I'm Sure I'll Eat, Pray and Love...Someday

I've been a little moody lately, usually when it comes to my impending graduation and thrust into the real world. As a broadcast news major, knowing that in just 9 short months I'm going to have to find a job, most realistically in a Podunk small-market town like Pasco, Washington or Fargo, North Dakota, is a tiny bit stressful and slightly depressing. Once I get a job there, it might be a year to 18 months before I can move on to a medium-sized market and another year or two before I can find myself working in a larger market like Seattle, which is where I would ultimately like to win. That's quite a bit of years of busting my butt in god-forsaken places (sorry if you're from Pasco or Fargo) before I get to where I actually want to work. Since I'm a kind of person that likes to get to their ultimate goal as quickly as possible, all of this is kind of starting to erk me. (But don't get me wrong, if I have to take this convoluted route to my dream job then I will be more than happy to do it)

A couple days ago, I started -- and finished -- reading the memoir Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. For those of you that haven't heard of this book and know that the movie based on the book is coming out next week (of which I can't wait!), Eat Pray Love is about Gilbert traveling for a year through Italy, India and Indonesia to essentially "find herself" through eating (Italy), praying (India) and, yes, loving (Indonesia). After finishing the book, all I could think of was how much I wanted this woman's life. Well, not so much Gilbert's whole utter desperation before her travels, but mainly all of her traveling and the finding of herself. The thought of traveling for a whole year sounds even more appealing than I would have ever thought.

I wouldn't even have to travel for a whole year...maybe just three or four months. And I wouldn't have to go to three different places -- mainly just one...SPAIN (for those of you that know me, this should be more than obvious). How fulfilling would it be live and travel around SPAIN, rubbing elbows with the locals and getting to try all the delicious food? Mmmmmm...so fulfilling. However, when people hear that I want to live in SPAIN for four months to travel and eat and gain 20 lbs (from all the traveling and eating), they say two things. The first thing is: But you already lived in London for a year and got to travel around Europe every weekend. Yes, that is true, but living in London in a house with 40 other people and only staying in European cities for about two days is not the same as getting to experience a country with an extended stay and getting around by yourself. They second thing they say is: Why don't you go abroad? You're young, you're free, blah, blah, blah. Well, I am young but I'm not exactly sure that I am as free to travel as one would think I am. Once I graduate, I need to find a job. Like, seriously, NEED to find a job. I can't just not do some kind of reporting for four months and expect to get hired somewhere (this is another reason why graduation/job finding makes me moody). Also, I have no money in which I would need to travel, period.

I'm sure that one day I will get my chance to go on an extended vacation to wherever I please. It might be when I'm 65 and retired but whatever. I guess until then, I need to buck up and hope that whatever job I find will let me go on assignment to some exotic and exciting destination...most likely to cover some sporting event. Ugh.