An idea formed into an adventure

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Shannon and I recently decided we want to teach abroad. Our first decision to be made was where? We have traveled throughout Europe and wanted to set flight to a new destination. After seeing the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Red light district, the Segrada Familia castle, and so on, we were in search of something different. Somewhere authentic and real. A place where we can divulge in the diversity and challenge our limits. After tedious research, we found ourselves attached to Thailand: The Land of Smiles. At first, peoples reactions to Thailand are all the same, "What? Why Thailand? Do you realized it's a third world country? It's dangerous.", but we did not let that destroy our plans. After reading up on the culture, not to mention, helplessly smiling in awe at the pictures, we started to finalize our plans.

Since we are both still in college, we had to wait until after May to leave. I wanted to leave right after graduation, so we began to look up programs offering those dates. There are many different programs, but along with them, are the suspicion of scams and frauds. We tried are best to read and find as many reviews as possible. Of course, we did have a check list when determining what program fits best: August start date, Phuket location, job guarantee, cheap, no salary cap (I found out some programs determine your pay at your next job and we want to be able to make as much as possible), provides accommodation, TEFL certificate, and most importantly, credentials. We came across the Teach Abroad Thailand program and really loved the program. They provide you with videos of graduated students and they are accredited by Cambridge. Their program offers a buddy package which includes TEFL certificate, accommodations, job guarantee, airport pick up, etc. The total came to around $1,700. As expensive as it sounds, we are hoping to make it back within our first month of working there.

We are still unsure about where we want to find a job. We were thinking about Bangkok, but after reading about the islands surround Thailand we are not throwing that option out. Within the next few days, I will be making a check list of all the things I need to research and determine before we jet off to a new and exciting world!

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