What color is my parachute??

When my parents came in December I asked my dad to bring me a copy of the book What Color Is Your Parachute? I assume most people have heard of it, but in case you haven’t, it gives job search tips and has exercises to help people figure out what career is right for them. Now that I have less than six months left, I figure I should start putting together some sort of a plan. I’ve gone through most all of the exercises and now I’m going to enlist the help of my faithful blog readers in two things.

The first, is where would be a good place for me to live?? The book says to make a list of traits you want in your home and then ask people if they can think of a place that has most or all of those traits. I’m generally open to anything in terms of size, small cities up to major ones are fine and region isn’t too important but I’m thinking more Midwest and west coast this time around. Unfortunately some of the traits I came up with are a little difficult to see on the ground, but here’s my list anyway and let me know if it reminds you of a place you know (btw, San Francisco, Chicago, & New York are already on my list):

1. A sense of community (yes, I know, that’s hard to see or feel in a place – but I came to this one in response to living in DC where half the population is only there for a year or less so people come and go a lot and don’t make it their home very often)
2. Walkable – as in, I can walk to the grocery store
3. Bikeable – as in, bike lanes or at least space to bike in
4. Arts & culture events – preferably a dance studio, or at least a yoga class
5. Safe – within reason, not hearing gunfire at night is a plus
6. Mild climate – somewhere between Minnesota (really cold) and Nicaragua (really hot), but this isn’t a deal breaker
7. Educated, down to earth population – hard to quantify, not rednecks and not hoity toity DC socialites either, or hipsters
8. Public transportation – if at all possible, not a deal breaker either
9. Single, young people –the old ladies in Nicaragua have pardoned me for not being married yet, but I have been told that I must get on that when I go home
10. Nightlife – a salsa club would be fantastic
11. I’m adding one more that I just thought of: a sizeable latino population which would make it easier for me to use my Spanish, hopefully in my job

(I would just like to note that as I’m writing this, the wind is throwing untold amounts of dust into my house and attempting to rip off my roof. I hate February in Nicaragua.)

Ok, second order of business. What should I do?? I like the nonprofit sector, am interested in government, but I’m not sure exactly what kind of job I want to do for the rest of my life (I’ve entertained urban planner, program manager, public administrator, teacher or principal, and a whole host of other careers) and of course, whether I need a masters and what I should study. I plan to do some informational interviews and talk to lots of people when I return stateside but to ease some of my frustration with the fact that I will have to wait till I get home to do the majority of that research, I’m asking you all. Again, taking some exercises from the book:

1. Field: I’m interested in community development in general, I hope to use my Spanish, and have enjoyed designing and implementing projects for my Peace Corps work.
2. Environment: I cannot sit in an office for 40 hours a week again. First of all, it absolutely killed my back and second of all, being on a computer all the time makes me feel like a potato. I want a balance of working with people and working alone.
3. Skills: some skills I’d like to use include creating professional relationships, researching and sharing information, and working on budgets, managing the different facets of projects.

So there you go. There is, of course, the possibility that I won’t come home right after Nicaragua since there are a couple Peace Corps opportunities I’m looking at as well as just looking for a job abroad again. Luckily tomorrow I’ll have something to take my mind off all of this as I start classes again and have to relearn a couple hundred names.