Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

If you could live anywhere in the World for one year where would you go?

12:17 / 14.03.03

Say that you had a girlfriend who worked in two thirds world (third world) developement and wanted to work abroad for a year.

Say that she wanted you to go with her to share her experiences.

Say that you could get a years sabbatical from your computer programming job and could rent out your home.

Say you always wanted to write comic books or a novel and this was a perfect oppurtunity to quit work for a year and go for it.

Where would you go? What would you do? Would you write for a year or find work in your destination or a mixture of both?

This is my current (exciting) dilemma! I haven't actually decided that I will go with her yet but I'm warming to the idea. I don't know if the Sabbatical is definite but if it is it would help convince me that going is a good idea.

Additional information for you people is that this would probably run from april/may 2004 to april/may 2005 (So I should be back before Galvatron turns up!) and I currently live in the UK.

12:34 / 14.03.03

Is it Greenland where its dark for eight months of the year,the isolation I'd like as long as I had some outlets i.e. internet, phone line, television, if money was no option I could visit home, (but generally I'm nocturnal and have antisocial tendencies)

12:41 / 14.03.03

I'd only do it if I really really wanted to, for my own sake - I'm long past the point where I would jack everything in for love, having nearly done it twice in the past. That might sound cold, but I still get twitchy when I think about how I nearly didn't go to university. I have no gift for languages - if I had the money, I wouldn't do much work, and I'd make sure I saw a good few places, which might not be possible if I was tied to another person and their job. I also don't feel that you have to share all of your partner's experiences just because you love them - a good relationship should be able to deal with time apart. But, you know, this is just me.

I live in London, England, at present, and have done since I was a kid. I might use a year's break as an opportunity for anthropological research - I've always fancied writing about the social significance of cryptozoology, and I'd take in some slash conventions. When not in the field, I would make damn sure I was staying somewhere comfortable and pleasant because I've seen enough reality tv and put up enough tents in high winds to know that I don't like roughing it. But, you know, if we're talking dream breaks, I'd take a fly drive trip (pretending I could drive here) to the States and make sure I saw Alaska, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco. I'd go to Egypt and Iceland. Definitely New Zealand, maybe Australia. Somewhere warm, probably in the Caribbean, with beautiful sea and sands and lots of exotic fruits. I quite fancy Malta, too. But, being an ex-anthropology student I worry a lot about the impact and significance of tourism, so I'd be beating myself up about it half the time.

13:07 / 14.03.03

If I were you I’d go but then I’m a hopeless romantic who believes in sacrificing everything for love!! And I’d try and save up as much money as possible beforehand, are you deciding between the two of you were to go? I’d opt for somewhere cheap as possible. I’ve never tried writing anything abroad and always right better when I’m in one place and settled, and I’m wondering whether the best place to go somewhere is somewhere really shit where there are no distractions,!! but maybe you could travel for a month or so and then settle down to right a book.
I think I’d go to New Zealand (maybe stop off at a few places on the way)to see my boyfriend whose just left england, bit vague as to whether we are officially still together but if he’d have me I’d definately go there!

13:13 / 14.03.03

Hey Cholister, I know exactly where your coming from when you say that you could only do it if you really wanted to do it. My Girlfriend and I have had major discussions about this and the pros and cons of me going with her and her going alone. I've told her I can only do this if I really want to do it.

Currently she's in London and I'm in Bristol and we've had a long distance relationship for 3 years now. We've lived together for a few months and that wasn't so great but we both recognise the issues that arose on both sides and are pretty confident we could now cope (We know it wouldn't be plain sailing and perfect).

I've never risked stuff like this before for another person and always played it safe. I left a girlfriend behind when I went to Uni (That didn't work out) and I left one behind when I left Uni (Thats worked out so far.). But if you can just walk back into your life after a years experience then its not as big a risk as it first seems. (If I was quitting my job and selling my house then it would be a harder decision!) Also its a give and take thing. She's willing to leave London to be with me after the year abroad regardless of whether I go with her or not.

The only thing really holding me back is fear of the unknown!

