Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Erik: How has working abroad in China shaped your ambition for what you do next?
Andrew: I think working in any foreign country and, you know, sort of having a even like
a micro expat experience makes you appreciate kind of, you know, where you're from, what
you do, you know, where you live, how do you work, all those kinds of things and I don't
know if ambition is the right, is the right word but I think this time in working in China
has made me realize that I really like living in the U.S. I've always inspired to do international
work, I probably will always do international work but I also understand that I really appreciate
where I'm from and, you know, there's an excitement that goes along with being overseas and there's
also an incredible amount of excitement about being at home. And kind of putting down roots
a little bit. So like, in terms of thinking about ambition, it may be less ambition but
how has it kinda shaped where I wanna go and, you know, I will always be open to, you know,
short-medium term assignments overseas but I'm also understanding that I probably not
cut out to be a long term, life long expat, anywhere. I really love being in the U.S.
Erik: Yeah.
Andrew: And there's a lot to explore at home that I appreciate. So, yeah, it's maybe helped
me reshape how I think a little bit. I think when I was younger I always had, you know,
sort of mini-aspirations of having a life of sort of expat career and I don't necessarily
want that.
Erik: This time through, you've travelled and worked abroad before, this time coming
back what specifically did you see or appreciate in a different way than you had before?
Andrew: This wasn't a life changing assignment. I think this time being overseas for both
me and my wife, it was -- you know, we'd lived together overseas in Italy and for her that
was a really big experience, kind of a life changing experience because it was an opportunity,
it was a big break for her with her writing, you know, she got a grant to do a lot of research
and that was wonderful. For me, I lived in Central America about a year, after undergrad
and for me it really put me on a trajectory to where I am now and that was a life changing
experience. So I've had a couple of, you know, sort of overseas living experiences where
they've have been either life exchanging for me or for someone I love and this was more
-- it felt a little more professional. It felt like, you know, I'm here to get a job
done and then go home and so I didn't look at it as -- we looked at it in terms of this
is really exciting, what can we learn and we love being in China, this is really an
exciting time in history. This is a really interesting place to be, and Asia as a culture.
I mean, the Asian cultures -- there's many -- that we got to explore, you know, being
able to travel through southeast Asia because the proximity was there. Getting to learn
about China a little bit more. That was exciting but it wasn't the same kind of life changing
experience.