Desperate for help
 

Hi,


>I am a 28 year-old guy living in Kentucky and I have never even been out of the >United States . My dream is to live abroad for a year or so in
> Germany or any other place in Europe would be ok. I do not have a degree and this >presents a very daunting task if not impossible altogether to find work in Germany by
> myself. I have no contacts in Germany and was wondering if someone
> like yourself could help me out. I am getting frustrated as ever
> avenue I have ventured ends in a dead end. I have sent out hundreds
> of emails to various hotels,pubs,,etc with no success. I think I could teach English to >adults who already know a little bit of English too. It seems
> that the only way I will succeed in achieving my dream of living
> abroad in Germany would be if someone just "gave" me a job to help
> me out because I realize there wouldnt be a need for a foreigner
> without a degree. I am getting ever so close to resorting to
> gravelling. Any help you could provide would be greatly
> appreciated. Keep in mind I would be willing to do any type of jobs
> like sweeping floors,washing dishes,whatever. I am beginning to
> think that only the rich get to see the world while the have-nots
> see the world through
> others' blogs and movies/t.v. While I never expect to be rich, it
> would be nice to to see the world through my own two eyes and
> accumulate my own memories rather than reading about others'
> memories online. Sorry for the lengthy post....easy to get long-
> winded when desperate for help. Thanks for your time.
> -Brian Trent-
> [email protected]
> My yahoo messenger id is afstallion

Brian,

Most countries perfer to have jobs for locals and try and deter people from coming to take jobs from locals. In many countries to work there you have to have a work permit.

How about working on a cruise ship. That way you would get to see LOTS of places, and meet lots of intersesting people.

Contact the cruise lines and try to get an interview there.

Good luck.

Have you thought about the Peace Corp?
I will email you about my friend's son who is doing that and connect you with his blog if you are interested.

Why, if you just want to see Europe, do you feel you have to go live there? As you say you don't want to 'grovel', and you haven't got the skills or contacts to get a worker's visa, I thinnk you need to do what even the rich are forced to do when traveling...tone down your scheme.

Instead of a year, how about a few weeks?

Now, to do this, you will need to get a second job in Kentucky like, "sweeping floors,washing dishes,whatever". Save every penny from your new second job and start saving half of your current job pay as well....no eating out, no partying, no new clothes. Any time spent now reading others' memories, should be used to work and earn money to make your own memories laters

Doing this, you should be able to save a few thousand dollars by spring. Check airfares until you find cheap tickets, then head to europe! buy a copy of "Let's go Europe" with tips to live the cheap traveling life and have a good time. Talk to other travelers that you meet. They will have ideas on ways to live there.

Repeat again next year. Use the experience to upgrade your life at home as well.

My neice just spent 2 months in europe for less than $3000 total. They used couchsurfer.com (?), ate very cheaply, and chose the places on which to spend entrance fees carefully, but had a great time. They also spent a big portion of their trip in some of the less expensive Eastern European areas.

You've gotten some good advice to your posts on this and the European forum.

Unless you have a strong "skill set" you may find it next to impossible to live & work overseas unless, of course, you are a "trust fund" baby which I gather from your post you are not.

Most of us on this board who travel do it the old fashion way. We save our money and take one or two trips each year. We stay out of debt and don't spend our money on "things" like big screen TV, the latest Ipods, fancy cars but rather we live simply and within our means. We'd rather put money aside for our next trip than go to dinner and a movie. We don't spend 2 or 3 nights a week going out to bars and night clubs. We take advantage of Frequent Flyer or Reward Travel programs so we can get no-cost or low cost airline tickets.

You too can travel, but it has to become YOUR priorty.

Good Luck in your quest for becoming a world traveller.

It is generally illegal for foreign nationals to work in europe - and is also illegal to live there for a year without all sorts of special visas.

You have 2 realistic chances:

Join a large company (not sure what you do - but you're going to need specific skills) that has international offices, work your way up and apply for a transfer to a european affiliate. They will deal with all the visa/residence requirements for you.

If you want to do this now and have a fairly substantial sum to live on you can go on a tourist visa (but being sure how long you can stay where without being illegal - that is 90 days Schengen, then go to UK for 90 days, then back to Schengen etc) and work illegally. You can sometimes pick up jobs washing dishes or doing similar labor for a minimum of cash under the table (but will need to learn the basics of the local language). But realize that if caught you will be deported. To do this you need to have some funds to supplement what you could earn - or be prepared to live on next to nothing.

No european company is going to hire an American at random - unless you have some very specific talent (opera singer?) not readily available there - since the governments make it extremely difficult to do so. they want the local jobs for their own citizens - not foreigners.

(Just as in the US, one of the first things they ask is if you're a citizen and have the right to work here. Except for dishwashers, delivery boys etc - that are paid cash off the books and get no benefits.)

For working abroad check out a website called www.jobmonkey.com.

Brian, Since you have never been outside the US, I would make that my first goal. Save your money, and take 3 months off. Go on an extended trip backpacking around the cities of Europe. How can you know you'd even want to live there, until you've seen some of it?

IMO
Brian Trent has no intention of coming back to hear replies. What he wants is for someone to email him an offer.

a job offer?

Yep.