14:35 / 14.03.03

I get that. I think it's pretty cool that you can probably do this risk free as regards your job and stuff. As you know, it will almost certainly be quite a big strain on both of you, but if you know where you went wrong previously, then you've got something to work from at least. Good luck!

14:44 / 14.03.03

Go For It!

It's sounds like an adventure and a half! Where abouts is it?

My personal choice for anywhere in the 2/3 world would be somewhere around Argentina and Chile, or Mexico City... or China would be nice. Entire world? Probably Graz or Venice.

15:01 / 14.03.03

I'd do it at the drop of a hat.

As to where... my instinctive answer, off the top of my head, would be Tangier. Straight into the Interzone, oh yes.

Foust is SO authentic

15:36 / 14.03.03

First, allow me to convey my bitter envy.

I'd choose China. The idea of trucking around the back country sounds great; all those hills, the rivers, the people.

But if I were going to be with another person, and they had a sedentary job, I'd choose someplace in western Europe. Maybe London or Paris - if I'm going to be tired down to one place, it might as well be a city where I could build a home.

16:42 / 14.03.03

I could recommend Brazil, from recent experience, having just spent 2 months living there (I'm Scottish, living in Glasgow), with someone I met from posting on Barbelith, funnily enough- the very fine screamin pacha (who seems to be taking a bit of a break from posting at the minute). Beautiful country with a lot of interesting cultural things to get your teeth into, a music scene, vast swathes of land that are almost deserted and really beautiful -rainforests and beaches and whatnot.
But the big cities certainly seemed to be slightly tricky urban environments to negotiate as an outsider. I was in Sao Paulo, which was very crowded and - as friends never missed an opportunity to warn me- a wee bit dangerous, although I didn't really encounter any hassle. And Portugese is quite a tricky language to learn - it's not really workable to get cabs and things speaking in English.
So in that sense, it might make for a somewhat more stressful experience, having to spend a lot of the time just acclimatising and learning things. But there's lots of little quiet wee places (which are cheap if you live in the west) which would be ideal if you just wanted to hide-away for a while and do a bit of writing or whatever.

The Return Of Rothkoid

23:51 / 14.03.03

Paris. Somewhere in the Marais. It's close enough to the UK via chunnel, and also to the rest of Europe. And it's a fucking gorgeous town, with lots of good food and general prettiness.

Failing that? Copenhagen, though I don't know why. Or on a Greek island, Zorba-stylee.

13:22 / 16.03.03

I don't know about an entire year, but I frequently feel inexplainable urges to visit (in no particular order) New England, California, Iceland, Norway and North Dakota..

So mostly cold places for me, it would seem.

pointless and uncalled for

13:26 / 16.03.03

Somewhere on the Pacific Rim.

The fact that you're actually asking is a clear indicator to me that you should do this.

09:42 / 09.01.04

An update.

Well I worked through all my issues regarding this (it took a long time) and now the situation is that my girlfriend and I have just been offered a placement in Tanzania for a year starting in July! Exciting and scary stuff! Theres a 99% change that we will accept the offer (My gf has a couple of queries to work through but apart from that we're going!). We won't know exactly what we'll be doing till we are out there because they give you a months orientation and in that time you pick what projects you want to work on and have interviews with NGOs for those projects (If anyones interested heres a list of projects we can work on: http://www.visionsinaction.org/index.php?tg=articles&idx=More&topics=16&article=37 ). One thing for certain is that we've got to learn Swahili!

On the home front my sabbatical is still not official but my bosses have agreed on principle and I now have the mammoth task of finding places to store all my stuff (including my beloved car, yes it makes more financial sense to sell it but sod that).

Also I have to go to the Doctors to be stabbed many times!

My gf should be moving in in April so that we have some time living together before we go. In the last year we've seen each other every weekend and got to the stage where we both agreed that if we were actually living in the same part of the UK we would definately be living together.

For Christmas my gf got me a leather bound journal to record our travels. Its really nice and by the end of our year away she hopes I will have produced a cross between Indiana Jones Dads journal and Bilbo Baggins 'There and back again'.

I'm so excited right now I haven't done any work all morning!

14:03 / 09.01.04

Congratulations! It sounds amazing and exciting!