Back in September-October of 2009, I was living in Brooklyn and working part-time while I hunted for jobs. I did have a few small successes, but for the most part my resumes were met with deafening silence. Feeling frustrated and anxious that I wasn’t using my degree, I completely changed strategies and re-focused on moving abroad. I applied to the Peace Corps in September and I received a nomination within a few short weeks. While a nomination is far from a guaranteed invitation and placement, I took it as an encouraging sign that I was on the right track.

I then made the decision to return to the country where I studied abroad two years ago. I booked a plane ticket to Quito, without a plan, without a job, but with the conviction that I would find something that would allow me to grow both professionally and intellectually, all while getting the chance to do a little good in the world. As an aside, I hope to one day make a career out of spreading cross-cultural understanding and goodwill through service learning, so I figured I’d find something that would help me on my way. A month later, however, I felt waves of doubt flood over me as my departure date drew near. What was I thinking? How could I have been so reckless as to gamble so much time and money on nothing more than a vague notion that I would “figure it out” along the way?

I was about to give up and continue my fruitless job search in New York, when finally my strategy paid off. After pouring over what must have been hundreds of websites for organizations in Ecuador, I eventually found one that felt like a good fit. While my current position as an Intercultural Coordinator is unpaid, it at least gives me the chance to test out what it’s like to be the broker between two cultures, and to learn the ins and outs of coordinating a volunteer-based project abroad.

I am very excited to contribute to La Vida Idealist, a blog which I have read with great interest since its earliest days. I hope to shed some light on what us college grads are up to during these tough economic times, and how serving abroad can and will pay off in the long run. I also hope that I don’t get any parasites. Some things, however, are simply out of your control.