There are always challenges at every stage in our life, overcoming them is what life is all about

It’s with mixed emotions that I write this blog entry.

I’ve recently been doing a lot of thinking, I suppose it’s what you do when you have many hours spent in the cold Italian countryside with nothing to do but watch the snow fall. That and I finally got a sounding board in Berlin to listen to my problems and to lead me to answers.

But I’ve been thinking of life, where it’s going, where I’ve been and how to negotiate it. Life is pretty darn good, I can’t complain to be honest. I’ve got my health, great friends, family and live in a beautiful country (wow, cheesy moment alert).

But sometimes reality hits and we have to put on our big-girl pants and face the truth.

The truth being that with poor employment opportunities for me here and dwindling resources I will be returning to Vancouver much earlier than planned. February 1st earlier to be exact.

This isn’t a decision I made lightly or quickly; I took into account many different situations to make staying work and consulted the opinions of those that I usually count on during tough times. I tried to figure out ways to continue this Italian adventure, but with the economy how it is, my language skills where they’re at and the lack of English students, none of the many different situations that I could come up with were feasible.

The only way I have been able to describe my decision making process to anyone (myself mainly) was that I felt that on the cusp of 27 years old, I need to start making some adult decisions and move forward when life keeps you stagnant. Sure, I could stay here and work the few hours I am given and live with my aunt- my job does afford me that much- but I feel as if I wont be true to myself and my reasons for being here, which was to travel and see Europe. As we all know, travel requires money and the economics of today do not allow travel to come cheaply, nor do I make enough to jet away for a weekend. At this point in my life, with student loans looming and what I assume will be law school in the future, going into debt to travel isn’t the responsible thing to do right now.

I am sad to be leaving this wonderful country without fully experiencing it or traveling it, but law school futures could mean lawyer paychecks, which will hopefully afford me travel to Europe without the constant nagging in the back of my head telling me everything is too expensive (dang my parents for making me so responsible).

I will also miss my family, whom has been so wonderful and generous by letting this Canadian gal live with them, not to mention their friends who have also been so welcoming to me. Believe me, the next three weeks will be filled with me trying to squeeze in the most time with these people and learn their wonderful recipes that they often cook for me.

When I say I have mixed emotions I don’t lie, I will truly miss everyone and everything here, but I do look forward to the next step in my life. Who knows what Vancouver will hold for me, but if anyone knows of any jobs looking to hire full-time (either in the teaching field or not), send them my way.