothbrush. The first thing I noticed is that there is only one style you can buy here: Soft. I have never liked soft but after trying Korean soft, my latter opinion was cemented. I always felt like my teeth were still dirty after brushing. So much so that after only a few months here I went to the dentist for a cleaning. Interestingly enough, while the cleaning helped, my teeth still did not feel as clean as they should. I finally found a medium toothbrush but it wasn't the texture I was used to and I started to worry about getting cavities. A few weeks ago I asked my mom to send me a toothbrush from home. I just used it for the first time today and my teeth have never felt cleaner. And this is where I had the lightbulb moment. I think the reason why the cavity rate is so high is because of the type of toothbrushes that are sold here. I'm not a dentist by any means but I think someone should look into the correlation.

Introduction to Toll Roads

I just received a toll notice in the mail yesterday which made me laugh when I got it. When I came back to Sydney at the end of January, I had one of the most nerve wracking driving experiences of my life. I guess it really was my fault for thinking that it would be a brilliant idea to rent a car, but rent a car I did.

I had it for the weekend and at first things didn't go too badly. I just had to remember which side of the road to turn on and the rest came naturally. So it was pretty painless considering the worst I did was continuouly put the wipers on rather than the turn signal when I had to turn, which was very distracting to say the least. Plus the roads here are scratch-the-paint-off your-car-at-each-light narrow and I managed an entire weekend ding and paint chip free. However what I did not manage was making it the entire weekend without a ticket. :-)

For those of you reading this at home, think of a highway like... I-93 or even a a small one like Rt.44, which occasionally goes through back roads and has stop lights. Well most highways here have 24 hour speed cameras. The reason this is a problem is that if you've been driving for a while, you know what certain speeds feel like without even glancing at the odometer. That being the case, you probably know what 65mph feels like. Unfortunately for me, driving in another country 65mph is considered very fast and dangerous. You'll be lucky if you get sections of the highway that are that fast and most areas are 50-70km which translate to 30-45 miles per hour!!!! Only US drivers can appreciate how slow that is. And if you go just one km over the speed limit, BAM! The speed camera has you and boy will you have a huge ticket. So you reeeeeally have to concentrate not to relax when you're driving and go faster than you should on ANY road. Which brings me to how I got the ticket.

On Saturday morning I decided that it would be fun to drive to my church which is just 15 minutes by car away. It definitely beat being on a bus for 45 minutes so I borrowed my friends GPS, jumped in the car, and headed off to my destination. On a side note, looking at a GPS, concentrating on not going too fast, and making sure people don't scratch your car is NOT a good combination. Anyways, before I left my friend had told me to watch out for the toll roads and I'm thinking yeah ok, like I can't go to the booth and pay... Whatever. :-) So back to the I-93 and Rt.44 senario. Imagine if you're on the highway and BAM out of nowhere the highway turns into a toll road THAT ONLY PEOPLE WHO HAVE AN EZ-PASS (or epass here) HAVE?!!!! AND if you don't have an e-pass then there are five million signs and cameras telling you the kind of fine you'll be getting. :-) The first one I went through I was thinking OMG there goes my grocery money! But after the third one I had figured it to be a few weeks of rent already so I might as well sit back and enjoy the ride. Needless to say, between the toll roads that have no actual toll on them, making sure I drive slow so I don't add a speeding ticket to the list of things to pay, and the GPS that kept telling me I was in Brisbane (which is like saying I'm in DC when I'm really in Boston), I never made it to church. Vowing never to drive in Sydney again, I proceeded to get completely lost, and have the road trip of my life. :-)

So here I am today, smiling and remembering as I look at the toll notice I have to pay, hoping that next time I rent a car, it won't be a hard-knock-to-my-wallet kind of experience. :-)

The Land of Opportunity

You never really realize how good you have it until you travel.

There have been so many things that have been huge reality checks for me living overseas. Materially speaking, there were the $35 paperbacks and the $200 bed sheets, but what really got me was dating culture over here. You see, we really do have it made in America.

In America if guy meets girl and said guy is interested -- said guy MAKES A MOVE! On the other side of the puddle however, the senario is very different. Guy meets girl and said guy is interested -- guy does nothing. (Creepy guys and weirdos aside). Instead said guy waits for massive gestures and signs, like billboard huge, from the girl in order to even contemplate making a move, because God forbid they get rejected. This has been a huge source of frustration for me. Especially when I find myself on a second date and I'm getting text messages afterwards where I'm being asked if I like them because they didn't want to make assumptions. HELLO?! We've passed date number one and we were just talking about going on the next one and YOU'RE WONDERING IF I LIKE YOU?! Oh please. I don't have time for that.

