thetallgringo

I graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2009 with a double major in Political Science and American History. After graduating, I spent a year and a half working in the private sector in San Francisco. Despite having landed a secure job at a good company, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I belonged elsewhere. All my life, I had walked the practical path—I went to college, finished in four years and found a “real” job. Although I had done well for myself, I longed to find a way to do well for others—to break away from the safe harbor and do something, anything to make the world a little better, a little brighter. So I did something some might consider crazy; I turned down an impending promotion, quit my job and moved to Colombia to teach English in Bogotá’s southern slums as part of Harvard University’s WorldTeach program. Although adjusting to a new life in a foreign country has not been easy, for the first time in a long time, I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. In other words, I’m not in that safe harbor anymore.