12: What made me 100% certain I needed to move abroad

Deciding I needed to move abroad was a process. I spent time learning about moving abroad and slowly over time these microshifts from my small learnings lead to my epiphany that I needed to move abroad. There were a couple events that made me 100% certain I needed to move abroad.

It all started from one of my best friends from growing up. She did a summer study abroad program in Spain while we were in college, and I remember thinking “wow” but also “if she can do it then I can do it”. This just opened my mind to the possibility of traveling abroad.

I was in a class in college one day and a professor did a presentation about a study abroad trip he ran every summer. It was a travel study abroad program to 7 countries in 28 days. Basically the premise of the study abroad program was that we traveled around Europe studying the strategy of the businesses in the countries we went to. He showed tons of amazing photos and I remember getting out of that class and immediately calling my parents telling them I had to go. Later that summer I went on the study abroad program that changed my life.

During the study abroad, the first place we went to was London.

On the study abroad trip we had a woman present to us in London. She was from Texas and had been living in London for a few years. As she was up on stage I remember thinking, “Wow, I’d love to be you.”(Side Note: I stood on that exact stage doing a presentation to the same study abroad group in the same exact room a few years later. It was surreal.) 

After London, the study abroad group kept traveling around Europe and studying European businesses. It was such a magical experience. That’s when I fell in love with Europe. And who can blame me…? It’s a stunning, magical place. 

After the study abroad, I went back to finish a couple years of college.

As I was finishing up my senior year of college, I met a boy. I won’t say boy’s name… but I met boy and I fell in love with boy. Falling in love messes you up. In the best way, but I then I had this desire to move abroad, but I was in love with somebody who didn’t want to move abroad. I dated him during part of my senior year and during my masters program. We were quite serious about each other and had discussed getting married someday and settling down somewhere in Texas.

I had this little pull in my heart about moving abroad, but I tried pushing it down and ignoring it, telling myself that I really loved him and that it was crazy to think about moving abroad. Nobody I knew was moving abroad, let alone moving to other states. I couldn’t leave my friends or family or the boy I was in love with. Moving abroad just wasn’t practical. I could travel abroad during my 2 weeks off a year if I wanted to – much more practical. 

But I still couldn’t help but daydream about moving abroad, I couldn’t help but bring up moving abroad in conversations with my friends and family and even strangers I had just met. It just came up naturally in conversations because it was on my mind. I couldn’t help it. 

As graduation approached, we were told to cast a wide net and apply to many of jobs. I would spend hours looking at job applications, but nothing ever interesting me. Everyone started getting job offers. The time was nearing graduation and most people had job offers. 

In March I started looking into how to move abroad. I spent all my spare time googling how to move abroad, looking at blogs and different websites online. I had meetings with multiple college advisors (4-5 of them) asking if they knew how to get a job abroad, just trying to get any direction of how to do it. I reached out to my university’s alumni who was living in London, sending them a message on LinkedIn asking to set up a phone call to learn how they moved abroad. I had 10-20 calls from reaching out to people on LinkedIn – these calls were surprisingly unhelpful as their situations were very different from mine and they were willing to help with a phone call and make an intro to somebody else who they thought might be able to give me any guidance, but they couldn’t dedicate tons of time to helping me find my path. It felt like chasing wind, but I was just looking for a lead, any lead. 

Now, there were 2 big events that ultimately pushed me over the edge to know with absolute certainty that I had to give moving abroad a shot. 

The second event that made me 100% certain I needed to move abroad was this… 

From one of my conversations with a college advisor, he mentioned he knew somebody who lived in London for 5 years, but had recently moved to Canada. I set up a call with her. This woman changed my life. I don’t even remember her name and she doesn’t even know the impact she had in my life. I need to track her down somebody. But our 30 minute phone call changed my life. 

During our call she told me a story about how she always wanted to move abroad, but she met a Texas boy and fell in love with him. They got married and settled down in Texas. But she had this pull in her heart to move abroad. After 8 years of being married, they got a divorce. After this, she moved to London and lived there for 5 years. She loved it and finally accomplished the dream she had had for so long. Perhaps there were other reasons for their divorce, but I couldn’t help but compare her story with the projection my life was on. I was in love with a Texas boy who wanted to settle down in Texas, but I had this dream of moving abroad.

The second event that made me 100% certain I needed to move abroad was this… 

Graduation was in May and the time was now April. Time was ticking to get a job. Most people from my graduate program had jobs confirmed. I had a phone call with somebody from the company I had interned for a couple years ago. They asked if I was looking for a job and I said, “Well yes, I don’t have anything yet.”

A couple days after this call I was sitting in a graphic design class one day in April and I got an email notification on my phone. I opened the email and there it was… A job offer from the company I had interned with a few summers prior. And you know what I did when I got that job offer? I ran out of the class and I cried. Not little sobs. Hard loud sobbing. In one moment, I knew I had to decline the job offer – the safe option my boyfriend and family would expect I would take. 

I declined the job offer. 

Long story short, me and my boyfriend broke up and I relentlessly pursued moving abroad until I made it happen. It was not an easy journey, but I have zero regrets and I’m so glad I acted on the desire I had to move abroad. 

The summary of how I decided to move abroad and the biggest catalysts to me making the decision were: 

• A good friend doing a study abroad program opening my mind up to the possibility of being able to go abroad because if she could do it I could do it
• An opportunity opening up that inspired me to take action to travel abroad – the study abroad program which had a deadline to sign up for which motivated me to take action to travel abroad 
• Having a phone call with a woman who shared her experiences and made me picture a life if I did not take action to move abroad and act on that desire to move abroad that I had in my heart
• Getting a job offer in Houston, Texas while I was at university – I had to make a decision about staying in Texas, having a deadline to take the safe route an accept the job offer or taking the unknown/scary route and graduate without a job offer 

Takeaways for you: 

This is the story of how I decided to move abroad. Your story will probably not look like mine. But I wanted to share my story so you don’t feel so alone. Moving abroad is a big decision and sometimes the pathway to make a big decision can be stressful and confusing. But know that you’re not alone. Tons of people move abroad every year and are so happy they did!

If you are considering a move abroad, download my FREE guide, 5 Exact Steps to Move Abroad. It would be a great start!