In a new series of articles, black women living outside of Europe share their views from the other side. In our second article, Nicole Brewer recounts her time teaching abroad.
I have been very fortunate to live out one of my favorite passions over the past several years, which is travel. I’ve lived in South Korea for over 3 years teaching English as a Second Language to students from elementary to high school age. After having a great time in Korea I decided I was ready for a new challenge thus applying for teaching opportunities in the Middle East. I was blessed to be offered an English Lecturer position at a small college in Oman. Teaching abroad has afforded me excellent opportunities to trot the globe!
Last summer I visited Europe for the first time during my summer vacation from teaching in Busan, South Korea. I had such an amazing time while visiting London during the 2012 Olympics. Europe was
one of my dream destinations for quite some time. I spent months planning the ultimate European escape to visit London, Amsterdam, Belgium and Italy. While in Italy I was overcome with emotions my last night there while sitting outside of a gorgeous Catholic church and hearing the choir sing so
beautifully. I was able to take an Italian cooking class in Rome which was one of my fondest memories while there. It was absolutely exhilarating being immersed in the culture through food with other expats!
After teaching abroad for some time I decided that expat life is the life for me. I decided that ESL life had been great but wanted to know how else I could give back to society while still affording the lifestyle abroad that I became accustomed to. Therefore, after a bit of research I came across the Erasmus Mundus network of graduate programs where both European students and expats alike could apply for opportunities throughout their network of programs.
I competed for a full ride scholarship in the max of 3 programs one can apply for and while not winning the full ride was offered a spot in NOHA Network on Humanitarian Action joint masters program in Germany! I’m excited to be given an opportunity to study in Europe and thus network with amazing NGO directors, students and professors in such a great location. I know it will be hard work being a full time student in a foreign land, working part time and still following my travel writing passions. Nevertheless, anything worth having is worth the time and dedication one has to put in!
Nicole Brewer is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a BA in Communications. She has trotted the globe as an expat for the past 4 years living in South Korea and currently in the Middle East in Oman. Nicole has plans in the future to start a NGO geared toward fostering relationships with youth so they too can become inspired to trot the globe. She will be moving to Germany in September to start her graduate studies in International Humanitarian action as a participant of the Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA) joint Masters program. Feel free to visit her blog at www.iluv2globetrot.com and follow on twitter @iluv2globetrot.
Next month Betty Byte lays out why is Europe for her forever.