Deciding where to even land I remember staring at my laptop screen until 2 a.m. for weeks. Every time I looked up ‘language schools’ or ‘working holiday prep,’ I felt like I was being pulled in a dozen directions. People kept talking about Ireland, then someone would mention that Malta is basically cheaper for the…
The endless scrolling on my laptop screen I was sitting at a cafe in Surry Hills the other day, nursing an iced long black that cost me about 6 dollars, just staring at my screen. I’ve been in Sydney for a while now for university, but the idea of finding some casual work to cover…
Why Language Study Abroad Isn’t the Silver Bullet In my mid-30s, looking back at the period when I was prepping for overseas experiences, I remember the intense pressure to ‘build a profile.’ Everyone back then was obsessed with language study abroad programs as a way to boost their job prospects. After actually going through this,…
The Mirage of Fast-Track Fluency When you look at brochures for language study abroad, they promise a ‘transformative experience’ where you suddenly start dreaming in a foreign language. After actually going through this, I can tell you that the reality is much grittier. I spent three months in a popular overseas location, expecting to bridge…
Staring at the book bundles on the website I spent an entire hour yesterday just refreshing the Hackers Talk page. It is honestly exhausting how they structure these things. You see these massive banners for ‘Real Travel English’ books and video lectures, and then you click through only to find yourself staring at two different…