The funny thing is that I used to get offended at how women act here. I grew up with guys. I'm used to being around them, conversing with them, etc. If there is a party or gathering of sorts, I'm used to talking to a variety of people, not just women. That is the culture I grew up in. Over here it seems gender roles are very much alive and well.

I remember my first time mingling with people outside of University. I was at an outing and I remember being confused as to why all the men gravitated to one side to talk, (save for a few new couples), and all the women ended up congregated on the other. I even was more surprised when I started up a chat with a guy who I hadn't met yet. I knew he had a girlfriend and regardless it was just a friendly conversation. Yet within minutes of saying hello, the girlfriend was practically peeing on his leg in efforts to mark her territory, and remained there for the duration of our conversation. I remember being grossly offended because where I grew up, you just don't do that. It's considered rude and is only done when you truly feel someone is poaching, which I most certainly was not. Not wanting to jump to conclusions however, I tested out my theory and time and time again and the same result would occur: Women would swoop down on their man the minute a single female was in the vicinity. It was weird to say the least.

But after 6 months of the singles scene and dating men over here, one thing has become apparent. If it is so difficult for men to approach women, let alone for there to be chemistry, and dating to result, no wonder women hover and mark their territory every chance they get! You see, I didn't realize that when people said that America is the land of opportunity, that it extended to dating as well.

Point taken.

Yet Another Life Lesson

I think I just got punk'd. Honestly. I must have. Because to accept any other explanation for what just happened would mean that these people think I'm stupid and that is one thing I most certainly am not.

So here I am living in my posh new abode in Sydney aka the scene of the roaches, and feeling bad after the laundry list of fix it items I sent them, I didn't want to email a follow up list after I noticed a few other things I had innitially overlooked. You see, I just didn't want to be one of those pain in the ass tenants. (Pardon my francois!) WELL, that was the attitude I had until this morning.

I had put in a maintenance request the night before with administration on the fact that my sink was running slow. You know, slow enough that when I turned on the sink to wash my hands, the entire sink would fill up in a matter of seconds. I figured there must be hair or some derbis in the ubar underneath so all they had to do was come open it up, take whatever is obstructing the draining process out, and voila! All would be back to normal. You see, I have prior experience with this kind of issue since I was a landlord for a few years and had to deal with a number of maintenance calls. But they don't know that, because if they did they wouldn't be pulling a stunt like this.

So here I am, exhausted after a super late night of staying up for no reason, and because I grew accustomed to maintenance being performed while one was sleeping in my previous residence, I got up, let the guy in, and jumped back in bed. Imagine my surpise when two minutes later, the guy is done. I'm thinking wow he's good!Thanks man! But then I got suspicious when he says, 'yeah there was just a little bit of dirt in there.' DIRT?! Hmm.... Suspect! Because last time I checked, the kind of things that usually causes drain to slow is stuff like a big fat hairball! Definitely NOT dirt. Unless of course I had the brilliant idea of emptying a sandbox down the sink... which I have not! So off he goes and curious to witness what this speedy handyman had done, I go to inspect the evidence. Enter Exhibit A: the bucket -- MY bucket that he used without asking, that I was also using to disinfect stuff -- is remarkably clear. JUST clear water. No hairball in sight and certainly no dirt. Exhibit B: (and this one's the kicker). THE SINK IS STILL DRAINING SLOW!!!!

Lesson No. 9 on Things I've Learned The Hard Way?

To prevent ulcers or any other maladies that may befall someone during extreme bouts of anger, be present when there is a maintenance call.

My Inner Neat Freak

I think I was excited for all of 24 hours. My room and house were finally bombed for roaches and ants. I was told to be out for six hours so I made the most of it. I left for the day to have lunch with friends and returned to the blissful stench of boric acid... or whatever it is that kills the crawly things. My room and house were bug free so what more could a girl want?

