Taking The Plunge.

Yesterday I was talking to a good friend from home. And when I was 'talking' I evidently mean tapping words to electronically, as I live in Rome whilst she's still in England. I was thrilled when she popped up on screen because (a) I love my friends and like to keep up to date with all the news and (b) because she opened the dialogue with a nice, big and bold question:

Do you want to work abroad?

Quite simply, yes. Yes, I flipping well do! She was pleased with my response and seemed surprised that I'd already looked into a couple of ideas similar to her's, such as spending a summer working as a holiday rep somewhere in Europe, which is massively popular and you have to apply for nice and early (apparently). I've actually been considering this, and much longer contracts as well as destinations much farther afield, since I first arrived in Rome. That is to say I've been seriously wondering about what opportunities are available to a British  graduate in this vast world and how difficult they may or may not be to stumble upon.  I'll be honest, I've pondered it a lot, I haven't gotten round to much actual research yet and most of the people I know who've lived all over the world, when asked say that things just happened. Opportunity knocked.

What really strikes me as interesting though is how many people want to learn a new language, live in a different country (whether temporarily or permanently) and basically get a bigger taste of life. Before moving to Rome in September I'd talk about my degree  in the way that you naturally do when making polite small talk, 'I'm a student... I'm a Warwick... studying English and Italian Literature'. However, I always noticed how interested many people were when I spoke about the language component and the compulsory Year Abroad. It seemed as though almost everyone had wanted to do something similar at one time or another. When I asked what had prevented them most people answered quite honestly: fear of the gamble and of challenges unforeseen and the question of timing, that is to say 'the timing was never right'.

Timing is something I've considered a lot recently. When is the best time to take a risk, to plan a long and expensive trip, to get married, to make an investment, to have a baby or flip your whole world upside down?  My findings are as follows.... never. There's a never a good time. There's always a reason to say no, or chicken out. This is my new mantra, my motivation to say 'yes' to more. The time will never be 'right', but it may well be pretty good and as for the fear, I've already moved abroad. Yes, in a controlled setting, with lots of support and for a fairly set amount of time... but I've done it. I took the plunge, booked my tickets, read foreign papers and found a flat. I've explored this beautiful city of mine, met some fantastic people from all over (need to blog about some of them soon) and yes, I got robbed. But life's made up of both the good and the bad. My point is, I've done it once and it's made me braver. I think I could do it again. I could probably handle sorting it out for myself. I'd like to see what and where else the world has to offer

...once I finish my degree, of course.