I love traveling. I love being in new environments and learning… I never want to stop. Each new person I meet has something new for me to learn and each new place adds something to life.
Upon graduating with a B.A. in psychology in 1975, I knew one thing: I was tired of “studying” and wanted to travel. I couldn’t afford the kind of travel I had in mind so I set a goal to land a job with an airline so I could fly for free. It took me six months but finally I did it! For 12 years I worked in different aspects of airline customer service and loved it! I travelled every chance I got and to wherever I had a free ticket. Apart from the chance to travel, I loved the work because it was all very new to me and I was always learning something. Most of all I loved the job because I loved talking to so many different people every day.
Languages were the reason for my next move. In March, 1987 I went to Madrid to study Spanish for six months and take a break from “work” for a while before jumping into graduate study—my next goal (I wanted to be a primary school teacher). As I neared the end of my planned hiatus, I went to visit a friend in Barcelona and… To make a long story short, I didn’t leave until 2001. In those 14 years I became fluent in Spanish and Catalan, became an English teacher and teacher educator, and earned a master’s degree in teaching foreign languages. I discovered a passion for educating and for working with educators. And the best part of that work is that I can help people realize dreams. I still have that passion today!
As luck would have it, two days before I left Barcelona for Florida to begin my Ph.D. studies, I met, at the ripe old age of 48, the love of my life. He was on his way back to Italy, and I was on my way back to the USA. All I can say is thank goodness for eMail!
I had every intention of returning to Barcelona after I finished my Ph.D., but different life paths often appear when you least expect them to. After a four year bi-continental life, and when my coursework was finished and my research data collected, I moved to Florence, Italy (my husband’s hometown) to write my dissertation amid sunflowers and olive trees (literally!).
Dissertation done and Ph.D. in hand, in 2007 I began teaching online for the University of Massachusetts, where I still teach today.
Now as I write these lines my husband and I are back in Florida, Miami this time, until we decide on our next destination(s). Where (and if) we will “settle” is still an open question. I am fortunate that the work I love doing fits in my (always rather large!) purse… with a telephone and a computer, I can work from anywhere!
In my years in the USA, Spain, and Italy, I have worked and learned with and from people who are going somewhere… physically by air, or metaphorically as evolve their professional self. In English, Spanish and Italian, the favorite part of my job has always been, and is, helping people pursue and achieve professional and life goals.
Travel never gets old…neither does learning from people. I am wondering what you, the reader, will teach me?
Upon graduating with a B.A. in psychology in 1975, I knew one thing: I was tired of “studying” and wanted to travel. I couldn’t afford the kind of travel I had in mind so I set a goal to land a job with an airline so I could fly for free. It took me six months but finally I did it! For 12 years I worked in different aspects of airline customer service and loved it! I travelled every chance I got and to wherever I had a free ticket. Apart from the chance to travel, I loved the work because it was all very new to me and I was always learning something. Most of all I loved the job because I loved talking to so many different people every day.
Languages were the reason for my next move. In March, 1987 I went to Madrid to study Spanish for six months and take a break from “work” for a while before jumping into graduate study—my next goal (I wanted to be a primary school teacher). As I neared the end of my planned hiatus, I went to visit a friend in Barcelona and… To make a long story short, I didn’t leave until 2001. In those 14 years I became fluent in Spanish and Catalan, became an English teacher and teacher educator, and earned a master’s degree in teaching foreign languages. I discovered a passion for educating and for working with educators. And the best part of that work is that I can help people realize dreams. I still have that passion today!
As luck would have it, two days before I left Barcelona for Florida to begin my Ph.D. studies, I met, at the ripe old age of 48, the love of my life. He was on his way back to Italy, and I was on my way back to the USA. All I can say is thank goodness for eMail!
I had every intention of returning to Barcelona after I finished my Ph.D., but different life paths often appear when you least expect them to. After a four year bi-continental life, and when my coursework was finished and my research data collected, I moved to Florence, Italy (my husband’s hometown) to write my dissertation amid sunflowers and olive trees (literally!).
Dissertation done and Ph.D. in hand, in 2007 I began teaching online for the University of Massachusetts, where I still teach today.
Now as I write these lines my husband and I are back in Florida, Miami this time, until we decide on our next destination(s). Where (and if) we will “settle” is still an open question. I am fortunate that the work I love doing fits in my (always rather large!) purse… with a telephone and a computer, I can work from anywhere!
In my years in the USA, Spain, and Italy, I have worked and learned with and from people who are going somewhere… physically by air, or metaphorically as evolve their professional self. In English, Spanish and Italian, the favorite part of my job has always been, and is, helping people pursue and achieve professional and life goals.
Travel never gets old…neither does learning from people. I am wondering what you, the reader, will teach me?
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. - Mark Twain
Photograph by Daniele Ballerini.
Photograph by Daniele Ballerini.