Being a dutiful tenant, I kept doors closed behind me, didn't leave food out, and repeatedly took out the trash when full. So image my surprise when today, a full twenty four hours later, I spy ants, yes ANTS plural, crawling along the walls of THE SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY WHERE I SLEEP. Let me just note a few crucial facts to help illustrate what is wrong with this picture. 1) I live in a two story house. 2) There are no entryways, food sources, etc on the second floor. And most importantly 3) THE COMMON AREAS WERE SUPPOSEDLY BOMBED FOR PESTS! So I'll ask calmly, what oh WHAT could ants be doing ON THE SECOND FLOOR?!!

I am not happy.

Interestingly enough this experience is teaching me a lot about myself. Growing up I was never a particularly neat child. Oh I was organized but neat was not one of the top 100 words one would use to describe me then. My brother tells me that it was rare to see clothes on hangers in my closet as a kid and in my teenage years it wasn't uncommon for my room to resemble the aftermath of an explosion. Don't get me wrong, I hated dirty places and spaces, but I just didn't like the effort it took to be tidy. I didn't see the point in hanging up a coat you're only going to put on again in a few hours. Not a surprisingly dishes and vaccuming were my least favorite chores. I believed that if you're going to do dishes, at least wait until you have a lot of them before you do them. That way you waste less water and time and get more done.

When I moved out in my twenties although my clothes and coats were now on hangers my habits had evolved to what I like to describe as a 'lived in' look. But I still had my messy moments and hated doing dishes. I was even saved from doing the latter thanks to well meaning boyfriends and family members that visited often and would rescue me from them. Don't get me wrong, I washed many dishes in my day. But if I had the option between doing them right away or waiting to have more than two things to wash before I did them, I'd prolong the inevitable.

The transformation came when I moved to Australia and was living in a dorm-like facility. The room was so tiny that should I choose to have a messy day, (a.k.a. when I was running late to a dinner date and left all the clothes I had to try on but decided not to wear all over my room), I didn't have the luxury of leaving them lying around more than a day unless I wanted to kill myself on the way to the bathroom. Or if I didn't feel like making my bed that morning, should I choose to leave it that way, when friends came to visit they would sit on my sheets and on occasion even crawl under the covers with shoes on! What really got me was the time I left my bed undone and a friend who had a really bad cold was visiting and started coughing and decided to use my comforter as a napkin. I learned to make my bed after that and always had tissues handy. But most importantly I learned that the best way to clean a mess is to prevent it from happening. If something was moved or taken out, I learned to put it back as soon as I was done. If there was something I had taken off and was going to use again the next day, it was better to hang it up lest I start a pile, which would then create more work.

All this was a bit annoying but I did it anyway. I didn't embrace it however until I was faced with the prospect of pests. When I moved to the place I'm in now, I immediately went on the preventative strike. If I didn't want to deal with ants, it was better to wash dishes right after I finished using them. If I didn't want them in my food cupboard, it was better to divide and ziplock all my food when I brought it home. If I didn't want to deal with bugs coming into the house, as inconvenient as it may be at a get together, I kept the door to the patio closed at all times.

It was during one such dishwashing however that I remembered my mom famously telling me to wash things as soon as I use them in order to have less work at the end. It used to bother me immensely to have to do that. I always thought that if you slaved away in the kitchen to make your food, you could at least enjoy it, relax, and then clean up the mess. But when recalling my moms words while joyfully performing the exact thing I used to hate, the truth of the phrase in 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' hit me. "It's only at the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve." Who knew my precipice would be roaches?

As If Things Weren't Bad Enough

Yup folks! I officially saw my first flying roach. THEY FLY! As if they weren't bad enough without wings. Ugh! Nasty! So here I was in the middle of cooking dinner and the thing just starts flying. I thank goodness I didn't have any glass or food in my hands because they would been ruined. Thankfully I invested the best 84 cents ever in a fly swatter, now known as the roach smasher, which has officially become my new best friend. Who knew something so cheap would be so priceless?

Roach Count: 3 Team Jessie Smashings: 3

On another note. I am so THANKFUL I live on the west side of the village. I wandered into the east side to visit some friends. (Yes the rat infested side I should be thankful I don't live on). And wow am I glad I don't live there. Not only are those apartments in not so nice condition, but they practically have ivy/shrubs growing in the house because it's so close! No wonder they have rats! The houses are clearly encroaching on the rats paradise! Throw food into the mix and an open doorway, and bam! Home Sweet Hollywood!

Things I'm Decidedly Not Enjoying About My Apartment/ Australia/ My Life At the Moment

• Flies
• Hairy Spiders
  
• Roaches - and then being told when reporting them that I should be glad I don't have rats. Umm... excuse me? I JUST MOVED IN and this is NOT sanitary!
  
