Quote: (10-14-2018 05:25 PM)66Scorpio Wrote:
I got the travel bug back in 1988 when I was in college. My father fronted me the money to SWAP (Student Work Abroad Program) which I think is still kicking around.
In a way is was a bad move because after my freshman and sophmore years of getting a 3.8 GPA I bombed on my return after realizing our definition of "education" is lacking.
So as a word of advice, travel before or after college.
I am a Canadian....a Toronto boy. I am an hour from the border with he USA and yet my first foreign destination was Australia. It was so awesome that I had to go back.
After returning from Down Under I joined some friends in a game company. That gave me the excuse to tour America.
Many years later I was offered a job in Chins and that is now where I am.
To thoughts on travelling are this:
1) Don't chase pussy
2) Are you a tourist or do you actually want to TRAVEL?
As a side note, a pet peeve of mine is the wankers who brag about travellling to 40+ countries. I have travelled extensively in Canada, USA, Australia and China. Setting aside Russia, these are the largest (and most diverse) countries in the world.
Great advice, thanks so much! I've definitely realized that traveling and not solely being a tourist should wait until I graduate. After that, who knows. Work for a year or two where I am or go abroad all that matters is I'll have my degree. How is your life in China? I've considered going to either the mainland or Taiwan after graduation but for someone in a non-STEM field I'm not sure what my options are outside of teaching English in a second or third tier city (Shenzhen is getting insanely expensive even). I will have 2 years of programming experience under my belt by that point hopefully but no real degree (just a bunch of college classes). What are some things that surprised you most about China?
Thanks so much for reaching out and sharing your experience!