Career: Part 2.
I did speak with a college counselor and found a path that was better for me. I ended up switching to a Sociology major with a Women's Studies minor.
I spent my 4th year at the UW taking required courses like Statistics and Research Methodology. I also spent a lot of time researching all the various study abroad programs that would both meet my need for adventure and satisfy my college degree requirements. I chose Hungary and I spent my 5th and final year of college studying abroad in Budapest.
In the spring of that year, while the majority of other classmates were getting ready to return to the U.S., I was preparing to graduate. I was 23 years old, and living in Europe. The last thing I wanted to do was return home to Wisconsin. So I stayed. Through friends I had met - I found a job teaching English outside of Budapest. I do see the irony that my first job after college was a teaching job.
After that year of teaching I lived in Amsterdam for the summer. It was there that I was putting my photography portfolio and application together for a Fulbright scholarship. My proposed plan was to photograph the traditional Hungarian life that was slowly disappearing in the small, Transylvanian village called Sic. I remember one morning, after a few cups of coffee, being so excited about my new-found career goal: to be a photo journalist. I had learned about photography through my friend Tim and was so inspired by the documentary medium. During that caffeinated high - I envisioned myself traveling the world and documenting stories of people living their lives. My heroes at the time were Tim (of course), Dorothy Lange, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Mark, Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