• Sloooow internet connection when I'm paying $40 more for turbo speed - I'm sorry but dial up is NOT broadband.
  
• Tiny ants that get into everything!
  
• Having a leaky toilet that has supposedly been repaired by an imaginary plumber that never came. And by leaky I don't mean the clean water is leaking.
  
• Having a sticky rug - that I suspect is from said leaky toilet and then being told that the rug is new. Are those new stains too?! Unbelievable.
• Having to wait two weeks for pest control.
  

Welcome To Australia

So my first semester in Australia was absolutely amazing! It was exactly what I didn't know I needed til I got here. I spent the first half living in a dorm style living facility, which is the Aussie version of American fraternities/ sororities. I loved every second but in the end the shared bathrooms and level of cleanliness became a deal breaker for me. I had one too many nights of hunting around for a bathroom with toilet paper, or finding a sea of urine or vomit left in the wake of drunken party goers. I applied to move to what is heralded as the best place to live at Macquarie University aka The Village. And after going home for the holidays I returned with high expectations. A house to share with four other roommates, my own CLEAN bathroom, and finally a 'student kitchen' that actually has more than a microwave and fridge... you know like an actual stove? :-) Yes. I was happy to be back after such a cold winter and happy for my first true experience having roommates.
Daydreaming of all the dinner parties I'd have, I put my guitar on my back and luggage in hand and headed to see my new abode. I'll admit that when I first walked in I experienced a moment of horror. I don't know if it was the beach sarong wraps on the ceiling which covered the light fixtures or if it was all the drinking posters on the walls that gave me pause. But all I know is that when I first walked in I thought, "Oh freakin' hell! I'm on the set of Van Wilder. " I half expected to find a snoring frat boy on the couch cluching an empty beer can when I peered into the living room, but no such luck. Since no one was around, I had time to start unpacking before the roommates arrived. Lucky for me it turns out I have fabulous roommates.... at least the two of the four that are currently in residence. And after meeting and talking to them I discovered that the posters and choice of decorations were their efforts to liven up the place. After seeing other apartments that have that sparse, just-moved-in look, our apartment decor has since grown on me.
What has NOT grown on my however are my other new roommates - namely the roaches and ants that are living rent free in my apartment. I've only begun to realize what a privileged life I've lived growing up in a pest/rodent free home. On my first day here, I spent a considerable amount of time trying to squash all the ants I could find. I think I did the job because I haven't found one in my room since. But it was on day two that the real welcome wagon came. I had rented a car for the weekend for moving purposes. On the second day of my arrival some friends and I decided to head into the city for a fun night out. Not wanting to wait for the bus, we decided to take the car to the train station and then head in from there. When we get to the car there is a huge hairy huntsman spider sitting on the roof. (And by huge I mean a good for or five inches wide). Not wanting to get in with it so close to the door we tried to get it off. But wow those suckers could run. Getting the spider off turned out to be a four person effort but in the end we got it on one side of the car while we jumped in on the other, while keeping it in sight. Imagine our surprise when returning from the city that we find the same freaking spider on the car! EXCEPT NOW THE SPIDER IS INSIDE THE CAR! Right behind the drivers seat on the window, no less. Needless to say it took well over an hour to complete operation 'Search and Destroy the Hairy Huntsman.' To top off the fabulous night, when I got home, I moved my laundry hamper in my bathroom only to find my first of two roaches so far. When I reported this to administration the next day, they laughed and asked, "were you scared?"

Only in Australia.

Getting Old

I'm aging. I can feel it creeping up on me. I first noticed a hint of wrinkles around my eyes several months ago and now I can see them coming on. Don't get me wrong, they aren't full blown wrinkles yet, but you can see places where my skin is starting to lose it's once youthful elasticity. And that scares the crap out of me. Getting old.
Somedays it feels like I blinked and suddenly I was 24. Twenty four, in graduate school, wondering what I'll do when I'm done, and with middle age miles away but in sight. Which makes me wonder what I've done with my youth? What have I accomplished? Did I change the world? Will I look back and regret things? And the recurring thing that keeps popping in my head is my music. I love to sing. But I've always been afraid of pursing it. So many people want to be singers. And I'm afraid of losing my joy of singing if it became commercialized and I was forced to pump things out over and over and over. But now that I feel age coming on me, I realize that time is slipping by and the window is getting smaller. If I want to do something I need to do it now. Like the quote that says, "Whatever you can do, do it now. For life is time, and time is all you have."

