USA to Colombia here. I decided to do this one year ago. I had just gotten out of an emotionally abusive relationship. All of my favorite places were suddenly off limits and the thought of seeing my ex and having my mind played with again was debilitating. I LOVED my job, but after having a new breath breathed into my life after escaping, I really started to think about how important a job was compared to my mental and physical health. Not very. I had two businesses of my own that made decent money, so I gave myself 3 months to move somewhere. Anywhere. I picked up teaching English online as a backup.
Then one night, I was out at a friend’s birthday party and met this cool girl. I asked why we weren’t friends and she said she lived in Colombia. I was getting a little passionate about the prospect of learning languages at that time, so I was intrigued. We both dance salsa so after she told me the dancing was great, I decided then and there that it was my new home. 3 months and 1 day after my declaration to leave, I hopped on a plane with a one-way ticket and an AirBNB reservation in some random neighborhood I knew nothing about.
I didn’t speak a lick of Spanish then (I’m working on it) and was an emotional wreck. Today, I’m the happiest I’ve been in my whole life. My city in the US was 4 hours from my family, but I could only visit them for one day at a time due to work. Now, I can visit my family for as long as I want. I can dance every single night. 1USD. I can practice my Spanish all day long in the Land of Eternal Spring. As for challenges, the only ones I have faced are the language barrier (though I think that’s a good challenge), a few peoples’ misconceptions about foreigners, and the lack of ovens (I’m an avid cook and baker).
BUT I’ve challenged myself to find an oven by July and finally broke down and got a private Spanish tutor. I realize that in the long term, it would’ve have been traditionally "smarter" to stay at my cushy job and have all that extra income on top of my businesses, but I have what I need. Sometimes I miss the work and I know I was so lucky to have a job that I loved, but I don’t have to stare out the window and watch the daylight pass me by anymore. Now I can do all the things that make me feel alive.
McLaughlin, B . (1987). Theories of Second Language Learning. New York, N Y : Edward Arnold. Motteram, G . Undated. Learner Autonomy and the Web. Autonomy, Technology, and Language-Learning in a Sheltered E S L Immerson Program. TESL Canada/Revue TESL du Canada, 17 (I), 1-15. O'Mal ley , J . M . , Chamot, A . U . (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. New York, N Y : Cambridge. Opp-Beckman, L . (1999). Classroom Practice: Authentic audience on the Internet. In J. Egbert experience (and how long you've taken piano lessons) does. If you haven't ever taken lessons, it will be hard. Do casinos give gambling lessons? Some of them do but, if you want lesson to casino's and their games many online casino's offer free tips and lessons about the game that you want to play. What is the significance of the railroad in the Piano Lesson? What type of piano should you buy a kid just starting lessons? What are the notes for take a bow on the computer piano? How do you play drop the world on piano?