Why Getting A Job Is A Bad Idea

My decision to study abroad after graduating from college

再见 和理大学 Bye, Holy Cross

Believe it or not, I just graduated from Holy Cross at the end of May. Senior year came and went just like that, and it seems like only yesterday I was teeing off on the Old Course for the first time. And while most of my friends and classmates spent the year applying to jobs, I decided to take a different route.

I realized pretty early into my job search that I legit had no clue as to what I wanted to do in life. Yeah, I like traveling, blogging, and playing golf, but I don’t quite know how to turn those 3 things in to a career at this point. And I’ll be honest, the thought of a traditional 9-5 job didn’t exactly grab my attention either. Academically speaking, I enjoyed two aspects of college: studying abroad and my 2 years of Chinese classes.

With that in mind, the solution became pretty obvious. I decided that I’m going to study abroad in China starting in the fall. That’s right, I’m studying abroad again.

To me, it just doesn’t make sense to get a job just for the sake of getting a job, especially at the age of 22. A lot of people say they’re just going to do it for a few years to make a bit of money, and then go back to school. But inevitably, they end up with car and house payments and a family, and traveling and going back to school are out of the question.

This guy explains my new life philosophy better than I can, so take a look.

This is what I decided I want to do, and I’m going to do it while I still can – while I’m young.  I have a feeling that even if I’m still paying off my school loans when I’m 40, but I have a great job that knowing  Chinese helped me get, I probably won’t be all too upset. (Don’t worry, I understand that not everyone has the luxury of doing what I’m doing, so I don’t want to knock those that did get jobs – the post title was for fun)

Anyway, I started talking to my friends who studied abroad in China while I was in Scotland, and they said they had a blast. Some were happy it was over, some are actually heading back to China in the fall too, but no matter what, they all said they were glad they did it.

Holy Cross sends students through a study abroad organization called CET, and with the good reviews from my friends, I decided to go through CET too. As of May 1, I was accepted into the Intensive Language Program in Beijing, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. I’m excited because for the first time since I was in kindergarten, I actually get to put my effort into one subject I’m interested in, Chinese.

I’m excited for other reasons too. As much as I loved Scotland and golfing just about every day, the native language is still English, even if it is one of the harder dialects to understand.  And while Scotland has its own unique history and culture, it is still characteristically “Western”. Sounds cliche but I’m honestly looking forward to the challenges and rewards of speaking a different language, not to mention that I’ll be doing it in a country that’s only really been open to the outside world since the 80’s.

One of my goals is to continue with The Study Abroad Blog, and hopefully pump out even better stories than before. That should be pretty easy considering where I’m going. This time around I’m planning to throw in a lot of video to go with all of my pictures.

So keep reading my new posts throughout the rest of the summer, and in the fall as I attempt to navigate around a country that is the size of continental Europe and where  the common language is one of the more complicated around.

And as always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you!

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