Tick. Tock. Tick.

Going to Australia...

So I'm going to Australia after all.... that is if I can come up with the few grand I need in 30 days.

As of right now what I need is:

$1,500 - to accept the offer for school (by june 30th)
$1,100 - for a one way plane ticket
$500 - Australian Student Visa
$335 - Over Seas Health Coverage
$2500 - for miscellaneous housing and travel expenses as recommended by the school.
$335 - (optional) Stylus 1030 SW Digital Camera
----------
$6270 - Needed to get there.

I can come up with $1000... but what about the other $5,000?

The Whirlwind

So life has gotten a bit complicated from where we last left it.

I got accepted into The Scholar Ship Program through Macquaire University the same day they called to let me know that the voyages had been canceled because the funding had been lost. "So sorry but you'll have to make other plans, wait until the next school year, or go to Macquarie in Australia straight away. And by the way... I know you were planning on going to school in September but school starts in July in Australia so make due."

I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. But thats life, so I regrouped, and came up with a new plan. Stay in the states til December, then head off to Australia for the Spring semester, and then to The Scholar Ship for the Fall of 09. In the mean time to keep my insurance and continue to defer my student loan payments, I'd take MBA classes here or online.

Great plan... until I realized that most of the masters deadlines had passed. Those that hadn't passed were contingent on passing the GMAT test in 2 weeks and should all go well and I got accepted, MBA classes would be available for the low price of $15,000 a semester. I was like WHAT THE HELL?! I'm better off going to Australia right away because to stay would be to operate on a big What If? Also should I not pass the GMAT and as a result not pass Go, I would now have student loan payments to worry about that could not be deferred as well as loss of insurance, which in a nutshell would make me stuck in the proverbial mud in Massachusetts. I could kiss my plans of relocating or attending grad school overseas goodbye.

It was time to make a new plan: Go to Macquarie... And as a result, leave everyone here hanging.

In a way I was really scared because not only was it a short notice plan, but I was leaving my family and friends, a house with problematic tenants, 2 mischievous dogs, and my life as I knew it behind.

Which brings me to this moment. A moment that feels like I'm on the verge of a life altering decision. And that in itself makes me very very happy. I love change. I'm finally breaking loose. And yet somehow in my happiness I feel guilty for the people and situations I'm leaving behind.
When I told my parents I was leaving they weren't thrilled. My mom is sort of on the fence but my father is upset that I'm leaving it all behind. They haven't had time to prepare for this moment and in a way I'm responsible for that. My friends on the other hand I thought would be happy for me. Thrilled in fact because I've been wanting to do this my whole life and they know it. Imagine my surprise when I told them all save 2 were upset I was leaving and by virtue in their minds, leaving them behind. NO ONE BUT TWO PEOPLE WERE HAPPY FOR ME.

Wow.

What a shock and a bummer at the same time.

Interesting that now that I'm in the mindset of leaving I'm now cultivating new relationships and finding new friends. Funny how this stuff always happens when you're ready to take flight. :-)

All God Wants is the Three T's

I remember hearing somewhere once that all God wants is the three T's. Our Time, Our Talent, and Our Treasure. I've always struggled with the Treasure part until I heard the three t's sermon. If God has given us everything here on earth... or rather allowed us to borrow His house, His car, and His money for our duration here, it's not too much to ask for us to give him 10 percent of His money back so he can continue to give us more.
It's funny how in the bible it says if you are faithful in the little things... like tithing, you will be faithful in the big things. God doesn't NEED our money! It's rather a test of whether or not we can be faithful in the little things so he can give us more! Ironic also how in the Bible, it is the rich who have the hardest time letting go of the material to follow God, yet we all try so hard all our lives to be rich too. Giving up 10 percent of our money after we get taxed for 33% of ours, sometimes feels like a difficult feat. Yet if we acknowledge that it was God's money in the first place, why wouldn't we pay back the money we have BORROWED??? If we would do it for a friend, why not then to God? Ecclesiastes 6:15-17 "A person comes into this world with nothing. And then he dies, he leaves with nothing. Inspite of all his hard work, he leaves exactly as he came. This, too, is unfair: He leaves exactly as he came. So what does he gain from chasing the wind? All he gets are days filed with sadness and sorrow. He ends up sick, defeated and angry."

