JET-Set

The word “wanderlust” has been popping up a lot in my life recently. This tends to happen with certain words; they suddenly emerge before me, and I start noticing them a lot more. The term “fop” was featured on the SATs, in the analogy section, and I had never seen this three-letter-menace before in my existence. I thought the test-makers invented a word to make me feel super stupid. But, shortly after I bombed that test, I ran across “fop” in books and websites and even in everyday conversation with people who never uttered that word before. I felt especially dumb by this point.

I’m not sure where “wanderlust” originated in my current incarnation of life. Might have been in a Facebook status. Might have been in a blog entry. Might have been the Bjork song. Whatever the source, I keep noticing the word “wanderlust” all around me. Someone says it on TV, or it appears on the jacket of a book I’m browsing at Borders. One band (I forget which) described their sound as “wanderlust” on MySpace. Seems like a lot of people want to go out and about at the moment.

Life’s diction seems eerily appropriate, for me at least, on first glance. I’m currently typing from home three of four in 2008, and am already picturing the places 2009 will bring. I’m not restless – I’m kinda enjoying this slight break in the action – but thoughts of travelling and seeing new sights always take up some space in my head. But most glaringly, I’m currently raging an internal debate about my most ludicrous dream yet; whether to apply for the JET Programme, unabbreviated as the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (bad English spelling intact).

It’s a simple enough idea – if accepted, I would be offered a contract to teach English in a school in some random town in Japan for a year, with an option to renew said contract for several years (though, realistically, I’d only do it two). The Japanese government pays for everything, and gives me enough money to cover living expenses. So, boxes of Pocky. Oh, not to mention I’d get to live in a country I’ve been fascinated by since my dad introduced me to Baseball on the NES when I was three.

I’ve been aware of JET for a while now, but I didn’t seriously start considering it until this year, when I became sick of my current existence and seeked out this type of stuff. JET became the ultimate goal, the big prize at the end of Northwestern, a once-in-a-lifetime experience I could try for. To some degree, it was just a tool of hope, a mechanism to help my mind out during rough stretches. But, a year and a cleared mind later, I still think frequently about JET. Even more than I used to, in fact.

The application process begins in September, and it’s quite the convuluted beast. Realistically, I’ve resigned myself to just flat-out rejection, just because that’s the easiest mindset to take regarding these types of matters. Then again, I adopted the same outlook regarding getting into Northwestern or studying abroad, and those endeavors turned out OK. Maybe I’m just trying to psyche myself out. Regardless of my inner game of Battleship, the process begins soon and I need to get my act together if I want to give this a shot.

But am I doing this for the right reason? Is this really a good idea?

Part of me thinks I’m just fighting a hopeless battle, a salmon dueling a bear, by trying to avoid the “real world” for an additional two years. And, to some degree, it clearly is. I wouldn’t see anything particularly wrong about this, if it weren’t for the mounting debt, good of my career and fact I just devoted four years of my life to learning skills I would then ignore for two years of my life. It’s like hiring a prostitute to take your virginity, and right before the big moment telling her you’d rather find true love first.

Using my Northwestern trained mind, I should know this isn’t the logical move to take. But then again, my other illogical pursuits have paid off pretty well so far. So I don’t jump into a job right after college. So what?

That worry goes down a bit easier at the moment since I’m (surprise surprise) absolutely confounded about my future career. And it’s mutated – I used to freak out about what I wanted to do. Now I’m flipping out about what I’m doing. I honestly don’t even know if journalism – at least the ballyhooed version I always see – is what I want to do anymore. It used to just freak me out – now, I look at certain aspects of it and actually cringe, no longer worrying about how I’ll find a way into it, but rather why I’d even want to do this at all.

So yeah, two years teaching children English in another country with everything paid for may not be a bad buffer.

But JET wouldn’t be a way to avoid the “real world,” regardless of how hard I try to convince myself it would be. It’s a legitimate dream, a way to achieve a life goal and improve myself in myriad ways. Europe offerred a taste of how awesome seeing the world could be, and any chance to see something new should be embraced. Most importantly, it’s no longer an escape, as I sort of viewed it last year. It’s the actual goal, something I want to do for myself. I would be looking forward, not looking away. If I got the chance to do this (the “if” being huge, otherwise shitty job here I come), I’d be more than overjoyed.

And maybe I can finally learn a language! It would make dropping Swahili feel a whole lot less shameful.

So, even though I’ll weigh the pros and cons of JET in my head for the next two months, I know I’m going to give it a shot. Because why even bother having dreams if you don’t even try making them become a reality? Especially when the road to said dream is as easy as filling out paperwork?

And maybe I can find a new word to stalk me around. I’m getting a little bored with “wanderlust,” to be quite honest. A bit too desparate for me.