teaching abroad
For seven years, I had the great fortune of working for THINK Global School and traveling to twenty-seven different countries, working and living abroad anywhere between two weeks to five months. This job offered me access to six continents and even more travel experiences to seven additional countries. It was a weird life but so transformative.
YEAR 1 // ECUADOR, THAILAND, GERMANY
This was a wild, whirlwind year for me: learning how to teach on the beaches of Galapagos, passing my 26th birthday deep in the Amazon rainforest, reaching the Golden Triangle of Thailand, Laos, and Burma. I became an art teacher and then a media teacher/curriculum developer of my own course. I lived abroad in one place for three months at a time and traveled with incredible, international teens and teachers.
YEAR 2 // ARGENTINA, BHUTAN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
This year began a little rocky with two muggings in Buenos Aires in one week, but what followed was a year of immersion and friendships in Argentina, incredible travels through Bhutan, and history witnessing while present during the Boston marathon bombings.
YEAR 3 // INDIA, JAPAN, TANZANIA, KENYA
Whether it was the epic school trips or being a part of TGS’ big accomplishments, it was an emotional and enlightening year, in which I: returned to Kashmir, visited the region most impacted by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami of Japan, and witnessed the first graduation of THINK Global School. And of course, I can’t forget the experience of overlanding East Africa and reaching the crater rim of Mt. Kilimanjaro with my students.
YEAR 4 // NEW ZEALAND, COSTA RICA, GREECE
Not only did I get to explore the North and South islands of Aotearoa through trips and during my first time off in location (!!), but I also got to visit Fiji and see my friends in Nakavika for the first time in five years. Costa Rica replaced Turkey after recent terrorist activity, but it proved a wonderful place for teaching and learning. And Greece…even though it was experiencing a tough time economically, it was a treat to live in Athens and experience its food and nightlife with my TGS pals.
YEAR 5 // SWEDEN, UNITED KINGDOM, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, ITALY
The Northern Lights. The Highlands of Scotland. The remains of the Bosnian war in Srebrenica. I saw a lot of powerful sights this year, and I got to return to the city that has a strange hold on me: Florence, Italy. My personal exploration of these countries took a back seat to a new focus: graduate school. I started posting less and focusing more on the quality of my stories, not the quantity.
YEAR 6 // TWELVE COUNTRIES, TWO WORLD CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS
I earned the opportunity to join the curriculum development team and scout future locations for a new twelve-country rotation. During this one year, I stepped out of the classroom and made my way to Japan, Thailand, India, Botswana, Spain, USA, Morocco, Greece, Oman, China, Costa Rica, and Canada. In total, we traversed 110,745 kilometers, slept in 50+ beds, and spent 246 hours in transit (and that’s not including wait time).
YEAR 7 // BOTSWANA, INDIA, JAPAN, GREECE, SPAIN
My final year at TGS was enriching, exhausting, and emotional as I said goodbye not only to a community and a career but a lifestyle. The year began with a bang, living in tents in the middle of a game reserve, and it ended beautifully with a term in Europe that gave me ample time to soak up the places and enjoy my friends and students.