Another thing God wants is our Time. One thing I've noticed in my life is that I seem to have all the time in the world for God when things are going badly, yet when things are going great I sometimes forget to tune in.
I'm sure we've all had those friends who are very negative people. Or at least that seems to be the case because every time you talk to them they are whining or complaining about something. The good thing about God is that he doesn't get tired of us, but he wants to hear from us when things are going good too! How would you feel if you had a friend who only called you when they needed your advice or to complain about how things are going badly yet when they got that promotion or had that baby girl they were expecting, they didn't even bother to call you to share? God wants all of us. He promises to be there when things are bad, but asks us to remember him when things are good too.

The talent part can be summed up easier. Most of us have heard the parable of the man who burried his talent where it fell to misuse and neglect. God has given us talents to glorify him and often times you'll find that they old adage is true. 'If you don't use it, you lose it.' As a singer I have found the latter to be true. When I don't use my voice for long periods of time, I start to lose my range. Recently I have found myself pondering what I could do to give back to God because the secret to happiness I've found is simply in service to others. While some of the ideas I came up with was doing concerts in the church circuit, it wasn't until much later that I realized I could give back in simpler things like getting involved with the youth or being on the greeting committee at church. We all have talents where we can give back and serve. What are yours?

Angst

I miss my mom.

Since my surgery a week and a half ago, I've been staying at my parents house and being here reminds me of all I've left. The shelter I've been missing out on since I've left the cocoon. Suddenly being here has made me realize how cold I've been so I have tried to snuggle back into that cocoon jacket only to realize that it no longer fits. I don't belong here anymore yet I do. It'll always be home yet it's no longer my home. I've turned into a visitor without the free meal benefit. (I have to make my own).

My dad is a retiree and is home a lot. My mom on the other hand has a very grueling job as a public school teacher. While my dad in many ways has become one of my closest friends, my mom and my relationship has also flourished and she understands me like only a mother can. She has a really intense job that I constantly ask her to retire from, but she wants to stay another few years. Because this job consumes so much of her time and life, I don't get to spend as much quality time with her. But it's on days like today, when I only catch her at the tail end of the day for ten minutes and then get ushered to sleep by my dad who I've had the chance to spend time with all day, that I realize how much I miss my mom and that cocoon I used to have, because in it I wouldn't have been politely sent out like a guest who has stayed too long. That's when it settles in. I'm an adult, with a life of my own, and the cocoon no longer fits.

Quarter Life Crisis.

Slowly but surely, I finally graduated college. As a newly minted grad, I find myself asking the age old question, what on earth comes next? I spent so much time focusing on the end result -- getting a degree -- and now that I'm there I feel like I've had the rug pulled out from under me. Don't get me wrong... I had a plan. I've always had a plan. It's just that now that I'm at that timeless fork in the road, I'm having second thoughts about my destination. And that is what this 'crisis' is all about -- figuring out where I really want to go... and fast.

Since before I started college I've always wanted to write. I fell in love with writing from an early age. I originally wanted to go to school for journalism but then I read a book that changed my life and consequently my perspective. 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki made me realize that I had to think of my financial freedom first, that of course would begin by becoming financially literate. So the quest began. I started devouring everything I could on this topic which ultimately led me to obtaining my real estate license at 19, buying my first investment property at 21, and deciding to go to school for business finance. It was all going according to plan... until I reached my senior year and realized that if I had to put my degree to use, I would most likely end up with a desk job crunching numbers. That coupled with the fact that by then I had realized that I did not need a degree in business finance to be financially literate, brought me to the decision that I would change schools and majors. This time I went with something that I really enjoyed and fit my personality to a tee. It was a journey, but six years from when I first began, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies.

Somewhere along the line I had applied to do a semester at sea, but never was able to bring that plan to fruition. So when I discovered in my last year of college that a graduate study at sea existed through Macquarie University, I jumped at the chance. In a way it bought me more time, but as the application process grew more complicated to get into the international business program I desired, I started to get more and more concerned about having a specific idea about what my desired outcome was to be. Finally I decided this weekend that I will be pursing International Communications instead for my Masters.

Now that I have a specific idea of where I'm heading I need to make a list of careers that reflect my interests, passions, and talents, to further explore. I hate not having something concrete, but this is definitely a start.